A captured slaveship from East Africa 1868

T-S Misc.28.256 last part
T-S Misc.28.256 last part
Letter from Khalaf b. Isaac (2) to Halfon ha-Levi b. Nethanel (1) (1140) Aden    T-S Misc.28.256

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Taken from:  India Traders of the Middle Ages: Documents from the Cairo Geniza India Book By Friedman, Mordechai A. (Author), Goitein, S. D. (Author),

Geniza Lab ; Princeton Geniza Project  https://genizaprojects.princeton.edu/pgpsearch/?a=object&id=9250&q=zanj

 

 

Concerning the plunder of Aden (involving a person called al-Dughaym and the struggle between "the two Sultans" (=ʿAli b. Abu l-Gharat and Sabaʾ b. Abu Suʿud)), losses at sea, ……

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………. Further news about me, and my purchases: Our coreligionists arrived when the ships were ready to sail, and nothing remained with them. (meaning they sold everything to those ships).
During Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) a qintir (unknown kind of ship) arrived from the land of the Zanj, which had in it new (raqiq or wild) slaves. I tried to purchase a (menial-wasif) servant for you, my lord, but was not successful.

 

Note: the general slave trade from east Africa is mentioned by nearly every author.

Slave trade specifically of children:

Tuan Ch'eng-Shih (863); Abu Zaid al Hassan(916); Al Marvazi (1120); Mudjmal al -Tawarikh wa-l-qisas (1126); Al Idrisi (1150); Yahya bin Ahmad Sirhindi (1434); Ibn Al Wardi (about 1456); Al Himyari (1461)

Slave trade specifically from and by Madagascar:

Ch'en Yuan-Ching (late12 century); Chao Ju-Kua (1226); Chou Chih-Chung (1366); Ning Xian Wang (1430); Wang Khi (1607).


(1) Halfon ha-Levi b. Nethanel al-Dimyati (family name derived from Damietta, the Mediterranean port on the right arm of the Nile) of Old Cairo. One of the most prominent Cairene India merchants and even more illustrious scholar. He traveled to India, but instead of returning to Egypt after a year stayed in the East for two years.

(2) Khalaf b. Isaac: Sheikh Khalaf b. Isaac b. Bundar the Yemenite was a cousin of Madmin b. Hasan (=the international representative of the merchants of Aden) who closely cooperated with him.