Abstract: The History of the Swahili Coast in Written Sources. With special References to Trade.
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In this abstract I try to give a list of those authors that gave a contribution to East African History. Not a repetition from older authors. So many authors are not important enough to be added.
Left: trade in Mangrove poles from Zanzibar in an mtepe boad around 1890. Wood exports to Asia were already common during the Middle Ages.
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-Imru’u-l-Qays: Diwan of Imru’u-l-Qays (6th century)
He mentions the horses of Berbara; this specific and other authors general remarks about the Zanj show that only the northern part of Somalia was familiar to them.
-Xuanzang: Da Tang Xiyu Ji (Great Tang Records on the Western Regions) (630)
This passage also suggests navigation westward from the Maldives to Madagascar or Zanzibar.
- Umayr Ibn Qatadah 'Ubayd b. 'Umayr (d694)
His description of the Zanj: They did not have the capacity to build and live in houses but they hid in the water and made tunnels. When the sun ceased to be upon them they came out to their way of life and their fields. These people are the Zanj.
- Dandin : Dasakumaracarita (What Ten Young men did.)(7th century)(from south India)
Most probably a reference to Zanzibar or Madagascar (or one of the other offshore islands of Africa). This is the oldest reference of trade contacts between India and Africa.
- Al Fazari (722) an astronomer in Baghdad.
In East Africa he knows the Nuba, Buja (In Sudan) and Zanj.
- Salim Abu al ala: Risalat Aristatalis ila l’ Iskandar (Letters from Aristotle to Alexander) (743)
He gives his ideas of the Zanj: cannibals, they oppress people, they fight with courage.
- Ja’far al Sadiq; Tauhid al Mufaddal: (Prefered Unity) (d765)
He recommended against the purchase of African (Zanj) slaves, making an exception of the Nubians.
- Uddyotana Suri: Kuvalayamala: (Bleu Water-lillies) (d 778) India
Second reference of trade (in Ivory) between India and East Africa.
- Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi. Kitab al-'Ayn (The source) (d791)
Dgo: Dgaop: race of Sudan behind Zinj on the island of the sea. (Repeated by al-Sahib ibn Abbad (995)).
This maybe the Daghuta of Idrisi (1150) who says: The last town on the coast of Sofale is Daghuta. From later sources (Masudi 916) we know that the first part of East Africa visited by the Arabs-Persians was Sofala (for the gold trade).
- Li Sun : Hai Yao pen ts’ao (second half 8th century)
Possible reference to indirect trade with China.
- Yehudai Gaon: Halakhot pesuqot (Decided Laws) (8th century)
Jewish law allows Zanj to become Jews.
- Yahya ibn Barmak; Kitab al- Majisti (The greatest book) (about 800)
In a list of African states only Sufala of the Zanj (in Mozambique) is mentioned. This is the second reference that only the Mozambique coast was visited by the Arab-Persian traders.
- Asmaee: Antar, (a Bedoueen Romance) (around 800) from Arabia
A possible reference to present day Zimbabwe in the epic.
- Tu Yu (or Du You): T'ung Tien (or Tongdian) (Encyclopedic history of Institutions) (801)
A description of the three religions then in the Horn of Africa: Islam, Christianity and Local Religion.
- Jia Dan Hainei Huayi tu (Map of Chinese & Barbarian Lands within the four seas) (801)
A possible sea route to East Africa.
- Early Persian-Shiite prayer (title, author unknown)(found in Madagascar) (after 818)
Shia Muslims immigrating to Madagascar.
- Imam Ali al-Ridha; Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah (The Golden Treatise) (d818)
Reaching the Mountains of the Moon from the zanj Country.
- Simeon Kayyara: Halakhot Gedolot (825) Basra
Some doubt about Zanj having the right to becoming members of a Jewish community.
- Caliph Al-Mamoun: Tabula Almamuniana (833) Baghdad
This map is the only one showing Madagascar. (later date copies of it are also known)
- Bai Juyi 白居易: Bai-Kong liutie 白孔六帖 (The six tablets of the Masters Bai and Kong) (d846)
First mention of giraffe in China. They use a Persian description .
- Al Khwarizmi (847) Surat al Ard (about the Face of the Earth) from Uzbekistan, lived in Baghdad.
The first Arabic author to build further on the story of Ptolemy about the sources of the Nile.
- Sahnun ibn Sa’id ibn Habib at-Tanukhi: al-Mudawwana al-Kubra (The Great law Compilation) (d 854) (Tunis)
The Zang and similar groups are placed among the wild slaves.
Those slaves devoid of all attraction like the Zang from south of Ethiopia, to be used in household duties, and in who a pregnancy would not influence the price or only little (for those slaves it was not important to state that they were pregnant when being sold).
Note that here we are in the hey days of enslavement from East Africa.
- Ahmad Ibn Hanbal : al-Musnad (Hadith Encyclopedia) (d855)
As the founder of the Hanbali school of fiqh, his ideas of Black people are important.
-Ibn Masawaih: Kitab jawahir al-tib al-mufrada (Treatise on Simple Aromatic Substances) a Christian doctor working in Baghdad (d857)
First list of parfum and medical substances exported from east Africa. Peals export mentioned in a different book of his.
- Ahmad al-Azraqi: Akhbar Makkah (Reports on Makka) (858AD)
About Zanj slaves in Mecca.
- Tuan Ch'eng-Shih (863) (Yu-yang-tsa-tsu) (assorted dishes from Yu-Yang)
This Chinese source is the first one to describe the trade of the Persians in the area north of Mogadishu, as well as the local customs.
- Al-Jahiz (776-869) born in Basra : Al-Fakhar al-Sudan min al-Abyadh (the prides of blacks over the whites)
He is the most important author for the ninth century. The first one to mention and talk about Quanbalu (Pemba) where the slave trade centred and Unguja (Zanzibar) not part of the slave trade. The knowledge of East Africa was growing. He is also the first to mention the long discourses held in front of the Zanj rulers. And the wars by the Austronesians.
In his Kitab al-Hayawan he is the first to mention the endless repeated: the Zanj are …. heated and burned in the womb ……
In his Investigation into Commerce he adds two export products: leopard skins and falcons.
- Abu Mashar al-Balkhi, Jafar Ibn Muhammad (d885) Kitab al-mudkhal al-kabir ila 'ilm ahkam an-nujjum (The Greater Introduction to Astrology) from Balhi
For East Africa he is the first Geographer. And he does nor make the mistake to make Africa stretch to the East; but has it going South: “Whoever wishes (to reach) Zang makes for the west of it (the Sea of India), until he reaches the place in Zang that he wants.” He also gives two routes to reach Austronesia from East Africa; the northern and the southern (south of Madagascar) which because there is only six hours of sunlight is hardly used. (Repeated by Ibn Rosteh 903)
- Ibn Khordadbeh (886) Al-Masalik wa'l-Mamalik (Book of Roads and Countries)
He identifies Aden as the port for trade for goods from Sind, Hind and China, from Zendj, Habacha, Qoloum (Persia), Basra, Jidda and Qulzum, this sea is the big eastern sea and out it comes good amber from Zinj and Abyssinia, Persia.
- Ahmed bin Yahya bin Jabir (Al-Baladhuri) (AD 893)
There was a Zanj slave insurrection in the neighbourhood of Basra in 689-690. This was not an organized rebellion and involved gangs of angry slaves who pillaged and ransacked whatever they could get their hands on. They were easily defeated by an army sent from Basra. Those Zanj not killed in the fighting were beheaded and their bodies were gibbetted as an example for others. The second revolt took place in 694 and seems to have been slightly more organized. It had a leader an African called Riyah also called Shir Zanj (the lion of the Zanj). This time the defiance was not put down until 4,000 troops, also black, were let loose in a campaign of extermination. Ten thousand slaves, including women and children, were massacred. This is the rebellion Baladhuri talks about.
