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The Pate Chronicles Revisited: Nineteenth-Century History and Historiography1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Randall L. Pouwels
Randall L. Pouwels*
Affiliation:
University of Central Arkansas
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Extract

A few years ago I offered an assessment of the Pate “Chronicles” as a tradition-based source for the history of the East African coast. That paper drew on recensions and versions that were readily available at that time to researchers interested in their historiography. Reasons of length and scope, cited at the end of the paper, restricted discussion to Sultan Fumo Madi b. Abu Bakr and his predecessors (Sultan nos. 1-24), that is to say, up to the time of the Battle of Shela, ca. 1807-13. To reiterate, in that paper I established the following points:

(1) All recorded versions appear to have been based on an oral tradition that was extant in the mid- to late nineteenth century among Nabahani family members. The existence of a “Book of the Kings of Pate,” mentioned by Werner and Prins, is problematic (see 3 below).

(2) Despite the number of versions of the Pate “Chronicles,” they appear to have actually come from only two informants, Bwana Kitini and Mshamu bin Kombo, who was a relative or possibly, as Tolmacheva claims, Bw. Kitini's brother.

(3) Except for minor, though discernible, differences between the lists of the sultans given by both informants, most versions are consistent to a surprising degree. This seems attributable to the fact that there were only two informants, Kitini and Mshamu, who also were related, and who therefore themselves probably shared the same source(s). Given the differences of detail beyond the kinglists, if one of those earlier sources was a written one, such as an actual “Book of the Kings of Pate,” that source seems to have afforded the informants little beyond names and regnal dates.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 23 , January 1996 , pp. 301 - 318
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1996

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Footnotes

1.

I would like to thank the American Philosophical Society and the Research Council of the University of Central Arkansas for assistance which contributed to this paper.

References

Notes

2. Pouwels, Randall L., “Reflections on Historiography and Pre-Nineteenth-Century History from the Pate “Chronicles,”” HA, 20 (1993), 263–96.Google Scholar

3. At this point readers should be aware of somewhat different apparent meanings between “recensions” of a text, and “versions” of it. Webster's dictionary seems to use the former as a more restricted meaning of the latter, i.e., as a “reading” of a particular text. Therefore, I have chosen herein to refer to closely-related “versions” of the Pate texts as “recensions.” Thus, for example, the WHC 177-358 “versions,” as argued below, constitute a single “recension.” Table 1 indicates that we have three major (and possibly four, if one includes the dubious Voeltzkow account), known recensions of the Pate Chronicles, based on two known sources.

4. Interested readers are referred to Pouwels, “Reflections,” 276-79.

5. Werner, Alice, “A Swahili History of Pate,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 14 (1915), 149Google Scholar; Prins, A.H.J., “On Swahili Historiography,” Journal of the East African Swahili Committee, 28 (1958), 31.Google Scholar

6. Tolmacheva, Marina, The Pate Chronicle (East Lansing, 1993), 20.Google Scholar

7. See Tables 1 and 2 in Pouwels, , “Reflections,” 269-71, 272–73.Google Scholar The only exception to this statement is the recension published in Stigand, Land of Zinj, which is appreciably different in all respects. However, I am convinced that the differences are due to the method by which they were rendered to Stigand, as discussed in ibid., 273-74.

8. Tolmacheva, Pate Chronicle.

9. The Werner, Heepe, and MSS 177, 309, 321, 344, and 358 versions have been published in Tolmacheva, along with the Stigand and Voeltzkow recensions. Cf. Tolmacheva, Pate Chronicle. However, for the record, the Werner, Heepe, Stigand and Voeltzkow versions originally were published in Werner, A., “A Swahili History of Pate,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 14 (1915), 148-61, 278-97, 392–413Google Scholar; Heepe, M., “Suaheli-Chronik von Pate. Ubersetzt und bearbeitet von M. Heepe.” Mitteilungen des Seminars fur Orientalische Sprachen, 31 (1928), 145–92Google Scholar; Stigand, C.H., The Land of Zinj. (2d ed.: New York, 1966), 27–102Google Scholar; and Voeltzkow, A., Reise in Ostafrika, in den Jahren 1903-1905. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse. (2 vols.: Stuttgart, 1923)Google Scholar, vol. 2. MSS 177, 309, 321, 344, and 358 are to befound in the Library of the University of Dar es Salaam. The Cusack, Clive, and Talbot-Smith accounts are found in the Kenya National Archives as DC/LAM/3/1.

10. MS 309 appears only as an abstract in Tolmacheva, , Pate Chronicle, 467–74.Google Scholar

11. The story in question is tagged on as a footnote to the famous story concerning Mwana Darini's quarrel with Sultan no. 18, and the carving of the Pate siwa. According to this, the old siwa, perhaps representing part of a so-called seam in the story, as explained in the previous paper, was lost by the people of Lamu during the time of Sultan Tamu Mkuu. See Pouwels, “Reflections.”

