10 Facts About Zanj

Zanj was situated in the Southeast Africa vicinity and was inhabited by Bantu-speaking peoples called the Zanj.

The core area of Zanj occupation stretched from the territory south of present-day Ras Kamboni to Pemba Island in Tanzania.

Zanj traded with Arabs and Indians, but according to some sources, only locally, since they possessed no ocean-going ships.

However, Zanj refers more to the state of religion than color or origin.

Zanj were for centuries shipped as slaves by Arab traders to all the countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

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In 1331, the Arabic-speaking Berber explorer Ibn Battuta visited the Kilwa Sultanate in the Zanj, which was ruled by Sultan Hasan bin Sulayman's Yemeni dynasty.

Zanj frequently makes raids into the Zanj country [neighboring mainland], attacks them and carries off booty, of which he reserves a fifth, using it in the manner prescribed by the Koran [Qur'an].

Zanj Rebellion was a series of uprisings that took place between 869 and 883 AD near the city of Basra in present-day Iraq.

Many Zanj were taken as slaves and were often used in strenuous agricultural work.

In particular, Zanj slaves were used in labor-intensive plantations, harvesting crops such as sugarcane in the lower Mesopotamia basin of what is southern Iraq.