personal memories revolutionary states and indian ocean migrations

Indian merchant class to whom many Arabs were indebted: “This is an Arab state.
It is the duty of the protecting government to assist the protected people. It is
impossible for us to stand by and take the risk of the expropriation of His
Highness’s people.” 5
Between 1924 and 1931, the number and percentage of “Arabs” in
Zanzibar (and Pemba) increased from almost 19,000 (8.7% of the population) to
about 33,500 (14.2% of the population). By 1948, there were about 44,500 Arabs in
Zanzibar (13,977 “Arabs” on Zanzibar and 30,583 on Pemba) making up 16.9% of
the population. While most of this increase was probably due to migration from
Oman, according to Michael Lofchie and others, some of this increase was also due
to a shift in the ways people were describing themselves in the local censuses. 6 Just
as some “Swahilis” were increasingly claiming to be “Hadimu,” others were
becoming “Arab”. 7 Nevertheless, it is clear that there was a dramatic increase in the
numbers of Arabs on the island. And, many of these were considered “manga,”
whether as more permanent residents or as temporary workers traveling to
Zanzibar during the clove harvest.
The British Protectorate administration, although relatively sympathetic to
the Arab elite, attempted to quell the numbers of migrants, especially after the 1936
riots. The increase of migration from Oman to Zanzibar and especially the
increased numbers of destitute Arabs looking for temporary work on the clove
plantations or at the Zanzibar port propelled the British Protectorate administration
to promulgate several immigration decrees and regulations limiting the numbers of
such recent migrants. Despite tensions with the new arrivals, the Arab Association,
which was an officially recognized association dating to the 1920s and run by the
elite of the Arab community, contested these limits. Discussions between the
British administration and the Arab Association as well as documents between
Muscat, Zanzibar and London outlining rulings, negotiations and numbers,
however, suggest not only that the administration did not concede to the
association, but also the ways that the security measures and rationings instituted
during the Second World War were used to legitimize travel restrictions after the
war as well.
From 1923, the Immigration Regulation and Restriction decree had
managed the entry of Arabs from Arabia and the African mainland into Zanzibar.
In 1940, however, the Protectorate Administration established another procedure
under the Defense (Immigration Restriction) Regulations, geared specifically at
Arabs arriving from Oman and the Hadramaut. There were several issues at stake
for the British administration in the early 1940s. First, the numbers of immigrants
had increased in the late 1930s when the Clove Growers Association began hiring a
considerable number of buying agents from among the recent arrivals. 8 However,
when the hiring policy changed in 1939 and the Association began purchasing
directly from producers, both the previously employed and the prospective agents
arriving from Muscat were left without jobs. The number of destitute Arabs
increased and the Protectorate Administration began systematizing their
repatriation procedures, not to mention their immigration policies. 9 Second, the
protectorate administration claimed that during the Second World War, for security
reasons, it was incumbent on them to limit the numbers of ships traveling the
Indian Ocean. Third, private ships began demanding additional payments from
Omani passengers in case, due to the heightened restrictions, they were turned back
at Zanzibar port. Not all passengers were allowed to disembark at Zanzibar and
those who were refused entrance to Zanzibar, were sent back to Arabia or the
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