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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)

Embassy of 674/1276

 

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.