- Abu Hanifa al Dinawari; Kitab al-Nabat: (Botanical Dictionary) (d895) Iran
Has as new export products of Zanj: sugarcane, ginger, baqam-wood, saj (teak),
- Abu Jabir Muhammad b. Ja'far (from Izki in Oman) Jami' Ibn Ja'far (book of law) (900)
The Ibadi rules on taxes for those trading with Zanj and other non-Muslim lands.
The Ibadi rules on how war and temporary truces could be made in Zanj (and China etc.)
-Ibn al-Fakih al Hamadhani (903) Kitab al Buldan (Book of Countries) from Hamadan Iran's ancient capital.
Most of his text is repetition. New is he mentions Basra as Ivory and teakwood trade center.
- Al-Mas'udi (916) Muruj al-Dhahab wa-Manadin al-Jawhar (Meadows of gold and mines of gems)
The most important 10th century author and eye-witness, visitor in East Africa.
The goal of these (ship captains) on the sea of the Zanj is the island of Qanbalu (Pemba-slavetrade) and the land of Sofale (in Mozambique-goldtrade) and the Waqwaq (still further south) is on the extremity of the country of the Zanj and the Low Countries thereabout. He also talks about a branch of the Nile close to Qanbalu. No other places were visited by him or the others (all from Siraf) he mentioned. As export products of East Africa he gives: leopard skins, tortoise-shell, ivory, gold. The ivory goes to Oman then India then China. He gives a detailed description of the customs, kings, religion, war, food of the Zanj communities. He also talks about the Zanj Revolt. Nowhere he talks about slaves or slavers or slave-markets. As he mentions the year 916 as the last time he went from Qanbalu to Oman it might well be the slave trade had already halted as a result of the Slave-revolt in Basra.
- Abu Zaid al Hassan(916) from Siraf Silsilat-al-Tawarikh (Chain of Histories)
Talks about how war is made in Zanj as well as the customs of the people (copied from Masudi). Nothing about slavery.
- Al-Tabari;(838-922)
The Zanj Revolt at Basra.
-Abu I-Tayyib Muhammad al-Washsha (d936); (Baghdad) Kitab al-zarf wa’l-zurafa; On elegance and Elegant People
Export from East Africa: elegant sandals (al-nial al-zanjiyya).
- Liu Xu : (940) Jiu Tang Shu (Old History of the Tang Dynasty)
Has among the local products of Persia: white ivory; and from Fulin (Syria): Rhino horn.
- Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani: Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab (Geography of the Arabian Peninsula)
(d945) Yemen
He gives a detailed description to reach Zanj country from Aden (going around Socotra).
- Buzurg ibn Shahriyar Persia (Kitab aja'ib al-Hind) (955) (The book of the wonders of india)
A story of one ship from Oman to Qanbalu in 922AD
A story of sixteen ships from the land of Zanj to Oman in 944 AD
Several stories of the Rukh bird of Madagascar.
A first story about traders on the coast of Berbera, and the danger there of being castrated.
A story of the big bush fires in the land of the Zanj.
A story of problems the farmers face in Sofala of the Zanj
(945-6): The war of the Waqwaq (Austronesians) to catch slaves in the area Sofala – Qanbalu.
A tale of cannibals between Qanbalu and Sofala.
A tale of problems navigating around Pemba.
-Istakhri (957) :Kitab al Masalik wa-al-Mamalik, (book of roads and provinces.) Fars
The houses of Siraf are built in teak wood (Saj) and other kinds of wood that come from Zang.
Exports from Siraf that have been brought there by sea; aloes, amber……, ivory, ebony wood ……
- Abu Nasr Mutahhar al-Maqdisi: Kitab al bad wal-Tarikh (book of the creation and of history). (966) Bust in Sigistan
(to the Zanj) to them are imported food and clothes, exported are gold, slaves, and coconuts. Description of their poverty and cannibalism.
-Ibn-Hawqal (970) from Baghdad. (Kitab Surat al-Ardh) (the shape of the earth). also known as: (al-Masalik wa'l-Mamalik) (of Highways and Kingdoms)
………. a rich ship owner and merchant Abou Bekr Ahmad ibn 'Umar al-Sirafit: It was unusual for a ship to depart on his behalf for the Indies (al-Hind), East Africa (al Zanj), or China without his having a partner (sarik), or associate aboard.
- Ibn abi l Ash’ath: Kitab Taba’i al Hayawan (Book of Habits of Animals)(d970) Mosul Iraq
Describes a primitive cannibalistic society.
- Abu’l-Faraj al-Isfahani: (d971) Kitab al-aghani; (Book of songs)
He gives prices for black slaves. About training of slaves.
The poet Nusaib and his struggle to free his mother from slavery.
- Abu Mansur Muwaffak ibn Ali al-Harawi: Kitab al Abniya an Haq'iq al Adwiya (The foundations of the true properties of Remedies) (d976?)
Aflanja. (=epithymum Zanji) is brought from Zanzibar.
- Abu Imran Musa ibn Rabah al-Awsi al-Sirafi: Al-sahih min ahbar al-bihar wa-aga’ibiha (The truth on the knowledge of the seas and their marvels) (978)
About newly bought Austronesian slaves in Yemen and war between Zanj and Sribuza.
- Jnatadharmakatha Suryaprajnapti (Jaina text) written down in Vallabhi after 980 under the guidance of Devardhigani Ksamasrama.
Indian merchants get to see Zebras.
-Hudud Al-'Alam (The Limits of The World) (author unknown) (982) Persia
He mentions Waqwaqian Zangis (Austronesians). The war between them and the Zabay. Sofala and its gold and two unknown places in East Africa.
-Al-Muqaddasi: Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Ma'rifat al-Aqalim (The best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions) (985)
A failed merchant trip to the land of Zanj, the big profits to be made there, but his description of the land of the blacks is only the Horn of Africa. (Sofala is not mentioned). He is the first one talking (a bit) about the northern part of the East African Coast.
- Xing Bing: Erya shu (Erya Subcommentary;) Erya=dictionary (1010)
Second but unsure decription of the giraffe in China.
- Ibn Sina (1037) Kitab Al-Qanon fit-tibb (Canon in philosophy,medicine) A Persian doctor
Wood: (ebony, screw tree, timber of the al-Samandouri from Sofala), medical substances: (Spilt cubeb is similar to chick pea), and fruits: (pomegranates, as well as al-ziyr from Zinj, Jawz of Zunj and Qamar (Nut of Zinj); Coconut) brought from the Zanj or Sofala.
- Tha'alibi (d1038): Lata'if al-ma'arif (Curious and Entertaining Information) from Naysabur (Iran)
Giraffe export to Yemen. A story of cannibalism by blacks in Oman.
- Al-Biruni India (1050) from Khwarazm at the Aral sea coast (Teareikh al-India) (book on India)
….. the western Negroes (here East Africa), whence the slaves are brought
….. a man who had visited Sufala, in the country of the Negroes, (=international trade contacts) told me that the kark, which the Negroes call impila, the horn of which furnishes the material for the handles of our knives, (=export product)
………… a great demand for them as slaves. People fetch from thence the black ebony-wood
…………the kinds of wood called mulamma and shauhat and the yellow sandal-wood are brought from the country of the Zanj (Negroes).
……….. pearls have been found at Sufala in the country of the Zanj,
He explains the ideas of death among the Zanj. He mentions the impossibility for ships to go further south than Sofala and that Somanath in India was the center for trips to East Africa (Sofala) as well as China.
Emery stones from Zanj.
…….. Wada (Conchae veneris) is a kind of shell. Zangis collect them ……
……….. (pearls) new diving side which has been recently discovered in Sufalah-i-Zanj.
(Cristal) brought from the island of Zanj and other islands to Basrah, where vessels are made.
He mentions giant birds living in China and Zanj. And Arabic gum from East Africa. Gold from Sofala al Zanj. He mentions similar trading customs in Zabay and Zanj namely the taking of hostages till payments are done.
……. Good copper is found in Sufulah-Zanj ….
