The Rothschild of Africa

[Somalia]. Muhammad ibn al-Marhum al-Jarrad, Somali official (fl. 1840s). Autograph letter signed.

€ 4,500.00

A letter to the famous Somali leader, governor of Zeila, and the richest man on the Somaliland coast, Sharmarke Ali Saleh (1775-1861). Comprising two independent but connected letters on the same page, the letter-writer assures Sharmarke that Zeila (from which he was apparently absent at the time) is peaceful and quiet, and confirms the arrival of a shipment of guns, the state of some finances, and the movement of trade goods.

In the 19th century, Sharmarke was a towering figure on the Somaliland Coast, rumoured to have aspirations to restoring the lost medieval Adal Sultanate, and certainly immensely wealthy. European observers referred to him as an "African Rothschild", and he personally hosted the European traveller Richard Burton on one of Burton's expeditions. In 1861 Sharmarke ran afoul of colonial French officials, who accused him of the murder of Henri Lambert, a former colonial agent in Aden. Though Lambert was a supporter of Sharmarke's main rival, a man named Abu Bakr, it was never clear that Sharmarke was in any way implicated in the murder; regardless, he was arrested and died - possibly of foul play - on the journey to his trial on a French navy ship.