Abstract: This item consists of copies of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 6 February 1874 and received by the India Office via Brindisi on 2 March 1874, forwarding copies of papers regarding affairs at Zanzibar. The enclosures comprise letters from the Political Agent and Consul-General, Zanzibar. The despatch is in continuation of Political No. 206 dated 21 November 1873 (IOR/L/PS/6/114, ff 66-84a).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 1, and terminates at f 16, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains one foliation anomaly: f 1a.
Abstract: Enclosure nos. 2-54 to a despatch from the Secret Department, Government of Bombay [Mumbai], dated 30 November 1841. The enclosures are dated 6 June-29 November 1841.The enclosures consist of copies of correspondence relating to affairs in India, Persia [Iran], the Persian Gulf and Zanzibar, including:Unrest in the Persian provinces of Kerman and Yezd [Yazd]A diplomatic mission to Hyderabad by a representative of the Imaum [Imam] of MuscatThe seizure of a ship at Zanzibar suspected of being involved in the trade in enslaved personsCases of fraud and false identities in Bushire [Bushehr], Calcutta [Kolkata] and MuscatAttempts to determine the fate of the cargo of a ship that was wrecked on the island of Kishm [Qeshm] and to gain compensation for any property that may have been plunderedA proposed tour of the Gulf by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to deliver gifts to various Gulf rulers that were unable to be given at the time of his appointmentObstructions against British traders at Zanzibar, allegedly orchestrated by the American ConsulThe murder and robbery of a British subject at Mombassa [Mombasa].The primary correspondents are: the Political Resident; the Native Agent, Muscat; the Imam of Muscat; the Collector of Customs, Bombay; and the Government of India.Physical description: 1 item (119 folios)
Abstract: This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 42 of 1856, dated 10 June 1856. The enclosures are dated 19 December 1855-7 June 1856.The enclosures chiefly comprise despatches from Brigadier William Marcus Coghlan, Political Resident in Aden, to the Government of Bombay, and the latter’s responses, in connection with British attempts to suppress the trade in enslaved persons in the Red and Arabian seas and the Persian Gulf regions. They notably cover and include:Coghlan’s frustration over the lack of available vessels to enable him to visit independent ports on the Arabian and African coasts and Turkish [Ottoman] ports in the Red Sea, in particular Shuhr and Maculla [Ash Shihr and Mukalla] which Coghlan suggests should be monitored for boats crossing from Africa; the Government of Bombay’s resolution to press the need for naval resources upon the Secret Committee; and the Court of Directors’ recommendation that for now existing vessels at Aden and Persian Gulf stations should be usedCoghlan’s suggestion that a vessel of war be stationed at Perim Island in the Straits of Babel Mandel [Bab el Mandeb] commanding the entrance to the Red SeaThe agreement concluded by Coghlan with Sultan Manassir, the Oulaki [Sulṭān Manāṣir, al-‘Awlaqī tribe], and the latter’s complaints that his neighbours continue the trade and benefit further from his self-interdictThe issue of the need to obtain a treaty with ‘Arabian chiefs’ on the Gulf coast providing the right of British vessels to demand the liberation of enslaved persons landed ashore, and the assertion of the Acting Resident in the Persian Gulf that Zanzibar traders evade British surveillance by sailing to Oman and following land routes through Mesopotamia and Persia [Iran], and suggestion that a steam vessel be stationed at Mazeera Island [Masirah]The question of producing a ‘digest’ of all treaties existing on the subject of slavery and Coghlan’s concern that they are not enforced partly due to obscure termsAn intelligence report (supplied by a person connected with the firm of Menon Lambert and Co of Mauritius who have contracted with the British Government to carry the mails between Mauritius and Aden) describing the extent of the trade in enslaved persons carried on by Arab and Persian craft from the coast of Africa and Zanzibar to ports on the Red and Arabian seas and the Persian Gulf (ff 314-315).The principal correspondents are: Coghlan, the Government of Bombay, and the Acting Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire.Physical description: 1 item (19 folios)
Abstract: Enclosure nos. 2-18 to a despatch from the Secret Department, Government of Bombay [Mumbai], dated 17 January 1852. The enclosures are dated 16 June 1851-17 January 1852.The enclosures consist of copies of correspondence relating to four separate subjects.Folios 85-97 cover a complaint from the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia [Iran] that tents supplied to the British Mission at Tehran by the Government of Bombay in 1849 have proven to be of inferior quality to previous batches, and an enquiry into the tendering process and specifications of the tents.Folios 98-99 consist of an extract from a resolution by the East India Company Secret Committee relating to the establishment of steam navigation on the Indus and Punjab rivers for the purposes of communication.Folios 100-103 cover attempts to reduce the volume of communications between departments of the Government of India.Folios 104-113 cover the trade in enslaved persons within the dominions of the Imam of Muscat and Oman (including Zanzibar), and efforts against it by both the Imam and the British.The primary correspondents are: the Envoy in Tehran; the Government of Bombay; the Government of India; the Secret Committee; and the British Consul, Muscat.Physical description: 1 item (33 folios)
