Zanzibar
An East African island that became the world's leading clove producer in the nineteenth century.
Also: Unguja, Spice Island of Africa, Pemba clove, Swahili coast
Zanzibar, off Tanzania's coast, was a hub of the Swahili and Omani trade. In the early 1800s, Sultan Said bin Sultan of Oman moved his court there and ordered clove plantations on Zanzibar and neighbouring Pemba, using enslaved labour from the mainland. By the 1850s the islands supplied most of the world's cloves. Cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper and vanilla were also grown. The sultanate and the slave trade ended in the late nineteenth century and after the 1964 revolution the state took control of the clove trade. Tourists now visit spice farms, and Stone Town's markets sell pilau masala, a local blend of cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, clove and pepper.