Zanzibar3 is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Zanzibar gained independence from British colonial rule on December 10th, 1963. One month later, Zanzibar Revolution happened on January 12th, 1964. Subsequently, the People’s Republic of Zanzibar and the Republic of Tanganyika united on April 26th, 1964. Zanzibar consists of two main coral isles, Unguja and Pemba, plus over fifty islets. The islands are located between latitudes 4.80 and 6.20 south of the Equator and longitudes 390 and 400 East of Greenwich. The islands cover a total land area of 2,332 square kilometres, whereby Unguja covers 1,464 square kilometres and Pemba 868 square kilometres. Unguja is divided into three main administrative regions, namely, North Unguja, South Unguja and Urban West, while Pemba has two regions, North
1 A. H. J. Prins, Sailing From Lamu: A Study of Maritime Culture in Islamic East Africa, (Assen: Van Gorcum & Comp. N.V. 1965), 157.
2 William Beinart and Lotte Hughes, Environment and Empire, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 14.
3 There are two explanations concerning Zanzibar. The first meaning of Zanzibar is that, it is used for Unguja Island only, whereas secondly, Zanzibar means a compliment of the two islands of Unguja (Zanzibar) and Pemba. From here Zanzibar will refer to both Unguja and Pemba Islands.
Pemba and South Pemba. Zanzibar’s area includes coral reefs, which are in relatively good conditions together with mangrove areas, continental shelf and continental slope.
Mangrove vegetation covers about 6 percent of the whole area of Zanzibar including 5 percent in Unguja and 15 percent in Pemba4 (see Maps 1.2 and 1.3).
4 J. P. Shunula, “Towards sustainable Utilization of Mangroves in Zanzibar”
http://wwwuser.gwdg.de/~izne/mombasa/abstracts/shunula/.html Accessed: 29.7.2010
1.1 Map of Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba Islands)
Source: NationMaster.com (http://maps.nationmaster.com/country/tz/1)
Map 1. 2 Mangrove Distribution and Fish Landing Sites in Unguja
Source: Muhando and Rumisha (2008: 82).
1. 3 Mngrove Distribution and Fish Landing Sites in Pemba
Source: Muhando and Rumisha (2008: 83).
The islands have a tropical climate with temperatures ranging from 20 degrees Centigrade and 400 Centigrade and they receive annual rainfall between 1300 millimetres and 1400 millimetres in two seasons: long rains falling between March and May and short rains that normally fall between October and December. Pemba Island has swampy loam soils and receives higher rainfall than Unguja, which makes Pemba more favourable for agriculture than Unguja. The north-easterly winds of northern monsoon and south-easterly winds of the southern monsoon dominate climatic and surface oceanographic conditions of Zanzibar. Cooler temperatures, stronger winds and more rain characterize the southern monsoon winds between June and September. The monsoon winds were important in connecting Zanzibar with the wider Indian Ocean world thereby facilitating easy socio-economic transactions between Zanzibar and the Indian Ocean world, in general.
Many developing countries such as Tanzania and, in particular, Zanzibar almost entirely depend on natural resources. Being an island, Zanzibar relies on its marine resources, including different types of fish, mangroves, coral reefs, sandy beaches and seaweeds for both social development and economic development. Since pre-colonial period, fish and mangroves have been important socio-economic items among marine resources in Zanzibar. The communities used fish for food and exchanged with other items for economic as well as social demands. In addition, they used mangroves as building poles and firewood. However, given relative small number of population, there was no high pressure on the resources. From the middle of the nineteenth century up to the twentieth century Anno Domino (AD), more pressure was placed upon exploitation of marine resources. By then, population and demand for resources such as mangrove trees and fish began to expand. Gradually, fishing began to be commercialised and trading gained more significance. The demand for mangrove poles within Zanzibar and in the Gulf countries such as Oman increased and more mangrove trees were cut down to cater for such demands. Such pattern resulted in widespread environmental degradation including depletion of resources. Indeed, the situation indicates that human activities are responsible for endangering the marine environment and marine resources.5
5 Toby Roxburgh, Ian Morton, Chikambi Rumisha and Julius Francis, (eds.) An Assessment of the Stakeholders and Resource Use in Dar es salaam Marine Reserve System, (Nairobi: ICRAN/WIOMSA, 2002), p. 1.
