“The children of the Sultan of Zanzibar, protected by two palace guards,” photograph by Dr. John Kirk, 1884

“The children of the Sultan of Zanzibar, protected by two palace guards,” photograph by Dr. John Kirk, 1884. 

These are the children of Barghash bin Said (r. 1870 - 1888), the second Sultan of Zanzibar. Barghash was the son of the Omani Sultan, Saïd bin Sultan and one of his Ethiopian wives. Saïd bin Sultan had moved his capital from Muscat, Oman, to Stone Town, Zanzibar, consolidating his rule over the Swahili Coast. Notorious for their slave trading activities in previous generations, the son of Saïd bin Sultan, Barghash bin Said, partly under British pressure, largely put an end to the practice. This however coincided with the disintegration of his empire, which was carved up between German and British colonial powers, who would themselves go on to employ forced labor in their newly acquired colonies for decades to come.