Abstract: Manuscript map used to illustrate routes of navigation around the harbour of Zanzibar [Zanzibar City] and the surrounding islands. The map indicates the coastline and coastal waters to a distance of two miles offshore, and portrays coastal and inland hydrography, vegetation, hachuring on coastal slopes, details of the fort and adjacent buildings of Zanzibar, and sandbanks, and includes topographical and navigational notes, depths by soundings, and coastal flows.The map was enclosed in HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia [Iran], Sir Harford Jones’s Dispatch No. 25 of 14 September 1810, which was received on 6 February 1811.Physical description: Manuscript: ink on paperDimensions: 400 x 275mm, on sheet 400 x 311mm
Abstract: Enclosures nos. 3-6 to dispatch no. 7 from the Secret Department, Bombay Castle, dated 27 March 1861. The enclosures are dated August 1860 to March 1861. Received 19 April 1861.The enclosures include correspondence from Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Palmer Rigby, HM Consul and British Agent, Zanzibar, describing recent slave trading activity at Zanzibar, and the role played by the French Consul there.Physical description: 1 item (13 folios)
Abstract: Enclosures nos. 3-4 to dispatch no. 21 from the Secret Department, Bombay Castle, dated 21 June 1861. The enclosures are dated April 1861. Received 15 [?] July 1861.The enclosures consist of letters from Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Palmer Rigby, HM Consul and British Agent, Zanzibar, concerning the involvement of 'piratical Arab tribes' in the slave trade at Zanzibar. The second letter includes translations into English of Arabic letters found on the dhows involved.Physical description: 1 item (6 folios)
Abstract: This item consists of copies of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 9 June 1874, forwarding copies of papers relating to Zanzibar affairs.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with f 231 and terminates at f 270, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains three foliation anomalies: f 231a, f 252a, and f 253a.
Abstract: This item consists of copies of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 30 June 1874 and received by the India Office Political Department on 27 July 1874, forwarding copies of further correspondence and proceedings connected with ‘slave-dealing’ carried on by ‘natives’ of India at Zanzibar, in continuation of Despatch No. 66 of 4 April 1874 (IOR/L/PS/6/117, ff 333-357).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with f 365 and terminates at f 381, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains two foliation anomalies: f 366a and f 380a.
Abstract: This item consists of copies of a Political Despatch from the Government of India's Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 21 July 1873 and received by the India Office's Political Department on 21 August 1873, forwarding copies of letters from the Political Agent and Consul at Zanzibar and the Resident at Aden respectively, which provide information regarding the Livingstone Expedition into East Central Africa, as well as news from Zanzibar.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 255, and terminates at f 260, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains three foliation insertion anomalies: f 255a, f 257a, and f 259a.
Abstract: This item consists of a copy of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 15 September 1873 and received by the India Office Secret Department on 13 October 1873, forwarding a copy of papers relating to the circumstances connected with the ratification, by the Sultan of Zanzibar, of the Treaty abolishing the trade in enslaved people. The despatch is in continuation of Political No. 57 of 16 June 1873.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 303, and terminates at f 311, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains one foliation anomaly: f 303a.
Abstract: This item consists of copies of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 9 October 1873 and received via Brindisi on 3 November 1873, forwarding copies of papers, chiefly correspondence and reports of HM Political Agent and Consul in Zanzibar, relating to measures for the suppression of the slave trade and the general conditions of affairs in Zanzibar. The despatch is in continuation of Political No. 153 of 15 September 1873.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 255, and terminates at f 291a, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains three foliation anomalies: f 255a, f 273a, and f 291a.