Zanzibar City or Mjini District, often simply referred to as Zanzibar (''Wilaya ya Zanzibar Mjini'' or ''Jiji la Zanzibar'' in Swahili) is one of two administrative districts of

Mjini Magharibi Region Mjini Magharibi Region, Zanzibar Urban West Region or West Zanzibar Region (''Mkoa wa Mjini Magharibi'' in Swahili) is one of the 31 regions of Tanzania. The region covers an area of . The region is located entirely on the island of Zanzibar an ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. The district covers an area of . The district is comparable in size to the land area of

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

. The district has a water border to the west by the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

. The district is bordered to the east by

Magharibi District Zanzibar West District is one of the two districts of the Zanzibar Urban/West Region of Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the A ...

. The district seat is located in Stonetown. The city is largest city on the island of

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

. It is located on the west coast of

Unguja Unguja (also referred to as "Zanzibar Island" or simply "Zanzibar", in grc, Μενουθιάς, Menuthias – as mentioned in The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'') is the largest and most populated island of the Zanzibar archipelago, in Tanza ...

, the main island of the

Zanzibar Archipelago The Zanzibar Archipelago ( ar, أرخبيل زنجبار, sw, Funguvisiwa la Zanzibar) consists of several islands lying off the coast of East Africa south of the Somali sea. The archipelago is also known as the Spice Islands. There are four ...

, north of the much larger city of

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

across the

Zanzibar Channel The Zanzibar Channel is a strait in south-eastern Africa, separating the island of Unguja (also known as Zanzibar) from mainland Tanzania. The channel is 120 km long and 29–37 km wide, with depth varying from a few dozen metres (in the ...

. The city also serves as the capital of the

Zanzibar Urban/West Region Mjini Magharibi Region, Zanzibar Urban West Region or West Zanzibar Region (''Mkoa wa Mjini Magharibi'' in Swahili) is one of the 31 regions of Tanzania. The region covers an area of . The region is located entirely on the island of Zanzibar and ...

. In 2012 its population was 223,033. Zanzibar City comprises two main parts,

Stone Town Stonetown of Zanzibar ( ar, مدينة زنجبار الحجرية), also known as Mji Mkongwe ( Swahili for "old town"), is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. The newer portion of the city is known as Ng'ambo ...

and

Ng'ambo Ng'ambo (literally, "The Other Side"; sometimes also referred to as the "New City") is one of the two main parts comprising Zanzibar City, the capital of Zanzibar, the other being the historical Stone Town. Ng'ambo is much larger and more modern ...

(literally: "The Other Side"); the two areas are historically divided by a creek, now marked by a large street called Creek Road. Stone Town is the historical core of the city, former capital of the

Zanzibar Sultanate The Sultanate of Zanzibar ( sw, Usultani wa Zanzibar, ar, سلطنة زنجبار , translit=Sulṭanat Zanjībār), also known as the Zanzibar Sultanate, was a state controlled by the Sultan of Zanzibar, in place between 1856 and 1964. The Sul ...

; because of its unique architecture and culture, it was declared a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 2000. Ng'ambo is a much larger, modern area that developed around Stone Town after the

Zanzibar Revolution The Zanzibar Revolution () occurred in January 1964 and led to the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government by local Africans. Zanzibar was an ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east co ...

, with office buildings and large apartment blocks such as those of the

Michenzani Michenzani is a large neighbourhood of Ng'ambo, the more modern part of Zanzibar City in Tanzania. It is located just across Creek Road, that separates the historical part of the city, Stone Town (to the west) and Ng'ambo (to the east). The place ...

neighbourhood. Zanzibar City is served by a number of international and domestic airlines via Abeid Amani Karume International Airport.

History

In 1592, the first English ship arrived in port. In 1824,

Said bin Sultan Sayyid Saïd bin Sultan al-Busaidi ( ar, سعيد بن سلطان, , sw, Saïd bin Sultani) (5 June 1791 – 19 October 1856), was Sultan of Muscat and Oman, the fifth ruler of the Busaid dynasty from 1804 to 4 June 1856. His rule commenced fol ...

