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Yakut (or Jakut) al Hamawi (1220) Kitab Mu'jam al-buldan (geographical directory)
Baghdad
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Yaqut Shihab al-Din ibn-Abdullah al-Rumi al-Hamawi (1179–1229) is famous for his geography: Mu'jam ul-Buldan. His book is an alphabetical index of place names from the literary corpus of the Arabs. His Irshad al-Arib ila Ma’rifat al-Adib is a: Dictionary of Learned Men. Yaqut (ruby) was born in Constantinople, and as his nisba al-Rumi indicates he had Byzantine Greek ancestry. Yaqut was apprentice to Askar ibn Abi Naṣr al-Ḥamawi, a trader of Baghdad. Later he set up as a bookseller and began his writing career. He later moved to Aleppo, where he died in 1229.

Vol 2 p19

The north-eastern quarter (of the world) extends from Iraq (eastward) to al-Ahwaz (1), al-Jibal (2), Khurasan (3) and Tibet, and thence to China and Waq-Waq (63). Likewise the southern half consists of two quarters: a southern quarter, which embraces (the lands of) the Ethiopians, the Zanj, and the Nubians; and a southwestern quarter, which has not been trodden upon by anyone on the face of the earth. This quarter borders on (the land of ) the Sudan, which borders on (the land of) the Berbers, such as Koko (4) and the like.

Vol2 p20

Qatabah (64) is reported as having said that the world amounts to 24.000 farsakhs (5). Of these, the domain of the Sudan is 12.000 farsakhs, the domain of the Persians 3.000 farsakhs, the domain of the Byzantines 8.000 farsakhs (5), and the domain of the Arabs 1.000 farsakhs.

Vol2 p21

(Biruni has said………..)

As for the extension of the Western Encircling Sea, from the land of Tanjah (6) southwards, it swerves towards the south along the lands of the western Sudan, beyond the mountains known as the Mountains of the Moon, from which spring the sources of Egypt’s Nile. Its navigation is fraught with peril, from which no ship escapes…..

The other gulf mentioned above is the one known as the Sea of the Berbers, which stretches from Aden to Sufalah of the Zanj, beyond which no ship ventures because of the great risks involved. Beyond this point it joins the Western Ocean. In the eastern regions, there are the islands of Djawaga (7), then those of Dibadjat (8) and the Qumayr (9), then the islands of Zandjs, one of the largest of which is the island known as Sirandib (10) which is called in Indian language Singadib from which all kinds of corundum are obtained; tin is also exported; Sribuza (11) from which the camphor is obtained.

Vol2 p31

See map right.

East Africa he situates in the first clime (Hind) In it he inscribes:

The first clime is that of India. Its limits are the Sind (12) and the Sea in those parts of it that lie in the East, extending to Daybul (13) of the land of the Sind (12) and the islands that are named after it, namely, the Dibajat (14), the Zabay (15) and the Zenj. The end of its limits (in the west) is Makran (16), which stretches to the confines of al-Basrah between India and the Yemen. Its sign is Capricorn; the Lord of its hour is Saturn when the moon is in Aquarius.

Vol2 p333

Baouari (17) and Moulenda (18), two towns in the neighborhood of the Zendjs from which amber is exported.

Vol2 p343

The sea of the Zanj: it stretches from Aden till Sofalat ez-Zeng

The lands of the Zeng: are in the south, under Canopus, there is the continent and there are many islands, big and wide, with a lot of wood and trees, but they are not fruit trees, but ebony, teak, and others, amber is collected on its beaches, and it is only here that you find it. And the people live here poorly, and somebody has told me, somebody who had gone to these countries himself, that one sees the polestar of the south in the middle of the sky just as Canopus, and one does not see the stone-buck, the regular polestar and never the northern constellation of the bear.

The Zendjs see in the sky something of the same size as the moon, it resembles a round window (taqa) in the sky where there is a small white cloud (19) that never dissolves or goes on. I (Yakut) have interrogated many people about that and all answered the same. The Zendjs give it a name which I do not remember, and they do not know what it is.

Cities are found on Bahr az-Zanj (He is the first to use the word Zandj-bar), the most important being Maqdishu. Their inhabitants are foreigners (ghuraba) who settled on that region. They are Muslims, tribal sections, having no sultan but each clan having a shaikh whose orders they carry out. It (Mogadishu) is situated on the mainland of the Barbar who are a tribe of nomads (urban) not those whose country is the Maghrib, (but intermediary) between the Habasha and the Zunuj.

