Emily Ruete (1844-1924) was born in Zanzibar as Sayyida Salme, Princess of Zanzibar and Oman. She was a daughter of Sayyid Said bin Sultan Al-Busaid, Sultan of Zanzibar and Oman, and a Circassian lady. While living in Stone Town, Zanzibar, she became acquainted with a German merchant, Rudolph Heinrich Ruete. In 1866 she fled with him to Aden, converted to Christianity and married Ruete, and moved with him to Germany. They settled in Hamburg and had 1 son and 2 daughters. Her husband died in 1870 after a traffic accident, leaving Ruete in difficult economic circumstances. Partly to alliviate these economic problems she wrote Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar, first published in Germany, later published in the US and England. The book provides the first known autobiography of an Arab woman, only known autobiography of an Arab princess and only known account of harem life written by an Arab woman. The book presents the reader with an intimate picture of life in Zanzibar between 1850 - 1865, and an inside portrait of her brothers Majid bin Said of Zanzibar and Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar, the later sultans of Zanzibar. Map of Zanzibars main island Zanzibar, Tanzania, comprises a pair of islands off the east coast of Africa called Zanzibar (Unguja) (1994 est. ... Said bin Sultan (1790 - October 19, 1856) was Sultan of Muscat and Oman from November 20, 1804 to June 4, 1856. ... Circassian language is used in a number of ways: as a synonym for the Adyghe language; as a synonym for the Kabardian language; as a term for a distinct language that includes both Adyghe and Kabardian. ... Stone Town or Mji Mkongwe, in Swahili, is the old part of the capital of the island of Zanzibar, a part of Tanzania. ... Port of Aden (around 1910) Aden (Arabic: عدن []) is a city in Yemen, 105 miles (170 kilometers) East of Bab-el-Mandeb. ... Hamburg is Germanys second largest city (after Berlin) and, with the Hamburg Harbour, its principal port. ... Sayyid Majid bin Said Al-Busaid (1834/1835 - October 7, 1870) was the first Sultan of Zanzibar. ... Sayyid Barghash bin Said Al-Busaid (1837 - March 26, 1888) was the second Sultan of Zanzibar. ...

After the death of her husband Emily Ruete was caught up in in the colonial plans of Otto von Bismarck. There were speculations that von Bismarck wanted to install the son of Emily Ruete as Sultan of Zanzibar. She revisited Zanzibar in 1885 and in 1888. Between 1889 and 1914 she lived in Beirut, Lebanon and Jaffa. Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (April 1, 1815 – July 30, 1898) was one of the most prominent European aristocrats and statesmen of the nineteenth century. ... Central Beirut (2004) Beirut (Arabic: , transliterated BayrÅ«t - the French name, Beyrouth, was also commonly used in English in the past) is the capital, largest city and chief seaport of Lebanon. ... Jaffa (Hebrew יָפוֹ, Standard Hebrew Yafo, Tiberian Hebrew Yāp̄ô; Arabic يَافَا   Yāfā[?]; also Japho, Joppa; also, ~1350 B.C.E.Amarna Letters, Yapu), is an ancient city located in Israel. ...

In 1992 the book An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds was published. for the first time Emily Ruete´s letters home, with her reactions on life in Europe, were available to the public.

There is a permanent exhibition about Emily Ruete in the House of Wonders, the palace constructed by her brother, Sultan Barghash, in Stone Town on Zanzibar.

References

• Emily Ruete, (1888): Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar, (Many reprints).
• Ulrich Haarmann (Editor), E. Van Donzel (Editor), Leiden, Netherlands, (1992): An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds: Memoirs, Letters Home, Sequels to the Memoirs, Syrian Customs and Usages. Presents the reader with a picture of life in Zanzibar between 1850 - 1865, and with an intelligent observer's reactions to life in Germany in the Bismarck period. Emily Ruete's writings describe her attempts to recover her Zanzibar inheritance and her homesickness. ISBN 9004096159