Unguja (also referred to as "Zanzibar Island" or simply "Zanzibar", in grc, Μενουθιάς, Menuthias – as mentioned in The ''

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...

'') is the largest and most populated island of the

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

archipelago, in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

History

Geography

Unguja is a hilly island, about long (north-south) and wide (east-west) at its widest, with an overall area of about . It is located in the northern half of the

Zanzibar Archipelago The Zanzibar Archipelago ( ar, أرخبيل زنجبار, sw, Funguvisiwa la Zanzibar) consists of several islands lying off the coast of East Africa south of the Somali sea. The archipelago is also known as the Spice Islands. There are four ...

, in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

, about south of the second largest island of the archipelago,

Pemba Pemba may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Pemba Island, in Tanzania * Pemba, Mozambique Pemba is a port city and district in Mozambique. It is the capital of the province of Cabo Delgado and lies on a peninsula in Pemba Bay. The town was found ...

. Unguja and mainland

are separated by the Zanzibar Channel. Unguja is surrounded by a number of smaller islands and islets, with only two of them, Tumbatu and Uzi, being inhabited. Other minor islands around Unguja include Bawe, Chapwani, Changuu, Chumbe, Kizingo,

Kwale Kwale is a small town in and the capital of Kwale County, Kenya. It is located at around ; 30 km southwest of Mombasa and 15 km inland. The town has an urban population of 10,063 (2019 census). It is next to the Shimba Hills National ...

, Latham, Mautani, Miwi, Mnemba, Mwana wa Mwana, Nianembe, Popo, Pungume, and Ukanga.

Politics

Unguja and the surrounding islands are divided into three regions: Zanzibar Central/South (capital: Koani),

Zanzibar North Unguja North Region, Zanzibar North Region or North Zanzibar Region (''Mkoa wa Unguja Kaskazini'' in Swahili) is one of the 31 regions of Tanzania. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the ...

(capital:

Mkokotoni Mkokotoni is a city located on the Tanzanian island of Unguja (Zanzibar). The city serves as the capital of the Zanzibar North region. It is west of the village of Kibaoni Kibaoni is a village on the Tanzanian island of Unguja, part of Zanzibar ...

), Zanzibar Urban/West (capital: Zanzibar City). Unguja belongs to

, which is defined by the Tanzanian Constitution as "a part" of

with a high degree of autonomy. The local Zanzibari government is based in Stone Town, on the west coast of Unguja.

Population

As of the 2012

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

, the total population of Unguja was 896,721, mostly concentrated in the Zanzibar urban region. The main settlement on the island is Zanzibar City, which serves as a capital for Zanzibar and which includes the renowned historical city of Stone Town as well as other populated areas such as Michenzani. Other major settlements on Unguja include Mbweni,

Mangapwani Mangapwani is a town on the Tanzanian island of Unguja, the main island of Zanzibar. It is located on the northwest coast, north of the Zanzibari capital of Stone Town. The town's name means "Arabian Shore" in swahili,More specifically, the word ...

, Chwaka, and

Nungwi Nungwi, or Ras Nungwi, is a large village located in the far northern end of the island of Zanzibar. With a population of about 5,563, Nungwi is the second- or third-largest settlement on the island, possibly smaller than Makunduchi.Pfeifer, Kimbe ...

. People of Unguja mostly speak '' kiunguja'' ("the language of Unguja"), which is the

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...

of the

Swahili language Swahili, also known by its local name , is the native language of the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent litoral islands). It is a Bantu language, though Sw ...

that was used as the main model for the definition of standard Swahili.Kiunguja
/ref>

Economy

Unguja is the island of the Zanzibar Archipelago that has the most developed

tourism industry Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism ...

. This accounts for a substantial part of Unguja's economy. Agriculture (including the production of

spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

s such as

cloves Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or Aroma compound, fragrance in fi ...

) and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

are other relevant activities. All along the east coast, most villages also rely on

seaweed farming Seaweed farming or kelp farming is the practice of cultivating and harvesting seaweed. In its simplest form, it consists of the management of naturally found batches. In its most advanced form, it consists of fully controlling the life cycle ...

Ecology

Notable mammal species on the island include the Zanzibar servaline genet, African palm civet, and Zanzibar red colobus. In June 2018, a

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

was caught on camera here, despite previously being considered extinct in Zanzibar for the past 25 years.

References

External links

Population growth 1988–2002

{{Authority control Zanzibar Archipelago Islands of Zanzibar