, Sultan of

Muscat and Oman The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman ( ar, سلطنة مسقط وعمان, Salṭanat Masqaṭ wa-‘Umān), also known briefly as the State of Muscat and Oman () during the rule of Taimur bin Feisal, was a sovereign state that encompassed the prese ...

established the capital of his kingdom in the city. The city was a high place of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, one of the main ports of East Africa for the slave trade. In 1846, the island had 360,000 enslaved for 450,000 inhabitants. In 1866, the British explorer

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

(1813–1873) stayed in Zanzibar to prepare his last expedition to Tanzania. In 1892, Zanzibar was declared a

free port Free economic zones (FEZ), free economic territories (FETs) or free zones (FZ) are a class of special economic zone (SEZ) designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which com ...

Climate

Zanzibar City has a tropical climate, very similar to whole

island, and slightly hotter than what is found in

Pemba Pemba may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Pemba Island, in Tanzania * Pemba, Mozambique, the capital of Cabo Delgado Province * Pemba, Zambia, a small town Individuals * George Pemba, South African painter * Pemba (panda), a red panda * Tsewang Yishe ...

. This climate is classified as a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Am''). The average temperature in Zanzibar City is . The average annual rainfall is . The monthly average temperatures are usually between . There are two rain seasons, with most rainfall coming between March and May and smaller rain season coming between November and December. Drier months are January - February, and a longer drier season between June and October. Plan der Stadt Sansibar - Map of Zanzibar - Oscar Baumann

Plan der Stadt Sansibar - Map of Zanzibar - Oscar Baumann

Places of worship

The

places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

in the city are predominantly

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

mosques. There are also Christian churches and temples:

Roman Catholic Diocese of Zanzibar The Diocese of Zanzibar ( la, Dioecesis Zanzibarensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Dar-es-Salaam. The dioc ...

(

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Anglican Church of Tanzania The Anglican Church of Tanzania (ACT) is a province of the Anglican Communion based in Dodoma. It consists of 28 dioceses (27 on the Tanzanian mainland, and 1 on Zanzibar) headed by their respective bishops. It seceded from the Province of East A ...

(

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) is the federation of Lutheran churches in Tanzania and one of the largest Lutheran denominations in the world, with more than 6 million members, or 13% of the Tanzanian population. It is the secon ...

(

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; german: Lutherischer Weltbund) is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish ...

Baptist Convention of Tanzania The Baptists' Church of Tanzania is a Baptist Christian denomination, affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance, in Tanzania. The headquarters is in Dodoma, Tanzania. History The Baptist Convention of Tanzania started in 1956 by an American mi ...

(

Baptist World Alliance The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is the largest international Baptist organization with an estimated 51 million people in 2022 with 246 member bodies in 128 countries and territories. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA account ...

Assemblies of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

Constituencies

For parliamentary elections, Tanzania is divided into constituencies. As of the 2010 elections the area for Zanzibar City District had ten of the nineteen constituencies in the region: * Amani Constituency * Chumbuni Constituency * Jangombe Constituency * Kikwajuni Constituency * Kwahani Constituency * Kwamtipura Constituency * Magomeni Constituency * Mji Mkongwe Constituency * Mpendae Constituency * Rahaleo Constituency

Wards

The Zanzibar Urban District is administratively divided into 45 wards:National Bureau of Statistics Tanzania (web). As of 2012, Mjini District was administratively divided into 20 wards.

Wards

# Amani # Chumbuni # Jang'ombe # Kikwajuni # Kilimahewa # Kwaalinathoo # Kwahani # Kwamtipura # Magomeni # Makadara # Mchangani # Meya # Miembeni # Mkele # Mkunazini # Mpandae # Muungano # Mwembe Makumbi # Nyerere # Rahaleo

Demographics

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Authority control Capitals of former nations Cities in Zanzibar Districts of Mjini Magharibi Region Populated coastal places in Zanzibar Port cities in Tanzania

History

Climate

Places of worship

Constituencies

Wards

Wards

Demographics

See also

References

Bibliography

External links