Born in 1548 in southern Ethiopia’s Khambata region, Ambar is believed to have been associated with the Oromo tribe. He was known by the name of ‘Chapu’ until he fell into the hands of slave dealers. Historians believe either he was captured during a war or was sold into the trade by his poor parents due to poverty. A couple of decades later, Ambar emerged in India as a towering military figure. Ambar became the victim of slave trade as a child. He was bought and sold several times, changing between many masters and hands and different routes through the African continent until he landed in Baghdad via Yemen. Chapu was sold in Yemen for the sum of eighty Dutch guilders. From there, he was taken to Baghdad and “sold to a prominent merchant who, recognising Chapu’s superior intellectual qualities, raised and educated the youth, converted him to Islam, and gave him the name ‘Ambar’.” Kazi Hussein, his master, was a devout Muslim
By 1600, he became a full-fledged military general and introduced a sophisticated irrigation system, built several palaces, and even married his children into the families of Indian nobility with the aim of integrating Africans into the South Asian elite.
He formed many alliances with foreign powers and died in 1626 at the age of 86.
