Zanzibar and Southern Africa: Imperial visions and Ottoman Connections I

This is the seventh instalment in ‘Siyah’, a series which explores African Diaspora and Turkish social and cultural narratives, with journalist Adama Juldeh Munu. Ahmet Kavas explores how the Ottoman Empire was embroiled in a struggle against Portuguese expansion and domination on the northern and east African coasts.

The Ottomans’ first contact with Africa was after the conquest of Egypt in 1517, which had been under Mamluk rule for three centuries. At that time Mamluk defence forces, which were fighting against Portuguese expansionism around the Red Sea and Aden Bay, accepted a new government in a short time. These defence forces were very important for the Ottomans’ protection of Africa’s eastern coasts, because if Portuguese rule contained the Arab peninsula and the Red Sea, it would be very difficult for the Ottomans to be the dominant power in the region. It is for this reason that the Ottomans felt the need to strengthen Mamluk defence forces immediately. With the help of these forces, the Ottomans had the opportunity to help the Sultanate of Harar in its victories against the Christian Abyssinian Empire that was receiving help from Portugal. The sultanate’s golden era during the 16th century was therefore possible with the help of Ottoman forces based in the Red Sea.

Note: The Sultanate of Harar was a kingdom located in Harar, Ethiopia. It succeeded the Adal Sultanate, and its leader Amir Nur continued the struggle of the Adal leader Imam Ahmed Gurey against the Ethiopian Empire.

Amir Abdulahi, the last Amir of Harar (1884-1886)

French historian Jean-Louis Bacqué-Grammont, with one of his colleagues, wrote an important book on the removal of the Portuguese from the Red Sea entitled: Mamluks, Ottomans et Portugais en Mer Rouge: l’affaire de Djedda en 1517. We can also see many historians who paid much importance to this issue. As a result of this development, Turks were not confined to the Red Sea only, but expanded their rule to India and the East African coasts.

“With victory came mastery of the Red Sea and the trade with the East. The Ottomans inherited the custodianship of the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah and the pilgrimage routes. This meant protecting Red Sea shipping from the Portuguese. In 1538 the Ottomans sent a huge fleet of 100 ships and 20,000 men down the Red Sea. They occupied Aden and captured a number of Portuguese ships. This Ottoman occupation prevented the Portuguese from threatening either Aden or Jeddah any further, and, by the 1560s, more spices, largely conveyed in ships from Aceh, were reaching Jeddah than were reaching Lisbon. By the end of the 16th century, the Portuguese had abandoned any attempt to establish a monopoly of trans–Indian Ocean trade, contenting themselves with their control of the sea route to Europe. Many private Portuguese traders operated on equal terms with their Asian partners and competitors, fully assimilated to the constraints of the Indian Ocean trading network.”

An image of the Nile river from geographer Piri Reis

Piri Reis, who was one of the Ottoman Empire’s greatest seamen in the 16th century wrote a book called Kitâbü Bahriye, detailing the region from Somali’s capital city Mogadishu to Madagascar. Below are extracts:

“One of the more distant cities is known by the name of Sofala. It is rich in gold mines. Another is Mombasa, another Malindi, another Mozambique and still another Kilva. The most famous however is the city of Mogadishu. There is no city larger than this here. The ships of the Portuguese come to this city every year and take the gold they obtain back to their country. Now I have told you one by one everything there is concerning the country of Mogadishu, which is called Abyssinia. See now the island’s good friend, and hear what is located on them. There exists an island there known by the name Zanzibar. It is inhabited by the Muslims. There is a great island there that they call Tinku. The Franks call this island San Loranzo (Madagascar) while the Arabs call it Kûmûr. They speak in the language of Mogadishu and they call this place Tinku. The most valuable product there is the wood of the sandal tree. In that country this is all that they burn. Another thing’s respect is their Black rulers whom they obey like sultans. Their ruler at one time was Sultan Adil bin Muhammed Han. There are large cities there and all the inhabitants are Black. One of the cities is Re’s-i Bîmâr (Vohimarina– Port on the eastern coast of Madagascar) and another they call Sa’de (Port on the west of Madagascar). One of the cities is Lankaniki (capital of Madagascar, located on western coast), their capital. All the people here are of the Shafi’i sect.

