A page from the geographical work of Al Qalqashandi
Shihab al-Din Abu 'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Ahmad Abd Allah al-Qalqashandi al-Fazari or al-Qalqashandi (1355 – 1418), was a medieval Egyptian encyclopedist, polymath and mathematician. A native of the Nile Delta, he became a Scribe of the Mamluk chancery in Cairo, Egypt. He wrote the voluminous administrative encyclopedia Subh al-A’sha fi Sina’at al-Insha. (The Dawn of the Blind) completed in 1412, is an administrative manual on geography, political history, natural history, zoology, mineralogy, cosmography, and time measurement. Although lots of bits of information come out of his book regarding East Africa most are taken out of then centuries old books.
Taken from: alwaraq.net
Al-Yaman and the Hadramawt: Translations from Medieval Arabic Geographers and analysis. By Walter Bascom Bevens.
Thierry Buquet: La belle captive. La girafe dans les ménageries princières au Moyen Age.
Father Giovanni Vantini FSCJ's Oriental Sources Concerning Nubia
P153
All their tribes (ahia) are descendants of Ham b. Noah (1). Tabari (2), quoting Ibn Ishaq, said: The Habasha are children of Kush (50), son of Ham; the Nuba, the Zinj [or Zanj] and the Zaghawa (3) are children of Kana’an son of Ham. Ibn Sa’id (4) mentioned that the Ḥabasha are descendants of Ḥabash (bani Ḥabash); the Nuba are descendants of Nubah or Bani Nubi, and the Zinj are from the Bani Zinj; but he does not advance further in their genealogies. It is probable that they are the children of Ham or of other [similar] ancestors.
P209
Giraffe … the animal would come from Abyssinia and Yemen, it has long front legs, short hint legs, hooves and the tail of a cow, and a long neck and head and strings (hair) up to the head, and color embroidered in white and yellow.
Said Yahiz (5): It was claimed that the giraffe is generated in Abyssinia between the camel and the antelope and a male hyenas,…
Among the diseases that the giraffes may suffer from is kalab, a sort of madness, similar to rabies in dogs; it is a fatal illness. They may also suffer from angina (6) and gout (7).
P211
The first donkey Alatapih (8): a picture of an animal in embroidered skin in white and black gracious amuse the beholder. It was created to dedicate God’s reign. Gift to the Mamluks-Sultan al-Malik az-Zahir Barquq (9) It was given to a poor faqir (10) who was riding it as riding horses and donkeys and walks out in Cairo, then taken over by Sultan al-Malik an-Nasir Farag (11), and send as a gift to ibn Othman, the Lord of the Land of Rum west of the Gulf of Constantinople.
P228
(about black skin): Some were fully (Aswad mutbaq), even the thighs (Aswad halik or aswad zingi) and often shiny (Aswad barraq), others were only ash coloured (Aswad ramadi) or mixed with white (aswad ahlas); As for the latter, they could be immaculate (abyas safi), as silver (fiddi) or alezan (asqar).
P239 (about ambergris)(48)
I: Shahri (12), which the sea of India throws to the coast of Shihr in the land of Yemen. This is the finest amber, and optimal color, and c.f.h substance and good value.
II: Negro, which is throw up by the Berber Sea and the Sea of India in the south to the coast of Zinj .
P241
(a kind of drug) Alq.n.d.gli and brought all the way from the Coast of the Zinj which is similar to alqmary (13) but smells badly.
P410
Then (the sea) curls to the east behind the mountains of the moon from which the headwaters of the Nile of Egypt starts, later mentioned …, west and reaches the deserted countries behind the land of the Zandj, and then extends eastward and northward until it connects with the China Sea and India…
P414
… Aden in the west then (the sea) inclining to the south passes the city of Maqdichou (Mogadishu); then also extends until the end of the Gulf of Berbera on the fringes of the Sea of India in the southern part as we will say later if it pleases to God. After passing the beginning of the gulf the sea reaches the shores of the country of the Zandj till the end of this place, after that comes the coast of al Waq-waq (14) where the sea reaches unknown coasts....
P416
Said Al-Sharif Al Idrisi (17): the mountains of al Shwahq are in the neighborhood of the q.nbal.w island (18), and said of qnbalh; an island in the sea of Zing.
