Barghash ibn Said

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Barghasch bin Said from Zanzibar
Sultan barghash with ministers

Sayyid Barghasch ibn Saʿīd Āl Bu-Saʿīd ( Arabic برغش بن سعيد آل بوسعيد, DMG Barġaš b. Saʿīd Āl Bu-Saʿīd ; * 1837 ; † March 26, 1888 ) was Sultan of Zanzibar from 1870 to 1888 . Barghash was the younger brother and successor of Majid ibn Said , the first Sultan of Zanzibar, and son of the Sultan Said ibn Sultan of Oman.

Life

After trying unsuccessfully to overthrow his brother Majid in 1860, he ruled the Sultanate of Zanzibar and its East African possessions from 1866 and 1870 until his death . Under his rule, the Stone Town district in Zanzibar City was expanded and in 1873 the slave trade was abandoned. In an alliance with the sultan, the Tanzanian Nyamwezi chief Mirambo was able to subdue the Arab slave and ivory traders from 1876, but after his death the slave trader Tippu Tip established a rule under the protection of the sultan and then from 1887 under that of the Belgian king Congo Basin.

According to Meyer's Konversationslexikon from 1897, Barghash recognized the advantages of Western, also purely intellectual, education and promoted the advance of European researchers on the mainland, while he increased his influence in the East African hinterland through the simultaneous advance of Zanzibarian slave traders. He protested against the protection treaties concluded by East African chiefs because of the advance of the slave traders with the German-East African Society (DOAG), but had to recognize them after a German fleet demonstration in 1885.

During further negotiations between DOAG and Zanzibar to transfer the administration of the Zanzibari coastal area to DOAG in the name of the Sultan, Barghash died on March 26, 1888. He was followed by his brothers Chalifa ibn Said (1888–1890) and Ali ibn Said (1890– 1893). Barghash's daughter Nunu was married to her cousin Hamad ibn Thuwaini ibn Said (1893-1896). Barghasch's son Chalid bin Barghasch tried in vain to gain sultanate in 1893 and 1896, see British-Zanzibarian War .

Sultan Barghash was a passionate believer in Ibadi teachings and is said to have dealt harshly with those Muslims who did not follow this teaching. The Zanzibari historian ʿAbdallāh Sālih al-Fārisī (1912-1982) compared him in this regard with the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mūn . Just as he had Ahmad ibn Hanbal imprisoned, Barghash imprisoned the scholars ʿAlī ibn Chamīs, ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Mazrūʿī and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Amawī , who represented different religious views than he did.

In 1875 Barghasch was awarded the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle , and in 1883 he became a Grand Knight of the British Order of St. Michael and St. George .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Ansprenger: History of Africa. Munich 2007, page 74.
  2. ^ Meyers Konversationslexikon, Volume 15 (Russian Empire to Sirte), page 254. Leipzig and Vienna 1897
  3. ↑ See Abdallah Salih Farsy: The Shafiʿi ulama of East Africa, c. 1830-1970. A hagiographical account. Transl. and ed. Randall L. Pouwels. Madison WI 1989. p. 22.
personal data
SURNAME Barghash ibn Said
ALTERNATIVE NAMES برغش بن سعيد آل بوسعيد (Arabic); Bargash ben Said; Barghash ibn Said Al Busaid; Barghash ibn Said
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sultan of Zanzibar (1870–1888)
DATE OF BIRTH 1837
DATE OF DEATH March 26, 1888
Place of death Zanzibar