Then the country of Berbera stretches up to Zeng and the sea goes up to Aden, and this sea stretches further, till it reaches the Ocean.

Vol2 p344

Bahr al Qoulzoum (20); this is also a branch of the sea of India; it starts close to the land of the Barbar and the Sudan of which we talk when mentioning the Sea of the Zandj and Aden...

Vol2 p344

Al Bahr al Mouhit (the encircling Sea). This is the sea from which all seas off which we talk spring….Two branches come out of it…. The eastern one is the sea of Hind (India) of Sin (China) and Faris (21) of al-Yaman and of al Zanj.

Vol2 p345

We already mentioned that the beginning of the Persian Sea is Tiz (22), this when going to the north. Because when going to the south one will find the land of Zandj……. (about the ocean) and the greatest and most famous island of Ceylon and many cities and the island of Zang as well as the island of Saradip (23) as well as the island of Socotra, and the island of Colm and soon……..

Vol2 p369

Berbera: Is a town situated between Abyssinia, the land of the Zendjs and Yemen. The people are very black and speak a language that only they can understand. They are nomadic and eat wild animals. In their country you find strange animals only found there, among them; the giraffe, the leopard, the rhino, the panther, elephant, ... The people of Berbera practice emasculation (52), which is mentioned in the article on Zeila (24). El-Hasan ben Ahmed ben Yaqoub el Hamadani (25) of Yemen tells the following: among the islands close to the shore of Yemen is that of Berbera at the end of the shore of Abyan (26). It is in the sea towards Aden, on the side where Canopy appears on the western side, you have in front of you the mountain of smoke, that is Soqoutara (27). About the description of their hunting. Several of the people who penetrated their country (of Zendj) say that those people have a kind of plant mauve from color, they boil it and take out the juice. That is boiled till it becomes like resin. To check if it is very poisonous, somebody makes himself a small wound, and when the blood starts running, they bring the poison close, on the point of a knife, if the poison is strong, the blood will get back into the wound. The man has to stop it because it might bring some of the poison into the wound, what will kill him. If the blood does not go back into the wound, they have to make new poison. The poison once prepared is put in a small box put on the belt. They sit in ambush in the trees, and when they see a wild animal, the hunter puts a little bit on top of his arrows. If the poison mixes with the blood, every animal dies, the people then go and take the skin, the horns or the ivory and sell them. One can eat the meat, it does not hurt. This is the land that they call Souah'il Berbera (28).

Vol2 p492

Bluqa: A land it was said to be inhabited by the jinn. Abu al-Fath called it Baluqa. The area is close to the sea. Al-Hafsi said Baluqa al-Siri and Balukeh al-Zanj are close to al-Yamam.

Vol2 p504

…. the noblest among the people of Busang (ten farsah (30) of Herat), were maternal uncles of Zanj. (29)

Vol4 p9

When the mountain ad Duhlul disappears (in clouds), it resembles a Zanj, who has been covered by a bag.

Vol4 p124

Djawaga (7)(= Zabag) is an island located on the [eastern] borders of the country of India, behind the Harkand Sea (37), and on the [western] borders of China. It is said that [Djawaga Island] is part of the land of the Zandjs. Its inhabitants are similar to men, except for their customs which resemble those of wild beasts. There are nisnas (38) that have wings like those of bats. They tell extraordinary things that people have collected in their books. One finds the muskrat and the civet there which is a beast similar to the cat. They draw the musk from (the civet). Those who have traveled to these regions have reported to me that civet musk is the sweat of an animal which, when it is hot, sweats musk. It is collected (by scratching the animal) with a knife. (54)

Vol4 p164

Zeila (24) .....(when talking about Zeila).... Cheikh Ouelid el Bacri, who had traveled in many countries, told me the following. Berber is the name of a tribe of Negroes, between the land of the Zendjs and Abyssinia. They have a strange custom, even though they attach their genealogy to El-Akta (39), and they are reckoned among his family. They live in the desert in huts made of dried grass. If one among them loves a women and wants to marry her, and she is socially not of the same standing as he, he will take among the cows of the father of the women, a cow close to give birth, cuts the hair of the tail and lets her go. Then he himself flies looking for someone he can emasculate (52). When the one who was herding the cattle comes back and tells the story to the father of the women, or to someone of the relatives who have to look after her, they go and chase him. If they catch him, they kill him. If not he continues till he meets someone that he castrates and he brings the trophy. But if the cow has delivered the calve before that, he has missed his chance. He never comes back to his tribe and lives in places where he is unknown, because if he returns home he is killed. If he reaches his goal however, he becomes the owner of the girl without anybody being able to stop him, whoever the women might be...

