Zanzibar Land was a heavily fortified territory in the 1990 video game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

It was located between the former Soviet Union, China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The closest location meeting this description in reality is Badakhshan.

Solid Snake was sent to the territory to retrieve a kidnapped biologist, however, his mission ended up quite a bit more complicated.

In Metal Gear 2's sequel, the 1998 game Metal Gear Solid, Zanzibar Land was, for some reason, simply called "Zanzibar." This probably led many of its players to believe that it referred to the real-life Zanzibar that is part of Tanzania.

In Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, the enhanced remake of Metal Gear Solid, the adjusted script corrected all uses of "Zanzibar" to "Zanzibar Land."

The Metal Gear 2 game manual, like the game itself, was never officially translated into English, however, fans of the series have done translations of their own. The following information comes from a rough translation of the game manual.

• Population: 40,000
• Area: 450 km²
• Capital: Zanzibar
• Government: Republic
• Head of State: Unknown
• Political Parties: One-party rule by Zanzibar Land Party
• Languages: English, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Uzbek, Vietnamese, and French
• Race: 100 of every world race including Caucasian, African, Ukrainian, Russian, Uzbek, German, Chinese, and French.
• Currency: Zanje
• Defense Expenditures: 75% of GNP
• Products and Resources Iron, Coal, Bauxite, Tungsten, Sugar beets, Flour, Oats, Potatoes, Corn, Super Mentha, Jijirium, Bizanium, Eltonium, and Pegimin-h
• Arable Land: 24%
• Average Life Span: Male 41.5 years, Female 40.31 years (1999)
• Births 20 per 1000 population
• Deaths 35.8 per 1000 population

• Description: A landlocked nation surrounded by Pakistan, the USSR, China, and Afghanistan.

The south of the country is desert. The north is steppe, mountains, and plateaus. The climate is arid, with a large temperature difference between daytime and nighttime.

The area was formerly Zanzibar Province, a autonomous zone of the USSR. Opposition to the old regime mounted in the early 1990s, after the secession of the Baltic states. The period of crisis inspired nationalism in the area's leaders, who proclaimed independence in 1997.

Despite the intervention of major powers from both the Eastern and Western blocs, or, according to Metal Gear Solid's Previous Operations file, the CIS, the small tribal nation won its sovereignty. Primary credit for the success is generally given to the mercenaries from around the world that participated in the war.

Because of this, Zanzibar Land's war of independence is also called "The Mercenary War," and brought back to global attention the profession of the gun for hire.

After the war, Zanzibar Land became a heavily fortified nation.