In the 1840s, Zanzibar became the headquarters of the Omani-Arabs Sultanate and it developed plantations of cloves as well as coconuts. Large tracts of land, including forested areas were turned into farmland, while the land tenure system was changed. In addition, a new capital (Stone Town) was established close to the coast of Malindi in Zanzibar.6 Such developments later influenced the marine environment and resources as far as mangroves and fish were concerned in Zanzibar. The events also transformed the traditional land use pattern in the islands and the situation continued in the British colonial period.
In 1890, the British declared Zanzibar a British Protectorate. The declaration was followed by intensifications of colonial economic policies and exploitation, especially from the First World War onwards. In 1915 and 1916, the British increased their efforts in clove production.7 In the 1930s, mangrove barks were discovered as a new export item. Soon afterwards, Second World War erupted and the British authorities needed more raw materials and currency. Therefore, the colonial government relaxed effectively on supervising and managing the marine resources during the war period to the extent that the resources, especially the mangrove forests were excessively utilised and the effects were visible after the war.8
There were several land use and management laws established by the colonial government in Zanzibar that were relevant for the use and protection of marine resources, including the following: the Land Acquisition Decree (1909), the Land Survey Decree (1912), the Land Alienation Decree (1935), the Land Acquisition (Assessment and Compensation) Decree (1949) and the Town and Country Planning
6 See: Abdul Sheriff, “Introduction: A Materialist Approach to Zanzibar’s History” in Abdul Sheriff and Ed Ferguson (eds.) Zanzibar Under Colonial Rule (London: James Currey, 1991), p. 4; Abdul Sheriff,
“The Peasantry Under Imperialism, 1873 - 1963” in Abdul Sheriff and Ed Ferguson (eds.) Zanzibar Under Colonial Rule (London: James Currey, 1991), p.112 and Abdul Sheriff, “The Spatial Dichotomy of Swahili Towns: The Case of Zanzibar in the nineteenth Century” in AZANIA: Journal of the British institute in Eastern Africa, Volume XXXVI-XXXVII 2001-2002, (Nairobi: The British Institute in Eastern Africa), 2002, pp. 66 -68
7 Ed Ferguson, “The Formation of Colonial Economy, 1915 -1945” in Abdul Sheriff and Ed Ferguson (eds.), Zanzibar Under Colonial Rule (London: James Currey, 1991), p. 36 – 7. Also see Abdallah Mkumbukwa, “Socio-economic Change and Malaria in Zanzibar, 1915 – 2000” (University of Dar es salaam, 2008), unpublished M.A. Dissertation
8 Erik O. Gilbert, Dhows and the Colonial Economy of Zanzibar, 1860 – 1970, (Oxford: James Currey Ltd., 2004),
Decree (1956).9 Although the said establishments dealt with regulating land use and management systems during the colonial period in Zanzibar, terrestrial management and conservation, they also affected marine resources as far as the geographical land pattern of Zanzibar is concerned.
After independence and revolution in 1963 and 1964, respectively, there were changes in the land tenure system, which also affected the use and conservation of marine resources in the Islands. However, the government did not pay much attention to regulated conservation of marine resources. Therefore, the extent and magnitude of illegal means of using the resources increased. From the 1990s, the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (RGZ) started to regulate marine environment conservation.
Subsequently, the RGZ established several Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in both Unguja and Pemba. The activities were established in areas such as Misali, Mnemba and Chumbe Islands as well as Menai Bay.10
There is scant literature on environmental history of Zanzibar specifically, on marine resources. Moreover, available literature does not treat the use and conservation of marine resources as well as related activities from a historical perspective. Therefore, it is the objective of this study to draw a connection between the history of Zanzibar in general and the marine environment by placing particular emphasis on the use and conservation of mangroves as well as fishes over a historical period.