Vol4 p224

Sofala is the most remote known city (medina) in the country of the Zenj... wares are carried to them, and left by the merchants who go away, and coming again find that the natives have laid down the price for every article besides it (55) ...Sofala gold is well known among the Zenj merchants.

Vol4 p227

Socotra ….. Ibn al-Qata'a, Socotra, narrated it extensively in the Kitab al'abniat (book of buildings), the name of a great island in which there are several villages and cities, south from Aden, and it is in the Barr al-Arab, closer than it to the land of India and to the land of the Zinj. Most of its people are Arab Christians…………………. Some of the Greeks keep their lineages, and only the people of Socotra could enter. And they used to accommodate India's battleships who cut off the travelers from the merchants but now it is not, Al-Hassan bin Ahmed bin Yaqoub Al-Hamdani (40), the Yemeni, said: From what borders the coasts of Yemen from the islands to Socotra Island, and to it is attributed Al-Sabr Al-Socotri, which is a Berber island, which is located between Aden and the country of Zinj. So if a foreigner goes out of Aden to the country of Zinj, he will take it as if he wants Oman and the island of Socotra, it runs on its right until it is cut off, then it is bend around on the side of the Sea of Zinj. The length of this island was eighty leagues (65), and it contained all skilled tribes, and it had about ten thousand fighters they are Christians…………………

Vol4 p295

Shiraz (41) in old time they constructed from Balsaj (Teak) and timber loads of the country of Zinj and their buildings are on the edge of the sea many people are exaggerating the expenses of the buildings so that the traders spent on their home up to thirty thousand dinars (66)

Vol4 p355

Chouqar (42) (or Suqar)….;Chouqar is also a locality that belongs to the Zandj and from which a big amount of slaves is exported these are those, whose lower brows consist of two or three lines.

Vol5 p95

And the wombs of the women in maturity burn among the Zanj,Nubia and Abyssinia, who appear in dark color and smell and have crisp hair and it spoiled their minds …..

…………There is no scabies (51) like in Zinj, and no plague like in Sham (Syria), no spleen like in Bahrein, no fever like Khyber (43) fever, no earthquakes like in Siraf (44), no wars like in Ahwaz (1) …

Vol5 p388

(When talking about the Qulzum sea)

…… but if the south side there is the city of Bedja (45) and then extends on the coast of the sea to the houses of Bedja and Bedja (45) folk are blacker than the black Abyssinia, Another place then extends the sea to the land of Abyssinia and then to Zeila (24) until it ends at its exit at the Great Sea and then to the shores of the Berbers and then to the land of Zinj in the Sea of the South and the Sea of Al Qulzum (46) ……

Vol5 p397

Al-Kumr (47) is an island in the middle of the sea of the Zandj which contains many villages no island is larger then it. It comprises a large number of towns and kingdoms. Each king makes war on the other. On the shores are found amber and the leaf al-Kumari (67). This is a perfume, it is also called betel leaf. Wax (sama) is also obtained from it.

Vol5 p478

Kilwa, a town in the country of the Zanj. (He is the third to identify Kilwa)

Vol6 p23

Leikhouna, (or Bandjouya or Lendjouya (Unguja), Landschuja = Zanzibar) is a big island and the seat of the elected kings in the land of the Zendj where the king lives. Ships from all countries come there for careening and repair. People of the island of Tumbat (48) were Muslim and the people of Lenguja have been forced to flee to Tumbat (49) to escape from their enemies. You find their vines that have fruit three times a year. Each time when a fruit is ripe another one is being formed.

Vol6 p113

Merca is a town on the coast of the Zanj (Zandschabar), belonging to the Berbers of the Blacks, not the Berbers of the Maghrib.

Vol6 p158

Al-Maemalu

A village that belongs to Makkah ……………. from Mecca in five stages towards the lands of Yemen, and I told him what is in Bisha and the valleys that are full with palm trees, and told him that it is possible to transport ten thousand seedlings in one day, so he sent Hisham to the prince of Mecca to buy two hundred Zinj and get for each Zinj a wife and then carry them and plant them. When the people saw that, they said: What is needed is a farmer that works in it, …………..

