This folding map of Zanzibar Island was the most detailed map of the island available at the time and is one of the largest printed maps of Zanzibar ever published. Roads, villages, and wells are marked, and various terrain types are indicated, such as ravines, hills, and marshland.

The surveys for this map were undertaken by Imam Sherif Khan Bahadur from the Survey of India and the project was directed by General Sir Lloyd Matthews, a longtime British representative in Zanzibar who also served as Commander in Chief to the Sultan's army and as First Minister. It was said during his time as First Minister that Matthews' power defied "analytical examination", being only answerable to the Sultan or the British Consul. Much of this power was used to abolish slavery on Zanzibar Island and to stamp out the slave trade in the Sultan's East African territories. In this effort he was largely successful.

This map was compiled in London by Stanford's Geographical Establishment, one of Britain's great cartographic firms who specialized in producing remarkably detailed maps of even the remotest parts of the world. Curiously, the sales label on the outside of the folding map states that this example was sold not by Stanford's, but by The Map House at our old address in St. James's Street.

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