[4] Zanzibar City comprises two main parts, Stone Town and Ng'ambo (literally: "The Other Side"); the two areas were historically divided by a creek since filled in, with the street on the Stone Town side of the creek originally called Creek Road but later renamed to Benjamin Mkapa Road.

[5][6] Stone Town is the historical core of the city, the former capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate; because of its unique architecture and culture, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

[7][8] Ng'ambo is a much larger, modern area that developed around Stone Town after the Zanzibar Revolution, with office buildings and large apartment blocks such as those of the Michenzani neighbourhood.

[9] The city was a high place of slavery, one of the main ports of East Africa for the slave trade.

In 1866, the British explorer David Livingstone (1813–1873) stayed in Zanzibar to prepare his last expedition to Tanzania.

Zanzibar City has a tropical climate, very similar to whole Unguja island, and slightly hotter than what is found in Pemba.