The Sultana in New York: A Zanzibari Vessel Between Two Worlds

Contenu

Titre

The Sultana in New York: A Zanzibari Vessel Between Two Worlds

Créateur

Prestholdt, Jeremy Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Date

2018

Dans

World on the horizon: Swahili arts across the Indian Ocean Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Résumé

In 1840 the Sultan of Oman and Zanzibar’s flagship, the Sultana, sailed for New York City. Sayyid Sa‘īd bin Sultān Āl Busa‘īdī sought to capitalize on new commercial networks beyond the Indian Ocean and so dispatched a trusted agent, Ahmad bin Na’aman al Kaabi, to the United States with iconic regional products: Zanzibari cloves, East African ivory, Muscati dates, Yemeni coffee, and Persian carpets. From the proceeds of their sale Na’aman purchased a cargo of American cotton cloth, already a commercial staple in East Africa. Na’aman was fêted in New York, and the Sultana’s African, Persian, and Indian crew captured headlines across the nation. The Sultana’s sojourn was of such great interest to New Yorkers that the city council commissioned a lush portrait of Na’aman for City Hall. This essay offers context to the Na’aman painting through a reconsideration of the Sultana’s voyage, a journey that encapsulated the ambitions of the Omani-Zanzibari state. More precisely, the Sultana was a richly symbolic vessel that represented the new material and political interests binding Zanzibar to distant world regions. Indeed, the ship, its mission, cargo, and crew were each emblematic of the emergent cultural economy of the Swahili Coast as well as the wider economic trends that were remaking the nineteenth century world. The portrait of Ahmad bin Na’aman thus offers an extraordinary window on the interface of the Indian Ocean and Atlantic basins, and it stands as a testament to the role of Zanzibaris in shaping emergent global relationships.

Editeur

Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Place

Champaign

Sujet

Zanzibar Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Langue

eng

rédacteur

Meier, Prita Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Purpura, Allyson Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Alpers, Edward A. Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

pages

114-129

ISBN

978-1-883015-49-7

Prestholdt, Jeremy, “The Sultana in New York: A Zanzibari Vessel Between Two Worlds”, Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, 2018, bibliographie, consulté le 8 septembre 2024, https://ibadica.org/s/bibliographie/item/8778