Pt.II: Colonialism, Nationalism, the Harem 19th-20th centuries” Week 10: Nov. 18-22 “Zanzibar – the ‘New Andalous’ Zanzibar: 19th-20th C. (Zanzibar) Zanzibar: 19th-20th C. • Context: requires history of several centuries • Emergence of ‘Swahili’ coast/culture • 16th century with Portuguese conquests • 18th century Omani political/military involvement • 19th century Omani Economic presence Zanzibar: 19th-20th C. • Story ends with in late 19th century: • British and German involvement • Imperial political struggles • Changing global economy • Abolition of Slavery Zanzibar: 19th-20th C. • Story of the Swahili Coast Ocean Trade: Tied East Africa into Arabian and Indian Economies From Medieval Period Zanzibar: 19th-20th C. • Emergence of ‘Swahili’: Trade Winds (Monsoons): Changed direction every Six months Traders forced To remain on East African Coast Zanzibar: 19th-20th C. • Emergence of ‘Swahili’: • Intermarried with African women, established settlements • Built mosques, created Muslim communities • Emergence by 15th century: wealthy ‘Swahili City States’ scattered along coast • Language and culture embracing ‘Indian Ocean World’ Swahili Mosque: 19th-20th C. Zanzibar: 19th-20th C. Zanzibar: 19th-20th C. Swahili Coast: 16th-17th C • Portugal Creating ‘Ocean Empire’: • Following on trans-Atlantic expansion • Developed trade relations with West and Central Africa • Goal: to recapture Indian Ocean and Asian (China) commerce from Muslims • Meant controlling East Africa Portuguese in East Africa Swahili Coast: 16th –17th C. • 1505: Portuguese successfully sacked Kilwa Swahili Coast: 16th –17th C. • Established influence along most of coast, built ‘Fort Jesus’ (modern Mozambique) Swahili Coast: 16th –17th C. • 1552: Portuguese Captured Muscat – Omani Capital Controlled from 1508 – 1650; taken by Persians – retaken by Oman 1741 Swahili Coast: 16th –17th C. • Portuguese activity drew Omanis into East Africa: • Oman traded in Indian Ocean, as far east as China • Muscat: principal centre for Indian Ocean Trade • Controlled Arabian Sea • Portuguese Presence: destroying commerce, basis of Oman wealth Portuguese in East Africa • 18th Century: Oman… • drove Portuguese from Muscat (1740-50) • assisted several East African ‘Sultans’ (Swahili City States) to do the same • claimed control of the region re: rights to maritime trade Omani Empire c.18th C Had rebuilt power (political, economic): -at home - at sea by late 18th c. Oman in East Africa: 19th C. • Oman consolidated under rule of Sayyid Said bin Sultan (1804-1856): • concentrated on developing economy, commerce • made Zanzibar ‘second capital’ • concluded agreements Britain, France • built up navy, secured Persian Gulf [Father of Princess Sayyid Salme ‘Memoire of an Arabian Princess’, Add’l. Rdg] Oman in East Africa: 19th C. • Developed complex plantation economy, rooted in trade to interior: • invested in grain plantations on mainland (now Tanzania) • expanded ivory, slave-trading network to interior • Indian merchants provided credit for goods that moved as far inland as (today) eastern Congo Oman in East Africa: 19th C. Omani ‘Empire’ in East and Central Africa mid-19th Century Oman in East Africa: 19th C. • Sayyid Said’s death (1856) posed succession problem: • dispute threatened Oman’s prosperity • British Viceroy (India) mediated: • 1861 Omani sultanate ‘divided’ - Oman, Muscat to one son - Zanzibar, its ‘dependencies’ to the other [see Bhacker, ‘Family Strife and Foreign Intervention’, Add’l Rdg] Oman in East Africa: 19th C. Sayyid Majid bin said became Sultan of Zanzibar (1856-70) Oman in East Africa: 19th C. Followed by his brother Sayyid Bargash in (1870-88) Oman in East Africa: 19th C. And Khalifa bin Barghash And Sayyid Ali bin Said (1888-90) (1890-93) Oman in East Africa: 19th C. • Zanzibar was financial centre of empire: • subsidy built into agreement (Zanzibar to subsidize Oman) • Oman rejected terms but nevertheless, became dependent ‘backwater’ for next century • Zanzibar flourished: ‘the New Andalous’ [see Ghazal, ‘The Other Andalous…”, Resources] Germany in East Africa: 19th C. • During Sultan Bargash’s reign: Germans successfully conquered mainland: • British worried about Indian Ocean trade • ‘traded’ for rights to territories of what became Kenya, Zanzibar and Pemba Germany in East Africa: 19th C. German East Africa Co. 19th C. German East Africa c.1914 British in Zanzibar: 19th C. • Sultan Sayyid Ali: had little choice • Be destroyed by the Germans or… • accept British Protection • Formal British Protectorate established 1890 • Story of ‘harem’ caught up in history of Abolition efforts Zanzibar (and Pemba) and adjacent coast Harem on Swahili Coast: 19th C. • Looking at ‘harem’ in Zanzibar, Lamu and Mombasa: both Imperial and Household • Imperial Harem: Zanzibar • Bhacker article: story of Hilal, son of Sayyid Said – reflects political, ‘moral’ role of harem • ‘Memoir’: specific to Palace harem mid-19th century (Princes b. 1844, writes of childhood years; leaves Zanzibar 1866) – reflects ‘life’ in harem but also intrusion Europeans (women, merchants, British… ultimately German merchant is her ‘downfall’) Harem in Zanzibar: 19th C. • Looking at ‘harem’ in Zanzibar, Lamu and Mombasa: both Imperial and Household • Household Harems: • Zanzibar: presence concubines, eunuchs in context ‘slavery’ [Mackenzie, 1895, Resources – also notes trade in eunuchs]; concubinage as special aspect ‘abolition’ (Zanzibar, coast) [ Cave • Lamu: harem as space, presence concubines [Donely ‘Life in Swahili Town House’; Add’l Rdg.; also Romero, ‘Where have all the slaves gone…?’, Resources] • Mombasa (Kenya): seclusion,concubinage [McDougall, ‘Story of Bi Kaje’, Add’l. Rdgs.] Harem in Zanzibar: 19th C. • • To Be Cont. (Pt 2).