# Abushiri
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Abushiri
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Abushiri.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abushiri
> Source revision: 1346834615
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Short description|Colonial resistance fighter from modern-day Tanzania}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=November 2020}}
{{One source|date=November 2020}}
}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Al Bashir ibn Salim al-Harthi
| image = File:Buschiri bi Salim.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Al-Harthi with freedom fighters during [the revolt in German occupied East Africa](/source/Abushiri_revolt).
| birth_date = c. 1840{{r|iliffe}} {{flag|Sultanate of Zanzibar}}
| birth_name = Al Bashir ibn Salim al-Harthi
| death_date = {{death date and age|1889|12|15|1840|8|24|df=y}}
| death_place = [Pangani](/source/Pangani), [Tanga Region](/source/Tanga_Region), [German East Africa](/source/German_East_Africa)
| death_cause = [Execution by hanging](/source/Execution_by_hanging)
}}
'''Al Bashir ibn Salim al-Harthi''' ({{langx|ar|البشير بن سالم الحارثي}}) (c.1840 - 15 December 1889), was a wealthy merchant and slave-owning plantation owner of [Oman](/source/Oman)i Arab and [Oromo](/source/Oromo_people) parentage (from his mother's side)[[http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0007/000746/074683eo.pdf "East Africa: diplomacy and defiance", Henry Mwanzi, ''UNESCO Courier'', May 1984, page 30]] who is known for the [Abushiri Revolt](/source/Abushiri_Revolt) against the [German East Africa Company](/source/German_East_Africa_Company) in present-day [Tanzania](/source/Tanzania).[{{cite book | last=Iliffe | first=John | title=A modern history of Tanganyika | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge New York | year=1979 | isbn=0-521-22024-6 | oclc=3868821 | pages=93–97 | quote=''Their leader was Abushiri, some forty years old, son of an Arab father and Galla mother, who had traded around Lake Tanganyika and fought against Mirambo before settling as one of the slave-owning sugar planters of the Pangani estuary.'', p. 93}}] He is credited with uniting local Arab traders and African tribes against German colonialism.
Beginning on September 20, 1888, insurrections led by Abushiri attacked German-held trading posts and towns throughout the [East African](/source/German_East_Africa) territory. The German trading company, unable to control the uprising appealed to the government in [Berlin](/source/Berlin) for assistance. Chancellor [Otto von Bismarck](/source/Otto_von_Bismarck) dispatched 34-year-old Lieutenant [Hermann Wissmann](/source/Hermann_Wissmann) as ''[Reichskommissar](/source/Reichskommissar)'' to the colony.{{r|iliffe}} Wissmann along with a combination of German, [Sudan](/source/Sudan)ese and Shangaen soldiers formed the core of the first ''[Schutztruppe](/source/Schutztruppe)'' in the region. With [naval](/source/Kaiserliche_Marine) assistance they bombarded coastal towns which allowed for German re-occupation. Also the Navy set up a blockade to deny shipments of arms and supplies to reach the rebels.
Al Bashir's forces were able to capture most of the towns along the [Tanganyika](/source/Tanganyika_(territory)) coast and even took the explorers [Hans Meyer](/source/Hans_Meyer_(geologist)) and [Oscar Baumann](/source/Oscar_Baumann) hostage.{{cn|date=November 2021}} Nevertheless, towards the end of 1888, much of his alliance with the local tribes had collapsed, and he was forced to hire Arab mercenaries to defend his stronghold at a fortress near [Bagamoyo](/source/Bagamoyo).{{r|iliffe}} After Abushiri accepted a truce with the Germans, troops led by Wissmann attacked the fortress on May 8, 1889, resulting in 106 Arab deaths.{{r|iliffe}} Abushiri escaped and was able to persuade members of the [Mbunga](/source/Mbunga) tribes to continue with the rebellion.{{r|iliffe}} He was then able to lead new assaults on [Dar es Salaam](/source/Dar_es_Salaam) and Bagamoyo. However, superior German firepower was able to repulse these attacks, and the African tribesmen soon deserted Abushiri.
A [Zigua](/source/Zigua_people) headman captured Abushiri and turned him over to the Germans, who hanged him on 15 December 1889{{r|iliffe}} at Pangani[{{Cite book |last=Ofcansky |first=Thomas P. |title=Historical dictionary of Tanzania |last2=Yeager |first2=Rodger |date=1997 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-3244-2 |edition=2 |series=African historical dictionaries |location=Lanham, Md. |pages=45}}]
== Early life ==
'''Al Bashir ibn Salim al-Harthi''' was born in 1840 in the Sultanate of Zanzibar he was a wealthy merchant and slave-owning plantation owner of [Oman](/source/Oman)i Arab and [Oromo](/source/Oromo_people) parentage (from his mother's side)