Abeid Karume

Abeid Amani Karume was born on August 4, 1905, in Mwera, Zanzibar. Working as a merchant seaman across the world in his youth, he returned to Zanzibar to organize dockworkers and boatmen into the African Association in 1934.

In 1957, Karume founded the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP), representing the marginalized Black African majority against the ruling sultanate aristocracy. Following the January 12, 1964 revolution that overthrew Sultan Jamshid, Karume became President of the People's Republic of Zanzibar. On April 26, 1964, he signed the historic union treaty with Julius Nyerere, fusing Tanganyika and Zanzibar into the United Republic of Tanzania, serving as First Vice-President until his assassination in 1972.