Zanzibar's 1876 Hurricane Wrecked the Clove Harvest

In April 1876, a catastrophic cyclone struck the island of Unguja, leveling clove trees and devastating Zanzibar's economy. Lucas and Luna explore how Sultan Barghash bin Said, merchant Tharia Topan, and the Indian Ocean trading network scrambled to recover. They discuss the hurricane's impact on the clove monopoly, the British frigate HMS London's role in relief, and the long-term shift toward Pemba's clove plantations. This episode reveals how a single storm reshaped Zanzibar's colonial economy and accelerated British intervention in the sultanate. #Zanzibar #Clove #Hurricane1876 #BarghashBinSaid #ThariaTopan #HMSLondon #Unguja #Pemba #IndianOceanHistory #HistoricalClimatology #ColonialEconomics #SultanateOfZanzibar #SpiceTrade #DisasterHistory #FexingoHistory #19thCentury #EastAfrica #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo