Majid bin Said of Zanzibar

Majid was a son of Said bin Sultan and succeeded to authority in Zanzibar after his father's death divided the Omani maritime empire. He became the first ruler of an independent Sultanate of Zanzibar in 1856 and governed an island economy based on cloves, Indian Ocean commerce and enslaved labour.

His rule was challenged by his half-brother Barghash, whose 1859 rising was defeated with British assistance. Trade Wind places this documented succession conflict within its fictional romance and anti-slavery plot. Historical treatment should not reduce Majid's reign to the novel's palace intrigue or overlook Zanzibar's central role in the East African slave trade.