Its measurements are: The length of fifty-two degrees, and in the south, three degrees.
Idrissi said: and the people are Muslims.
Under: Nilometer
P432
Description of the Nile, its beginning and its end, its rise and fall, about the Nilometer how far it ordinary is rising,
and how far it falls. Its origin is at the beginning of the desert, which is south from the equator, and therefore, it is hard to correct determine
him. The scholars believe he comes down from the mountains of the moon, if you say Camar (moon) as usually happens, or COMR, as Abulfida (19) after Jacut in the Muschtarik (20) and
Sa'id (4) in his book. In the description of the inhabited earth says (Ptolemy) (51): the west side of the mountain is at 46.5 degree of length and 11.5 degree south latitude
and east side of 61.5 degree length and same width; he says in the description that its color is reddish whether al-Tusi (22) noticed that people who saw him from afar, testified its color is
white, because he is constantly covered with snow, but the indications in the Table of Countries contradicts this as under 11 degrees of latitude there is the greatest heat, especially on the
South side due to the close position of the sun. Ptolemy says the Nile comes down from the mentioned mountains from ten sources, between each two
sources is a degree in length indicated earlier, the Western one at the 48th degree of length, the second at the 49th degree to the tenth of them at the 57th degree. From each source there comes
a river, then join the ten and flow in two ponds, 5 of them flow into a pond; then go from each of the two ponds four rivers out, are then combined into
six rivers, and the six flow northward until close to the equator they go into a round lake, which is known as the lake Kura (23). From this divides the Nile in three arms, one arm takes its
course to the east and come to the land of Makdaschu (Mogadishu)(49) in Habash and Muslims countries on the coast of the Indian Ocean, opposite Yemen;
the second arm turns west and comes to el-Takrur (24) and Gana in the kingdom of Mala (25) in the country of Sudan and continues to flow until it is pours off the in the Western Ocean close to
the island Aulil (26); this is the Nile called Sudan; the third arm is directed to the north and this is the Nile of Egypt. It flows in a northerly direction to the area of Zagawa (3)
P502
First state (of Egypt). It was at the time of the administrators of the Caliphs, since the conquest until the end of the Ichschiden (27) rule. From this period I have found no reliable news about the administration, but it is clear that it has always remained under the respective deputies and emirs according to the form of the Arabs until Ahmed ben Tulun (28) and his sons took over the administration. A special arrangement was that the greater part of the army consisted of blacks, so that 12,000 blacks (Sudan) should have been in the Tuluenid (29) army, and the Ichshids (27) followed in them until the end of their reign.
P626
Third, within the Yemeni Corner is the Qiblah (30) the same for the people of Abyssinia and Zinj and Zaila (41) and more countries of the Sudan …
P721
(When talking about Yemen)
[The second sentence (in mentioning his animal, grains, fruits, winds, transactions, and prices)]] and I mention a sentence of that from what he mentioned in “Masalik Al-Absar” (33) on the authority of Abu Ja`far Ahmed bin Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, known as Ibn Ghanem, the author of its construction, and Abu Muhammad Abdul-Baqi Ibn Abdul Majeed al-Yamani, the writer. As for his animals - the animals includes the superior Arabian horses, good mules for riding and carrying, reds, camels, cows, and sheep, and chickens, geese, and pigeons, and there are giraffe and lion monsters, gazelles and monkeys; ………..
P735
The sea below Basra;
Said Almhellbi a great city with ships from Sindh (16) and Zinj, India, and on the Sea of Fars (34)…
P813
He [Ibn Sa’id](4) said: - South and west of the Nuba there are the homes (majalat) of the Zanj branch of the Nuba, whose capital is Kusha (35), beyond the equator and west of Dunqula (36). Al-Idrisi said that [Dunqula](36) is situated on the west bank of the Nile, built on its bank, and the population drinks its water. The inhabitants are Sudan, the best race among the Sudan for [their] features and build. Their main food is barley and dhurra (37): dates are imported from outside; they eat meat from camel, which they consume either fresh (ṭariyya), or dried in the sun (mu’addada) and later boiled (matbukh) [other reading: mathun, crushed]. In their territories are elephants, giraffes and gazelles.
