The Sultanate of Zanzibar had become the Carriers of the Sea of the Western Indian Ocean mainly thanks to the Kingdom of East Africa, this emerging market supplying goods. Moreover, East African immigrants also chartered Sultanate of Zanzibar vessels, chiefly for female immigrants from the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. As for immigrants from Germany and the Far East, Hechingen Overseas Trading Company handled them, occasionally hiring Dutch ships when its carrying capacity fell short.
The Sultan of Zanzibar had originally risen through the slave trade, so he was highly experienced in transporting people. Any region sharing the same faith was a source of goods—such as parts of India, the Dutch East Indies, Central Asia, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire, all places where Arab merchants could be found.
Although the Sultanate of Zanzibar's black slave trade had declined rapidly over the past two years as the risks grew ever greater, the Kingdom of East Africa only needed to let a little of its resources slip through its fingers to feed the Sultanate of Zanzibar until its mouth ran slick with oil.
Young Sayyid often grumbled about his father behind his back, wondering why he had not developed East Africa back then and had instead handed such a prize to the Germans for nothing. Yet Young Sayyid could only think about it. Without sufficient population and scientific reserves, developing Africa was nothing but a road to death. The Sultanate of Zanzibar possessed neither of those things. One could hardly expect a million negroes to develop Africa. The Arabs had been at it for centuries and had achieved only a little success along the coast, in Somalia.
The Kingdom of East Africa's advanced concept of "hygiene" alone was already generations ahead of its time. In exaggerated terms, the Kingdom