Queen Jumbe-Souli

Queen Jumbe-Souli (born c.1835) was ruler of the island of Moheli, in the Comoros archipelago.

Queen Jumbe-Souli of Mohéli, 1863, photographed by Désiré Charnay.

Early life

Jumbe-Souli inherited the throne of the island of Moheli (Mwali) after the death of her father, King Ramanateka, also known as Sultan Abderahmane. Ramanateka was a Malagasy prince who ran away from Madagascar after the death of King Radama I.[1] She was also a cousin of King Radama II. She had a sister, Jumbe-Salama, who died young.[2]

Reign

When the missionary David Griffiths returned to Moheli in 1841, expecting to meet her father he in fact found his young daughter Jumbe-Souli on the throne.[3] Jumbe-Souli, like the majority of people on the island was Muslim and did not convert to Christianity.

In 1863, the French government sent a delegation to meet with Queen Jumbe-Souli and the event was recorded by a visiting photographer Désiré Charnay.[4] He recorded that she seemed "melancholy and sickly" and had a number of attendants.[5] She was dressed extremely finely in a "robe of rich Turkish tissue of silk and gold". Her dress covered most of her face, with only her hand visible.[6] The purpose of the visit had been to impress upon the young queen the advantages of becoming a French colony; she resisted.[2] Jumbe-Souli lived in the palace, overlooking the sea, next to which was the garrison - a white building of two rooms, which held 28 soldiers.[2]

Legacy

Queen Jumbe-Souli's date of death is uncertain, but in 1886, Mohéli was placed under French protection by its ruler, Salima Machamba.[7]

References
  1. "Five African queens you did not know existed - Page 3 of 6". Face2Face Africa. 2018-09-01. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  2. CHARNAY, DÉSIRÉ (1862). MADAGASCAR VOL D'OISEAU. p. 67.
  3. Campbell, Gwyn (2012-04-03). David Griffiths and the Missionary “History of Madagascar”. BRILL. p. 112. ISBN 978-90-04-19518-9.
  4. "La Reine de Mohely | The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston". www.mfah.org. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  5. "BnF - Trésors photographiques de la Société de géographie". expositions.bnf.fr. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  6. Campbell, Gwyn (2012-04-03). David Griffiths and the Missionary “History of Madagascar”. BRILL. p. 729. ISBN 978-90-04-19518-9.
  7. "COMOROS ISLANDS: THE PERFUMED ISLANDS OF AFRICA AND AFRICA`S THIRD SMALLEST NATION". COMOROS ISLANDS. Retrieved 2019-12-04.


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