P835
It is said in the taqwim al-buldan (38): And it was if at the time of the dawn, a wing appeared, which is a mountain high in the sea. Where is situated the city of Maqdichou (Mogadishu) (the way how to write the word is given) as it was quoted in the taqwim al-buldan (38). And its location is between the first of the seven regions and the equator.
Ibn Said said: The length is seventy-two degrees, and the width is two degrees.
It is said in the mazil al'artiab: It is a large city between Zinj and Abyssinia.
It is said: It is on the Sea of India, and it has a great river that is similar to the Nile of Egypt, increasing in the summer. It is said: It was mentioned that it is the brother of the Nile Egypt at its outlet is from Lake Kura (23), and its outlet is at the Sea of India, near Mogadishu.(49)
It is said: Al-Hatti (39), the king of Christian Abyssinia, came to most of these kingdoms after the year eight hundred and destroyed them, killed their people, and burned their copies of the Qur’ans, and he forced many of them to enter the Christian religion. None of its kings were left except Ibn Masmar, corresponding to his country of Dahlak (40), under the obedience of Al-Hatti (39), the king of Abyssinia, who has imperial royalty. And Sultan Saad Eddin is the owner of Zyla (41) and what is with it, and he is a disobedient to him, he is outside of his obedience, and wars between them are uninterrupted. And Sultan Saad al-Din is many times over him victorious, and God supports by his victory whom he wills.
And be aware that the aforementioned kingdoms of Sudan (here given) are the most famous of them, and the farthest behind it is a far-flung country, remote in distance, with no news arriving.
Including Zinj country. It is a country east of the Barbary Gulf mentioned in the talk about the seas, corresponding to the country of Abyssinia from other lands.
And its rules over Sofala al Zinj. And its location is south of the equator.
It is said in the Qanun (42): where the length is fifty degrees, and the width in the south is two degrees.
It is said in the Qanun (42): And its people are Muslims. Ibn Sa`id said, Their livelihood is greater than gold and iron, and their clothing is tiger skins. Al-Masoudi mentioned that the horses do not live with them, and their soldiers are men fighting mounted on bulls.
Including the land of barbarism, south of the country of Takrur (24).
Ibn Said mentioned that a group of them who are from among the Sudan, called Al-Damadam (43) that they resemble the Tatars (44). They went out at the time of the exodus (of the Tartars), and they destroyed the neighboring countries.
It is mentioned in the masalik al'absar (33): On the authority of Ibn Amir Hajib (45), the governor of Egypt, on the authority of Mansa Musa (46), the king of al-Takrur (24), that they are like Tartars in their faces, and they ride horses with cracked noses, like the Akadish.
And that the barbarians of Sudan are a number that cannot be accommodated by time, and that some of them eat the flesh of people.
(when talking about the Christian part of the Horn of Africa)
What is existing
It is mentioned in the Masalik al Absar: of the four-legged animals: horses, mules, cattle, sheep and what resemble sheep Aydahab (47) and Yemen. It is the wild beasts; lion, tiger, leopard, elephant, giraffe, deer, and antelope and zebra (wahimar alwahsh), monkey, and other wild ones. (then lists of birds).
P1228-1231
A letter from an unnamed Mamluk sultan to the Rasulid sultan of Yemen, al-Mujahid Ali (r 1321-63), , expresses profuse thanks for the gifts of swords, lauded at length (two pages), and in most poetical and highly elaborate terms, the horses of various colours, white, black, yellow and brown, the elephant whose trunk strikes like a polo stick, and moves like a snake, and swings like a dancer cajoling the audience with her sleeves and the giraffe, which in all her grace, like dawn between stars, like lightening crowned by the halo of clouds, penetrates the hearts as swiftly as it passes through windows and doors. The laudation goes on about tiger, the zebra, civet perfume, sandalwood, camphor and ambergris …….
Al Qalqashandi: Nihayat al Arab; (About the Genealogy of the Arabs) (d1418)
Taken from: Alwaraq
The Sudan: Ibn Said: many races among them, al-Tabari (2) and Ibn Ishaq said that Ethiopia is born from Cush, and Nubia born ibn Kanaan, Zinj born of Canaan too, as well as the Zaghawa (3), said ibn Said the Abyssinia from Bani Habash, the Nuba of the children of the sons of Nuba, and Zinj of the children of Zeng, their lineage is likely to be from the children of Ham (1).
