Swahili, Zanzibari

Zanzibaris are the Swahili-speaking Muslim people of the Zanzibar archipelago, Unguja and Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania. Their ancestry mixes Bantu Africans, Shirazi families claiming Persian descent and Arabs, above all Omanis: Omani rulers took Zanzibar from the Portuguese in 1698 and Sultan Said bin Sultan made it the capital of his empire in the 1830s, building a clove-plantation and slave-trade economy run by Omani Arab landowners. Zanzibar became a separate sultanate in 1856 and a British protectorate in 1890. The revolution of January 1964 overthrew the Arab-dominated government and killed thousands of Arabs and South Asians, and Zanzibar united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania. Many Zanzibaris of Omani descent then left for Oman, where they form a community of Swahili-speaking Omani citizens; others live in the United Kingdom, the Gulf states and South Africa.

Zanzibari culture is the urban Swahili culture of Stone Town and the coast: coral-stone houses with carved doors, the kanga and kofia, spiced rice dishes and seafood, taarab music, and life organised around mosques, Qur'an schools and the Indian Ocean trade. Clove farming, seaweed farming, fishing and tourism sustain the islands. Families of Omani descent kept Arabic names and tribal identities while speaking Swahili, and many maintain links across the sea between Zanzibar and Oman.

Zanzibaris are overwhelmingly Muslim. Most follow Sunni Islam of the Shafi'i school with Sufi orders, Mawlid celebrations and visits to shrines; spirit possession (pepo) and traditional healing persist alongside orthodox practice. Families of Omani descent are often Ibadi, and Gulf-funded reformist preaching challenges Sufi customs.

Swahili has a complete Bible, the Jesus Film and many audio and video resources, including Global Recordings Network programs. Christianity on the islands is mostly the faith of mainland migrants, and the memory of the 1964 revolution, led by a self-proclaimed Christian, is a barrier to the gospel among Zanzibaris.