The Moresby Treaty was an early British-Omani agreement restricting the Indian Ocean slave trade and barring sale of slaves to Christians.
Key Facts
- Date
- September 1822
- Number of Articles
- 6
- Omani Signatory
- Sayyid Said, Sultan of Muscat and Oman
- British Signatory
- Fairfax Moresby, senior officer of Mauritius
- Key Creation
- Established the Moresby Line
- British Post Authorized
- Official allowed in Zanzibar or East African mainland
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Indian Ocean slave trade, particularly the movement of enslaved people from Omani-controlled East Africa to British holdings in India and the Indian Ocean, prompted Britain to seek a formal agreement with the Sultan of Muscat and Oman to curtail this traffic.
In September 1822, Sayyid Said, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, and British officer Fairfax Moresby signed a six-article treaty barring the sale of slaves to Christians of any nationality, limiting slave imports into British territories, and creating the Moresby Line to demarcate restricted trade zones.
The treaty recognized Omani jurisdiction over waters near the East African coast, permitted Britain to station an official in Zanzibar or on the mainland, and established a legal framework that constrained but did not eliminate the East African slave trade, forming a foundation for later British anti-slavery efforts in the region.
Political Outcome
Treaty signed restricting Indian Ocean slave trade and barring sale of slaves to Christians; Moresby Line created; British official permitted in Zanzibar or East African mainland.
Unrestricted Omani slave trade to British-held territories in India and the Indian Ocean
Slave sales to Christians of any nationality barred; British oversight presence authorized in East Africa