Besides this island there are four more, and all together they are called the Comoros Islands. Each one of these islands has a separate name. Tell me each one. One of these islands they call in fact Mu’alî (Moheli). This island has three large cities. Its inhabitants are all of the Shafi’i sect and all perform their ablution. Because the shah of shahs rules not this island, it is governed by a council of elders. The second island they call Mâgûtâ (Mayotte). The Portuguese occupied this place and wished to establish a colony here. I will tell you that the island has a ruler who loves God greatly. He is Muhammed bin Omar, the son of a sultan, and he is the sovereign of the island. Some of the population are Black and some are white. They are of the Shafi’i sect and there are no divisions among them.

Hear now about the third of the islands and its name is Züvânî (Anjouan, third of the Comoros Islands). All the inhabitants of this island are Black. A sheikh rules over them and they have no other sovereign. All of them are Muslims of the Shafi’i sect and they are all champions of the faith. Now if you wish let me tell you the situation of the fourth. Behold the circumstances of this island: it is loftier than the others. Though it has high mountains it lacks streams and there is no good harbor here for ships. They call it Kazîja (Grande Comore [Ngazidja]) and it is ruled over by forty great sheikhs. They hunt each other down and sell their prey. They are good hunters like Tartars. Good friend, I have explained these five islands and now you should see what sort of customs they have. They treat their slaves like sheep and lambs. Some are old and some are young. There are men with a thousand slaves male and female. These are cared for like cattle. And their sons and daughters they constantly put up for sale. Sailors come hither and buy them. They fill their ships and take them away. They always sell them in Yemen though sometimes they take them as far as Jeddah. I have told of the particulars of this island. Now hear about the others. Besides these islands there are two more which are also among the Comoros islands. One of these is Penba. This island that I have called Penba is also known as Akhdar. This island has so many vineyards and gardens that were a man to enter here he would become lost.”

In order to be powerful in the Indian Ocean region, it was necessary (for the Ottomans) to possess Yemen. The Ottoman Empire expanded its borders to the furthest point in her entire history during the time of Sultan Murad III (1574-1595). The sultan personally appointed Hasan Pasha as the governor to show how the region was important for him (1580-1604). On the way to India, the Portuguese tormented rulers of southern Arabia and the coastal region from Somalia to South Africa. Hasan Pasha sent troops to Oman and also a fleet to Mombasa twice to protect the region from Portuguese invasion. In all these expeditions his best supporters and assistants were local people and in turn their rulers declared their lands to Hasan Pasha.

Sultan Murad III

It was not till the year 1580, in the time of Sulayman’s grandson, Murad III, that a renewed struggle took place. It was, however, local, being entirely confined to the coast of East Africa. The attack on the Portuguese seems to have been the work of one man, Ali Beg, who was sent out by the Albanian Wali of Yemen. It is doubtful whether this was ordered or inspired from Constantinople, as it does not seem to have been mentioned by any Turkish historians. The Arabs, who had declared in favour of the Turks, continued to defy the Portuguese, and in 1589 the Wali sent out Ali Beg a second time on a better equipped expedition. Ali’s ship consisted of four galleys and had been captured in the first attempt. Had the Turkish rulers now been in a position to send out a strong fleet they might possibly have overthrown the Portuguese naval power. Ali Beg was received with enthusiasm by all the Arabs who had declared for Turkey, but, as before, Malindi defied him. Ali Beg grounded on a sandbank and was bombarded by the Portuguese. He got away to Mombasa, intending to fortify himself there. The fleet (Portuguese) arrived on the coast of Brava, and following it to the south by the Lamu Archipelago received news that the Turks were at Malindi. He found on arriving there that they had gone to Mombasa. The fleet arrived at the entry of the port on March 5, 1589. The fight which ensued ended in the destruction of the Turkish fleet and the capture of the fort which they occupied. Many Turks who took refuge on the mainland were killed by a Bantu tribe, known to the Portuguese as the Zimba, who had for some years been spreading desolation along the south-eastern African coast from the Zambezi northwards. This ended Turkish discomfiture.

