Blockade of Zanzibar
| Blockade of Zanzibar | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Scramble for Africa | |||||||
 Portuguese navy in the Zanzibar blockade, 1889 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 German Empire British Empire Portuguese Empire Kingdom of Italy |
Sultanate of Zanzibar | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Karl August Deinhard Edmund Fremantle Augusto de Castilho Francesco Preve |
Sultan Khalifa bin Said | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
25 warships ~4,200 men | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Minimal | Minimal | ||||||
The blockade of Zanzibar (1888–1889) was a joint international operation led by Germany, with the support of the British Empire, Portugal and Italy, against the Sultanate of Zanzibar, with the aim of ending the slave and arms trade off the eastern coast of Africa.
This coalition aimed to coerce Sultan Khalifa bin Said of Zanzibar into rigorously enforcing existing treaties that prohibited the maritime slave trade and the illicit arms trade emanating from his East African dominions. The action followed the 1886 Anglo-German Agreement of 1886, which delineated British and German spheres of influence on the mainland, increasing pressure on the Sultanate.