Muscat and Zanzibar, Sultanate of

The Sultanate of Muscat and Zanzibar grew initially from Oman's struggle with Portugal in the 17th century for dominance over trade in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and then from the desire to assert control over Omani settlements in East Africa. In 1832, Sayyid Sa‘id ibn Sulṭan transferred the capital of the Omani Empire from Muscat to Zanzibar. Although Sayyid Sa‘id and his successors in Zanzibar appointed governors along the coast and had agents as far inland as the Congo, actual territorial control was weak. In 1856 the empire was divided between two of Sa‘id's sons, one ruling in Oman and the other in Zanzibar, a division that was formalized in 1861, marking the effective end of the sultanate. European colonialism dramatically reduced the domains of the Zanzibar sultanate in the last quarter of the 19th century, though a member of the Bu Sa‘idi family remained on the throne in Zanzibar until January 1964. The Bu Sa‘idi dynasty continues to reign in the Sultanate of Oman.