Tippu Tip
Tippu Tip | |
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Born | Hamad bin Muhammad bin Juma bin Rajab el Murjebi c. 1832 |
Died | June 14, 1905 (aged 73) |
Other names | Tippu Tib |
Occupation(s) | Slave trader, ivory merchant, explorer, governor |
Children | Sefu bin Hamid |
Signature | |
Tippu Tip, or Tippu Tib (c. 1832 – June 14, 1905), real name Ḥamad ibn Muḥammad ibn Jumʿah ibn Rajab ibn Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd al Murjabī (
Tippu Tip traded in slaves for Zanzibar's clove plantations. As part of the large and lucrative trade, he led many trading expeditions into Central Africa, constructing profitable trading posts deep into the Congo Basin region and thus becoming the most well-known slave trader in Africa, supplying much of the world with black slaves.
He also bought the ivory from WaManyema suppliers in Kasongo, the capital of the
Early life
Based on descriptions of his age at different points in his life, it is believed that Tippu Tip was born around 1832 in Zanzibar.
Throughout his lifetime Hamad bin Muhammad bin Juma bin Rajab el Murjebi was more commonly known as Tippu Tib, which translates to "the gatherer together of wealth".[1] According to him, he was given the nickname Tippu Tip after the "tiptip" sound that his guns gave off during expeditions in Chungu territory.[3]
At a relatively young age, Tippu Tip led a group of about 100 men into Central Africa seeking slaves and ivory.[1] After plundering several large swathes of land, he returned to Zanzibar to consolidate his resources and recruit for his forces. Following this he returned to mainland Africa.[4]
Later life
Tippu Tip built a slave-trading empire, and is considered the second wealthiest Muslim slave trader in history, using the proceeds to establish clove plantations on Zanzibar. Abdul Sheriff reported that, when he left for his twelve years of "empire building" on the mainland, he had no plantations of his own. By 1895, he had acquired "seven 'shambas' [plantations] and 10,000 slaves".[5]
He met and helped several Western explorers of the
Governor of the Stanley Falls District
In early 1887, Stanley arrived in Zanzibar and proposed that Tippu Tip be made governor of the
Tippu Tip travelled back to the Upper Congo in the company of Stanley, but this time by way of the Atlantic coast and up the Congo River. Aside from its doubtful usefulness, the relief expedition was marred by the near annihilation of its rearguard, a disaster for which Stanley attempted to place the blame on Tippu Tip.[citation needed]
Congo–Arab War
After his tenure as governor, the
When Tippu Tip left the Congo, the authority of King Leopold's Free State was still very weak in the Eastern parts of the territory and the power lay largely with local Arabic or Swahili strongmen. Amongst these were Tippu Tip's son Sefu bin Hamid and a trader known as Rumaliza in the area close to Lake Tanganyika.
In 1892,
Death
After returning to Zanzibar around 1890/91, Tippu Tip retired. He set out to write an account of his life, which is the first example of the literary genre of autobiography in the Bantu Swahili language. Dr. Heinrich Brode, who knew him in Zanzibar, transcribed the manuscript into Roman script and translated it into German.[8][9] It was subsequently translated into English and published in Britain in 1907.[10]
Tippu Tip died June 13, 1905, of malaria (according to Brode) in his home in Stone Town, the main town on the island of Zanzibar.
See also
- Zanzibar slave trade
References
- ^ a b c Hinde 1897, p. 8
- ^ Brode, 7-8
- ^ Ferant, Leda (1972). Tippu Tip and the East African slave trade. Hamilton. p. 42. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
For two months Tippu Tip's caravan camped in Chungu's territory and punitive parties were sent out looking for Samu and his men. According to Tippu Tip this was the time he was given his nick-name because guns went 'tiptip, in a manner too terrible to listen to'.
- ^ Hinde 1897, p. 9
- ^ Sheriff, 108
- ISBN 0486256685
- ^ Bennett and Brode
- ^ * Autobiographie des Arabers Schech Hamed bin Muhammed el Murjebi, genannt Tippu Tip. Transscribirt und übersetzt von Dr. H. Brode. Mittheilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin Dritte Abtheilung V 1902, Afrikanische Studien 1902, p. 175 First part online , pdf S. 676 (Swahili-German)
- ^ Autobiographie des Arabers Schech Hamed bin Muhammed el Murjebi, genannt Tippu Tip (Schluss). Transscribirt und übersetzt von Dr. H. Brode. Mittheilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin Dritte Abtheilung VI 1903 Afrikanische Studien, S. 1 Second part, pdf p. 560 (Swahili - German)
- ^ Tippoo Tib, The story of his career in Central Africa, narrated from his own accounts by Dr. Heinrich Brode, London, Edward Arnold 1907
Sources
- Bennett, Norman Robert (1986). Arab vs. European: Diplomacy and war in Nineteenth-Century East Central Africa. New York: Africana Publishing Company.
- Elliot, Charles (1907). Preface. Tippoo Tib: The Story of His Career in Zanzibar & Central Africa. By Brode, Heinrich. Translated by Havelock, H. London: Arnold.
- Edgerton, Robert B. (2002). The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-30486-2.
- Hinde, Sidney Langford (1897). The Fall of the Congo Arabs. London: Methuen & co. ISBN 978-1313986960.
- Maisha ya Hamed bin Mohammed el Murjebi yaani Tippu Tip kwa maneno yake mwenyewe, kimefasiriwa na W.H. Whitely (toleo la Kiswahili - Kiingereza), East Africa Literature Bureau 1974
- Oliver, Roland Anthony (2004). Africa since 1800. ISBN 0-521-83615-8.
tippu tip mother.
- Sheriff, Abdul. Slaves, Spices & Ivory in Zanzibar: Integration of an East African Commercial Empire into the World Economy, 1770-1873. London, Nairobi, Tanzania, Athens,OH: James Currey, Heinemann Kenya, Tanzania Publishing House, Ohio University Press, 1987.
External links
Media related to Tippu Tip at Wikimedia Commons