What Zanzibar is — and what it is not
Zanzibar is not a sovereign country. It has no seat at the United Nations, no internationally recognised independent statehood, and no separate currency. Visitors travel to Zanzibar on a Tanzanian visa, use the Tanzanian shilling, and are — in international law — in Tanzania. Yet describing Zanzibar simply as "part of Tanzania" understates its status considerably. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous region with its own president, its own parliament, its own flag, its own government ministries, and wide-ranging authority over its internal affairs. In practice, daily life in Zanzibar is governed at least as much from Stone Town's Revolutionary Government offices as from Dar es Salaam or Dodoma.
The 1964 union that created modern Tanzania
To understand Zanzibar's political status, you have to go back to 1964. Before that year, Zanzibar was indeed a sovereign state — the Sultanate of Zanzibar — that had achieved independence from Britain on 10 December 1963. Just over a month later, on 12 January 1964, the Zanzibar Revolution overthrew the Sultan and established a republic under the Afro-Shirazi Party, led initially by Abeid Amani Karume.
On 26 April 1964 — a date still commemorated annually as Union Day — Zanzibar merged with the mainland state of Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania. The name "Tanzania" itself is a portmanteau of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The union was negotiated between Karume and Tanganyika's president Julius Nyerere, and it was agreed from the start that Zanzibar would retain significant self-governance rather than being fully absorbed into the mainland administrative structure.
The Zanzibar Revolutionary Government
The governing body of Zanzibar is known formally as the Zanzibar Revolutionary Government (Serikali ya Mapinduzi ya Zanzibar). It is headed by the President of Zanzibar, who is elected directly by Zanzibar residents and holds considerable executive authority over matters defined as Zanzibar's internal affairs. These include tourism, agriculture, local law enforcement, education, and land administration, among others.
The legislative body is the House of Representatives (Baraza la Wawakilishi), which meets in Stone Town and passes laws applicable within Zanzibar. The President of Zanzibar is also First Vice President of the United Republic — a constitutional provision that attempts to weave the two governments together. In practice, the balance of power between the union government and the Zanzibar government has been a recurring source of political tension since 1964.
Zanzibar's own flag and symbols
Zanzibar has its own flag: a tricolour of blue, black, and green, sometimes with stripes arranged diagonally. It is flown alongside the Tanzanian national flag at official buildings across the archipelago. Zanzibar also has its own coat of arms and its own public holidays that are not observed on the mainland — most notably Revolution Day on 12 January, marking the 1964 revolution.
These symbols of distinct identity reflect the genuine historical and cultural separateness of Zanzibar from the Tanganyika mainland. The two territories had different colonial rulers (Britain governed both, but through entirely separate colonial structures), different dominant religions (Islam on Zanzibar versus a Christian plurality on the mainland), and different economic histories rooted in maritime trade versus inland agriculture.
What the union government controls
Certain matters are reserved for the union government of Tanzania and apply uniformly across both Zanzibar and the mainland. These include defence and national security, foreign affairs, the currency (the Tanzanian shilling), income tax, and citizenship. Tanzanian passports are issued under the authority of the union government, not the Zanzibar government. This is why visitors need only a single Tanzanian visa.
That said, Zanzibar does operate its own immigration checkpoint for arrivals from the mainland — a procedure unusual within a single country and a visible reminder of Zanzibar's distinct status. Arriving by ferry or plane from Dar es Salaam, passengers pass through an immigration desk and have their passports stamped, even though they have not left Tanzania.
The question of independence
Sentiment around greater autonomy or even full independence has existed in Zanzibar since the 1964 union, particularly among political parties that believe the archipelago's interests are not adequately served by union structures. However, no credible independence movement has come close to severing the union. Most Zanzibaris identify with both Zanzibari and Tanzanian identity, and the economic reality — including development funds, foreign investment frameworks, and tourism infrastructure that depends on Tanzania's international standing — makes full independence a distant rather than imminent prospect.