Vol6 p173

Maqdishu is a city at the beginning of the country of the Zanj to the south of Yemen on the mainland of the Barbar in the midst of their country. These Barbar are not Barbar who live in the Maghrib for these are blacks resembling the Zunuj, a type intermediary between the Habash and the Zunuj. It is a city on the seacoast. Its inhabitants are all foreigners (ghuraba), not blacks. They have no king but their affairs are regulated by elders (mutaqaddimun) (mouteqaddamoum) (m'kaddem) according to their customs. When a merchant goes to them he must stay with one of them who will sponsor him in his dealings. From there is exported sandalwood, ebony, ambergris, and ivory - these forming the bulk of their merchandise - which they exchange for other kinds of imports.

Vol6 p207

Menbaca; big town in the land of the Zendjs where the boats anchor.

Vol6 p215

Mnfyh (49): is a town famous on the Zinj Sea coast.

Vol6 p247

In his description of Majorca he also gives the most important people who have the nisba (coming from) Al-Mayurki.

Abu l’Hasan Ali ibn Abmad ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Tunayz.

He was a good grammarian who was also busy in the field of quranic lecture;…… Then he said that Aba Hassan went out of his house to Uman and his sister in Mecca in 473 told me that he went from Uman to the land of Zinj and he had only his science with him, so he did not have anything except that for them. He said: If I wanted to earn money a thousand dinars (66) one could get it from them, and he regretted his exit from them and then he returned to Basra to reside by when he arrived at the door of Basra felt from the camel died in his time in 474 (1082AD)

Vol6 p272

Nujah (or Nudschah) (Naja of Idris) a town of the land of the Berbers of the Zanj (Barbarat az Zanj), on the shores of the ocean, after a town called Markah, and Markah is after Maqdishu on the sea of the Zanj.

Vol6 p335-336

(The Nile)… As for the origin of its course, it is mentioned that it comes from the country of the Zanj, then it passes through the land of Abyssinia, reaching the sea of Yemen on the side of the land of Abyssinia, until it ends in the country of Nubia on its western side and Beja (45) on its eastern side. Until it flows into the sea, and as for the reason for its increase in the summer, the rain abounds in the land of Zanzibar and those countries at these times, so that the rain descends with them like the mouths of waterskins (56), and muds are erected to this river from all directions, so until it reaches Egypt and cuts those passages, there will be heat and face the need for it is as planned by the Creator, the Almighty, and Al-Laith bin Saad (57) and others have mentioned the story of a man from the son of Al-Eis bin Ishaq (58) of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his course required him. I will mention it after, God willing. The Moon Mountain, it begins to increase in the month of Abib (59) ,……

Vol6 p338

El-Leith Ebn Saad (57) tells us: It is believed that a man descended from Aiss, called Haid, son of Abou Saloum, son of Aiss son of Isaac son of Abraham,(60) who had fled from his home by fear of a certain king, came to Egypt. He stayed there for several years, and, after having witnessed the marvelous properties of the Nile and all the advantages that this river procured for the region, he made a vow before God to follow its banks to its origin, and he swore he would only be stopped by death.

So he walked along the bank of the river for thirty years; according to others, he walked fifteen years along the river and fifteen years in the land; and he came to a lake. He saw the Nile come out of it before him; and, having advanced, he ascended the heights which surrounded the lake; there he found a man standing and praying under a tree covered with fruit. He went to him, saluted him, and the man said to him, Who are you? “I am,” he replied, “Haid, son of Abu Saloum, son of Aiss, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. And who are you yourself? He replied: and I am Amran (61). What brings you, O Haid, to this distant place? God revealed to me that I would stay here until a certain man came and sent there. Haid continued: O Amran (61), teach me what you know about this Nile. Have you heard that any of the children of Adam ever reached the sources? "I heard," replied Amran, "that a man, a descendant of Aiss, had to achieve it. I don't think it's anyone other than you, O Haid. "Tell me the way then," said Haid. “I will not tell you,” Amran replied, “until you have granted me what I am about to ask of you. "And what is it, O Amran?" “When you come back here, if I am still alive, I want you to stay with me until God reveals something about you to me; and if you find me dead, I want you to bury me. "Gela is granted to you," Haid replied. Then Amran continued: Walk in the direction where you are, along this lake. You will come to a place where you will find a monstrous beast, of which you will see the beginning, but not the end. Don't be scared and get on it. This beast is the enemy of the sun. When the sun rises, it swoops down on it to swallow it, and is stopped only by the heat of its rays. When he lays down, she lunges at him the other way, still hoping to swallow him. Climb on this beast and ride it until you reach the Nile. Descend then, and set out again: you will find yourself, in the place where you have descended, on a land of iron having mountains, trees and plains of iron; you will cross it, and you will enter a land of copper, where the mountains, the trees and the plains are of copper; leaving the land of copper, you will enter a land that will be all silver; and after the land of silver, you will arrive at a land of gold: it is in this that the mysteries of the Nile will be revealed to you.

