who is Tipu tip?

Answer 1

That name rang a bell with me. I sort of remembered him as a chieftain and broker who helped Stanley in his search for Livingstone. But to get the story straight, I pulled from the shelf my copy of Pakenham's 1991 history: "The Scramble for Africa: the White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912".

Tippu Tip (real name Hamid bin Muhammed, a half-breed) was an ivory merchant, slave trader, regional warlord, and power broker based at Nyangwe on the Lualaba, a major tributary of the Congo, west of Lake Tanganyika. He flits in and out of Pakenham's 700-page story, first appearing as the slaver who outfits Stanley's first expedition to find Livingstone. He made a fortune trading slaves and ivory, and he had to be dealt with by any European wanting to do anything in south-central Africa.

Later, he provided porters (in neck chains) for Stanley's expedition to relieve Emin Pasha, the European (German, I think) who set himself up with his own fiefdom somewhere on the Congo.

In a quick perusal of the book -- Tippu Tip is in there a dozen or more times -- I did not find the circumstances of his death, or whether he was ever overthrown. It appears that he wielded power in a very violent and risky business for probably two decades.

He was certainly a man to be reckoned with, and an important historical figure during the decades of European imperial conquest in sub-Saharan Africa.

This question might induce me to read Pakenham again. It's a good book.

Answer 2

Perhaps you mean who was Tipu Tip?

http://www.encounterzanzibar.com/sultans.htm

Answer 3

I never heard of this--it is a person or a thing?