Stuart Laing - Tippu Tip: Ivory, Slavery and Discovery in the Scramble for Africa

TIPPU TIP

Hamed bin Mohammed al-Murjabi, also known as Tippu Tip, sits for his formal studio portrait in Zanzibar, ca . 1890s.

He was described by the Briton Herbert Ward as a very remarkable individual in every way of commanding presence, and a wonderful degree of natural ease and grace of manner and action. He stands nearly six feet in height, has brilliant, dark, intelligent eyes, and bears himself with an air of ultra-imperial dignity.
(Ward 1890: 491)

Ivory, Slavery and Discovery in the Scramble for Africa

Stuart Laing

Tippu Tip

Ivory, Slavery and Discovery in the Scramble for Africa

Stuart Laing 2017

ISBN: 978-1-911487-05-0

Produced and published in 2017

by

Medina Publishing Ltd

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Surrey KT6 7AL

medinapublishing.com

Edited by William Facey

Designed by Kitty Carruthers

Maps by Martin Lubikowski

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Tippu Tip. Portrait photograph taken by GPA, published in Hoffmann 1938

Sayyid Said bin Sultan. Painting; by courtesy of Bait al-Zubair Museum, Muscat

John Hanning Speke. Full-length portrait painted by James Watney Wilson; by courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society, London

Richard Burton. Photograph, from the portrait by Lord Leighton in the National Portrait Gallery, London; by courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society, London

Verney Lovett Cameron. Portrait photograph; by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

Livingstone in swamp near Lake Bangweolo. Engraving from Waller 1874

Ivory caravan. Photograph from the Fisher Collection; by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

Ivory objects. From the authors family collection

Henry Morton Stanley in Makata swamp. Engraving from Stanley 1872

Ujiji, Lake Tanganyika. Engraved view from Hore 1892

Henry Morton Stanley. London studio portrait; by courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society, London

Tusks in doorway of merchants house, Zanzibar. Photograph from the J.A. Grant Collection; by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

The front door of Tippu Tips house, Zanzibar. Photograph by the author

The plaque beside Tippu Tips front door, Zanzibar. Photograph by the author

Detail of wood carving, Tippu Tips front door, Zanzibar. Photograph by the author

Ivory warehouse, Zanzibar. Photograph from the Christie Collection; by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

Sayyid Barghash with his delegation visiting England, 1875. Photograph; by courtesy of Zanzibar Archives

John Kirk. Photograph reproduced from Foskett 1946

Dr James Christie. Photograph in a book of his letters; by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

Princess Salme bint Said. Photograph; by courtesy of Zanzibar Archives

King Leopold II of the Belgians. Portrait engraving; from Stanley 1885

Hermann von Wissmann. Sketch portrait; from Brown 189295

Jrme Becker. Portrait engraving; from Becker 1887

Tippu Tips majlis , probably in Nyangwe. Engraving; from Ward 1890

Walter Deane escaping from Stanley Falls. Illustration; from Ward 1890

The steamboat Le Stanley . Engraving; from Ward 1890

Rooftop view of Zanzibar, early 20th century. Photograph, from the Royal Commonwealth Society Collection; by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

Zanzibar waterfront, early 20th century. Photograph, from the Royal Commonwealth Society Collection; by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

View from the roof of Bait al-Ajaib, 2012. Photograph by the author

T HE AIM OF THIS BOOK is to introduce the reader, through the life of Tippu Tip, to the extraordinary world of East Africa in the second half of the 19th century the time of the Scramble for Africa when European powers took over huge areas of the continent in a largely unplanned campaign of colonial and imperial expansion. Tippu Tip both spearheaded the Arab effort to open up Central Africa from the east, and watched from a ringside seat as Arab influence in the region was whittled away. In the latter process he played a significant role by co-operating with Western explorers, most notably with Henry Morton Stanley. His ability to face both ways found its most piquant expression when King Leopold II of Belgium engaged him as a governor in the eastern Congo. By following Tippu Tips life, we can begin to understand how and why these momentous events unfolded processes which have left strong traces in Africa still today.

I first came across Tippu Tip when researching for a dissertation on the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in East Africa and the Indian Ocean in the 19th century. He immediately seemed an intriguing character. Dismissed in some accounts as a notorious slave trader, there was obviously more to him than that. For one thing, the evidence suggests that he was primarily interested in ivory, not slaves. Not that this makes him an angel, since the quest for ivory had disastrous effects on elephant herds even in (and before) Tippu Tips time, long before the terrible depredations we are seeing today. But he stands out from his Arab contemporaries. Partly this is because he engaged more closely with the world outside Africa. Mainly, however, it is because he left memoirs (the Maisha , which cannot quite be called an autobiography), through which the voice of a 19th-century Arab is clearly heard.

The book also fills a gap in the English-language bibliography of Africa of the Scramble. In Franois Renault, Tippu Tip has had his biographer in French, but in a form not easily accessible to the general reader. I hope that, through this book, more will come to enjoy a knowledge of this interesting episode in African (and European) history, with its cast of remarkable characters.

No author works alone. I have been helped by my wife, Sibella, and family members, all supportive of my apparent obsession with Tippu Tip. I am grateful to a number of Africanists who pointed me in the right direction in my research, and particularly to Felicitas Becker in Cambridge, who helped sort out discrepancies in the translations of Tippu Tips memoirs. Clara Semple helped me with illustrations, and on information about the Maria Theresa dollar. Staff in the Cambridge University Library, especially in the Munby Rare Books Room, were invariably helpful in digging out source material. My editor, Will Facey, ironed out many wrinkles, and helped make the book more accessible. I thank them all.

References to Tippu Tips memoirs (see the ) are given in the form Maisha [paragraph number], using the paragraph numbers in the Smith/Whiteley edition.