12. No. 13 in Stigand/Voeltzkow is not included in Kitini's WHC 177-358 recension.

13. For examples of such attempts see Voeltzkow, , Reisen, 65Google Scholar; and Heepe, , “Suaheli-Chronik von Pate,” 148–49.Google Scholar Both are reproduced in Tolmacheva, , Pate Chronicle, 478-79, 484–85.Google Scholar

14. Ylvisaker, Marguerite, Lamu in the Nineteenth Century. Land, Trade, and Politics. (Boston, 1979).Google Scholar

15. Evidence of this interference and growing local distrust of the Arabs are especially clear in the terms of the 1727 treaty which Bw. Tamu Mkuu signed with the Portuguese. In this, Pate's sultan asked for guarantees of his city's “ancient mode” of government, and protection from the Umanis. For this treaty, see MS 7640, Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa. For further discussion, see Guillain, Charles, Documents sur l'histoire, le géographie et le commerce de l'Afrique orientate (Paris, 1856), 1:547, 551–52.Google Scholar

16. On the Guillain claim of Nabahani origins see ibid., 1:534.

17. While the Pate Chronicles are supported by at least one external source that the successor sultan's name was Ahmad, there is some confusion over the name of his opponent. Smee and Hardy, who visited Pate in 1811, name the sultan as “Hammed,” but his rival as one “Ben Baneeci.” See Capt. T. Smee, and Lieut. Hardy, “Observations during a Voyage of Research on the East Coast of Africa, from Cape Guardafui south to the Island of Zanzibar, in H.C.'s cruisers Ternate (Captain T. Smee) and Sylph schooner (Lieut. Hardy)” in Burton, R.F., Zanzibar: City, Island, and Coast (2 vols.: London, 1872), 2:475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The so-called Lamu Chronicle names Ahmad's opponent as Fumo Luti wa Bayaye. There are indications, however, that the latter might have been a third party to the conflict, not identifiable with the Fumo Luti b. Fumo Madi identified in the Pate Chronicles as Ahmad's nemesis. See. al-Lamuy, Shaibu Faraji b. Muhammad al-Bakari, “Khabaru'l-Lamu,” Bantu Studies, 12 (1938), 18–19.Google Scholar This view is supported further by the fact that the Stigand recension clearly identifies Fumo Luti wa Bayaye, whom the Lamuans backed, as a separate person from Fumo Luti b. Fumo Madi.

18. Guillain claims that the Mazrui initially were invited in to adjudicate the rift between supporters of Fumo Luti, “son of the deceased sultan” and “a certain Wazir” related to Fumo Madi (“gendre du même sultan”). When mediation proved unsuccessful, the Mazrui supported Wazir by force of arms and Ahmad, his client, was chosen. Guillain is not clear about Ahmad's actual identity. At times he appears as Wazir, and elsewhere as Wazir's client. However, the fact that Guillain claims Wazir survived Ahmad's death indicates that these were separate individuals. See Guillain, , Documents, 1:567–68.Google Scholar

19. For a discussion of the possible wider socio-economic context of this rivalry see Pouwels, Randall L., “The Battle of Shela: The Climax of an Era and a Point of Departure in the Modern History of the Kenya Coast,” Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, no. 123 (1992), 363–89.Google Scholar For an interesting reconstruction of the verbal jousting see Biersteker, Ann and Shariff, Ibrahim Noor, eds., Mashairi ya Vita vya Kuduhu: War Poetry in Kiswahili Exchanged at the Time of the Battle of Kuduhu (East Lansing, 1995).Google Scholar

20. Guillain, , Documents, 1:569.Google Scholar However, it must be pointed out that the Mshamu and Stigand recensions indicate that Sayyid Said's intervention at Lamu came during the time of the next sultan, Fumo Luti b. Fumo Madi.

21. This was a fact commemorated most eloquently in the famous poem by Nasir, Sayyid Abdalla Ali, Al-Inkishafi, The Soul's Awakening, ed. Hichens, W. (2d. ed.: Nairobi, 1972).Google Scholar

22. On Lamu's growing importance and Pate's decline see Pouwels, “Battle of Shela;” and Ylvisaker, , Lamu, 38–41.Google Scholar Already in 1811 Smee and Hardy remarked that Pate “has no trade at present,” while Mombasa and Lamu were “annually improving.” See Burton, , Zanzibar, 2:513.Google Scholar In 1822, Owen remarked further that Lamu “has much commerce, and is populous, being decidedly one of the best stations upon the coast.” Owen, W.F.W., Narrative of Voyages to Explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia and Madagascar Performed in H.M. Ships Leven and Barracouta under the Direction of W.F.W. Owen, R.N., by Command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty (2 vols.: London, 1833), 1:364–65.Google Scholar For further details on Lamu's trade, see Boteler, Thomas, Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery to Africa and Arabia Performed in His Majesty's Ships “Leven” and “Barracouta” from 1821 to 1826, under the Command of Capt. F.W. Owen, R.N. (2 vols.: London, 1835), 1:387.Google Scholar

