Zanzibar (Unguja)

Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar archipelago, is historically part of what became known as the “Spice Islands,” alongside Pemba. Its plantations, established under 19th-century Omani Sultanate rule, grow cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper, and organized spice-farm tours remain a documented feature of the island’s agricultural tourism sector. Clove cultivation on Unguja is real but secondary to Pemba’s — Pemba’s deeper soils and higher rainfall support denser clove cultivation than Unguja’s flatter terrain. All legally marketed cloves from both islands are bought and exported through the Zanzibar State Trading Corporation (ZSTC), the state body holding a legal monopoly on clove marketing since 1966. Zanzibar once controlled roughly 90% of the world clove market, a position held into the 1940s.