He attests that ivory (=aj) was found in Arabia and traded by Yemenite merchants.
- Al-Biruni Limits of Areas (1050)
Islam has already penetrated ……. the countries of the Zanj ….
- Al-Biruni Pharmacy (1050)
Imported from Zanj: Ebony, Utrujj and Utrunj (Citron, Adam's apple), giraffe meat (part of treatment for gall-stones), Dar Sini (Ceylon Cinnomon), zanjabil (=ginger), Sandarus (gum copal), tamar-i-Hindi (tamarind), tabasheer, heart-leaved madder, greater cardamon, clove, cowries.
He mentions giant birds living in China and Zanj.
- Al-Biruni Qanum (1050)
He gives the coordinates of: Qanbalu, Sufala and Zaghawa.
- Kitab Ghara'ib al-funun wa-mulah al-'uyun (The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes; The Book of Strange Arts and Visual Delights) (1050AD) written in Egypt
For the importance of this text for east Africa see my abbreviation and notes on p215-p221 from the book: Lost Maps of the Caliphs: Drawing the World in Eleventh-Century Cairo by Book by Emilie Savage-Smith and Yossef Rapoport.
- Nasir-I Khusraw: Safar-nama (Book of Travels) 1052 (from Persia; Marv)
He mentions 30000 Zanj soldiers in Egypt. Also crystal coming from east Africa, and tusks from Zanzibar and leopard skins for sandals on the lamp market in Egypt. At the town of Aydhab (on the Red Sea in the south of Egypt) the ships coming from Zanzibar arrived. From there it went by camel to Aswan on the Nile. And he saw thirty thousand Zanzibari and Abyssinian slaves working in the fields and gardens of present day Kuwait and Qatar.
- Jayakeshi I; Royal Charter (1052 AD) Goa
It mentions Zanzibar among the harbours from which merchants were living in the town. However this translation of Zangavar to Zanzibar is not generally accepted.
- Hilal ibn al-Muhassin Sabi: Rusum dar al-Khilafah(the regulations at the Palace of the Caliph) (d1056)
He mentions the enormous numbers of slaves; slave girls and eunuchs from some caliphs.
- Ishaq b. al-Hasan b. Abi'l-Husayn al-Zayyat; Dhikr al-aqalim wakhtilafuha (d1058) from Spain
East Africa is here a place of naked cannibals living in holes in the ground but possessing lots of gold. And they have wars with the Austronesians.
- Yang Xiu and Song Qi :Xin T'angshu (New history of the Tang Dynasty) (1066)
His description of the Horn of Africa and the Berbera coast is copied from former Chinese authors.
His description of the giraffe is taken from Bai Juyi (846).
- Ibn Butlan: Risala fi shira al-raqiq wa-taclib al-abib: a slave-traders vademecum (d1066) a Christian monk and doctor in Baghdad.
His descriptions for what jobs the different races of slaves can be used will be repeated for centuries to come.
- Ali ibn Ahmad Asadi: Garshasp-name (1066) (History of Garsasp) Tus in Iraq.
This rather early epic (1066) still shows an Indian Ocean in which there are strong links between the East Coast of Africa, especially Madagascar and the Indonesian world. There is also the since ever close link with India. (Part of India was at one time also in the possession of the Maharaja). This link is so close that the author makes a Zang army arrive in India to support the Maharaja. And that de defeated Bahu’s son can easily return to Zangbar and is welcomed there. (Meaning he was there before). One verse in itself gives proof that in fact it was a colonization with permanent settlement in East Africa (or Madagascar) where Bahu also received high office:
He let him sit down, treated him kindly and gave him a position (gah); in this way he was with the king.
The general (Gerschasp) and the son-in-law came to him (then); he was safe (there) and was free of grief.
His army (and) each of the Zangi got himself (? awurd) a woman and many bonds developed.
In the later account of Idris we also find that the people of Indonesia were welcomed in Africa. See my webpage on Idrisi (1150).
There is also mentioned an island sawahil (meaning the coast) Maybe the East African coast is mentioned. (First unsure mention of the Swahili coast)
- Ibn Sida : Al Mukhassas (Custom) (d1066) Andalus.
He is the first one to mention Daghawa; an unknown place south of Sofala, repeated by many authors.
- Abu Ubayd Al Bakri: Kitab al Masalik al Mamalik (1067) (Book of Roads and Countries ) Spain
Some sea traders … I mean Al-Zenj mention white ostrich eggs, but the eggs of ostriches are only a percentage of the proportion of those eggs: This can be eggs from the Roc on Madagascar.
Most of his text he copied from al Masudi (916).
- Ibn al-Wafid: Kitab al-Adwiya al-Mufrada (Book of simple medicines) (997-ca.1074)
Found in Zanj: Ebony, Ambergris, Coconuts.
- Al-Awhadi (compiler from an earlier version of 11th century)(d1408) Kitab al-Hadaya wa al-Tuhaf (Book of gifts and rarities)
Among the African treasures: rhino horn, aloes wood from Qumr, eggs from the Roc, zebra, giraffe, objects made of ivory and ebony, rock crystal objects, eunuchs, slave girls, black slaves, shawhat (wood from Africa), ambergris.
- Li Kung-Lin (d1106): Foreign and Strange Lands N-Sung Painter
Oldest Chinese source to mention Madagascar. (K'un-lun Ts'eng-k'i)
- Salma b. Muslim al-Awtabi: in The Kilwa Sira: (+1116) from Oman
Second oldest mention of Kilwa. Teaches us about the Ibadi history of Kilwa and the Ibadi missionary movement from Oman.
- Chu Yu : P'ing-chou k'ot'an (1119) (Pinzhou Chats)
African ivory arrives in China through Arab middlemen. The black slaves talked about must surely be of Asian origin.
- Al Marvazi: Kitab Taba'i al Hayawan (1120) (Book on Animals) from Persia.
In China is imported ivory and frankincense and rhino horn, the furthest Zanj are ugly cannibals who live underground. Rhino horn is exported to China. The export port to China is Basra. From India two giraffes were given to Constantinople. Ibn Sina confirms that there are pygmies living near the sources of the Nile
- Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Hibatullah Al Aftasi; Al Majmue al Llifif (Total Rabble) (d1121)
Pearls from Zinj.
- Al Hariri: Maqamat (Settings or Sessions) (d1122)
Its importance is in its paintings: African slaves for sale in Zabit in Yemen; African slaves constantly busy emptying the leaking ships of water (ships without nails); The African guards of the Sultan dancing, their attire and dance still fit into East Africa now.
- Grandson of Muhallib bin Muhammad bin Shadi: Mudjmal al -Tawarikh wa-l-qisas (1126) (general History) Persia
Zohak (ruler of Persia) wanted then to marry the daughter of the Maharadja; she was sent to him, however she disappeared at sea. He then ordered Gerschasp to devastate Zengistan and to take its kings prisoners and bring to his court: Although not the regular kind of war as between the Austronesians and the Zanj, it is kind of related to it.
- Al Zuhri : (1137) Kitab al-Jarafiyya (Book on Geography) from Granada (Spain)
Gold dust is brought from zandj country.
- Memorandum from Joseph ibn Abraham (in Aden) to Abraham Ben Yiju (in India) (1134-37) TS 8J 7,f.23
Civet is traded (maybe from east Africa).
- Accounts by Ben Yiju about Transactions with the Nakhuda Abu Abd Allah Ibn Abu 'l Kata'ib (1140) (Aden)
Bought (leather) cushions from Zanzibar.
- Letter from Khalaf b. Isaac to Halfon ha-Levi b. Nethanel (1140) Aden
A slave ship from Zanj sells slaves in Aden.
- Al Idrisi (1150) (Kitab Ruyar) (Book of Roger) written in Sicily
His division of East African coast N to S in Berbera, Zanj, Sofala, and further south than Sofala will last through the Middle Ages.
