Negro king

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Negro king is a word for monarchical rulers of Africa. The term is now completely out of date and not politically correct .

Certain conventions, which represent the forerunners of today's international law , were already in force in the early modern colonialism . By simply setting the flag “for God and Crown”, only land areas that were actually newly discovered (for Europe) could be taken into possession. Elsewhere, the legitimacy of a branch had to be proven in a document in order to have existed in bilateral negotiations or before arbitration bodies such as the Holy See in Rome, i.e. contracts such as purchase, lease, donation, voluntary protection - even if they were obtained by fraudulent literacy or blackmailed through military measures - or a (in European eyes) legitimate military conquest. This was especially true for the African continent, which was undisputedly known from time immemorial, so it could not be "discovered". These political considerations also flowed into the early scientific geography , when Africa was described ethnographically more precisely in the later 17th century for the first time on the European side , especially sub-Saharan Africa - black Africa, the "unknown" south of Africa apart from the Maghreb in the Mediterranean area, which is indeed in the European Cultural tradition was present through Roman times . It was described early on that there were also larger, completely sovereign, state-like entities there. For the heads of these territories one had no other word than the equivalent of the king of European understanding, who in the system of feudalism was not subject to any other secular power. Therefore, the terms "Negro king" and "Negro kingdom " were formed in ethnography and political geography . For example, the head of the - so-called - "king" empire of the Congo is mentioned, but also the chiefs of other tribes. The expression was then transferred to puppet governments set up by the European colonial administrations , as well as the leaders of independence movements of black groups in Africa and the Americas (for example the leaders Toussaint and Dessalines of the short-lived - as such self-proclaimed - "imperial" empire Haiti  1804) . Accordingly, there are also English Negro king or French Roy nègre .

Next to it there is the word for Balthasar, the one of the three wise men , who is depicted as dark-skinned, also to represent the original African Christianity . This is why the Negro king can be found in art-historical iconography both as a holy king and as a symbol of the pagans .

Today the expression is considered completely unsuitable in technical terms. On the one hand, negroes are consistently only ethnophaulism for blacks , on the other hand - with the exception of a few terms for existing monarchies or those that were already established under international law in the 19th century - the terms of the Christian-European tradition no longer apply to other cultures for official titles transferred, the national language expressions are increasingly used untranslated in the sense of a technical vocabulary. In general, there is more of a tribal chief and the like. In heraldry, the figure of a black man with a crown is correctly emblazoned as a Moorish King or a Crowned Moor (the word stands for Moorish ), these designations can also be found today in art history.

The word was discussed again in the 2010s, it can be found in Astrid Lindgren's popular children's book Pippi Longstocking for her father (in the Swedish original Pippi Långstrump : "negerkung" ) - the Oetinger-Verlag replaced it in its German translation with "Südseekönig" ( see Neger: Controversy about the use in literature and product names ).

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Descriptions of such acquisitions in relation to “Negro kings” can be found, for example, on Diogo de Azambuja 1481 in the Congo region:
    Oscar Peschel: Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen , Volume 2, Verlag Cotta, 1858, p. 89 ( Google eBook, complete view );
    L. Aulander: The sea heroes of Portugal, their travels and discoveries on the coasts of Africa and East India in the 15th and 18th centuries     . 16th century. After ältern u. edited the latest sources for the more mature youth, Verlag Winckelmann u. S., 1850, p. 13 ( Google eBook, full view ).
  2. ↑ As an example: Erasmus Francisci: Newly polished history, art and customs mirror of foreign peoples / mainly the Sineser / Japanese / Indostan /… in six books / sixth book, second book (Das Andre book) The police and war -Orders / customs / manners / and habits / virtues and vices. Verlag Johann Andreas Endter, Nuremberg 1670 ( Google eBook, full view ) - the author deals with the "kings behind capo verde / African kings behind the head of good hope" (Chapter XXIX Die Wapen / Helmen / und Petschaffte. P. 697, Sp 2; Chapter from p. 683 - “Cape of Good Hope” here not in today's sense) and “Title of the Unbelieving Kings…” (Chapter XXX The Title. P. 698, Col. 1).
  3. ↑ a b For example, King of Siam / Thailand ( Phra mh̄ā ks̄ʹạtriy̒ thịy ); analogously also Emperor of China ( Huáng / Di ), Emperor of Japan ( Tennō ), but also here: Tsar of Russia ( Tsar ), Shah of Persia (Šāh); these terms date to the 17th century; see. above-mentioned Francisci: Newly polished history, art and customs mirror of foreign peoples ... , 1670 - the author names the "Emperor / King / Great King of Sina" (p. 967, column 2, p. 968, column 1 and . 2), “Emperor of Japan” (p. 968, col. 1), “ King in Celon (Zeilan) ” (p. 967, col. 1), “ King of Achem (or Acen) ” (p. 701 , Col. 2), but also the " Padeschach (Kaiser) der Türcken " (p. 702, Col. 2) and "Schach (or King) of Persia" (p. 967, Col. 1; discussion of the word p. 702, col. 2), “Tsar of Russia” (p. 967, col. 2), “ Great Indian Mogol ” (p. 967, col. 1, p. 701, col. 2); and also the " Abyssinian kings " (p. 703, col. 2) of Ethiopia, who were not counted among the "African kings".
  4. ↑ JB Weis: The Negro King. In: The Austrian People's Friend. 1830, section ethnology. Pp. 63-65 ( Google eBook, full view ); Section starting on p. 54 - on character image and some racial and legal groups of the "negroes" of South America and Africa.
  5. ↑ Gottlieb August Wimmer: The unveiling of the continent or general history of voyages of discovery ... Volume 2 The geographical discoveries in Africa. 1834, 2nd book, chapter 10. Bathel's adventures. P. 146 (chapter from p. 141, Google eBook, full view ).
  6. ↑ For example, the "Negro king of Grand Bassa " or the "Negro king Peter Harris" in the neighborhood of Liberia around 1830 are mentioned in: Friedrich Wilhelm Carové: Sketches for the history of culture and art. Volume 3 of Neorama , Verlag O. Wigand, 1838, Section III. Tablets for Ethnology and World Studies , Chapter 12. The colonies of free negroes in Africa. P. 292 ( Google eBook, full view , section from p. 243).
  7. ↑ "negro king of Joloffen " in Gambia in: Carl Ritter: The geography in proportion to the nature and the history of man. 1st part, 1st book. Africa. 2nd Edition. Verlag G. Reimer, 1822, p. 412 ( Google eBook, full view ).
  8. ↑ August Wilhelm von Zimmermann: The earth and its inhabitants according to the latest discoveries: a reading book for geography, ethnology, product theory and trade. Volume 2 West Indies. Verlag Fleischer, 1810, p. 161 f ( Google eBook, complete view ) - the author discusses the context of international law for the abolition of slavery.
  9. ↑ Zb Life and Landscapes from Egypt to the Negro Kingdom of the White Nile: Being a Journey to Central Africa. OA, 1855.
  10. ↑ a b The English term negro kingdom is still used as a technical term, for example: Robert Bernasconi: Race and Racism in Continental Philosophy. Indiana University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-253-11067-X , p. 294 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  11. ↑ About: Journal for Christian Art. Volumes 29–30, Verlag L. Schwann, 1916, p. 50 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  12. ↑ cf. H. Boehmer: The Jesuits. 1907, p. 93 (Reprint Salzwasser Verlag, Paderborn 2013, ISBN 978-3-8460-3611-2 ; limited preview in the Google book search) - there an iconography of St. Ignatius , who subjects a “crowned Negro king to God's law . "