The French artist Paul d'Espagnat (whose other images are further up in this thread) depicted Abdul Hamid II a third time in November 1909.

In this sketch, the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria and Greece offer him three bottles of absinthe in exchange for Bosnia, Bulgaria and Crete, to which he replies: "Three bottles of Oxygénée Cusenier! I win!"

it's about an earlier phase of his research, but the episode of Ottoman History Podcast with Ian was one of my faves:

"During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hundreds of thousands of people from the Ottoman Empire and post-Ottoman states emigrated to the United States. Among them were musicians, singers, and artists who catered to the new diaspora communities that emerged in cities like New York and Boston."
https://soundcloud.com/ottoman-history-podcast/american-music-of-the-ottoman-diaspora-ian-nagoski

This depiction of the former sultan of the Ottoman empire as an absinthe enthusiast is particularly interesting if we consider that Abdul Hamid II apparently did not drink alcohol as an adult.

On this, see, for example Abdulhamit Kırmızı's 2022 article "The Drunken Officials of Abdülhamid II: Alcohol Consumption in the Late Ottoman Bureaucracy" (https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/17780)!

In this sketch, an officer informs the former Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II that all his possessions have been confiscated, to which Abdul Hamid II says "Will I at least be left with enough to take my Oxygénée Cusenier before each meal?" - and is satisfied when being told yes: "Then everything is fine. Allah is great."

Amazing.

However, al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf’s profile is closer to the trans-Saharan trader, who travelled back and forward than a professional #diplomat in a modern sense.

Moreover, sources indicate that he travelled in company with other traders. According to Dewière, “In Saharan context, many traders were jurists and vice-versa.The religious and legal knowledge of Yūsuf must have been of great help for performing his business.”

al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf might have gained from these missions, too. He probably used this charge to enlarge his social and economic capital and credit, as Dewière suggests. Thanks to these missions, he was able to reach Istanbul, Fes and Marrakesh and to establish contacts beyond Borno’s networks. (4/5)

#emdiplomacy #NewDiplomaticHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #history #Africa #OttomanEmpire #histodons #earlyModern

@histodons @earlymodern @historikerinnen

al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf, a Islamic scholar, was active as #ambassador of Borno between 1574 and 1583. During this period, we can find him in Istanbul, Borno, Morocco. These activities are closely connected to the expansion of the #OttomanEmpire in North #Africa. Between 1574 and 1579, sultan Idrīs b. ‘Alī sent several embassies to Istanbul. In 1582 and 1583 al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf was sent twice to Morocco to Aḥmad al-Manṣūr, probably in order to create an axis against the Ottomans, after the Moroccan sultan hade declared his full independency towards the Ottoman Empire. Overall, al-Ḥāǧǧ Yūsuf crossed the Sahara six times as a diplomat. (3/5)

#emdiplomacy #NewDiplomaticHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #histodons #history #histodons

@histodons @earlymodern @historikerinnen