Kupcy indyjscy w międzynarodowym handlu Zanzibaru w latach 1840-1888

The article concerns the role of the Indian merchants in the international trade of Zanzibar during the period 1840-1888, i.e. from the strengthening of the rule of Sa'īd ibn Sulṭān Āl Bu Saʻīdī on the East African coast to the loss of this area by his son Barḡaš ibn Sa'īd as a result of the colonial conquest. This article deals with both objective and subjective factors determining the place of Indians in the trade of Zanzibar including transport and communication, currency, factors related to participation in exchange mechanisms, negotiations, cooperation, competition and capital flow. Moreover, the author analyzes the transformation within the Indian community of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, referring to the concept of commercial diaspora. He focuses on the ways in which the diaspora acted as an intermediary in the international exchange at various levels, adapting to changing political, technical and financial conditions. He scrutinizes the changes in relations with Europeans, including the erosion of trust which was related to the increase of competition and risk. The author draws a model of the evolution of the Indian community from the stage in which access to brokering was controlled by the diasporaʼs narrow elite and the ruler to a situation in which the hierarchy of diaspora became fragmented and the access to credit opened new opportunities for a broader wave of immigrants at various levels of exchange. This concerned both the direct trade with western markets and the trade on the East African coast. The author used the archival sources from Zanzibar, Great Britain, Germany, the USA and France, including those created by the merchant companies from Staatsarchiv in Hamburg and the Peabody Essex Museum in Peabody (MA, USA)