The days of Qanbalu (Pemba) as slave trade centre are long over; he does not know it and calls an island close to Qanablu and has no people.
To Aden is brought (from east Africa) ebony wood, tortoise shell, camphor, nutmeg,.. .. elephant tusks.
Most of the places he mentions on the coast are difficult to place and mostly do not resemble known old Swahili towns except Malindi and Mombasa. His description of the culture of the coastal people is important. Main products of Zanj country: leopard skins and iron. The information he gives about Austronesian traders is important as well as on Arab and Persian slavers. His information on the Comoros is a first. But the hole coast between Mombasa and Mafia is unknown and as Mafia is an unsure identification we have to add the North of Mozambique to the unknown. And although he mentions Mombasa he does not give a location for it. Also no distance is given between Tohnet and Djantama. Between these two places the islands in the sea are treated but Pemba and Zanzibar are missing. Lots more is said about the iron trade which in fact was not from the land of Sofala but from Madagascar. The gold of Sofala is treated. His description of Madagascar (Qumr) is mixed up with Indonesian Islands. South of Sofala is the land of Waqwaq; land of pigmies?
He is the most important author of his century but a big part of the coast is still unknown and most names used do not correspond to known places.
- Hun Hao : Sun mo ki wen (his memoirs) (d1155)
The arrival of the watermelon into China (from the southern part of Africa).
- Letter from Said b. Marhab to Hillel b Nahman Re: his Son-in-Law’s Drowning (1156) Aden
Ships (coming) from Zanj are given as the example of ships that do not enter Aden. Elsewhere in the text is mentioned that there are ships from Zanj that do enter Aden.
- Mohammad ebn Mahmud ebn Ahmad Tusi; 'Aja'eb al-Makhluqat va Ghara'eb al-Mojudat (1160) (The Wonders of Creation) From Tusi in Khorasan.
In Zanzibar is found gold and leopard skins. Also cloves and many medical herbs. In other places: coconuts, agarwood, camphor, leopard skin, silver and gold.
- Al Iskandari,Nasr ibn Abd al-Rahman (d1165 ) Kitab Anhina wal Miyah wal Djibal wal Athar wa nahwiha al madhkoura fil Akhbar wal Achar ( Book of places, waters, mountains, monuments…)
He (and Yakut 1220) mention Shaqar or Shuqar a place from where valuable Zanj slaves were exported.
- Al Garnati: al mu'rib an Ba'd Ayaib Al Magrib (In praise of some wonders of the Maghrib) (d1169) Andalusia
He is one of very few authors to describe the zebra in East Africa.
-Abd al-Karim ibn M. al Samani (1172) Kitab al-Ansab (an explication of names) Merv
He is one of the few people who gives a list of Zanj people who were renowned scientists. Al Jahiz; Sudan (869) is another one. Also Ibn al Jawzi (1200).
- Chou Ch'u-fei: Ling-wai-tai-ta (Regions beyond mountain passes) (1178)
He mentions the following African products they receive in China through Arab intermediaries. frankincense, amber, pearls, opaque glass, rhinoceros horns, ivory, corals, myrrh. Through Madagascar they receive slaves, elephant tusks and rhino horn.
- Ibn Jubair: Tadhkirat bial’akhbar; (Reminder of the News of Travel) (1185) (Andalus)
Oman is a great city with a harbour for ships from Sind, India, China and Zinj.
-Umar Ibn Ali Ibn Samura : Tabaqat Fuqaha Al-Yaman (Generations of Jurists of Yemen) (1190)
First mention of Mogadishu. (A Safidi student in Arabia coming from Mogadishu).
-Ch'en Yuan-Ching: Shih-Lin Kuang-Chi (late12 century) (Sung encyclopedia)
He gives the most detailed description of the Berbera coast. (The coast to the North of Mogadishu.) And mentions the slave trade.
-Sadr al-Din al Husayni: Akhbar al-dawla al-Saljuqiyya. (end 12th century) (history of the nation of the Saljuqiyya) from Iran.
Castrated Africans being sold in Persia.
-Ibn al Jawzi: Tanwir al-Ghabash fi fadl al-Sudan wa al-Habash (d1200) (The Illumination of the darkness on the Merits of the Blacks and Ethiopians). from Baghdad
He gives a list of the brightest black scientists, the most pious, the best poets ….
-Abu Tahir Muhammad al-Tarsusi (12th century); Darabnamah-yi Tarsusi (History of Darab by al-Tarsusi) Iran
This story is important for the history of East Africa because of an important presence of merchants in it from the Persian Gulf (and Uman) that give proof of the flourishing trade at the time between Iran, Uman and East Africa.
-Muhammad b. Sa'id al-Qalhati: rhymed prose called al-Maqama al-Kilwiyya in : The Kilwa Sira (1200) from Oman.
The Kilwa Sira consists of two documents of which this one is the second. The first one dates from 1116. It commemorates how the Ibadis (1) of Oman had successfully send one of their members to help their Kilwa brethren. The author himself was involved in these events.
-Afdal al-Din Kirmani : (1200) 'Iqd al-'ula (About Government) Persia
Zanzibar trade is mentioned at Kirman during the reign of Arslanshah bin Kirmanshah (1142-1156) and again in 1188.
- Abu al-Makarim: Tarikh al-Kana’is wa al-Adyirah (History of Churches and Monasteries) (1200)
an Egyptian of Armenian descent.
In Egypt a body of blacks, called the Juyushiyah, who grew insolent and violent (against the church) in (AD1169), a body of Armenian Christians overcame the blacks, and drove them away and killed many of them.
-Murda al Tarsusi : Tabsirat arbab al-albab fi kayfiyyat... (Information for the intelligent on how to escape injury in combat) (12th)
Making shields of giraffe skin. (Not mentioned where).
- Abu l-Khayr: Umdat al-tabib (Basics of Botany) (1200) Andalusia
He gives a list of medical plants that come from east Africa. (Awapni, ebony, Zsamamanj, Coconut, Abyssinian walnut, Nut of the zing, Habb azzalam, hornet tree, asmag gum, myrrh, thyme, sugarcane, black pepper, sag tree. With thyme he mentions the islands of Assawahil (literally meaning Coast): this is the second but uncertain use of the word Sawahil for the East African coast and its islands. (For the first see: Ali ibn Ahmad Asadi: Garshasp-name (1066).
- Nizami Ganjavi: Iskandar-namah (1202) A Persian Medieval Alexander-Romance, (epic poem) from Azerbaijan.
The Shahnama detail concerning the weapons made of whale bones is repeated here. The whale bones with which the Zanj fight are so big that they could smash an elephant. The Zangis are ugly and frightful, having a face without hair and with thick hanging lips and pitch coloured skin. On the battlefield, seventy men of Alexander’s army are killed before Alexander’s involvement in the warfare. The hero slays many Zangis in single combat and defeats the enemy. At the end of the battle no mercy is given to the Zang but the Habash receive a burn-mark on the head (=making them slaves).
- Wasif Shah: Akhbar al-zaman……al-Ajaib al Buldan (History of the Ages and Those Whom Events have Annihilated) (1209) (sometimes attributed to Al-Masudi)
Many copied and hear say stories about habits of the Zanj tribes and the sources of the Nile.
- Yakut (or Jakut) al Hamawi (1220) Kitab Mu'jam al-buldan (geographical directory) Baghdad.
The most important author of his century. Where as for Idrisi (1150) still most of the place names given for East Africa are unknown; with Yakut we enter in the known world. Most of his places are known. His most important entries:
Baouari and Moulenda export ambergris
The lands of the Zeng, they have ebony, teak, and others, amber is collected biggest town: Mogadishu.
Berbera
El Jub export giraffe skin to make shoes.
Pemba its towns and important people
Sofala with its gold
Al Kumr (Madagascar) with amber, betel-leaf, wax.
Kilwa
Zanzibar
Merca with Ibn Majid he is the only one to put it correctly south of Mogadishu.