Haid traveled thus until he came to the land of iron; from there he came to the copper one; from this to that of silver, and from the land of silver to the land of gold. After walking some time in the latter, he came to a golden wall with golden battlements, in which was a golden dome, pierced by four gates. He saw the water come down from this wall and gather under the dome; it then divided there and flowed back into four rivers; three of these rivers, issuing from three of the gates, went underground, the fourth flowed on the surface of the ground: it was the Nile. Haid drank some of his water and took a little rest; then he approached the wall and tried to scale it. But an angel appeared to him and said to him: Advance no further, O Haid; you have now acquired the complete knowledge of the Nile, and this enclosed place is paradise. This water comes out of paradise. “I want to see,” Haid replied, “what is in paradise. “You are not permitted,” replied the angel, “to enter it at this time. "But what, at least," he asked, "is this thing I see there?" “It is the sphere where the sun and the moon revolve. You see that it looks like a millstone. — I want to go up there, said Haid, and tour with her. Some claim that he did go up there, and others deny it. The angel then warned him that they were going to bring him food from paradise: You must not, he added, prefer anything earthly to it, because nothing should be preferred to what comes out of paradise. This food will last as long as you live. As the angel finished these words, Haid saw descend in front of him a bunch of grapes of three colors: they had the color of green emerald, that of white pearl and that of red hyacinth. Then the angel repeated, “O Haid, you now have the complete science of the Nile. But the traveler still asked: What are these three rivers which plunge under the earth? — The first, said the angel, is the Euphrates, the second, the Saihoun (62), and the third, the Djaihoun (62).

Haid then turned back, and he walked until he found the beast. He climbed on it; when the sun went down to set, she rushed at him, and the traveler found himself brought back to the place where he had first mounted her. He went on his way and returned to Amran's house. This character was already dead. Haid buried him and spent three days near his tomb; then he saw coming an old man of a very venerable aspect, who approached the tomb of Amran and wept. This stranger then turned to him and greeted him: 0 Haid, he asked him, what discoveries have you made relative to the Nile? The traveler related all that he had seen, and the old man continued: This is indeed what we find explained in the books. However, marvelous fruits had appeared on the tree; the stranger picked it and said to Haid: Don't you eat it? Haid answered: I have on me food of paradise that were given to me above, and I must not prefer any food from here below. “You are quite right, O Haid. Nothing earthly should be preferred to something that comes from heaven. But have you ever seen in this world fruits comparable to these? It was God who drew from paradise this tree for Amran, that he might find his sustenance there; and he transplanted it for him in this place. This tree is not of this world. It was only left there for you. When you are gone, God will take it away. And the old man continued to insist in this way until Haid decided to take one of these fruits and bite into it. But immediately the angel appeared before him and said to him, Do you know him now? he is the one who brought your father out of paradise. If you had been able to keep these grapes which were given to you, the men of the earth would also have eaten them, and there would always have been some left. But from now on you will seek in vain for it, as your father once sought.

Haid returned to Egypt and recounted his adventure to his compatriots. He is dead. May God have mercy on him.

I have finished this story which I have from a reliable source; I didn't say anything to blame.

Vol6 p381

Waqwaq (63) : country above China; is (merely) part of the fabulous hold the sea has on Sailors' and storytellers' imagination.

Taken from: Materials for a History of Islamic textiles…. By R B Serjeant.

When Maslama inspected them (state factories in Baghdad), he was pleased with them, and turning to the Meccans, he said: Oh people of Mecca, have you any factories like this? No, they replied, but we have the house of God which is used as the kiblah…… Maslama then asks each of the embassies in turn if they have such fine factories as his, till eventually he comes to the Basran envoy, who replies: We are the people who have the most ivory (adj), ebony (sadj), silk (khazz), and brocade (dibadj).

Under; the ruins of an old Swahili mosque on the beach of Malindi, (Moulenda) together with several pillar tombs. Most of this has disappeared since the town started growing.

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Yakut; Irshad al-arib ila marifat al-adid;
(Dictionary of learned men)
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Taken from: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1914
Also called: Mujam ul Udaba

The grammarian Mubarak b. Mubarak al-Wajih, was a teacher of Yakut and a man distinguished by wide linguistic attainments; Arabic, Persian; Turkish; Greek; Ethiopic; Armenian; Zanjiya and another pupil of him was Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi.

