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Emily Ruete (30 August 1844 – 29 February 1924), born in
Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...
as
Sayyida ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhammad' ...
Salama bint Said (), also called Salme, was a
Princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subs ...
of Zanzibar and
Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
. She was the youngest of the 36 children of Said bin Sultan, Sultan of the
Omani Empire The Omani Empire ( ar, الإمبراطورية العُمانية) was a maritime empire, vying with Portugal and Britain for trade and influence in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence or control ...
. She is the author of ''Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar''.


Early life in Zanzibar

Salama bint Said was born on 30 August 1844, the daughter of Sultan Said and Jilfidan, a Circassian slave, turned concubine (some accounts also note her as Georgian). Her first years were spent in the huge Bet il Mtoni palace, by the sea about eight kilometres north of Stone Town. (The palace was mostly demolished in 1914.) She grew up bilingual in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
and Swahili. In 1851 she moved to Bet il Watoro, the house of her brother
Majid bin Said of Zanzibar Sayyid Majid bin Saïd al-Busaidi ( ar, ماجد بن سعيد البوسعيد) ( – ) was the first Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from 19 October 1856 to 7 October 1870. He succeeded his father Said bin Sultan as ruler of Zanzibar a ...
, the later sultan. Her brother taught her to ride and to shoot. In 1853 she moved with her mother to Bet il Tani. She secretly taught herself to write, a skill which was unusual for women in her culture at the time. When her father died in 1856 she was declared of age, twelve years old, and received her paternal inheritance. This consisted of a plantation with a residence, and 5,429 pounds. After her father's death, her brother Sayyid Thuwaini bin Said al-Said became Sultan of Muscat and Oman, while her brother Majid became
Sultan of Zanzibar The sultans of Zanzibar ( ar, سلاطين زنجبار) were the rulers of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which was created on 19 October 1856 after the death of Said bin Sultan, who had ruled Oman and Zanzibar as the sultan of Oman since 1804. Th ...
. In 1859 her mother died and Salme received her maternal inheritance, three plantations. The same year a dispute broke out between her brothers Majid and
Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar Sayyid Barghash bin Said al-Busaidi,(1836 – 26 March 1888) ( ar, برغش بن سعيد البوسعيد), was an Omani Sultan and the son of Said bin Sultan, was the second Sultan of Zanzibar. Barghash ruled Zanzibar from 7 October 1870 to ...
. Though she favoured Majid, her favourite sister Khwala made her side with Barghash. Because she could write she acted (at the age of fifteen) as secretary of Barghash's party. With the help of an English gunboat the insurrection of Barghash was soon brought to an end; Barghash was sent into exile in
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
for two years and Salme withdrew to
Kizimbani Kizimbani (or Kisimbani) is a settlement of the Zanzibar Urban/West Region in Unguja, the main island of Zanzibar, Tanzania. It is located in the interior of the island, north-east of Zanzibar City. The remnants of old Persian public baths are fou ...
, one of her estates. Salme eventually moved back to Stone Town and made up with Majid. This earned her the lasting enmity from Barghash, as well as a split with her favourite sister Khwala. While living in Stone Town she became acquainted with her neighbour, a German merchant, Rudolph Heinrich Ruete (born 10 March 1839; died 6 August 1870) and became pregnant by him. In August 1866, after her pregnancy had become obvious, she fled on board the British frigate commanded by Captain homasMalcolm Sabine Pasley R.N. and was given passage on his ship to the British colony of
Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 peopl ...
. There she took
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
instruction and was baptised prior to her marriage at Aden on 30 May 1867. Nonetheless, in a later letter to her sister, she avoided eating pork and dreaded attending church, stressing that she remained Muslim in secret. She had given birth to a son, Heinrich, in Aden in December 1866; he died in France en route to Germany in the summer of 1867.


