A ground-breaking account of Goans who arrived in mid-nineteenth-century Zanzibar as sailors, cooks and clerks, and went on to become one of East Africa’s wealthiest and most influential communities. This is a sweeping human story of identity, ambition and the ambiguous nature of power. Zanzibar, situated off the coast of East Africa, was for long a junction for monsoon-driven sea routes connecting Africa, Europe and Asia. By the mid-nineteenth century, it had risen to prominence as a busy, cosmopolitan trading post for cloves, ivory and, unfortunately, slaves. It became a beacon for missionaries, explorers, merchants, and a theatre of Europe’s imperial ambitions. It was at this time that Goans, who had long been travellers and traders to the East African coast, began settling in Zanzibar, flourishing under Sultan Barghash bin Said’s reign. Among the early arrivals were C. R. Souza, D. B. Pereira and Brás Souza, who would all go on to become influential figures—ambitious, benevolent, but ultimately flawed characters. Their engagement with a host of lively per¬sonalities, including British arch-imperialists John Kirk and Gerald Portal, set in motion a compelling challenge of empire’s authority over ordinary lives. Mistaken as ‘half-caste Portuguese’, they were at times favoured by ...