Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 22, 2011



The Zanzibar Revolution saw the 1964 overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government by local African revolutionaries. Zanzibar, an island off east Africa, had been granted independence by Britain in 1963; however, a series of parliamentary elections resulted in the Arab minority retaining the hold on power it had inherited from Zanzibar's former status as an overseas territory of Oman. Frustrated by under-representation in parliament, despite winning 54% of the vote in the July 1963 election, the mainly African Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) allied itself with the Umma Party; on 12 January 1964, ASP member John Okello mobilised around 600–800 revolutionaries on the main island of Unguja. Having overrun the country's police force and appropriated their weaponry, the insurgents proceeded to Zanzibar Town, where they overthrew the sultan and his government. A moderate ASP leader, Abeid Karume, became the country's new president and head of state, and positions of power were granted to Umma party members. Karume negotiated a merger of Zanzibar with Tanganyika, forming the new nation of Tanzania. The revolution ended 200 years of Arab dominance in Zanzibar, and is commemorated on the island each year with anniversary celebrations and a public holiday. (more...)

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