Talk:Tippu Tip

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 28 August 2019 and 12 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: Harpreet Mittal.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 11:25, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Arab?
Wasn't Tippu Tip(or sometimes Tipoo-Tib) Arab-Swahili?! it says Zanzibari--Lonewolf94 (talk) 15:32, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Name
"He was famously known as Tippu Tib after an eye disease which made him blind." This could probably be expanded upon, since it doesn't really explain anything. I guess "Tippu Tib" is supposed to mean "the blind one" or something? Idontcareanymore (talk) 06:11, 6 September 2011 (UTC)
 * There is an inconsistency in the use of his name. In the forth paragraph he is referred to as "El Murgebi". This name does not appear in the first line. I assume this a variant of "al-Murghabī". It needs to be cleaned up and clarified. ~ Alcmaeonid (talk) 14:10, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Done as far as El Murgebi is concerned. For the nickname I have a Dutch-language source linking it to the sound of his rifle.--Lieven Smits (talk) 08:23, 9 June 2016 (UTC)

In Culture
Wasn't Said Ben Ahamed from Isak Dinesen's "The Dreamers" supposed to be Tippu Tip's nephew? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.28.31.242 (talk) 23:49, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Changes made on February 7, 2014
There were gross changes made to this page recently (February 7, 2014) that may not amount to vandalism but still involve many unsubstantiated claims. For instance, the following sentence was added: "Tippu Tip was maligned by Europeans as a 'slave trader' even though his main trade involved ivory because he was a threat to their business and colonization interests in central Africa." This statement is not supported by any citation, and may instead be the product of personal opinion, new (uncited) research or unsupported claims. Furthermore, the sentence: "However, by 1895, he had acquired "seven shambas [plantations] and '10,000" slaves, ',[1] however, it is not clear how this unrealistic number was tallied given each plantation did not need more than a dozen slaves." But the one citation ([1] Abdul Sheriff 1987 "Slaves Spices & Ivory in Zanzibar") says nothing about the small size of shamba slave populations, although the quote about seven shambas and 10,000 slaves comes from Sheriff 1987. Indeed the claim about shambas needing no more than 12 slaves is odd, since in 1876 there were more than 180,000 slaves in Zanzibar, according to Sheriff. This statement about 12 or fewer slaves would be plausible if one were thinking of shambas as they exist in the 21st century, after Tanzanian land reform in the 1970s, which broke up most plantations into shambas as family farms. This does not apply to the late 19th century at all, however. I have a copy of Sheriff 1987 and there are no statements like those added on February 7. This wikipedia page has been greatly damaged with many unsubstantiated and probably untrue claims. I suggest the best way to deal with this may be to reset the condition of this page to as it existed immediately before February 7, 2014. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.39.234.45 (talk) 15:26, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

Photo
The photo on the right rather certainly does not depict Tippu. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.39.25.30 (talk) 04:44, 4 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Do you have anything to support this belief? He looks pretty similar to other depictions around the web...—Brigade Piron (talk) 09:58, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

The man on this photo has a slender nose and deep-set eyes, different from all depictions we know from Tippu Tip. Furthermore, the photo shows a young man in his thirties (or even twenties)- that would mean an origin from the 1870s or earlier - but photos from that era seldom have such a good quality. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.75.205.216 (talk) 13:05, 20 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Indeed; this was the real Tippu Tip . Middayexpress (talk) 23:21, 7 December 2014 (UTC)
 * What quality? There are sharp photos from the 1850s onward. Pascalulu88 (talk) 00:16, 23 February 2024 (UTC)

Photograph (The Kirk Papers)
This is a reliable source that shows a picture of Tippu Tip as a middle aged man. The National library of Scotland bought the Kirk papers for £55,000.(Kirk was a friend of Tippu Tip.) It indeed shows a big difference with the drawing, but I would like to get to the bottom of this. https://www.nls.uk/media/22680/folio01.pdf http://digital.nls.uk/kirk/index.html Would like to get some feedback on this.Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum (talk) 18:08, 24 November 2017 (UTC)
 * This could have been a mistake from the National library of Scotland (although it is the most reliable source I found so far), it might depict mbaruk bin rashid, still would like feedback from other users. Replaced photograph for now. Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum (talk) 21:15, 24 November 2017 (UTC)

Tippu Tib, which translates to "the gatherer together of wealth."
The article states that Tippu Tib translates to "the gatherer together of wealth." (references:Livingstone, last Journals,p 230; and Hinde 1897, p. 8), is it known in what language it translates to 'the gatherer together of wealth'? It is not Swahili and not Arabic.. would be nice if someone could expand on this statement. Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum (talk) 22:00, 24 November 2017 (UTC)

Mubarak bin Rashid
The Kirk website has misidentified the man in the file. He is not Tippu Tip but instead another public figure from around the same period, Sheik Mubarak bin Rashid bin Salim Al-Mazrui, the Chief of Gazi. Mubarak bin Rashid was of Omani heritage and had distinctive features, quite different from those of the actual Tippu Tip of Zanzibar. Soupforone (talk) 04:22, 25 November 2017 (UTC)

Section on Congo-Arab war makes no sense
The section tells the story of the 1886 conflict which led to Tippu being given the governor title. The war between Belgians and Arabs started 1892 after Tippu had left the Congo. Kipala (talk) 15:21, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Death date inconsistencies?
At the top of the page, his death date is listed as June 14th, and he is linked in the page of deaths on June 14th, however in the "Death" section, it states that he died on June 13th of malaria. This is followed by the quote "according to Brode". This requires either clarification on whether the death date or the malaria or both is "according to Brode", and in either case clarification is necessary as the article contains two contradicting death dates with no explanation of any kind. Jammingtonbear (talk) 08:39, 7 August 2022 (UTC)