Afro-Ottoman Sultans

What if a Sultan or a Dynasty of Sultans emerges out of African subjects of the Ottoman Empire ? Or a African Harem-bride gives birth to a future Sultan ? Maybe Nubian,Sudanese or Lybian merchenaries, Spahis and or the decendents of African slaves ? Today theres still a minority of Afro-Turks in turkey as a result of the slave trade.
 
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What if a Sultan or a Dynasty of Sultans emerges out of African subjects of the Ottoman Empire ? Or a African Harem-bride gives birth to a future Sultan ? Maybe Nubian,Sudanese or Lybian merchenaries and or the decendents of African slaves ? Today theres still a minority of Afro-Turks in turkey as a result of the slave trade.

I mean the current royal family of Oman has several rulers of African concubine descent and the Chief Black Eunuchs already wielded much power in the Ottoman Empire. Idk seems possible, you just have to get a ruler who doesn't engage in the love/obsession of whiteness (which will be pretty hard because every Middle Eastern and North African cultures fetishized and politicized whiteness) try to have a black romanticism on par with the "Ciracassian Beauties" using Oromo or Somali women. Favored sons of exceptional qualities could make such unions be seen as a positive.
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Faisal bin Turki: his mother and his father's mother are of Ethiopian ancestry
 
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Revachah put it very well. Not a hard thing to pull off in theory; there were likely Black sons of the reigning Sultan at some point the Empire's history. All it takes is for a particular Sultan that favors Black women for his harem, or a particularly talented and outstanding son to see an Ottoman Sultan that's visually African.
 
There were a lot more white slaves in the Ottoman sphere than black slaves, which tended to either be in the Sudan or shipped to Basra, whereas white slaves ended up (more frequently) in Constantinople and therefore in the harems.
 
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Strangely enough whenever I mention the african heritage of the royal family Omani tend to get really defensive and state they are just tan. While the assimilation of Swahili who arrived after the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution is extremely successful and the freeing of slaves occured in 1970 it remains painfully obvious that anti-blackness still prevails when discussing their leader. Black mothers can't erase the racism of the father, son or communities.
 
What if a Sultan or a Dynasty of Sultans emerges out of African subjects of the Ottoman Empire ? Or a African Harem-bride gives birth to a future Sultan ? Maybe Nubian,Sudanese or Lybian merchenaries, Spahis and or the decendents of African slaves ? Today theres still a minority of Afro-Turks in turkey as a result of the slave trade.
Well, then they wouldn't be Ottomans, now, would they?

Like asking about Black Hapsburgs or Hannoverians....
 
Well, then they wouldn't be Ottomans, now, would they?

Like asking about Black Hapsburgs or Hannoverians....

I mean....maybe the former could happen in some crazy scenario where Super Ethiopia conquers Egypt early enough that they can join the Mediterranean sphere of geopolitics. Part of this involves close ties with the Hapsburgs to fight back against the Turks, resulting in a few royal marriages between the two houses
 

Red Orm

Banned
There are sultans with european ancestry and no one questions their Ottoman ness. One's race and ones ethnic and culture identity are not one in the same.

Indeed, some sultans were even mostly European. That doesn't change the fact that something has to massively change culturally for black women to be viewed as more beautiful than pale women by the Ottomans.
 
It doesn't have to be all black women, it can be just say Somali women or dinka who are very distinct just as Circassian women were made distinct from other Europeans.

The Chief Black Eunuch in some instances trained young sultans to be, black wet nurses and black playmates in the Harem could influence a sultan's world view.

Take a look at Italian writings of Somali women at the height of colonialism.

Surely Oman's Royal family shows somebody believed black was beautiful, no doubt sultans had black children. All it takes is a prodigy or favored child to give them power.
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