Tippu Tip

Who was Tippu Tip?

Tippu Tip or Tib, real name Hamad bin Muḥammad bin Jumah bin Rajab bin Muḥammad bin Sa‘īd al-Murghabī, was a Swahili-Zanzibari trader. He was known by the natives of Southeast Africa as Tippu Tib after the sounds that his many guns made. A brilliant ivory trader, explorer, plantation owner and governor, who worked for a succession of sultans of Zanzibar. He also traded in slaves for Zanzibar's clove plantations. He led many trading expeditions into Central Africa, as part of the large and lucrative ivory trade by constructing profitable trading posts that reached deep into Central Africa. He bought the ivory from central African suppliers who sold it to him for a low price.