Recent searches
Search options
We continue #emdiplomacy insights during #BlackHIstoryMonth and
want to draw your attention to the #Borno sultanate at the shores of Lake #Chad. Like the neighbouring #Kanem sultanate it was ruled by the Sayfawa dynasty from the 14th century. According to Rémi Dewière, “Kanem and Borno extended their commercial and diplomatic networks from Morocco to Mecca in the #middleAges, to northern Ghana and Instanbul in the #earlymodern period, and then to European countries in the 19th century.” The first known Borno diplomat was Idrīs b. Muḥammad, a cousin of the Borno sultan who was mentioned in the context of a mission to the Mamluk Egypt in 1391. In the decade following 1551, the sultans of Borno dispatched two embassies to Tripoli. In 1574 and 1577, the Borno Sultan Idrīs b. ʿAlī sent an ambassador, al-Hāǧǧ Yūsuf, to Istanbul. (1/5)
#NewDiplomaticHistory #Africa #histodons #history #histodons #GlobalHistory
Unlike for the European context, there are in fact no biographies or autobiographies from sub-Saharan #ambassadors in the #earlymodern period.
This is due to the scarcity of sources. However, in his study, Dewiere traced the background and activities of al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf, a key actor of the negotiations that occurred between 1577 and 1583, and discussed him as the epitome of a Sahelian #ambassador: (2/5)
Rémi Dewière: Al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf, Epitome of a Sahelian Ambassador? (1574–1583); In: Gebke, Julia / Mai, Stephan / Muigg, Christof (ed.): Das Diplomatische Selbst in der Frühen Neuzeit
Verhandlungsstrategien, Erzählstrategien, Beziehungsdynamiken (Münster 2022), 257-271.
https://www.aschendorff-buchverlag.de/digibib/?digidownload&tid=24863
#emdiplomacy #NewDiplomaticHistory #Africa #BlackHistoryMonth #histodons #history #histodons
al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf, a Islamic scholar, was active as #ambassador of Borno between 1574 and 1583. During this period, we can find him in Istanbul, Borno, Morocco. These activities are closely connected to the expansion of the #OttomanEmpire in North #Africa. Between 1574 and 1579, sultan Idrīs b. ‘Alī sent several embassies to Istanbul. In 1582 and 1583 al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf was sent twice to Morocco to Aḥmad al-Manṣūr, probably in order to create an axis against the Ottomans, after the Moroccan sultan hade declared his full independency towards the Ottoman Empire. Overall, al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf crossed the Sahara six times as a diplomat. (3/5)
#emdiplomacy #NewDiplomaticHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #histodons #history #histodons
However, al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf’s profile is closer to the trans-Saharan trader, who travelled back and forward than a professional #diplomat in a modern sense.
Moreover, sources indicate that he travelled in company with other traders. According to Dewière, “In Saharan context, many traders were jurists and vice-versa.The religious and legal knowledge of Yūsuf must have been of great help for performing his business.”
al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf might have gained from these missions, too. He probably used this charge to enlarge his social and economic capital and credit, as Dewière suggests. Thanks to these missions, he was able to reach Istanbul, Fes and Marrakesh and to establish contacts beyond Borno’s networks. (4/5)
#emdiplomacy #NewDiplomaticHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #history #Africa #OttomanEmpire #histodons #earlyModern
How representative is the case of Al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf?
Bono #diplomats had different backgrounds. Some were relatives to the sultans, such as the already mentioned Idrīs b. Muḥammad or Cidi Ismael who went to Tripoli in 1655. Other #ambassadors were slaves or eunuchs, and then there were traders. All these people had somehow close personal bonds to the ruler.
The case of al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf reveals another common characteristic of many Sahelian ambassadors in the 16th century: their shared experience of the ḥaǧǧ, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. (5/5)
#NewDiplomaticHistory #Africa #BlackHistoryMonth #histodons #history #histodons