The Karimjee Jivanjee Family. Merchant Princes in East Africa
Gijsbert Oonk
This book provides a well documented analysis of the Karimjee Jivanjee family and their family business – Karimjee Jivanjee & Co. Gijsbert Oonk offers a comprehensive, fascinating biography that spans over 200 years. The Karimjee family has played a major role in shaping the political and economic history of Zanzibar and Tanzania, with close ties to the British Empire and German East Africa as well as the African Independence movements. Their business network covered regions from Japan to Zanzibar, East Africa and Europe. Family businesses usually do not disclose their business records to outsiders. This books provides a fascinating fresh history from ‘within’. Much more than a ‘rags to riches’ story, it is an account of East Africa told through the eyes of the family of a South Asian settler. The current generation of Karimjees count more than 100 family members, who live in more than twenty different countries around the globe. This book is a ‘must read’ for people interested in East African history, the Asian diaspora and (transnational) business history from a non-western perspective.
