Tippu Tip

Tippu Tip, orTippu Tib(c. 1837 – June 14, 1905), real nameḤamad ibn Muḥammad ibn Jumʿah ibn Rajab ibn Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd al Murjabī(Arabic:حمد بن محمد بن جمعة بن رجب بن محمد بن سعيد المرجبي), was anAfro-Omaniivory and slave owner and trader, explorer, governor andplantationowner. He worked for a succession ofsultans of Zanzibarand was theSultan of Uterera, a short-lived state inKasongo,Maniemaruled by himself and his sonSefu.
Tippu Tip traded in slaves forZanzibar'scloveplantations. As part of the large and lucrative trade, he led many trading expeditions intoCentral Africa, constructing profitable trading posts deep into theCongo Basinregion and thus becoming the best-known slave and ivory trader in Africa, supplying much of the world with ivory from enslaved Africans.
Based on descriptions of his age at different points in his life, it is believed that Tippu Tip was born around 1832 in Zanzibar.Tippu Tip's mother, Bint Habib bin Bushir, was aMuscatArabof the ruling class. His father and paternal grandfather were coastalArabsof theSwahili Coastwho had taken part in earlier slave-trading expeditions to the interior. His paternal great-grandmother, wife of Rajab bin Mohammed bin Said el Murgebi, was the daughter of Juma bin Mohammed el Nebhani, a member of a respected Muscat (Oman) family, and aBantuwoman from the settlement of Mbuamaji, south of what would later become the German capital ofDar es Salaamin present-day Kigamboni District.
Throughout his lifetime Hamad bin Muhammad bin Juma bin Rajab el Murjebi was more commonly known asTippu Tib, which translates to "the gatherer together of wealth".According to him, he was given the nickname Tippu Tip after the "tiptip" sound that his guns gave off during expeditions in Chungu territory.
At a relatively young age, Tippu Tip led a group of about 100 men into Central Africa seeking slaves and ivory.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.
Tippu Tip built a slave-trading empire, and is considered the second wealthiest Muslim slave trader in history, using the proceeds to establishcloveplantations onZanzibar.Abdul Sheriffreported 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".
He met and helped several Western explorers of theAfrican continent, includingDavid LivingstoneandHenry Morton Stanley.Between 1884 and 1887, he claimed theEastern Congofor himself and for the Sultan of Zanzibar,Bargash bin Said el Busaidi. In spite of his position as protector of Zanzibar's interests inCongo, he managed to maintain good relations with the Europeans. When, in August 1886, fighting broke out between theSwahiliand the representatives of KingLeopold II of BelgiumatStanley Falls, al-Murjabī went to the Belgian consul atZanzibarto assure him of his "good intentions". Although he was still a force in Central African politics, he could see by 1886 that power in the region was shifting.
In early 1887, Stanley arrived in Zanzibar and proposed that Tippu Tip be made governor of theStanley Falls Districtin theCongo Free State. Both Leopold and SultanBarghash bin Said of Zanzibaragreed and on February 24, 1887, Tippu Tip accepted.At the same time, he agreed to man the expedition which Stanley had been commissioned to organize for the purpose of rescuingEmin Pasha(E. Schnitzer), the German governor ofEquatoria(a region ofOttoman Egypt, today inSouth Sudan) who had been stranded in theBahr el Ghazalarea as a result of theMahdiuprising in Sudan.
Tippu Tip travelled back to the Upper Congo in the company of Stanley, but this time by way of the Atlantic coast and up theCongo River. Aside from its doubtful usefulness, the relief expedition was marred by the near annihilation of its rearguard.
After his tenure as governor, theCongo–Arab Warbroke out. Both sides fought with armies consisting mostly of local African soldiers fighting under the command of either Arab or European leaders.
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 sonSefu bin Hamidand a trader known asRumalizain the area close toLake Tanganyika.
In 1892,Sefu bin Hamedattacked Belgian ivory traders, who were seen as a threat to the Arab-Swahili trade. The Free State government sent a force under commanderFrancis Dhanisto the East. Dhanis had an early success when chiefNgongo Lutetechanged sides from Sefu's to his. The better armed and organised Belgian force defeated their opponents in several fights until the death of Sefu on 20 October 1893, and finally forcing also Rumaliza to flee to German territory in 1895.
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 theBantuSwahili language. Dr. Heinrich Brode, who knew him in Zanzibar, transcribed the manuscript into Roman script and translated it into German.It was subsequently translated into English and published in Britain in 1907.
Tippu Tip died June 13, 1905, ofmalaria(according to Brode) in his home inStone Town, the main town on the island of Zanzibar.
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