Taken from: Der Neger in der Bildersprache der arabischen Dichter By Manfred Ullmann

V 195 poem

Your preoccupation with grammar impressed me immensely until you became familiar with the language of the Zanj and Byzantines. When I heard a language that I don't understand, which resembles the rattling of the ravens and owls, I rejected their grammar. God should save me from falling into such root knots.

V 499

(citing: Abu Ali al-Mantiqi al-Basri (1001) )

The two eyes of the night are painted with antimony, and the pearls of the horizon shine in their necklace.

It is as if the light of that color in her pattern is the row of teeth of a Zanj, who smiles.

Note: My reason for adding so much poetry is that it gives a less racist picture then the philosophers give.

Yakut: Mejim al Adba (A Dictionary of Authors)

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Taken from: islamicbook.ws   معجم الأدباء

(When talking about the poet Ahmed ibn Al-Zubair in Egypt d1167)

He said: He was on his majesty and virtue, and his status from knowledge and pedigree, ugly to look, black skin, dark face, thick of creation, with a thick lip, and a fluffy nose, like the character of Zunuy (=pl of zanj), and short.

(1) al-Ahwaz: is a city in the southwest of Iran and the capital of Khuzestan province Iran.

(2) al-Jibal: region located in western Iran.

(3) Khurasan: Khorasan: Afghanistan + Eastern Iran.

(4) Koko: kuku of al-Zayyat 1058; Ibn al Jawzi 1257; Al-Dimashqi 1325; Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi (d897) has Qaqu; Yakut 1220 Koko.

(5) farsakhs: 1 parasangs or farsakhs = 2.8 nautical miles/ about 5km.

These words are mostly attributed to Qatada (see my webpage: Umayr Ibn Qatadah 'Ubayd b. 'Umayr (d694)); and are repeated by: Ibn al-Fakih al Hamadhani (903); Al Garnati (1169); Abu Nasr Mutahhar al-Maqdisi (966); al Maqrizi (1441); Mudjmal al -Tawarikh (1126); Ibn al Jawzi (d1200) Yakut (1220) and many others.

(6) Tanjah: Tangier in Morocco.

(7) Djawaga: Zabaj (Sumatra)

(8) Dibadjat: Didadjat islands: Dibayat; =Maldives

(9) Qumayr: Qamar: Khmer (Cambodia) or Qumr; Madagascar.

(10) Sirandib; Serandibi: Sri Lanca.

(11) Sribuza: present day Brunei. Also found in Abu Imran Musa ibn Rabah al-Awsi al-Sirafi (978). There is another Sribuza; one of the Comoros. 

(12) Sind: now in Pakistan

(13) Daybul: or Debal or Deybal; close to present day Karachi. For the importance of this town in the East African History see my webpage: Note on Daibal or Debal or Daibul or Daybul (year 710)

(14) Dibajat: al-Dibadjad: Didadjat islands: Dibayat =Maldives

(15) Zabay: one of the main islands of Indonesia (Sumatra).

(16) Makran: or Mecran and Mokran, is the coastal region of Baluchistan (Pakistan).

(17) Baouari: Barawa or Brawa or Brava harbour in south Somalia.

(18) Moulenda: malindi in Kenya.

(19) white cloud: This are the Magellan clouds. On this see also; Hendrik Bate van Mechelen 1281; Pietro d'Abano (d 1316); Yakut (or Jakut) al Hamawi (1220); Ibn Madjid: As-Sufaliyya (1470).

(20) Bahr al Qoulzoum: The Red Sea.

(21) Faris: Fars in Iran; Persian Gulf.

(22) Tiz: port on the shore besides Macran in Iran.

(23) Saradip; Sarandib: Sri Lanca.

(24) Zeila: in N Somalia close to Djibouti.

(25) El-Hasan ben Ahmed ben Yaqoub el Hamadani: see my webpage on Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani: Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab (d945)

(26) Abyan: province of Yemen just east of Aden.

(27) Soqoutara: Socotra island on the coast of Somalia.

(28) Souah'il Berbera: from Sawahil; the coast.

(29) the noblest among the people of Busang (ten farsah of Herat), were maternal uncles of Zanj: this is a big insult; the Zanj are considered to be the lowest kind of people.

(30) farsah: parasangs or farsakhs = 2.8 nautical miles/ about 5km.