Life in Europe

The Ruetes settled in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
, where they had another son and two daughters. They were: *Antonie Thawka Ruete (25 March 1868 – 24 April 1945), who married Eugen Brandeis (1846–1930) in 1898 and had two daughters. From 1898-1904 she lived on Jaluit (
Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Inte ...
), where her husband served as German imperial gouvernor. During this time, she started collecting ethnographic objects and taught herself photography. For nearly three decades, she was an active member of the German colonial women's movement. * (13 April 1869 – 1 May 1946). A journalist and author, with the rise of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
, he renounced his German citizenship in 1934 and settled in London, becoming a British subject and dying at
Lucerne, Switzerland Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...
after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. In 1901, he married Mary Therese Matthias (1872–?) and had a son and a daughter, Werner Heinrich (1902-1962) and Salme Matilda Benvenuta Olga (1910–?). Through his marriage, he was a cousin of Alfred Moritz, 1st Baron Melchett, who became the first chairman of
Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at ...
. *Rosalie Ghuza Ruete (16 April 1870 – 14 February 1948), who married Major-General Martin Troemer of the
Royal Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the cor ...
. Her husband died in 1870 after a tram accident, leaving Ruete in difficult economic circumstances because the authorities denied her inheritance claims. Partly to alleviate these economic problems she wrote ''Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar'', first published as ''Memoiren einer arabischen Prinzessin'' in the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
in 1886, and shortly afterwards published in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...
. The book provides the first known autobiography of an
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
woman. The book presents the reader with an intimate picture of life in Zanzibar between 1850 and 1865, and an inside portrait of her brothers Majid bin Said of Zanzibar and Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar, the later sultans of Zanzibar. After the death of her husband, Emily Ruete was caught up in the colonial plans of
Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...
. There were speculations that Bismarck wanted to install her son as Sultan of Zanzibar. She revisited Zanzibar in 1885 and in 1888. Between 1889 and 1892, she lived in
Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
, from where she moved to
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
in 1892. In 1914 she returned to Europe to live with her daughter Rosa in
Bromberg Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with mor ...
, where Martin Troemer was stationed as a military commander. She died in
Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...
, Germany, at the age of 79, from severe
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
. In 1992, ''An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds'' was published, making her letters home, with her reactions on life in Europe, available to the public.


Archive and book collection Said-Ruete

Emily had befriended Dutch orientalist
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (8 February 1857 – 26 June 1936) was a Dutch scholar of Oriental cultures and languages and advisor on native affairs to the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Born in Oosterhout in 1857, ...
in 1887. Shortly after Snouck Hurgronje's death, her son Rudolph Said-Ruete donated her book collection to the Oosters Instituut (created in memory of Snouck Hurgronje). The library was made available to scholars at the seat of the institute, the Snouck Hurgronje House (Rapenburg 61 in Leiden). The books, the monumental bookcase, and other materials, were later housed in the
Netherlands Institute for the Near East The Netherlands Institute for the Near East (Dutch: ''Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten''; colloquially known by its abbreviation: NINO) is an institution for the advancement of the study of the Ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, a ...
. Emily and Rudolph's archive is kept in
Leiden University Library Leiden University Libraries is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the developme ...
(personal documents, photographs and correspondence).''Collection guide Sayyida Salma (Emily Ruete) and Rudolph Said Ruete Archive'' (ubl649)
/ref> There is a permanent exhibition about Emily Ruete in the People's Palace in
Stonetown Stonetown of Zanzibar ( ar, مدينة زنجبار الحجرية), also known as Mji Mkongwe ( Swahili for "old town"), is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. The newer portion of the city is known as Ng'ambo ...
, the palace constructed by her brother, Sultan Barghash.


In fiction

Emily Ruete appears as a minor character in M.M. Kaye's novel ''Trade Wind''. The book, set in Zanzibar during the late 1850s, mentions her involvement with her brother Barghash's failed attempt to take the throne from their brother Majid and her subsequent interest in and marriage to Rudolph.


Bibliography

* Neumann, Klaus. " Black Lives Matter, a Princess from Zanzibar, Bismarck, and German Memorial Hygiene". ''German Politics and Society'' 40.1 (2022): 77-103. https://doi.org/10.3167/gps.2022.400105 . Web. 29 Mar. 2022. * Three Centuries of Travel Writing by Muslim Women. United States, Indiana University Press, 2022.


Footnotes


References

* * Ruete, Emily
''Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar'' (1888)
Many reprints. * Ruete, Emily
''Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar'' (1907)
* Ruete, Emily, E. van Donzel (Editor)
''An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds: Memoirs, Letters Home, Sequels to the Memoirs, Syrian Customs and Usages''
Leiden (The Netherlands), (1993). . Presents the reader with a picture of life in Zanzibar between 1850 and 1865, and with an intelligent observer's reactions to life in Germany in the Bismarck period. Emily Ruete's writings describe her homesickness and her attempts to recover her Zanzibar inheritance. *Said-Ruete, Rudolph: ''Eine auto-biographische Teilskizze. (Die Al-bu-Said Dynastie in Arabien und Ostafrika)''. Luzern (Switzerland), (1932). {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruete, Emily 1844 births 1924 deaths 19th-century Arabs 20th-century Arabs Princesses Zanzibari emigrants to Germany Al Said dynasty Zanzibari writers 19th-century memoirists Tanzanian people of Omani descent Tanzanian people of Circassian descent 19th-century letter writers