Mogadishu
Mombasa
Mafia
With Yakut we have information up to the south of Tanzania. Further south only Sofala and Qumr.
- Zhang Ruyu 章如愚: Shantang kaosuo 山堂考索 (Book of Exams) (1224)
Tribute from Southeast Asia might have included African items.
- Chao Ju-Kua (1226) he was commissioner in foreign trade Chu-fan-chih or Zhufan zhi ( Description of barbarous people)
THE ARABS (TA’SHI) ……….The products of the country (of the ta-shi) consists in pearls, ivory, rhinoceros horns, frankincense, ambergris, putchuck, cloves, nutmegs, benzoin (an-si hiang), aloes, myrrh, dragon's-blood, asa-foetida, wu-na-ts'i, borax, opaque and transparent glass, ch'o-k'u shell, coral, cat's-eyes, gardenia flowers, rose-water, nut galls, yellow wax, soft gold brocades , camel's hair cloth, tou-lo cottonades and foreign satins. The foreign traders who deal in these merchandise, bring them to San-fo-ts'i and Fo-lo-an to barter.
In the list of dependencies of the Arabs: Kau-mei (Comore); Ts'ong-pa (Zanzibar); Pi-p'a-lo (Berbera).
He gives very extensive description of: Ts'ong-pa (Zanzibar); Pi-p'a-lo (Berbera); TIUNG-LJI also called Zhonglji or Chung-li which might be Shungwaya, Shangaya, Jungaya in Kenya; MADAGASCAR (K'UN LUN-TS'ONG-K'I) (or K'un-lun-ts'eng-ch'i). Also the trade articles are given very extensive descriptions: ivory, rhino horns, civet, ambergris.
- Abdallatif: Al-Ifada wa’l-I’tibar (Short Account of Egypt) (d1231) lived all over the middle east
Mentions ginger of Zanzibar.
- Ibn Al Athir : Al Kamil fi al-Taritk (The complete Accounts of History) (1231)
Talks about the slave revolt of Shir-i- Zanji in 695AD in Basra.
In Mosul (750AD) 4000 Zanj soldiers take the woman of the town.
In Wasit in (929AD) Sudan soldiers revolt and burn the city.
In 974AD the Zanj soldiers took over he kingdom of Oman.
Aden was the port of call for ships from Zanj in 1174AD
- Ibn-al Mujawir(1232)(Tarikh al-Mustabsir)(Guide to Arabia) Iran
Mentions emigration of Arabs from Aden to Barbara and the Banu Majid to Mogadishu.
The people of Komr migrated to Aden and founded Aden town.
In 1228-9 sailing in convoy from Komr to Aden; one ship did this three monsoons trip in one monsoon. People the port of Abyan and Haram moved to Mogadishu.
The majority of the people of Aden are Africans, mostly Abyssinians and Barabir but also Mogadishans.
Very few items in his extensive list of imports might have come from East Africa: cloves (qaranful); , Sheep , Slave (raqiq=wild).
He also gives a detailed description, of the auction sale of a slave woman.
About Kilwa: Kilwa reverted from the Shafi'yya to the Kharijiyya (Ibadism) school and they remained attached to this legal school until the present day. (In Ibn Battuta’s days and now also they are Shafi).
- Ibn Al-Baytar: Kitab al-Jami'li-mufrdat al- adwiyah wa-al-aghdhiyah (Collection of simple medicines) (d1249) Spanish Muslim doctor.
From East Africa: Ebony, Bakkam tree, Betel (from Qumr), Djouz ez-zendj (nut of the Zanj), Djouz and Cherc; Rhubarb; black pepper, sugar cane ….
- Ibn Said al Maghribi (1250) Kitab Djoughrafiya fi l’ aqalim al Sab (Book of maps of the seven climes) born in Spain.
His places on the East African coast are mostly identifiable: Carfouna, Berma (wrongly placed is in Eritrea), Hafouny, Marka (should be after Mogadishu), Hawiya, Nil Maqdishu, Magdachou, Mulanda, Mombasa, Mafaza (this empty space is in fact the unknown space), Banyna (?), Sayouna (?), Lirana (is misplaced), Daghouta (?), island of Kiloua (is wrongly placed), the Comoros: being Nzwani (Anjouan, = Anfoudja), Ngazija (Grande Comoro, = Beukan has Volcano) and Maore (Mayotte, = Kermouah), Moheli= Serira.
Ibn Said also wrongly identifies Lake Koura (lake Chad) as the source of three Nile rivers. And his extensive description of Qumr mixes Madagascar and Indonesia.
- Aladua Ralakatibu (prayer of the Khatib = orator) is a Khutba = sermon (originally from about 1250) (found in Madagascar)
This first small anecdote is rather important for East-African history as it gives some information about immigration in the Indian Ocean. In the second (also important) it seems that the Zanj (=inhabitants of East Africa) were not on good terms with the Muslims in Madagascar.
- Lapidario del rey Alfonso X el Sabio; (Lapidary of King Alfonso X the Wise) (1250AD) Spain
Crystal was exported from East Africa.
-Al-Saghani: al Eibbab al Zakhir (The Great Abyss) (d1252) Baghdad
Important author first eyewitness report from Mogadishu; he had there a civet cat and had an unpleasant adventure with a shark.
-Nung sang Chi Yao; compiled by orders of Kublai Khan (1273) also in Wang Cheng; Nung shu (1300)
Sorgum a plant from Africa, has spread to China.
-Ibn Khallikan: Wafayat al-A'yan (The death of the Notables) (d1282) from Irbil Iraq
He wrote on Kafur the slave who became the Black ruler of Egypt and remained so for many years.
-Amir Khusrau : I'jaz-i-Khusravi (1283) (Self Elevation) Delhi, India
Indian merchants from Gujarat import Abyssinian and Zanzibari slaves into India.
In his book Tarikh-i 'Alai or Khazainu-L Futuh (1325) he mentions the sacrifice of Black slaves for the inauguration of a new building: As Abyssinians with heads inverted hang from a new building.
-Al-Qazwini(d. 1283). Atar al Bilad (Monuments of lands) from Kazwin in Persia.
Although he wrote two books of interest for our subject, not much new can be learned from it. The geography books from the Muslim world have become books of repetitions from old Geographers. Although still many books will be written on the Nile his short paragraph on its sources and reason of the annual increase of the Nile are the correct one: (About the Nile) As for the origin of its course, it comes from the country of Zinj and passes through the land of Abyssinia until it ends in the country of Nubia, then it is still running between two mountains between them are villages and countries, and the passenger in it sees the mountains on its right and north until it empties into the sea. It was said: The reason for its increase (in water) in the summer is that the rain abounds in the land of Zanzibar. And from that country (the water) descends through the rivers in proximity who pour torrents in the Nile from the sides,……
-Abd Ibn Al Zahir: Kitab al-Rawdah al-Bahiyah (The Book of the Beautiful Garden)(d1293) Egypt
From Yemen arrive at the court in Egypt: African animals and slaves and eunuchs.
-Written for Sultan al-Muzaffar: Nur al-ma'arif (Light of Knowledge) (1295) Yemen
Imported in Aden from Africa: ivory, eunuchs, civet, non castrated slaves male-female, ebony, Heavy animal leather, Light animal leather, Animal raw leather, leopard skin, the Abyssinian slaves are in four categories (different prices and different taxes), the Zanj slaves in three categories, Arabic gum from Zanzibar in two categories, sandalwood, Subbab, ivory in three categories, amber, betelnut, costus, incense in three categories, myrrh, cauris in three categoris, fat of apes, Spiral Ginger from Mogadiscio, molasses, clarified butter from Maqdisu, sesame oil of Maqdisu, sukkar: maqdisi,
- Ibn Hatim: Kitab al Simt (Book of measurements) (1295) Yemen
The commander of the soldiers kills the governor of Aden and flees with the income of the town to Mogadishu.
- Marco Polo (1295) De mirabilibus mundi (The Wonders of the World) from Italy
He treats Zanzibar and Mogadishu but mixed up with Madagascar from hear say stories.
