Zanzibar | Five photographs of rulers of Zanzibar, late ninteenth- and early twentieth-century

Zanzibar

Five photographs of rulers of Zanzibar, late 19th- and early 20th-century

5 photographs, comprising 2 cartes-de-visite (90 x 62mm.) of Sultan Barghash bin Said, and 3 photographs (137 x 184mm., or the reverse) of Sayyid Sir Khalifa II bin Harub Al-Said

The sultans of Zanzibar were the rulers of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which was created on 19 October 1856 after the death of Said bin Sultan, who had ruled Oman and Zanzibar as the sultan of Oman since 1804. The sultans of Zanzibar were of a cadet branch of the Al Said Dynasty of Oman.

The two cartes-de-visite depict Sayyid Barghash bin Said Al-Busaid (1837-1888) on his own (by A. Liebert of Paris) and another with five members of his retinue (by Maull & Co. of London). He was the son of Said bin Sultan, and the second Sultan of Zanzibar ruling from 7 October 1870 to 26 March 1888.

The other three photographs comprise a portrait of Sayyid Sir Khalifa II bin Harub Al-Said (1879-1960) taken in c.1911 and two press photographs of the Sultan, one in 1929 in Cape Town, the other taken in 1937. He was the ninth Sultan of Zanzibar, ruling from 9 December 1911 to 9 October 1960.