Tharia Topan
Tharia Topan was a notable Khoja merchant and chief of customs of the Sultanate of Zanzibar during the 19th century.
History
Early life
Tharia Topan was born in Lakhpar, Cutch State in the former British India, to a poor family engaged in vegetable trading. At the age of twelve he was wrongly accused of stealing money, beaten and fled by hiding on a dhow. He awoke to find it already at sea bound for Zanzibar, where he arrived without money and illiterate. He found work as a garden sweeper in the household of Ladwa Damji for six shillings a month and gradually learned to read and write, setting the stage for his later rise in trade.Career in Zanzibar
By his early twenties, Tharia Topan had become head of the credit department in the Jairam Shivri firm. While working there, he took a small loan to buy a donkey cart and began selling cloves and trading other goods on his own. His ventures proved profitable, allowing him to amass wealth. In 1845, he returned to Kutch for the first time in twelve years, married and brought his wife back to Zanzibar to expand his business.Topan diversified into the clove, spice and ivory trades, while also financing both local and European merchants as a banker. In 1976, he was appointed chief of customs in Zanzibar, and by the end of the century had opened offices in Bombay with agents stationed in several Swahili ports.
His commercial success inspired many aspiring migrants from British India, particularly among the Khoja and other mercantile communities to travel to East Africa. Contemporary accounts report that he sponsored Isma'ili migrants to settle in Zanzibar and other towns, and sometimes directly employed them in this enterprises.