Slaves, Spices and Ivory in Zanzibar

Download or read book Slaves, Spices and Ivory in Zanzibar written by Abdul Sheriff and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 1987-09-30 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rise of Zanzibar was based on two major economic transformations. Firstly slaves became used for producing cloves and grains for export. Previously the slaves themselves were exported. Secondly, there was an increased international demand for luxuries such as ivory. At the same time the price of imported manufactured gods was falling. Zanzibar took advantage of its strategic position to trade as far as the Great Lakes. However this very economic success increasingly subordinated Zanzibar to Britain, with its anti-slavery crusade and its control over the Indian merchant class. Professor Sheriff analyses the early stages of the underdevelopment of East Africa and provides a corrective to the dominance of political and diplomatic factors in the history of the area.