In part two of his essay, Kavas focuses on the Ottomans’ relationship with South African Muslims and Southern African nations.

Original essay published here: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/582756

Siyah: Muhammad Shitta Bey and the First Mosque in Lagos

This is the sixth instalment in ‘Siyah’, a series which explores African Diaspora and Turkish social and cultural narratives, with journalist Adama Juldeh Munu. Hassam Munir alludes to some of the cultural outcomes of the Ottoman Empire’s pursuit to gain greater influence in Africa through religious institutions. He tells the story of Muhammad Shitta, also known as ‘Shitta Bey’, who was born in the liberated African village of Waterloo, Sierra Leone to Yoruba parents who were rescued by the British from illegal slave trading. He is known for having played an important role in the spread of Islam in Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Mohammed Shitta

In 1894, Sultan Abdul Hamid II decided to present his empire’s highest civilian order to Muhammad Shitta, a Nigerian Muslim entrepreneur from Lagos. Shitta earned the honour by sponsoring the construction of a mosque in Lagos. This was a time during which European missionaries, who had followed Europe’s colonial powers in their Scramble for Africa in recent years, were very active in trying to spread Christianity in West Africa. Perhaps the sultan wanted to challenge this activity; maybe he also wanted to spread the influence of the struggling Ottoman Empire in faraway Muslim communities. However, the sultan wasn’t personally able to present the honour to Shitta; but who could go to Nigeria on the sultan’s behalf to do so?

The sultan chose William Henry Abdullah Quilliam, a British convert to Islam. After embracing Islam in the late 1880s, Quilliam had played a leading role in organizing the small Muslim community in Britain. Within a few years of embracing Islam and travelling to North Africa, Quilliam had earned the title of ‘alim’ (Islamic scholar) from the very prestigious University of al-Qarawiyyin. He had also earned the admiration of the sultan, who (as the nominal caliph of the Muslims) had named Quilliam the leader of the British Muslims.

Responding to the sultan’s request, on June 6 1894, Quilliam departed from Liverpool, England to begin his journey to Lagos. On the way, he stopped at the Canary Islands, Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Gold Coast before finally arriving in Nigeria. He was guided along the way by West African contacts he had made through his role as a Muslim journalist and leader in Britain. The influence of the British Empire at the time had made Quilliam something of a celebrity among Muslims around the world.

Everywhere he stopped, crowds gathered to see and meet him. When he met an elderly blind imam in the Gambia, for example, the imam rubbed his hands over Quilliam’s face and tearfully said, “I have now heard the voice and been in the company of the white man who is preaching the true faith of God and His Prophet to the great English nation… and now Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate, your servant is ready to depart this life in peace, whenever You shall call him home, for his ears have listened to the voice You have inspired to be the revealer of the truth to the white men, and to be the proclaimer of Islam in the midst of its enemies.”

Shitta-Bey Mosque. Circa: 1902

On June 28, Quilliam finally arrived in Lagos, where he was welcomed by thousands of Muslims and non-Muslims. In the company of his friend Al-Hajj Harun al-Rashid, who had recently visited him in Britain, as well as Shitta, the recipient of the Ottoman honour, Quilliam spent the next few days preparing for the opening of the new mosque, known today as the Shitta Bey Mosque. The mosque was special in that it had been sponsored by Shitta and it had been designed by two Black Muslims who had returned to Nigeria from Brazil, where they may have once been taken as slaves. Thus, the mosque was designed, built and paid for by Black Muslims. The grand opening of the mosque was on July 5. The ceremony was attended by Muslims from across West Africa. Even non-Muslims were present, such as Quilliam’s good friend Edward Wilmot Blyden, the father of the ideology of pan-Africanism. Shitta was duly honoured, after which he became known as Shitta Bey (“bey” being a prestigious Ottoman title).

