Islam begins to spread along the East African Coast from at least the ninth century.

There is also cultural evidence of early Persian (or Arabo-Persian) settlement on Zanzibar from Shiraz in present-day Iran.

The African population of the island holds the tradition that it is descended from intermarriage of these Shirazi with natives.

People from Oman and the Persian Gulf have settled the Zanzibar Archipelago, helping spread both Islam and the Swahili language and culture with major trading and cultural centers as far as Sofala (Mozambique) and Kilwa (Tanzania) to the south, and Mombasa and Lamu in Kenya, Barawa, Merca, Kismayo and Mogadishu (Somalia) in the north, the Comoros Islands and northern Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

African mainlanders settle Zanzibar, an island in the Indian Ocean about thirty-five kilometers (twenty miles) east of mainland Tanzania.

The first permanent residents of Zanzibar seem to have been the ancestors of the Hadimu and Tumbatu, who began arriving from the East African mainland around 1000.

They had belonged to various mainland ethnic groups, and on Zanzibar they live in small villages and so not coalesce to form larger political units.

Because they lack central organization, they are easily subjugated by outsiders.

Gama, on his return trip from India in early 1499, visits the island of Zanzibar, whose original settlers from the African mainland have subsequently mixed with Arab, Iranian, and Indian traders from the Persian Gulf area.

Gama's visit in 1498 marks the beginning of European influence here.

…Ravasco is challenged by the Zanzibari fleet, but gets the better of it and seizes a few more ships.

The sheikh of Zanzibar agrees to submit and pay a yearly "tribute" of one hundred maticals (gold coins) to the King of Portugal.

…a caravel of Almeida's fleet captained by John (João) Homere captures Zanzibar island and claims it for Portugal.

Said Said, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, had first visited Zanzibar in 1828, and had shortly acquired the only two properties on which cloves are grown.

In a reversal of the ancient system of trade by which African products had been brought to the coast by African caravans, the Zanzibar caravans, Said's among them, now actively seek ivory, slaves, and other products, creating an entirely new commercial system reaching beyond Lake Tanganyika and into present Uganda.

By 1834, Said seems intent on the transfer of his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, but he continues to divide his time more or less equally between them.

Zanzibar is a valuable property as the main slave market of the East African coast, and becomes an increasingly important part of the Omani empire, a fact reflected by Said bin Sultan’s decision to make it his main place of residence from 1837.

Omani Arab colonization of the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts has brought the once independent city-states under closer foreign scrutiny and domination than had been experienced during the Portuguese period.

Like their predecessors, the Omani Arabs are primarily able only to control the coastal areas, not the interior.

However, the creation of clove plantations, intensification of the slave trade and relocation of the Omani capital to Zanzibar in 1839 by Sayyid Sa'id has the effect of consolidating the Omani power in the region.

Sa'id, building impressive palaces and gardens in Zanzibar, has improved the island's economy by introducing cloves, sugar and indigo.

The establishment in Zanzibar of foreign consulates marks, at a formal level, the transfer of Sa'id's court and other change.

The United States had opened a consulate in 1837, followed by Britain in 1841, and France in 1844, simultaneously signing a treaty with the last.

These countries, with Germany, become the principal buyers, but Sa'id also exports goods in his own ships to Arabia and India and, occasionally, to Europe and to the United States.

By the 1840s, he has made Zanzibar the principal power in eastern Africa and the commercial capital of the western Indian Ocean.

He says, in all seriousness, “I am nothing but a merchant.”

By 1842, the average annual import of slaves is reported as approximately fifteen thousand, many of these necessitated by the development of the clove plantations of Zanzibar and ...

The French Consul in Zanzibar (M. Broquant) receives the final letter sent by Eugène Maizan, during his expedition into tropical Africa, on August 10, 1845.

Maizan, after studies at the École Polytechnique, had been appointed to the rank of lieutenant (enseigne de vaisseau) by order of King Louis Philippe I on January 1, 1840.

Upon returning from a campaign made in the waters of East Africa, in late 1843 Maizan had conceived the project to explore the lakes of the East African interior, journeying from east to west from Zanzibar.

The campaign took place in 1843 aboard the corvette La Dordogne under the command of Captain Charles Guillain.

In 1844, once his mission was accepted by the relevant ministries, Maizan had gone to Bourbon, where he boarded the corvette Berceau commanded by Captain Joseph Romain-Desfossés.

This ship went to install the new consul to the Omani sultanate, M. Broquant.

Initially, the plan was to begin the exploration of tropical Africa from Zanzibar.

Maizan's plan was to journey to Lake Chad, then try to find the source of the White Nile.

He would then, after passing the Niger, return to Europe through the Sahara.

The Société Orientale de France (Oriental Society of France), of which he was a member, had tasked him with a few questions that he should strive to answer during his journey.

Landing on Zanzibar Island at the end of 1844, Maizan had spent more than eight months at the here in order to learn Kisawahili, during which he had changed his plans and regularly increased his baggage.

Maizan ultimately left the island in haste, having seen a French vessel entering the harbor and fearing that he would be recalled.

He had visited the coast three times before finally landing.

The Bania caste (an occupational Indian community of merchants, bankers, money-lenders, dealers in grains or in spices who have strong commercial interests in the region) feared that the French were occupying the region, and Maizan was wrongly believed to have been sent to prepare for the arrival of the French troops.

They had probably used their influence to push Maizan to leave the island quickly.

The Sultan had offered Maizan an armed guard of forty musketeers, but Maizan declined in his haste to depart.

The explorer made landfall in Bagamoyo (opposite Zanzibar), the then traveled to Dege la Mhora plateau, accompanied only by Frédérique, a man from Madagascar or the Comoros, and a few other followers.

Initially, Maizan had planned to take a caravan of merchants' ivory, but changed his mind given the amount of baggage.

During his journey, he had been warned that P'hazi Mazungera (or Mzŭngéra), the chief of the Wakamba subtribe of the Wazaramo, wanted him.

To better prepare for their journey and learn about what to expect in the land, the expedition spent a few days on the coast.

Maizan then decided to make a big detour to avoid the territories of the bloodthirsty leader who seemed to have bad intentions towards him.

After two days of walking (to cover in a direct line a distance equal to three days of travel), Maizan stopped in the village of Daguétamohor.

It was from this village that he sent the letter to the French consul in Zanzibar, M. Broquant asking him to send his baggage.

He had entrusted this task to a servant who betrayed him and gave the location of Maizan's camp to Mazungera.

The African leader came upon the French at the end of July 1845 at the village of Dege la Mhora.

Maizan was initially taken in by Mazungera's false hospitality, but after a few days, Mazungera accused Maizan of giving gifts to other chiefs. Frédérique was saved by Mazungera's wife, but Maizan apparently did not have the presence of mind to touch her.

Manzugera, falsely believing that Maizan was carrying treasure, had tortured him to find out where it was hidden.

His arms were bound around a pole to which his legs and head were secured with rope.

Manzugera's son Hembé cut off Maizan's limbs and genitals, then cut his throat and beheaded him,  interrupting the throat-cutting to sharpen the knife in front of Maizan before killing him.

Frédérique subsequently disappears from Zanzibar, and reportedly flees to Marungu on Lake Tanganyika.

The French consul arranges to collect the material left by the unfortunate explorer.