Tippu Tip: Ivory, Slavery and Discovery in the Scramble for Africa

by Stuart Laing

Tippu Tip was chiefly an ivory trader, who pioneered for new sources through present day Tanzania into the Congo basin. Slavery is part of his story, because Arab traders of the time used slaves as porters and sold slaves through the market in Zanzibar to work locally in plantations and beyond in the Gulf and Persia.

He was a pioneer of discovery, both in Arab terms and because this was the great period of European exploration in East and Central Africa: he assisted most of the famous explorers, including Livingstone and Stanley, when it served his interests. He can be seen as an Afro-Arab exponent of empire, as his commercial ambitions could only be realized by means of Arab territorial control and colonization.

His colorful life culminated in his engagement as governor of a province in the 'Congo Free State' of the Belgian King Leopold, and in his involvement in Stanley's astonishing expedition to relieve Emin Pasha, governor of the Egyptian southern province of Equatoria.

Uniquely among Arabs and Africans of this era, Tippu Tip wrote an autobiography. Stuart Laing draws on this and other contemporary sources to give a graphic account of the life and times of this energetic, resourceful, ruthless but often humorous operator. We watch him as he accumulates wealth and power, but then has to stand by helplessly as the British and German colonial machine carves up the territory of his friend and protector, the Omani Sultan of Zanzibar, and as the Belgian empire in the Congo drives the Arabs out of the trading areas of influence they had established west of Lake Tanganyika.

This book is the first thorough investigation in English of this significant figure. The lucid narrative unfolds against the political and economic backdrop of European and American commercial aims, while allowing the reader to see the period through African and Arab eyes. The fascinating figures who strutted the 19th-century African stage, and their hardly believable exploits, give this book an appeal reaching beyond the African specialist to the general reader.

Genres: History, Biography

196 pages, Hardcover

Published January 23, 2018

Reviews

[Daniel Kibsgaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent account of the life and times of Tippu Tip, well researched and written in an accessible manner. The book could have gone to greater lengths to provide the ‘African perspective’ and provided more detail on life in the caravans or the nature of cannibalism. A more critical analysis of the ivory and slave trade and its long term impact on the region was also missing although this is perhaps beyond the scope of the biography.

[Ricardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a different and deeper perspective from a very controversial character in East African history. For anyone interested in African history, particularly the scramble for Africa period, this book is quite illustrative.

[Jodi Funk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really well laid out, which made for efficient reading. Laing was able to include expansions on characters, detailed and consistent maps, as well as, in text references back to key characters or situations. Tippu Tip was a complex man, leaving you with mixed feelings on whether he was a tyrant or a businessman, or a mixture of the two. There are many perspectives on Tippu Tip’s chapter throughout history and I think Laing was able to summarize them all in this readable book.

[Mike O · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author does a good job of recounting the times and circumstances surrounding the life of Tippu Tip.


As Mr Laing states at the end, he was truly a man of his time. One important takeaway is that Tippu Tip was really more of a capitalist-minded ivory trader than a brutal, racist Arab slaver.

In this book the reader is taken on a ride that spans the middle 19th century, from the period of Omani Arab domination to the emergence of European colonialism. At the risk of sounding like a coddling Orientalist, I'd say that there is something congenial about the pre-colonial order that is described in this book... It also features surreal cast of characters. David Livingston here, Morton Stanley emerging from the bushes, Speke and Burton in canoes( A most intriguing personality was that of Mirambo), all going about their day, towards negative, neutral and positive changes that affect the area till today.

Tippu Tip comes off as a stoic character who was better than some of his peers, but ultimately lacking against the background and change in which his world became convulsed. It is appropriate to despise some of his actions, refute his values and reprimand his posture on key issues. But it wouldn't be too bad to admire the man for who he was. A true emblem of an era. The best and worst of it.

PS: I went to Stone town when reading this book. Had to find his house. It isn't too far from where Freddie Mercury was born. Check it out if you find yourself there.

Thank you Mr Laing.

[Sıla J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laing delivers a masterful biography of the controversial Tippu Tip, delineating the nuances that governed Tippu Tip's life. As is generally the case with biographies, the book indulges in narrative history sometimes. This doesn't mean that it isn't packed with necessary information that guides the reader throughout the make better sense of the key actors, places and even commodities like the Maria Theresa dollar.
There's one instance where I think Laing's understanding of Western abolitionary efforts in Africa is a little one-dimensional:
"However, in Equatoria as elsewhere, slave-trade abolitionists from Europe encountered the standard objections from those who believed that slavery was sanctioned by Islam, and that in any case it was part of the cultural heritage of their society."
I see where Laing's coming from, but Western abolitionary activities didn't meet resistance solely on cultural grounds. Abolitionary efforts often came as a façade to further imperialist/colonialist encroachment (the right to inspect ships, for instance) which didn't escape the attention of the rulers, traders and slaveowners in the MENA region.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent read. Mr. Laing does an excellent job balancing several difficult jobs as he describes Tippu Tip's life based on his journals, fills us in on the cultural milieu, investigates the impressions of European explorers and colonizers who met Tippu Tip, and situates all of it the historic context of the end of Omani-Zanzibari dominance in Eastern Africa as the Scramble begins among the European powers. Books like these help bridge a large conceptual gap between an (often imagined) pre-colonial Africa past and an extremely troubled colonial and post-colonial history. Although the Scramble for Africa happened relatively quickly, it was the result of centuries of previous interaction between Europeans, Africans, and mixed race peoples such as the Arabs/Swahili who often served as interlocutors. Tippu Tip is unique for having served both at the height of the Zanzibari sultanate and also being wrapped up in its ultimate fall from a massive trading empire into a puppet state on the coast of German East Africa. Although Tippu Tip was a complex and at times brutal man, he was a product of his time and his life is worth studying for anyone interested in African history.

[Desi Pilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this book down.

This is a brilliant biography of Tippu Tip’s travels. The author does an excellent job at providing context at every turn. For each European traveler that Tippu Tip meets, he paints a vivid picture by telling the background of each explorer. This context makes the historical story much more understandable.

[Bernard · Rating 3 out of 5]

P. 233: Tippu Tip said that, having previously thought the white men fools, he was now-having seen the prosperity of Cape Town- coming to think that “they have something in them, and that they are more enterprising than the Arabs”.
Interessante opmerking.