The history of the slave trade in East Africa and the Indian Ocean
lasted for many centuries. In the Early Modern Time, it was conducted
mainly in the inland areas of the Zambezi River Basin (Mozambique)
and controlled by the Portuguese. By that time, they had established
their rule on Zanzibar, a number of settlements along the coastline of
East Africa as well as in Oman in Arabia. All these locations formed
the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean.
In the middle – second half of the 17th Century, Oman was freed
from the Portuguese rule, became an independent state and conquered
Zanzibar and other Portuguese East African possessions north of Mo-
zambique. This has led to commercial and political dominance of the
Omani in the region (Alpers 2010: 41).