(1) Ham b. Noah: India and Sindh and Nuba, and Zinj, and Abyssinia, and the Copts, the Berbers, and Mizraim or Egypt all belong to Ham: Ham one of the three children of Noa. He was the ancestor of all the dark skinned people.
(2) Tabari: see my webpage Al-Tabari;(838-922)
(3) Zaghawa: also called Beri or Zakhawa, are a Sahelian Muslim ethnic group primarily residing in Fezzan North-eastern Chad, and western Sudan, including Darfur.
(4) Ibn Sa’id: see my webpage ibn Said (1250)
(5) Yahiz: see my webpages on: Al-Jahiz (869).
(6) angina: a type of chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart.
(7) Gout: common and complex form of arthritis of the joints.
(8) Alatapih: zebra
(9) Mamluks-Sultan al-Malik az-Zahir Barquq: (ruled 1382–1389 and 1390–1399) was born in Circassia. He was the first Sultan of the Mamluk Burji dynasty of Egypt.
(10) Faqir; Fakir; Faqih: A Faqih is an expert in fiqh (Jurist).
(11) Sultan al-Malik an-Nasir Farag: Al-Malik al-Naṣir Zayn al-Din Abu l-Saʿadat Faraj (1389–1412), was the twenty-sixth Mamluk sultan of Egypt.
(12) Shahri: ambergris given the name of the close by town Shihr (coastal town in Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen).
(13) Alqmary: alqamary leaves: According to Hinrich Biesterfeldt in: Treasure Trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table: A Fourteenth-Century ...p571 it must be qat or kat or khat. See my webpage: Annon: Kanz al fawa’id (Treasure Trove of benefits)(14th). According to Ibn al Baytar it is Betel: Tambol means Betel in Hindi. However in: Leaf of paradise?: the intricate effects of khat in Madagascar; L. Gezon, Lisa puts the qat arrival in Madagascar in the early 20th century. So as the Austronesian expansion to Madagascar brought the Betel to Madagascar I think Ibn Al Baytar must be right. Qumari leaves are mentioned by: Ibn al Baytar (1249); Kanz al fawa’id (14th); Al Firuzabadi (d1414); Al Qalqashandi (d1418)
(14) Waq-waq: here the waqwaq in the southern part of Africa is meant.
(15) Qatif: is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province (on the coast), Saudi Arabia.
(16) Sindh: now in Pakistan
(17) Al-Sharif Al Idrisi: see my webpage Idrisi (1150)
(18) q.nbal.w island, and said of qnbalh: Qanbalu; from where the Zanj slaves were imported till the great Zanj revolt in Basra. (Zanzibar or Pemba)
(19) Abulfida: see my webpage Abulfida (1331).
(20) Jacut in the Muschtarik: see my webpage on Yakut (or Jakut) al Hamawi (1220).
(21) Sa'id: see my webpage on Ibn Said (1250)
(22) al-Tusi: see my webpage Nasir Al Din Al Tousi (1274)
(23) lake Kura: : Ibn Said mixes up the third lake at the sources of the Nile with lake Chad. From which emerge the Nile of Egypt, the Nile of Magdasu and the Nile of Gana (according to Ibn Said).
(24) el-Takrur: at the border between Senegal and Mauretania. Already mentioned by al Bakri in 1067.
(25) kingdom of Mala in the country of Sudan: present-day Mali.
(26) island Aulil: Ibn Said (1250) has the Island of Sal and its town Ullil.
(27) Ichschiden: The Ikhshidid dynasty was a Turkic mamluk dynasty who ruled Egypt and the Levant from 935 to 969.
(28) Ahmed ben Tulun; Ahmad b. Tulin: was the founder of the Tulunid dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria between 868 and 905. Originally a Turkic slave-soldier.
(29) Tuluenid army: The Tulunids (Arabic: الطولونيون), were a Mamluk dynasty of Turkic origin who were the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt, as well as much of Syria (868-905)
(30) Qiblah: the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca used as the direction of prayer.
(31) Siraf: Siraf was the harbour of Shiraz province of Persia; and the place of big trade with East Africa.
(32) Balsaj: Saj; teakwood from Africa.
