<p>Originally published in 1888, this is the first known autobiography of an Arabian woman, and the only known autobiography of an Arabian princess. Set in mid-nineteenth century Zanzibar, where Arab and African cultures met, it provides a view no official account could possibly reveal, into the intrigues of court life, the struggles for political power, and the world of the harem. For the love of Heinrich Ruete, a young German consulate official, Princess Salme bint Said chose to forsake, at the risk of death, her privileged place in a Muslim society. In 1886 they fled to the West, where tragically, three years later he died. She remained in Germany with their three children, and there, in a characteristically lively style, wrote of her experience.</p>

Memoirs of an Arabian Princess

History

Said-Ruete, Emily

Africa

East-West Publications (U.K.) Ltd

<p>This unique book is the only autobiography written by a Princess of Zanzibar in the 19th century. 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 this book, 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.</p>

Memoirs of an Arabian Princess of Oman and Zanzibar: The Extraordinary Life of a Muslim Princess Between East and West

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Trotamundas Pr Ltd

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