Dec 16, 2009 – Seaweed farming near Paje on the island of Unguja, Tanzania – Ariadne Van Zandbergen / Photolibrary

Zanzibar (pronounced /ˈzænzɨbɑr/) is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar), and Pemba.Other nearby island countries and territories include ,Comoros and Mayotte to the south, Mauritius and Réunion to the far East, and the Seychelles Islands about 1500 km. Zanzibar was once a separate state with a long trading history within the Arab world; it united with Tanganyika  to form Tanzania in 1964 and still enjoys a high degree of autonomy within the union. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its historic center, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.

Zanzibar’s main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania’s Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia). Zanzibar’s ecology is of note for being the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the (possibly extinct) Zanzibar Leopard.

• In January of 1964, revolutionaries overthrew the Sultanate…
  And wrote themselves into the world’s history books
• Want to see more of this wild, wonderful country?
  Feast your eyes
• Just because there are no animals or vegetables doesn’t mean it’s not a farm.
  What do they grow here?
• This island is formally known as Unguja…
  And its closest neighbor is Pemba

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