(31) Djoubb (El Jub): a dug, non-masoned waterhole (according to Marcel Devic p70); the name still exists in the name of the river Jubba. Must have been close to present day Kismayo. Is mostly mentioned by Chinese authors: Yakut (1220); Al-Dimashqi (1325); Fei-Hsin (1436) has Giumbo; Xuanzong Shih-lu (1438) has Zhu-bu;  Zhang, Tingyu: Ming Shi (1739); Luo Maodeng (1597). Some authors say the channel mentioned by al Masudi (916) is the Jubba: “…Zinj were the only ones who had crossed a tributary of the Nile (the Jubb) which flowed into a bay or canal, which in turn opened into the Indian Ocean…”.

(32) Takrur: at the border between Senegal and Mauretania. Already mentioned by al Bakri in 1068.

(33) Jaziiratul Khadhraa (Jazirat al-Khadra) the green island (Pemba): Ibn Majid (1462) is the other author mentioning the green island under the name Hadra island and this in his Hawiya and also the Sufaliyya.

(34) Mkanbalu (now Ras Mkumbuu): James Kirkman, the first archaeologist to excavate at the Ras Mkumbuu Ruins, located on the west coast of the Tanzanian island of Pemba in the 1950s, proposed to connect his findings with the "Qanbalu" of Jahiz (d869) en Masudi (916) and many others after them. This is however still not proven. He is however the only author to have some details on this place.

(35) Nishapur: in northeastern Iran.

(36) Kaleh; Kalah: very important harbour in Malaysia in those days.

(37) Harkand Sea; sea of Harkant: Herkend; the ocean on the east coast of India.

(38) Nisnas: Nathnasse or Nasnas or Nisnas: (Half humans half animals or jinn found in the neighbourhood of Yemen and in the islands in the Ocean.) See Yakut (1220); Shah Mardan Ibn Abi al-Khayr (11th)

(39) El-Akta: literally the one with a hand cut off.

(40) Al-Hassan bin Ahmed bin Yaqoub Al-Hamdani: see my webpage on Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani: Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab (d945)

(41) Shiraz: Shiraz is a city in south-central Iran, known for its literary history and many gardens. Because of many trade contacts between them and east Africa the Swahili kept calling themselves Shirazi till well into the 20th century.

(42) Chouqar (or Suqar): maybe Jubba; G. Rotter however gives two possibilities for for Suqar; Shaka on the coast north of the Tana or the tribe of the Sagara west of Dar-es-Salaam. Ibn Majid (1470) mentions Ras Shaka as Chika and also as Chikala. Also found at Yakut (1220) as Chouqar; Al Iskandari (1165) as Shaqar; Ibn Nasir al-din (1438) as Shuqran.

(43) Khyber: most important of the passes between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The pass has historically been the gateway for invasions of the Indian subcontinent from the northwest.

(44) Siraf: Siraf was the harbour of Shiraz province of Persia; and the place of big trade with East Africa.

(45) Bedja: Beja people from Sudan. The Egyptians leaving from Aswan;  the southern border town on the Nile; have to cross their territory to reach the harbours on the Red Sea.

(46) Al Qulzum: located at the head of the Gulf of Suez.

(47) Al-Kumr; Qomar or Qumr; Madagascar

(48) Tumbat: Tumbatu Island is the third-largest island making up the Zanzibar Archipelago, part of Tanzania in East Africa.

(49) Mnfyh: Mafia island.

(50) Yaqut, who writing before 1224 C.E., reported that the Sultan of Pemba was an Arab who had recently emigrated from Kufa, suggesting that the doctrines of the Ghurabiyya (Shia Arabs; maybe the ones who temporarily took over in Kilwa) (which were strongly present in Kufa) had also spread to Pemba.

(51) Scabies in the land of Zanj is found in: Jahiz's Kitab al-Hayawan (869),  Ibn Khordadbeh (886), al Hamadhani (903), Ibn Rosteh (903), Ibn al-Fakih Tha'alibi (1038), Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (1109), Mohammad ebn Mahmud ebn Ahmad Tusi (1160), Ali ibn Zaid al Baihaqi (1170), Jakut al Hamawi (1220), Al-Qazwini Atar al Bilad (1283), Rukneddin Ahmed (1420) and many others.

(52) Other authors who mention the emasculating of enemies:

Buzurg ibn Shahriyar (955)

Ch'en Yuan-Ching (late12 century)

Chou Chih-Chung: (1366)

Zare'a Ya'kob ruler of Ethiopia (1445)

Yakut (or Jakut) al Hamawi (1220)

Al Marvazi (1120)

Ibn Nasir al-Din (d1438)

Ning Xian Wang (1430)

(53) Giraffe skin to make sandals:

-Abu I-Tayyib Muhammad al-Washsha (d936) (about Baghdad) Elegant footwear included East African sandals (al-nial al-zanjiyya), fine sandals, light checkered shoes, Hashimi boots.

