Since as far back as the first century AD, Omani and East African coastal merchants have been involved in various economic, material, cultural and other exchanges. Despite such long established contact, it was not until the 1800s with the Omani sultan establishing Zanzibar as the capital of the Omani Empire, that the two regions entered into a period of trade that had a historically profound impact on each other’s current subjective identities. In terms of the populations that inhabit modern-day Zanzibar, they did not begin to refer to themselves as Swahili-a contested term that is used to this day-until the early 1800s as a result of increased Arab influence. Similarly, after many Arabs were expelled from Zanzibar following the revolution of 1964, these Arabs returned to Oman identifying as Swahili, too. Despite a previous tendency to portray Swahili and Omani Arab identities as rigid and exclusive, I argue that the increased 19th century trade between the two regions proved just how fluid the identities were and how such identities changed over time up until the 1964 revolution. By focus on the effects of increased trade relations, this study aims to uncover to what extent Omanis both in Oman and coastal East Africa, specifically Zanzibar, became ‘Swahilised’ and how that effected subjective identities. Additionally, this study aims to understand how the subjective identities of the peoples inhabiting what is now referred to as the Swahili coast-particularly near present day Zanzibar-changed with increased Omani influence. Gathering from an array of sources, including but limited to academic, art and oral histories, I aim to illustrate how different facets of Omani and ‘Swahili’ identity such as material cultural, musical identity, linguistic identity and social identity changed throughout the course of the Omani occupation of Zanzibar from the 1830s until the revolution of 1964. Many cultural aspects of each population had a great influence on the other, and even today, one can see the remnants of ‘Swahili’ culture in Oman and vice versa.