-Ma Tuan-lin, (Wen-Hsien-t'ung-k'ao) (1295) (general study of the literary remains)
With a list of Arab tribute embassies to China many of whom would have carried African produce.
-Al-Malik al Ashraf Umar: al-Tabsirafi ilm al-nujum (Astronomical Treatise) (d.1296), the Rasuli prince of Taizz.
Gives in a calendar the arrival and departing dates for the Mogadishu ships.
-Wang Ying-lin: 王應麟; Yuhai 玉海 (Jade ocean) (d1296)
In 1011 Arab embassy to China brings Ivory tusks.
-Ahmad ibn Al Harrani 1300 Egypt Kitab Djamin al Founoun wa Salwat al Mahzoun (The Book of the Collection of Science and the Consolation of the Sadness. )
Among their towns (of the Zanj) is Nikand, a very big town… and Ilyanis on the shores of the Zandj sea…..(unidentified towns.)
-Abu al-Uqul (1300AD) Rasulid Almanac (Aden)
Gives in a calendar the arrival and departing dates for the Mogadishu ships.
- Abu Allah Ibn Ali Kashani; Kitab al-Jawahir al-arais wa ajaib al nafais; (about precious stones and perfumes) (13th) of Kashan Persia
Ambergris from Zanj available in Baghdad. Also in Baghdad: Nadd al zangi (=aloeswood + musk + ambergris)
- Mohammed Ben Mansur: Gawahirnama (Book of Precious Stones) (about1300)
Senbade (Emery?) from Zanzibar.
- Chen Da Zhen: Da de nan hai zhi (a gazetteer of the Guang-zhou area) (1304)
Watermelon, an East African plant has arrived in China.
A hole list of precious good is given some of which will be from East Africa.
The following east African countries paying tribute to the emperor are given:
Ba fei li. 拔肥离 Berbera on the east coast of Africa.
Ma jia li. 麻加里 Malindi East Coast of Africa
Ceng ba. 层拔 Zanzibar
Shan si. 赡思 should be 瞻思 Zhan Si (now East Africa Coast Zanji Land)
Bi pa luo. 弼琶啰 Berbera
No former author had identified that many countries. Note that Madagascar has disappeared from the list. The former connections between Madagascar and the Austronesians have disappeared.
- Qutb al-Din al-Chirazi; Al Touhfa al Chahiya fi l-Hai’a (The royal gift about astronomy)(1311) Persia
He has something new to say about the Nile of Mogadishu: It is here that a branch of the Nile reaches the sea. …. The people of Mogadishu take profit of this branch of the Nile to water their crops and because of that their sugarcane and other crops are better there than anywhere else in the Soudan. To this reason the traders say is due their affluence and the floods or shortage of the Nile is a very sensible subject to them. There are however people that deny that a branch of the Nile goes down towards Oman but they have no reason to stand on….
-Rashid al-Din Fazlallah; Mukatabati -i Rashidi (Letters of Rashidi) (d1318) Iran
Letter 48 It provides a list of commodities mainly either produced in the vicinity of the great ports of Gujarat or transhipped there: African zebra (re-exported from India), saj (wood from east Africa), and elephant ivory.
In his Jami al-tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles) (1310), he gives the following trading road for east Africa: From there the coast of Egypt and Said-I a’ala (Upper Egypt); from here the road goes to Mukadisu (Mogodishu) and the coast of Ethiopia, the Zengi and the Berber and the Sudan-al-Arab. Between them is a horrifying dept (canal) of Kanbayat, where many ships perish. The people there speak Arab. They became Muslim in 660 AH and they do not have a common king. In everyplace is a Sheik the headman and ruler. And is as such recognized by everybody. Amber, Ivory, Ebony, the skins of Berber-leopards and other precious materials are imported from there.
-Chu Ssu-Pen (1320) (Kuang Yu T'u) (the Mongol atlas)
In his world map, he shows Africa with a triangular shape pointing south. The names on his map are:
1 Sang gu ren (Zangi people) or San gu ba (Zanzibar) (wrongly put on the west coast).
2 Hama = Jabal al-Qamar (Mountains of the Moon)
3 Ha na yi si jin (Ha-na-i-ssu-chin) from hatt al-istiua, meaning equator.
4 Di ba nu (Ti-pa-nu) Island slaves (Ti-pa from diva and nu meaning slaves) one copy has: Sang gu ren nu; Zan-gi people slaves.
5 Ku liu ?? (Kilwa)
6 He jie ?? On the Kangnido: He zu ??
7 Si a la tu li shi (Shih-a-la t'u-li-ch'ih): Sofala, a place of those made naked black and red.
8 Mao xi ha bi la ?? better Chang xi ha bi la = Zanj I Qanbala (Zanj of Qanbalu)
9 Ke xi da bin ??
10 Wa a wa : Waq Waq.
-Ann: Irtifa al’dawla al-mu’ayyadiyya: Book on the revenue of sultan al-Mu’ayyad Dawud (d1320) Yemen
Gives sailing dates for Mogadishu to Adan and Shihr
Official statement that traders from Mogadishu and all other places will be treated justly.
Village (daman) of Raydat al Misqas: Mogadishu ships go there for fishoil.
-Ibn al Fuwati: Majma al Abab (Biographical Dictionary) (d1323)
The ruler of a place in Iran brings to the Caliph of Baghdad: a giraffe, Atabi donkey, an entire agarwood, in addition to ivory and Saj (teak of Africa).
- Al-Dimashqi (1325) Nukhbat ad-dahr (Wonders of the world) from Damascus
Emery mines in Zanzibar.
The river of the Damadim ……. through the land of Hawiah up to the red Makdishu, where it has an arm called Wabi-river, which goes through the lands of Zaila, Badi, Zengbar, and the coast of Berbera, close to the land of Makdashou it splits in three arms, one of which is the big Gubb, the other one the small Gubb, the third the river of Demdem..(this description of the river system in South Somalia is the most correct of the ones found in medieval sources. It off course does not extend as far as Kilwa and Sofala.)
It also seems he does not extend East Africa to the east but to the south.
The islands of Diba (Laccadive and the Maldive) It is a halting place for the ships going to …… Magadoxo on the Zanguebar and Abyssinie.
Note: as towns of East Africa he only knows coast of Berbera, Mogadishu, the land of the Zanj, Kiljata (Kilwa), Sofala, Daghouta, island of Komr.
-Baybars al-Mansuri: Tuhfa al-mulukiyya (Mamluk Chronical)(d1325)
In 1312 an embassy arrived in Egypt from Yemen with 409 porters carrying crates filled with ivory, ebony, sandalwood …… a small elephant … 10 good-looking eunuchs …..
- Al-Yunini; Dhayl mirat al-zaman (Supplement to the Mirror of Time) (d1326)
To Egypt from Yemen in 1268 an embassy with an elephant, a wild ass striped black and white ….
- Ibn al-Ukhuwwa; Ma'dlim al-Qurba fi Ahkam al-Hisba (manual of the market inspector) (d1329) Egypt
Rhubarb from Zanj.
- Abou Bekr ibn Bedr: El Naceri (the book of Sultan Nasser) (1330) Egypt
He comments on the bit and bridle for mules in Abyssinia and the land of the Zindjs.
Zebras got imported into Yemen from Mogadishu to be tamed and ridden.
- Wang Dayuan (1328-1339) Daoyi Zhilue (Island Savages)
Li-ch'ieh-t'a (supposed to be on the Berbera coast) Among the local products is the ch'ing-lang-kan coral-tree.
Ts'eng-yao-lo (or Zengbaluo or Tsang-b'uat-la) The native products comprise red sandal-wood, dark red sugar-cane elephants' tusks, ambergris, native gold, ya-tsui tan-fan (lit. duck-bill sulfate of copper). The goods used in trading are ivory boxes, trade silver, colored satins, and the like.
Lo-p'o-ssu, (supposedly on the Berbera coast.)
- Ann: Marginal note in: Kitab Al Akrabazin from Najib al Din al Samarqandi (d1220). (The Book of Compound Drugs) (1330 ??)
Khat is a shrub of Kilwa and of Yemen, popularly known as Kafta.
- Prince Abu al-Fida (or Abulfida) (1273-1331) Taqwim al-Buldan (Geography of countries) (he was governor of Hanah in Syria)
His material on East Africa is mostly taken from Ibn Said (1250).
- Ibn Battuta (1331) From Tangiers Rihala (Travels) (original title was: Tihfat an Nuzzar)
The most important author in this century. He routinely uses the word Swahili for the people. Her describes the places and people he visited in East Africa: Mogadishu, Mombasa, Kilwa.
Products of Zeyla: camels, sheep and the butter of them.
Products of Mogadishu: Camels and sheep, textiles that are exported to Egypt. Imports from Syria: Damascus rose water; a lined gown of Jerusalem material; sweeping cloak of green Jerusalem material. Imports from Egypt: silk wrapper an upper garment of Egyptian linen with markings; Egyptian turban with embroideries; clothes of Egyptian linen; and also the name of the Qadi is: Ibn Burhan al-Misri(meaning from Egypt). And from Yemen: The Sultan is greeted by the commanders according to the same customs as are followed in the Yemen.
Products of Kilwa: gold and slaves, ivory.
From Kilwa he sailed to Dhofar. While in the Maldives he finds export products there from Mogadishu: ghaliya (= a perfume of musk and ambergris), sheep. Another export product of Mogadishu were educated people: Ibn Battuta meets one who is governor of some islands in the Maldives and in Calcutta a Qadi.
- Al Janadi (or Al Djanadi): Al suluk fi tabaqat al ulama wa l muluk. (The Spirituality of the Generations of Scholars of the Kings) (d1332) Yemen
He mentions two Arab professors going to teach in Mogadishu; and an murderer/ army commander fleeing to Mogadishu. He also gives the sermon =kutba preached by Aly ibn Mahdy calling to bring the Abyssinians that ruled Zabid and the surrounding land into slavery (he reached in this in 1159AD).
- Cao Boqi : Haiwai gong hua lu; (Overseas tribute Donkey)(1255 -1333) (poem) embassy brings from Ma’abar (India) some zebras.
- Nuwayri : Nihayat al-Arab (1333) (Arab Encyclopedia.) from Egypt
Products of East Africa: Ambergris, aloes. Aden is a port of call for the Zanj ships.
-Al-Fayyumi; al-Misbah al-Munir (Arab Lexicon)1334 Syria
Brought from Zanj: Beryllus stone.
-Al Yamani: Bahgat al-zaman(d1343) Yemen
Among the presents from Yemen to Egypt in 1304AD: Elephants, evening primates with striped robe (al-attabi), giraffes ….
-Tuo Tuo (1345) (Sung Shi) (History of the Sung Dynasty)
A list is given from the embassies to China of the Arabs. Sometimes details are available showing them offering African items to the emperor.
-Cowar el-aqalim (1347) written in Kirkman-Perzia (the Configurations of the Countries)
He explains how in east Africa civet cats are kept.
- Ibn Al-Akfani; Nukhab Al-Thakhair fi Ahwaal Al-Jawahir Egypt (Special Treasures on Characteristics of Gemstones)(d1348)
Pearls from Sofala and Rock Crystal from Zanj.
-Al Umari (1349) Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar. (Pathways of vision in the realms of the Metropolises) from Damascus and Cairo
He knows only the following East African towns: Barawa, Malindi, Mombasa, Al Bais. Aden is the meeting place for the ships of Zanj. Gold in Sofala of the Zanj.
- Mahmud al Amuli: Nafa’is al-funun (Treasury of the Sciences) (d1352) Persia
Ambergris is found in Zanj. Ruby from Zanzibar. About Mogadishu: They say that the king, was not everywhere recognized but he was one of foremost goodness to the people, and they traded in bitumen, ivory, ebony and skins and bitumen from the barbars…..
-Mujahid ibn Ali ibn Daud, (Rasulid Sultan): al-Aqwal al-kafiyah: (Adequate Statements for Healing Horses) (d1362) Yemen-
Zebras are imported from Mogadishu to Yemen.
-Chou Chih-Chung : I-Yu-chih (1366) (Record of Strange Countries)
Ma-li-ba (Malabar): This country produces rare aromatics, ambergris, pearls, glass, rhinoceros horn, ivory tusks, coral, putchuk, myrrh, dragon’s blood, asa-foetida, liquid storax, oak-galls,etc. They are all brought from Dashi (Arabs) for trade.
- Manuscript of Al Malik al Afdal al-Abbas Yemen (Rasulid Sultan);composite ms, each book has its own title
He gives the sailing seasons of Mogadishu for Aden and Shihr.
List of the titles of important people and rulers in the country and surrounding lands : The last ones on the list are the rulers of Dahlak, Sawakin and Maqdisuh (Mogadishu) called al-Sayh al Agall indicating that they are ruling only a limited amount of people.
A variety of banana (mawz) from Mogadishu is recorded to exist in Yemen.
-Lien Sung (1310-1381); Yuan Shih (History of the Mongol dynasty)
Zebras reach China through Ma’bar in India.
- Cao Zhao: Gegu yaolun (Important discussions about assessing antiques) (1387)
Describes African ivory as being superior.
-Da Ming Hun Yi Tu (1389) (Amalgamated map of the great Ming empire)
The map is made with Arab sources and Chinese sources. The Arab source(s) are (nearly) identical to the once used by Chu Ssu-Pen (1320). The Chinese source(s) is new and is treated with Ch'uan Chin and Li Hui (1402)
- Mosa Ibin Soza : (copyist; Madagascar) Sorabe
Sorabe manuscript text + oral tradition
This tale is a mix up of many tales. Except of talking about Darafify it also talks about the murene, the eel and the establishment of the taboo on eating the animal. Also the tale of the displacement of the people. Note also that in the official version given in the school books, and which talks only about the dead of Darafify, it is not the tree who is cut by the man searching firewood, but Darafify's knee. He then falls in the water and dies.
The Darafify as he comes to us through this manuscript is the reincarnation of the ancestor-king arriving on the island and following a river upstream and installing himself inland. Darafify then becomes a being living in the water representing the ghosts of the old kings who according to tradition also live in the water. Big murene and eel are also considered animals in which the ghosts of ancestor kings dwell.
When combining this text with what the oral tradition gives us we find that in the region north of Mananjary there is a written down, old oral tradition probably predating the eleventh century about giants called Darafify (red colored cheeks), Darofipy (cut stone) and Darafely Fatrapaitan (ana). They are at the same time mythical giants, cultural heroes and also a legendary people.
Darafify came from Arabia with a red bull bearing eight teats, which began Darafify's vast herds. He landed on the northern tip of the island and eventually worked his way down the east coast, performing various legendary feats along the way, including killing a giant snake (Hydra) that devoured men and cattle.
Moving down the coast from the northeast, they tried to escape their traditional profession of cattle herders. They became involved in trade that carried products from Madagascar to the world to the north. They also tried to acquire a monopoly on the east coast of the island where the most medical herbs are as well as perfumes and aromatics as well as where chlorite-schist (soapstone) is quarried and worked.
The Persian influence shows in his name: Darafify, Dara means date (red of color) in Persian. Nobody goes as far as to say he was Persian, maybe he was the equivalent of the Shirazi in East Africa. Who in that same epoque took over the rule of the Zanj coast. They built their strength on their relations with Persia.
- Al-Khazraji: al-Kifayah (History of Yemen) (1400)
The first paragraph is about the rule of the Abyssinians over Yemen at the beginning of the Middle Ages. The second a love poem to a black women. The third: an embassy from Yemen to Egypt in 1305 included elephants, zebra and giraffes, slaves. Some years later local rulers gave the same African products to the Sultan of Yemen.
