Zanzibar's 1890 Customs Farm: How a Gujarati Merchant Ran the Sultanate

In 1890, as Zanzibar's sovereignty crumbled under European pressure, the collection of its customs duties was handed to a single Gujarati merchant: Nasser bin Juma. This episode traces how the 'customs farm' system — a tax auction won by private Indian financiers — effectively outsourced the sultanate's fiscal policy for decades. We follow Nasser's rise from a Khoja trader in Stone Town to the man who controlled Zanzibar's ports, and explore how this arrangement drained revenue, fueled corruption, and hastened British control. Along the way, we meet the competing Bhatia and Khoja merchant networks, the vanishing clove trade, and the quiet crisis of a state that didn't collect its own taxes. #Zanzibar #CustomsFarm #NasserBinJuma #KhojaMerchants #GujaratiDiaspora #StoneTown #SultanAliBinSaid #BritishProtectorate #CloveTrade #TaxFarming #IndianOcean #19thCentury #SwahiliCoast #ColonialEconomy #Bhatia #JairamSewji #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo