The Pate chronicle
edited and translated from MSS 177, 321, 344, and 358 of the Library of the University of Dar es Salaam
Publication Year: 1993
In late October 1890, a British force led by Admiral Fremantle assaulted and subdued the East African town of Witu, the mainland capital of the Nabahani rulers of Pate; five years later, the entire region and the adjacent coastal islands came under British administration. One of the great tragedies suffered as a result of Admiral Fremantle's initial attack was the loss of the original manuscript of the history of Pate, The Book of the Kings of Pate.
This historical work in its various forms is representative of a living historical tradition developed in the coastal city-states of East Africa and is considered one of the important literary treasures of their culture and society. It also stands as the most important indigenous source for Swahili history, the history of the Swahili language, its dialects, and its written tradition. The four Arabic-Swahili versions (manuscripts 177, 321, 344, and 358 of the Library of the University of Dar es Salaam) presented here in The Pate Chronicle add significantly to the growing pool of information available about Pate and East Africa before the era of European colonialism.
Published by: Michigan State University Press
Cover
Title Page, Copyright Page
CONTENTS
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pp. v-vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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pp. viii-ix
This work began with a Social Science Research grant which enabled me in 1975 to spend three months at the University of Dar es Salaam copying Swahili historical manuscripts by hand. Before then came an introduction to Arabic-Swahili writing under the guidance of Viacheslav Mikhailovich Misiugin, late of the Department of African Studies of St.-Petersburg (then ...
NOTE ON ORTHOGRAPHY
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pp. x-15
My transcription of the Arabic transliteration of Swahili consonants generally follows W.E. Taylor's system. The dental and explosive t's and d's are not marked. Those sounds appearing in parentheses (usually n and w) are inferred; transliteration enclosed in brackets offers the editor's emendation of the Arabic-script text, which is reproduced in Arabic version exactly as it was read at the time of copying. ...
INTRODUCTION
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pp. 1-28
The attack, which the British mounted in retaliation for murder of several German nationals, made an outlaw of the reigning Sultan Furno Bakari. He never returned to Witu and was soon replaced on the throne by two younger brothers in quick succession. The second of these, Furno 'Umari, tried to move his residence to Jongeni, where he had to face the double ...
TRANSCRIPTS AND TRANSLATIONS
ANCIENT HISTORY FROM SWAHILI SOURCES: INTRODUCTION
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pp. 31-36
This is the longest version of the Pate Chronicle which exists only in English, and was personally communicated to Stigand, while an administrative officer, by Bwana Kitini. It is replete with stories attached to various episodes, including some events in Arabia. They are often told in the form of a dialogue and reveal much about local politics and social culture. Most of them are ...
ANCIENT HISTORY FROM SWAHILI SOURCES: Translation
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pp. 37-128
The following histories are culled from old Pate records. They were communicated to me by Bwana Kitini who is a direct descendant of the Pate Sultans, and looked on locally as the authority on historical matters. For some reason or other I was not allowed access to the original documents, except one relating to recent Zanzibar history and evidently not much prized. 1 ...
A SWAHILI HISTORY OF PATE: INTRODUCTION
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pp. 129-134
The following text was transcribed by Alice Werner from a MS given to her in 1911 by A.C. Hollis, at that time Secretary for Native Affairs in the East Africa Protectorate and was published by her in three parts in the Journal of the African Society, vol. 14 (1914), pp. 148-61, and 15 (1915), pp. 278-97, 392-413. The publication of the transcript and translation was accompanied by ...
Akhbar Pate
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pp. 135-167
Mtu1 alokuya2 kwanda katika Nabhani ni Selem�n bin Selem�n bin Muthafar3 en-Nabhani, na nduze4 'Ali bin Seleman wa5 Athman bin Seleman. Aliyokuwa Sultan ni Seleman 'I madhk�r naye alikuwa mfalme Arabuni, akatolewa na'l Ya'arubi, akaya Pate katika (sita mia)6 sene 600 Hijra kuya kwake; (a)kaoa binti wa mfalme wa Pate, 'I Bataw�una ['I Batawina]. Na ...
HISTORY OF PATE
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pp. 168-194
The first man who came (to Pate), among the Nabhans,1 was Seleman, son of Seleman, son of Muthafar the Nabhan, with his brothers, Ali bin Seleman and Athman bin Seleman. He who was Sultan was this Seleman aforesaid, and he was king in Arabia and was driven out by the Ya'arubi2 and came to Pate in the year 600 (six hundred) of the Hijra (was) his coming, and ...
SWAHILI CHRONICLE OF PATE: INTRODUCTION
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pp. 195-200
The original MSS were obtained by the German Vice-Consul at Mombasa Mr. Wassmuss in 1911. The sixteen-page long MS M contains the briefer text in the Ki-Mvita (Mombasa) dialect of Swahili, while MS A, on 39 pages, has the more complete text of the chronicle in Ki-Amu. To my knowledge, MS M is the only Ki-Mvita version of the chronicle discovered so far. This MS is also unique in consistently using the toponym ...
TRANSCRIPTION
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pp. 201-223
Habari ya auwali ya Nabhani kuja9M/sup> Sawahili na habari zao zote. Wametawala wafalume wahidi wa salasini na mwanamke mmoja1 ndiye wa sineni2 wa salasini 32, na habari zao ni hizi zote. Tumenakili kwa Muhammadi bin Fumu 'Umari aitwaye3 Bwana Kitini naye alipokea na bibye Muhammad bin Bwana Mkuuaitwaye3 Bwana Simba an-Nabhani alizibiti4 ...
TRANSLATION
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pp. 224-250
Account of the first Nabhani who came to the Swahili (coast) and all accounts about them. There ruled thirty-one kings and one woman, she was the thirty-second, and the following are complete records of them. We have transmitted them from Muhammad bin Fumu 'Umari, who is called Bwana Kitini; and he received them from his grandfather" Muhammad bin Bwana ...
HISTORY OF THE WITU ISLANDS
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pp. 251-254
The following text is abstracted from the section entitled "Geschichte der Witu-Inseln" of Alfred Voeltzkow's Reise in Ostafrika 1903-1905.1 The full section (pp. 48-91) is a compilation of oral tradition, previous records (including the texts published by Stigand and Gullain, cited earlier in this volume), reports by explorers and colonial servants, and Voeltzkow's own ...
History of the Witu Islands
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pp. 255-272
In the year 601 of the Hijra [1204-5], Sulayman bin Sulayman, the expelled Sultan of Maskat, landed with his people and goods in many ships at Pate. Pate, along with many other cities, had been founded in 77 A.H. [696] with the help of Syrian settlers, by Abdul Malik bin Muriani who reigned in 65-86 A.H. [685-705] and who moved far away to form a new reign for ...
MS 177
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pp. 273-276
This is the only original MS among the copies of the Pate Chronicle in the Library of the University of Dar es Salaam. The paper is old, of European manufacture. The sheets appear to have been formerly sewn together at the top in the middle. The text is written on one side only. Attached to the pink-yellow folios is a smaller, newer sheet with English notation in black ink, in ...
AKHBAR PATEH
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pp. 277-295
Mutu wa-k(w)iinda kuya Pate katika Nabahiini Sulaymiin bin Sulaymiin bin Mu~affar al-NabahanT na-(n)duze watu wawili, 'All bin Sula[y]miin na-'Uthmiin bin Sulaymiin. Na-hiiyu Sula[y]miin bin Sulaymiin almadhkiir (n)diye aliyo_kuwa sultiini 'Arabiini, alipo_tawali al-Ya'rubI akaya Pate, sanati 600 sitamia hijriyah akaya Pate. Kataka 'ariisI k(w)a-mufalume ...
HISTORY OF PATE
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pp. 296-322
The first man to come to Pate of the Nabahani was Sulayman bin Sulayman Muzaffar al-Nabahani and his siblings, two men: 'Ali bin Sulayman and 'Uthman bin Sulayman. And this Sulayman bin Sulayman the aforesaid, it was he who had been sultan in Arabia. Then reigned al-Ya'rubi (and so) he came to Pate, in the year 600 six hundred of Hijra1 he came to Pate. ...
MS 321
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pp. 323-326
This MS was transcribed from a photocopy; its original was written in a lined school notebook. The text is contained on pp. 37-24 (the reverse pagination is due to a discrepancy between European and Arabic styles of writing). On page 23 of the same MS a genealogical chart, by a different scribe, is contained, identical to that sketched on f. 17 (21) of MS 309 and on ...
AKHBAR PATEH.
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pp. 342-344
Hāhunā Sulaymān bin Sulaymān [bin] Muzaffar al-Nabāhānī. M(w)andu wa-k(w)anda kuja Pateh Nabahānī ni-Selemāni bin Sulaymān bin Muzaffar Nabahānī na-(n)duze wawīIi 'Alī bin Sulaymān nā 'Uthmān bin Sulaymān. Nā huyu Sulaymān bin Sulaymān al-madhkūr (n)diye aloJcuwa sultāni, na-ye alikuwa sultāni akisa kutawali bara yā li-' Arābu al-' Arabī, akayā ...
