15/06/2024
Oromo historians:
𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚 [ 𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐄], Ethiopia 🇪🇹 - 𝐎𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨 slave girl who won the heart of a 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞
She was born in 1820 in 𝐆𝐮𝐦𝐚, a 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 of 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚. Her parents named her “𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐞” which literally means 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 or 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲. But she later came to be known as 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚 which means '𝐌𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝' in 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐜.
In 1835/36, when she was 15, a civil war broke out around 𝐆𝐮𝐦𝐚 and she 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 her 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 and 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬. As her village was burned to the ground, invading captors grabbed her, her sister and her mother and dragged them away as slaves.
Mahbuba was first taken north to 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫, then soon after to 𝐊𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐦. After that, in 1837, slave traders took her to 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐨. There they hoped to 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 her to the 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐫 among the rich sheiks and princes that happened to be in town.
it so happened that, in 1837, 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧 𝐅𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐕𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐫-𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐮 of Germany was traveling thru 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚. While in 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐨, he went to the slave market, a popular venue for tourists. 👇
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There he saw and was instantly struck by the 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧 ‘𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞’ 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞. He immediately bought her, disguised her as his 𝐌𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲, and took her with him on his travels.
The prince became completely besotted by 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚 as they continued their travels together through 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐒𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐚 and 𝐈𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐥. He was [𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝] by her 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞, and eagerness to learn Western ways. For her part, 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐚 appeared to enjoy the 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐲 of her new and totally un-imagined life.