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Ibn al-Furat:
Tarih ad Duwal wal Muluk (History of the Dynasties and Kingdoms) (d1405) Egypt
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Nasir al-Din Muhammad b. Abd al-Rahim b. Ali al-Misri al-Hanafi (1334–1405 CE), better known as Ibn al-Furat, was an Egyptian historian, best known for his universal history, generally known as Ta’rikh al-duwal wa ’l-muluk (History of the Dynasties and Kingdoms). In the gifts of several embassies to Egypt are found things that might originate in East Africa.
Left : From a Zafarnama; Mamluk ambassadors present a giraffe to Timur.
Taken from: Du système mercantile à l'ordre diplomatique : les ambassades entre Égypte mamluke et Yémen rasulide by Eric Vallet.
(Embassies to the court of the Mamluk Sultans in Egypt)
In the month of ragab (1) 674, the envoy of the master of Yemen arrived with the gifts of elephant, rhinoceros, striped onagers (al-attabi) and various kinds of precious objects, spices and gifts. The Sultan sent a precious gift with the envoy.
Embassy of 684/1285
On Saturday 1st of dhu al-qa’da (2) of that year there [684/29 dec. 1285] arrived the envoy of the ruler of Yemen, accompanied with gifts and presents. He appeared before al-Malik al-Mansur (3). Among the gifts were thirteen eunuchs (suddam), ten horses, non-castrated slaves (fuhul), an elephant, a rhinoceros (harkand), eight sheep (nia), eight parrots (bibga) three big pieces aloes, each piece being carried by two men, forty lances of qana, carried by a camel, and spices what could be carried by seventy camels; tissues (qumasin) in one hundred baskets; One hundred bronze plates (nahas) bearing precious objects (tuhaf) from Yemen. He accepted this and honored the envoy according to custom.
Taken from: Beihefte zur Vierteljahrsschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Volume 46
W. Kohlhammer, 1923
….With this the ruler of Dahlak (4) proofed his loyalty; by sending (in 1392) his presents to the sultan Az-Zahir Barquq (5), being an elephant, a giraffe, ivory and slaves…….
(1) Ragab: Rajab is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar.
(2) dhu al-qa’da: also spelled Dhu al-Qi'dah or Zu al-Qa'dah, is the eleventh month of the Islamic calendar.
(3) al-Malik al-Mansur: (1189 – after 1216) was the third Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt, reigning in 1198–1200.
(4) Dahlak: island off the Eritrean coast.
(5) Az-Zahir Barquq: Al-Malik Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Barquq (ruled 1382–1389 and 1390–1399) was born in Circassia. He was the first Sultan of the Mamluk Burji dynasty of Egypt.