Zanzibar was made up of islands along the coast of East Africa. The Portuguese, and then the British and Germans, sought control over these commercially important territories.

Map: Tanganyika in 1936

Source: African Studies Centre Leiden, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The islands along with coastal regions of present day Tanzania were controlled by the Sultanate of Zanzibar before European threats of annexation and establishment of the Protectorate of Zanzibar in 1890.