Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume (1905-1972), Tanzanian political leader, became the Zanzibari vice president of the republic of Tanzania. He was one of Africa's least-known leaders.

Sheikh Abeid Karume was apparently the son of a slave woman from Ruanda-Urundi who moved to Zanzibar when the boy was young. He had little formal education, in 1920 becoming a seaman working cargo boats out of the island. He ultimately rose to quartermaster. A member of the British Seamen's Union, after 1938 he operated a syndicate of motorboats carrying passengers to and from harbor ships.

Karume first entered politics in 1954 when he was appointed town councilor. Later he became president of a social organization for black migrant workers called the Zanzibar African Association. In 1957 this group united with the Shirazi Association to form the pro-British AfroShirazi Party (ASP) with Karume as president. In July 1957, by appealing directly to the African community making up four-fifths...