23. Ibid., 1:373-74; Owen, , Narrative, I:383.Google Scholar

24. Guillain explains that he actually had lived at Muscat previously and was given troops by the Sayyid to expel his predecessor. Guillain, , Documents, I:571.Google Scholar

25. Ylvisaker, Lamu, citing al-Amin b. Ali Mazrui, “A History of the Mazrui” MS in the Fort Jesus library, 45-56; and Boteler, , Narrative, 1:373–74.Google Scholar

26. Lt. J.B. Emery cited in Ylvisaker, , Lamu, 73–75Google Scholar; Owen, Narrative.

27. Guillain, , Documents, 1:571.Google Scholar Guillain relates that Shaykh b. Fumo Madi took the throne name of. Fumo Luti b. Fumo Madi Sagir. The Arabic sobriquet, sagir, means small. Likewise, the Swahili surname given him in the Chronicles, Kipunga, means approximately the same thing. This final clue leaves little doubt that Guillain's Shaykh b. F. Madi is Fumo Luti b. Fumo Madi.

28. Citations in ibid, 73-75.

29. See Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers (hereafter cited as PP.), Vol. XXVI (1826), Command Paper (hereafter cited as C.) 331, Inclosure 3.

30. Stigand recension, verified in al-Lamuy, Shaibu Faraji, “Khabaru'l-Lamu,” 28–29.Google Scholar

31. Ibid, and all versions of the Pate Chronicles.

32. See Clive, J., “A Short History of Lamu,” K.N.A., DC/LAM/3/1, p. 35.Google Scholar

33. See also Boteler, , Narrative, 1:374.Google Scholar

34. Guillain, it should be remembered, claims Fumo Luti was the throne name assumed by Shaykh b. Fumo Madi.

35. Ylvisaker, , Lamu, 73.Google Scholar

36. Owen, , Narrative, 1:383Google Scholar; Boteler, , Narrative, 1:374Google Scholar; Miles, S.B., Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf (London, 1966), 329.Google Scholar

37. Again, Emery mentions this, quoted in Ylvisaker, , Lamu, 73.Google Scholar

38. The Clive version indicates that Bw. Shaykh was imprisoned and ransomed by the liwali of Lamu. The Mazrui used this interregnum as an excuse to “invade” Pate and support a mysterious “Hamed” or “Bwana Kombo.” It was supposedly at this point that Amir Hamid b. Ahmad intervened and appointed Wazir. See Clive, J., “A Short History of Lamu,” K.N.A., DC/LAM/3/1, p. 35.Google Scholar Also, Guillain, , Documents, 1:572.Google Scholar

39. Ibid.; Boteler, , Narrative, 1:383.Google Scholar

40. Guillain, , Documents, 1:599.Google Scholar

41. Ibid., 1:600.

42. Miles, , Countries and Tribes, 336–37.Google Scholar

43. Guillain, , Documents, 1:601.Google Scholar

44. Marguerite Ylvisaker, however, has thoroughly researched the situation at Lamu and Ozi. See Lamu, 66-100.

45. Ylvisaker, , Lamu, 79Google Scholar, citing Bennett, Norman R. and Brooks, George, New England Merchants in Africa: A History through Documents, 1804-1855 (Boston, 1965), 255Google Scholar, reports that this occurred in 1843-44.

46. Guillain, , Documents, 2:444.Google Scholar

47. Described in Foreign Office records 84/1798 and 84/1799.

48. SirHardinge, A., Report on the East African Protectorate, 1897 (London, 1898), 14.Google Scholar

49. For more in Sh. Muhyi ad-Din, see Farsy, Abdallah Saleh, ed. Pouwels, Randall L., The Shaf i i ʿUlamaof East Africa, 1820-1970: A Hagiographic Account, (Madison, 1989), 1 et passim.Google Scholar

50. Ylvisaker, , Lamu, 84Google Scholar, claims this occurred in 1861.

51. Ibid., 128.

52. For external sources, see Euan-Smith to Salisbury, 22 September 1890, in PP., LVII (1890-91), C. 6213, No. 1; and Berkeley to Euan-Smith, 30 October 1890, in ibid, No. 26.

53. Hardinge to Salisbury, 6 February 1899, in PP., LXIII (1899), C. 9502, No. 22. A reward of Rs 10,000 had been put on Fumo Bakari's head. It is unclear whether Bw. Kitini ever collected the reward. However, Hardinge relates that his slaves and personal property were exempted from confiscation, unlike other Witu Swahili.

54. E.g., Tolmacheva, , Pate Chronicles, 222, 343, etc.Google Scholar