Emily Ruete (1844-1924)
Emily Ruete was born Sayyida, Princess of Zanzibar, in 1844. Zanzibar was then ruled by Omani Arabs and had grown rich from the slave trade and ivory from continental Africa and spices from the island of Zanzibar. They had spread their influence and swahili language as far west as Kisangani on the Congo river. It was a time of european traders and missionaries, harbingers of colonization and crusades against the slave trade. The Princess eloped with a German trader and moved to Germany, having been rejected by her family in Zanzibar. In the book “Memoirs of an Arabian Princess of Oman and Zanzibar”, which she wrote to leave a record of her history for her children, she describes life in the Zanzibar royal palace and plantations, life in the harem, traditions, palace intrigues and overthrows, slaves, the status of women etc. This is a great book for anyone interested in Zanzibar or the history of Eastern Africa.
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