Located at Martins Ereko Street, Lagos, Nigeria. It was established in 1892 and designated as a National monument by the Nigerian Commission for Museums and Monuments in 2013.

Quilliam addressed those gathered in a speech in which he emphasized the need for peaceful Muslim-Christian coexistence and the need for Muslims to educate themselves in both Islamic and worldly disciplines. Quilliam doesn’t seem to have offered this advice in a patronizing way to his West African brothers and sisters; rather, as they recognized, he genuinely wished to help them address the problems they faced and had expressed his affinity for Africa long before he had been sent on this mission by the sultan.

Having completed his mission, Quilliam set off on his journey home in late July. He was suffering from malaria and special prayers were made for his recovery after the Friday congregation across West Africa. After his return to Britain, many West African Muslim leaders, including Shitta Bey, remained in very close contact with him. Quilliam’s newspapers, the Crescent and the Islamic World, helped news about the Muslim communities in West Africa spread regularly across the Muslim world. Meanwhile, Quilliam and his writings became very popular in West Africa, and one Christian man even claimed to have embraced Islam after reading Quilliam’s The Faith of Islam.

But the aspect of this interaction for everyone involved in it was that it could be said that (without denying the importance of race to a Muslim’s identity), “Islam transcends race and eliminates racism”. It was not just a lofty ideal but an achievable reality. A Sierra Leonean Muslim leader of the time, Muhammad Gheirawani, said it best: “We were often told [by European colonialists]… that Islam was the religion only of inferior races—that it could be received only by the Black man. Ah! What will they say now when great Englishmen are bowing down under the rays of the crescent?”

Reference:

Brent D. Singleton (2009) “That Ye May Know Each Other”: Late Victorian Interactions between British and West African Muslims, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 29:3, 369-385.

Originally published on ihistory.co

Siyah: The Ottoman Scramble for Africa

This is the fifth instalment in ‘Siyah’, a series exploring African Diaspora and Turkish social and cultural narratives, with journalist Adama Juldeh Munu. Courtesy of the Ottoman History Podcast, the following interview looks into Ottoman diplomacy in Africa against the backdrop of nineteenth century European colonial politics.

The Scramble for Africa is a term to describe the outcome and implications of the 1884-1885 Berlin Conference, attended by European nations with the exception of Switzerland, and including representatives from the Ottoman Empire and the United Kingdom. As writer Patrick Gathara states in an Al Jazeera article: “The West African Conference of Berlin would last 104 days, ending on February 26, 1885. In the 135 years since, the conference has come to represent the late 19th century European scramble and partition of the continent … It did something much worse, though, with consequences that would reverberate across the years and be felt until today. It established the rules for the conquest and partition of Africa, in the process legitimising the ideas of Africa as a playground for outsiders, its mineral wealth as a resource for the outside world not for Africans and its fate as a matter not to be left to Africans.”

The Ottoman Empire occupied an unusual place among the competing imperial powers of the nineteenth century. On the one hand, a weak military position often forced the Ottomans to accept unfavorable economic and political arrangements while playing other empires off each other to maintain autonomy. On the other, there was an expansion of state institutions throughout Ottoman domains and an increased Ottoman presence in many parts of Asia and the Indian Ocean region. Many even point to a form of Ottoman colonialism practiced at the empire’s frontiers. Mostafa Minawi offers a glimpse into the Ottoman Empire’s role in the realm of strategic imperial diplomacy within the context of the Scramble for Africa and European competition over influence on the continent.

Hosted by Christ Gratien

Special guest: Mostafa Minawi, Assistant Professor of History at Cornell University

Listen here.

Source: “The Ottoman Scramble for Africa,” Mostafa Minawi and Chris Gratien, Ottoman History Podcast, No. 143 (1 February 2014)