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

@histodons @earlymodern @historikerinnen

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

@histodons @earlymodern @historikerinnen

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

@histodons @earlymodern @historikerinnen

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

@histodons @earlymodern @historikerinnen

One of these #Congolese #ambassadors to #Rome was Antonio Emanuel Ne Vunda.

We do not know much about him – a fate he shares with most #emdiplomats. He was a close relative to the Congolese king. In 1604 he left #Congo and set off for Rome where he arrived in 1608. Unfortunately, he died only two days after his arrival of illness. (6/6)

#NewDiplomaticHistory #emdiplomacy #history #earlymodern #histodons #emdiplomacysFaces

@histodons @historikerinnen
@earlymodern @womenknowhistory

Indigenous #Ethiopian #ambassadors were usually religious officials of high rank or trusted members of the imperial household, perhaps because the Ethiopians thought that European Christian powers could best be approached by men of religion.

Indigenous #Congolese ambassadors, on the other hand, were normally relatives of the king and could be cast in a much more ‘noble’ or princely light. As high-ranking royal relatives and courtiers, they donned expensive European clothes given to them by the Portuguese monarchs or popes on arrival at court.

One other outstanding difference is noticeable between #ambassadors from these two countries, for some Congolese ambassadors brought their wives, who represented yet another facet of #Africa – African womanhood. (5/6)

#NewDiplomaticHistory #emdiplomacy #diplomacy #history #histodons #earlymodern

@histodons @historikerinnen @earlymodern @womenknowhistory

The situation is quite different for #Congo.

After the christianisation of the kingdom, #diplomats were dispatched to the #pope

“The problem for Congolese #ambassadors was that their route to #Rome inexorably passed through #Portugal (as they had to take ships to reach #Europe and all the ships were Portuguese), but that once in Lisbon, the Portuguese were extremely reluctant to let the Congolese out of their sphere of influence and so kept them in Portugal. [...] Portugal guarded its power over the Congo jealously, and it is not coincidental that Congolese ambassadors started appearing in Rome only after Portugal's annexation by #Spain in 1580,” as Lowe explains. (4/6)

#NewDiplomaticHistory #emdiplomacy #history #histodons #earlymodern #diplomacy

@histodons @historikerinnen @earlymodern @womenknowhistory

In an article from 2007 Kate Lowe explores African diplomatic representation in #Italy and #Portugal during the age of #renaissance:

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0080440107000552

She, too, picks #Ethiopia and #Congo as case studies. According to her both states were primarily interested in links with the #Pope. The number of Ethiopian #embassies to Rome significantly increased in the 15th and 16th centuries. (3/6)

#NewDiplomaticHistory #emdiplomacy #history #earlyModern #diplomacy #histodons

@histodons @historikerinnen @earlymodern @womenknowhistory

However, even when it comes to diplomatic contacts between African and European rulers research is biased and focuses mostly on the Christian rulers of #Ethiopia and #Congo. These relations can be traced back to the #MiddleAges as Verena Krebs’s doctoral thesis shows:

https://www.verenakrebs.com/projects/medieval-ethiopian-kingship-craft-and-diplomacy/

(2/6)

#NewDiplomaticHistory #history #emdiplomacy #histodons

@histodons @historikerinnen @earlymodern
@womenknowhistory