On January 12, 1964, revolutionaries led by John Okello overthrew the Sultan of Zanzibar, Jamshid bin Abdullah, ending Arab minority rule over the island in a swift and bloody uprising. The revolution killed thousands and paved the way for Zanzibar's merger with Tanganyika later that year, forming modern Tanzania.
Zanzibar had gained independence from Britain only a month earlier, in December 1963, under a government dominated by the Arab minority despite an African majority population. Simmering resentment over land ownership, political representation, and colonial-era inequities exploded into violence within weeks.
John Okello, a self-proclaimed 'Field Marshal' originally from Uganda, led armed revolutionaries who seized police armories and government buildings in a matter of hours. The Sultan fled by yacht as mobs targeted Arab and South Asian residents; estimates of deaths range from hundreds to several thousand, with much of the violence driven by ethnic reprisal rather than organized military conflict.
Within months, the new revolutionary government merged with mainland Tanganyika to form Tanzania, a union partly encouraged by fears that Zanzibar might become a Cold War flashpoint given Okello's contacts with communist states. The events remain one of the most dramatic and understudied revolutions of postcolonial Africa.
Key people: John Okello, Jamshid bin Abdullah, Julius Nyerere