HISTORY OF PATE
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pp. 345-368
There (was) Sulayman bin Sulayman bin Muzaffar al-Nabahani. The first man to come to Pate of the Nabahani was Sulayman bin Sulayman bin Muzaffar Nabahani and his two brothers, 'Ali bin Sulayman and 'Uthman bin Sulayman. And this Sulayman bin Sulayman the aforementioned had been sultan; then al-Ya'rubi ruled the land of the Arabs. The aforementioned sultan ...
MS344
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pp. 369-370
This MS contains the text of the Chronicle on pp. 92-76 (the pagination running in reverse of Arabic writing right-to-Ieft). The copyist names himself 'Abd Allah bin 'Ali bin Muhammad al-Ma'awi. This appears to be a fourth copy, undated, of three earlier copies, all crediting Bwana Kitini as narrator. The first copy is ascribed to Salih bin Salim bin Ahmad bin 'Abd Allah ...
RIWAYAH YA-TAWARlKH ZA PATE
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pp. 371-390
Hāhunā Sulaymān bin Sulaymān Mu[z]affar al-Nabhānī. Alawal al-mubdī Nabhānī muwandū wa-kūya Pateh Nabhānī ni-Selēmāni bin Sulaymān bin Muzaffar Nabhānī nā-nduze wawīIi: 'Alī bin Sulaymān nā 'Uthmān bin Sulaymā. Na-hūyu Sulaymān bin Sulaymān al-madhkūr ndiye alikuwa sultān nā-ye akisa kutawālī bāra li-'Arābu akāya Patteh sultān al-madhkūr katika ...
TALE OF THE HISTORY OF PATE
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pp. 391-416
There was Sulayman bin Sulayman Muzaffar al-Nabhani. The first beginner of the Nabahani, the first to come to Pate of the Nabhani, was Sulayman bin Sulayman bin Muzaffar Nabhani and his two brothers: 'Ali bin Sulayman and 'Uthman bin Sulayman. And this Sulayman bin Sulayman the aforesaid, it was he who had been sultan, and he formerly ruled the land of the ...
MS 358
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pp. 417-418
This is a photocopy of a MS copied in a check-lined copy-book. Uniquely among the known MSS, in the upper left margin of p. 2 (the pages are not numbered) is inscribed the name of the owner: Ahmad bin Hasan bin Hamad Ba Husayn al-Murshidi of Lamu. The postscript states the usual provenance from Bwana Kitini and his grandfather Bwana Simba. The original ...
AKHBAR PATEH
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pp. 419-437
Hāhunā Sulaymān bin Sulaymān Muzaffar al-Nabahānī, alawal al-mubdī Nabahānī, m(w)andu wa-k(w)anda kuya Pate ni-Sulaymān bin Sulaymān bin Muzaffar Nabahānī na-(n)duze wawīli, 'Alī bin Sulaymān nā 'Uthmān bin Sulaymān. Na-huyu Sulaymān bin Sulaymān al-madhkūrii alokuwa sultān, naye akisa kutawalī bara li-'Arabu. Akaya Pate sultān al-madhkūr katika tārīkh ...
HISTORY OF PATE
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pp. 438-462
There was Sulayman bin Sulayman Muzaffar al-Nabahani. The first in sequence to come to Pate was Sulayman bin Sulayman bin Muzaffar Nabahani and his two brothers, 'Ali bin Sulayman and 'Uthman bin Sulayman. And this Sulayman bin Sulayman the aforesaid had been sultan, and previously he reigned in the land of the Arabs. The aforesaid sultan came to Pate, about the date of the year 600 of al-Hijral was his coming to Pate ...
APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1
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pp. 465-466
APPENDIX 2
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pp. 467-475
APPENDIX 3
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pp. 476-477
APPENDIX 4
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pp. 478-479
APPENDIX 5
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pp. 480-483
APPENDIX 6
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pp. 484-485
APPENDIX 7
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pp. 486-488
APPENDIX 8
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pp. 489-492
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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pp. 493-498
ARABIC-SWAHILI TEXTS
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pp. 499-607
E-ISBN-13: 9781609173029
Print-ISBN-13: 9780870133367
Page Count: 607
Publication Year: 1993
