^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Zanzibar independent (1963-1964)

Sultanate of Zanzibar
Variant flag

See also:

Sultanate of Zanzibar

by Vincent Morley, 1997 Jan 16

On 10 December 1963, the Zanzibar Protectorate was granted independence as the Sultanate of Zanzibar by the British. The flag adopted was red with a green disc upon which were two yellow cloves. (Possibly because the flag was short-lived, variations exist on the design of the cloves.) The Sultanate, and its flag, didn’t last long. On 17 January 1964 there was a violent Marxist/Africanist coup which resulted in the deaths or explusion of an estimated one in five of the Arab population.
Stuart Notholt, 29 Jun 1996

Does anyone know of a national flag that was used for a shorter time?
Vincent Morley, 16 Jan 1997

The short-lived flag seems to be the only flag ever showing cloves. Gernot Katzer's Spice Dictionary has more details on cloves. Cloves are produced by the clove tree _Syzygium aromaticum_ ([L.] Merr. & Perry), aka _Eugenia caryophyllata_ and _Caryophyllus aromaticus_ (_Myrtaceae family). In traditional pharmaceutical nomenclature, cloves are called _Flores Caryophylli_. They are indeed floral buds.
Cloves are strongly aromatic and have a very intensive fragrance, a fiery and burning taste. The content of essential oil in cloves of good quality may exceed 15%. The oil itself is dominated by eugenol (70 to 85%), eugenol acetate (15%) and B-caryophyllene (5 to 12%), which together make up 99% of the oil.
The clove tree is endemic in the North Moluccas (Indonesia) and was of old cultivation on the islands of Ternate, Tidore, Bacan and the West coast of Halmahera. The Dutch extended cultivation to several other islands in the Moluccas, but only after the end of the Dutch monopoly (18th century), clove trees were introduced to other countries.
The most important production area today is the island of Pemba, which together with Zanzibar forms one part of the state of Tanzania. The whole island of Pemba is covered with clove gardens, and it is reported that the island can be smelled on any ship approaching it. The short-lived Sultanat of Zanzibar and Pemba (1963–1964) had a flag showing two clove buds.
Cloves are also grown on other East African islands, most notably, Madagascar. In Indonesia, clove production has recovered from poor decades after World War II, such that the country was forced to import cloves to satisfy the huge domestic market. Since the 1980s, Indonesia is again producing in large scale, although little of the Indonesian crop gets exported.
Cloves are an ancient spice and, because of their exceptional aromatic strength, have always been held in high esteem by cooks in Europe, Northern Africa the greater part of Asia.
Trade between the “clove island” Ternate and China goes back at least 2500 years. In China, cloves were not only used for cooking but also for desodoration; anyone having an audience with the emperor