Zanzibar City

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 in Tanzania.[1] The district covers an area of 15.4 km2 (5.9 sq mi).[2] The district is comparable in size to the land area of Nauru.[3] The district has a water border to the west by the Indian Ocean. The district is bordered to the east by Magharibi District. The district seat is in Stonetown. The city is the largest on the island of Zanzibar. It is located on the west coast of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago, north of the much larger city of Dar es Salaam across the Zanzibar Channel. The city also serves as the capital of the Zanzibar Urban/West Region. In 2022 its population was 219,007.[4] Zanzibar City comprises two main parts, Stone Town and Ng'ambo (literally: "The Other Side"); the two areas were historically divided by a creek since filled in, with the street on the Stone Town side of the creek originally called Creek Road but later renamed to Benjamin Mkapa Road.[5][6] Stone Town is the historical core of the city, the former capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate; because of its unique architecture and culture, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.[7][8] Ng'ambo is a much larger, modern area that developed around Stone Town after the Zanzibar Revolution, with office buildings and large apartment blocks such as those of the Michenzani neighbourhood.[5] Zanzibar City is served by a number of international and domestic airlines via Abeid Amani Karume International Airport. In 1592, the first English ship arrived in port. In 1824, Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman established the capital of his kingdom in the city.[9] The city was a high place of slavery, one of the main ports of East Africa for the slave trade. The famous slave trader Tippu Tip lived there. In 1846, the island had 360,000 enslaved for 450,000 inhabitants. In 1866, the British explorer David Livingstone (1813–1873) stayed in Zanzibar to prepare his last expedition to Tanzania. In 1892, Zanzibar was declared a free port.