(33) Masalik Al-Absar: see my webpage Al Umari (1349) Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar. (Pathways of vision in the realms of the Metropolises).
(34) Fars: region in Iran.
(35) Kusha: Kus; Qus; Caus : mentioned as being south of Egypt (Ancient kingdom of Kush); A different Qus is a town in the central part of Egypt on the Nile. Repeated by: al-Zayyat (1058); Al Zuhri : (1137); Nuwayri (1333); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); Salamanca translator (1420).
The same as: Kusha: found in Ibn Said (1250); Abulfida (1331); Al Qalqashandi (d1418) Kouscha: connected to the country of the Kushites who are often mentioned in the hieroglyphs of the pharaohs.
(36) Dunqula: Old Dongola is a deserted town in what is now Northern State, Sudan.
(37) Dhurra: Sorghum
(38) taqwim al-buldan: Abulfida (1331)
(39) Al-Hatti: during the Mamluk days the Ethiopian emperor was referred to as al-Hatti or an-Najashi (Negus)
(40) Dahlak: island off the Eritrean coast.
(41) Zyla: in N Somalia close to Djibouti.
(42) Qanun: see my webpage Al Biruni; Al-Qanum al Mas'udi (1030) (Picture of the world)
(43) Dendema or Demdems: According to Ibn Said (1250) these are the once who invaded Nubia and Abyssunie around 1220 AD (when the Mongols invaded Persia).
Dendemes, Dendemeh; Dandama: East African people living in the interior, close to the sources of the Nile; also mentioned by Al Masudi (916); Al Idrisi (1150); Ibn Said (1250); Ibn al Jawzi (1257); Harrani (1300); Qadi Ibn Sasri Al-Shafi’I (1300); Al-Dimashqi (1325); Abulfida (1331); Nuwayri (1333); Cowar el-aqalim (1347); Said Abd al Aziz al Dairini (d1385); Ibn Khaldun (1406); Al Qalqashandi (d1418) and Ibn al Wardi (1456) speaks about Demadam; al Himyari (1461).
(44) Tatars: Mongols
(45) Ibn Amir Hajib, the governor of Egypt: the one that received Mansa Musa, of the Mali Empire, in the year 1324.
(46) Mansa Musa: Musa I (c. 1280 – c. 1337), or Mansa Musa, was the ninth Mansa of the Mali Empire, one of the most powerful Islamic West African states.
(47) Aydahab; Aydab; Aidab: Aydhab: medieval port of the Red Sea controlled by Egypt.
(48) His account on ambergris: The earliest source in which this information is found is Ibn Masawaih (857), others who repeated it are: Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi (d897), Ibn Rosteh (903), al Masudi (916), Ibn Serapion (950), al Tamimi (980), Abu al Mutahhar al Azdi (1010); Ibn Butlan (1066); Ibn al-Wafid (1074); Nuwayri (1333); Musa Ud-Damiri (1405); Al Qalqashandi (1418). Off course much was added and discarded on the way. The most extensive article on ambergris is from Musa Ud-Damiri (1405).
(49) Nil of Maqdishu: Nile of Mogadishu: This is the Shabelle River begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where it follows the coast. Below Mogadishu, the river becomes seasonal.
Al Zuhri : (1137) Makes the people divert themselves the Nile into a branch to the sea of Yemen; In Dimashqi (1325) it is called the river of Damadim; and he is the only one who kind of understands the river-system in South-Somalia. Salamanca translator (1420): calls it yellow Nile. Ibn Khaldun (1406) says it has nothing to do with the Nile. Nile of Mogadishu appears in Ibn Said al Maghribi (1250); Cowar el-aqalim (1347); Abulfida (1331); al Maqrizi (1441)he calls it River of the Damadim ; Hafiz I Abru (1420); Qoutb al-Din al-Chirazi (1311); Al Qalqashandi (d1418); Qadi Ibn Sasri Al-Shafi’I (1300) Cowar el-aqalim (1347).
(50) But Ibn Qutayba (880) says that Kannan and Kush are the fathers of the races of the Sudan. Also: Kushites: ancient people of Sudan.
(51) Ptolemy: see my webpage Ptolemy (150-400)
(52) Dinars: gold coin of one mithqal (4-5 gr of gold).