-Nasir-I Khusraw: Safar-nama (1052); (about Egypt) There was a type of skin from Abyssinia that resembled leopard, from which they made sandals.

-Yakut (or Jakut) al Hamawi (1220): Djoubb (El Jub), town in the neighborhood of the county of the Zendj, on the land of Berbera  from where one exports giraffe skins which serve in Persia to make shoes.

(54) Other works mentioning the civet from Africa are (see my webpage:) Al-Jahiz Al-Fakhar al-Sudan (869); Shah Mardan Ibn Abi al-Khayr (11th); Joseph ibn Abraham (1137); Yakut al Hamawi (1220); Al-Saghani (1252); Nur al-ma'arif (1295); al-Watwat (1318); Friar Jordanus; (1329); Ibn Battuta and the African Diaspora (1331); Cowar el-aqalim (1347); From the Court of Al-Zahir (1439); Ibn al-Ahdal (1451); Ibn Madjid: As-Sufaliyya (1470); Ibn al-Dayba (1496).

(55) Those mentioning the silent trade in East Africa on my webpages: Hudud Al-'Alam (982); Al Zuhri : (1137); Mohammad ebn Mahmud ebn Ahmad Tusi (1160); Yakut (or Jakut) al Hamawi (1220); Al-Qazwini(d. 1283) Atar al Bilad; Rukneddin Ahmed (1420); Ibn Al Wardi (about 1456).

(56) A waterskin is a receptacle used to hold water. Normally made of a sheep or goat skin, it retains water naturally and therefore was very useful in desert crossings until the invention of the canteen, though waterskins are still used in some parts of the world.

(57) Ibn al-Dawadari (1335): Al-Layth bin Saad: In Suyuti (1505) he is called Imam al-Layth ibn Sa'd; in Ibn Abd’essalam al-Menoufi (15th): Alleith ibn-Saad.

(58) Al-Eis bin Ishaq; Ibn al-Dawadari (1335): a man from the son of Al-Ais bin Ishaq bin Ibrahim: in Suyuti (1505) he is called: Umran ben ‘Ays.

(59) month of Abib: The first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year.

(60) Annon: Dhikr Kalam (15^th): Haid ibn-Abu-Schalum ibn-al-Aiss-ibn-Ishak ibn-Ibrahim: Aiss, called Haid ibn-Abu-Schalum ibn al-Aiss-ibn-Ishak ibn-Ibrahim, also mentioned by Ibn Abd’essalam al-Menoufi (15th); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); Grandson of Muhallib bin Muhammad bin Shadi (1126).

(61) Annon: Dhikr Kalam (15th): Amran ibn-Folan ibn-al-Aiss ibn-Ishak ibn-Ibrahim: in Dawadari (1335) he is called a man from the son of Al-Ais bin Ishaq bin Ibrahim: in Suyuti (1505) he is called: Umran ben ‘Ays.

(62) Ann: Sirat Sayf ibn Dhi-Yazan (15th): Sayahoun, Jayahoun, Alfarat, and the Nile: these are the four rivers coming from paradise. By the different authors on this website different names are given:  Sihon, Gihon, Euphrates and the Nile: this is the most used combination. Other combinations are:

Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel, Phirat.

Tigris, Effraim, Euphrates Nile.

Seihan, Djeihan, Euphrates, Nile.

(63) Waqwaq : in the books three different places are called Waqwaq: in South-East Africa; in Indonesia; around Japan.

(64) The Earth is 24.000 parasanges. These words are mostly attributed to Qatada (see my webpage: Umayr Ibn Qatadah 'Ubayd b. 'Umayr (d694)); and are repeated by: Ibn al-Fakih al Hamadhani (903); Al Garnati (1169); Abu Nasr Mutahhar al-Maqdisi (966); al Maqrizi (1441); Mudjmal al -Tawarikh (1126); Ibn al Jawzi (d1200); Yakut (1220) and many others.

(65) Leagues: any of several European units of measurement ranging from 2.4 to 4.6 statute miles (3.9 to 7.4 km).

(66) Dinars: gold coin of one mithqal (4-5 gr of gold).

(67) Qumari leaves are mentioned by: Ibn al Baytar (1249); Kanz al fawa’id (14th); Al Firuzabadi (d1414); Al Qalqashandi (d1418); Yakut (1220).