- Ch'uan Chin and Li Hui (1402) (Yoktae chewang honil kangnido)
The map is made with Arab sources and Chinese sources. The Arab source(s) are (nearly) identical to the once used by Chu Ssu-Pen (1320). But an extra part is added: Mogadishu 麻哈答來 (Ma-ha-da-lai) (Sugiyama 2007 p58). The place just left of Mogadishu is: 顔細哈你赤 (Yan xi ha ni chi) according to me to be replaced by 顔細哈拔赤 (yan xi ha ba chi) as the Arab and Persian geographers correctly called the place: The Zan-shi of the Habashi.
The Chinese source(s) is new: Of the three big islands on this map the lowest is East Africa (x-island), above it Arabia island, and above it South India island according to the Chinese sources of this map. The explanation is that the Chinese sailors knew that if you cross the ocean starting from the Asian continent you come to South India, crossing again you arrive in South Arabia and crossing again in East Africa. On the African East Coast we have four names: 哈八牙 Ha-ba-ya (Habasha); 馬合哈叔 or 馬合答叔 Ma-ge-ha-shu or Ma-ge-da-shu (Mogadishu) ….
- Al-Anwa wa-al-tawqi at..... (Ann. Rasulid Agricultural Almanac for 1405-06)
Sailing dates to and from Aden for the Mogadishu ships is mentioned.
- Ibn al-Furat: Tarih ad Duwal wal Muluk (History of the Dynasties and Kingdoms) (d1405) Egypt
Several embassies to Egypt in the 13th century brought: elephant, rhinoceros, striped onagers (al-attabi), eunuchs, non-castrated slaves, giraffe, ivory …..
- Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) Kitab al 'Ibar (about universal history) born in Tunisia, worked in Egypt
His geographical part does not teaches us anything. In the historical part in one manuscript (the Egyptian edition) we have: The population of Shash or Chach (now Tashkent) in Central Asia was ordered to evacuate the town around 604 AH (1207-1208AD). Chach lay in the path of an invading force of Qara Khitay Turks. These refugees, many of them skilled weavers and cap-makers, dispersed into the lands of Islam.... to Cairo, Baghdad, and Mogadishu.
- Ann: Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo (of Madrid) to the Court of Timour at Samarcand (1403-6)
He finds a giraffe in Samarcand.
- Ann: Yongle Dadian: (Yongle Encyclopedia) (1408)
List of Arab embassies to China with sometimes details of the items they brought including African items.
- al Hasan ibn Ali al-Sharif al-Husayni: Mulakhkhas al-Fitan (book of legal decisions)(1412) from Aden
About taxes to be paid on African Imports: civet, Mogadishu-slaves, Ambergris, Leopard skin, rice from Kilwa, sandalwood, Zanjibari sandarac, ebony, Malindi sandalwood, Dragon's blood, Myrrh, ivory, aloes, linen with a selvage from Mogadishu, Cotton nut-coloured garments with selvage from Mogadishu.
- Mu’in al-Din Natanzi: Muntakhab al-tawarikh (general history of mankind) (1413) Shiraz
There is mentioned Zanzibar being among the territories of the Muzaffarids of Shiraz.
- Zeng Qi: Mingren ruiying tu (明人瑞應圖) (1414) (Pictures of Auspicious Responses in Eight Sections)
Painting plus poem of the first giraffe to arrive in China in 1414 from Bengal. This is a copy of the original.
-Shen Du (1414)
Painting plus poem of the first giraffe to arrive in China in 1414 from Bengal. This is a copy of a different original painting of which many copies still exist.
- Xia Yuan-ji: Kylin fu (Ode to the Unicorn) (1416)
He is one of many authors to write a poem on the giraffes that arrived in China. Others who did so: Jin Youzi (1419); Wang Hong (d1420)
- Al Qalqashandi (d1418) Subh al a'sha fi Sina at al Incha (The blind become seeing on the subject of writing) Egypt
Ambergris from Zinj, (a kind of drug) Alq.n.d.gli brought from the Coast of the Zinj (betel). Basra receives ships from Zanj. Giraffes are brought to Yemen.
Embassy to Egypt from Yemen with: giraffe, zebra, civet perfume, sandalwood, camphor and ambergris.
- Hafiz I Abru; Jugrafiya-yi Hafiz Abru (Geography of Hafiz I Abru) (1420) Herat
Ayzab (port on the Red Sea) for ships from Zanzibar. From Egypt many merchants go to Zanzibar.
To Aden: Leopard skin and other colored skins such as jujube and giraffe etc. ….
-Saraf-ad-din Ali Yazdi; Zafar Namah Emir Timur (The history of the conquests by Prince Timur)(1424) Iran
He captures the castle of Damascus and mentions the Zangibari soldiers that he made into slaves.
-Johannes Schiltberger: Reisebuch (Travel journal)(1427)
He finds a giraffe in Deli in India.
-Muhammad al Fasi, Maliki: Shifa'al Gharam bi-akhbar al-Bilad al Haram. (Good tidings of the Holy Place). He was Qadi at Mecca (d1429-30)
In the year 813AH (1410-11) al Malik al Mansur Hassan ibn (al Malik) al-Mu'ayyad Sulayman ibn (al Malik al-Malik...) al Husayn (1), the Lord of Kilwa (Sahib Kilwa) made the pilgrimage. And gave gifts to the prominent men of the Haram (al-Sharif)(4) and lingered for a time after the pilgrimage, and then went by sea in the course of the journey to the land of Yaman, so as to go from there to his own country via Aden.
-Taizong Shi lu (About emperor Jianwan (1) and Yongle) (1430)
During the reign of Yongle the big voyages to Africa took place so among the visitors to China were many East Africans bringing lots of East African products (giraffe).
Countries mentioned: Bilad Sofala, Malindi, Mogadishu, Brava.
-Al-Bakuvi: Kitab-talkhis el-asar ve el-melik el-gahhar (Short Notes on Monuments and other Marvels from previous Kings) (1430) from Baku, Azerbaijan.
A geographer who has nothing new to tell us. Ebony arrives through Yemen. From Zanj: gold and ivory. Zanzibar is the main harbour of the Zanj. Mogadishu exports, Sandalwood, ebony-wood, amber, and ivory.
-Ning Xian Wang (Zhu Quan) I Yu Thu Chih (1430) (The Illustrated Record of Strange Countries)
This book is known for its exact drawing of the zebra. The East African places it treats are plainly copied from older sources.
-Cheng Ho: Two inscriptions (1431)
Dedicated to the goddess the Celestial Spouse. Found in China. The following East African places are mentioned: The country of Hu-lu-mo-ssu (Ormuz) presented lions, leopards with gold spots and large western horses. The country of A-tan (Aden) presented ch'i-lin of which the native name is Tsu-la-fa (giraffe), as well as the long horned animal ma-ha (oryx). The country of Mu-ku-tu-shu (Mogadishu) presented hua-fu-lu (zebras) as well as lions. The country of Pu-la-wa (Brawa) presented camels which run one thousand li as well as camel birds (ostriches).
- Ma Huan's: Ying-yai Sheng-lan : (The overall survey of the ocean's shores) (1433)
He finds African products in Aden, Hormuz, Mecca, Dhofar: red sandal-wood, zebra, ostrich, lion, giraffe, leopard,
- Gong Zhen: Xiyang Fanguo Zhi (1434) (A record of the Western Ocean and foreign nations)
He finds African products in Aden, Hormuz, Mecca: ambergris, giraffe, lion, zebra, leopard, ostrich.
- Yahya bin Ahmad Sirhindi (1434) Tarikh-i Mubarak Shahi (a History of India during the Sultan Period)
The stories about some African slaves who made it to important positions in India and a vague idea about how many African slaves there were in India.
- Fei-Hsin (1436) (Hsing-ch'a Sheng lan) (Marvelous visions from the Star Raft)
He visited the places he mentions. Jub: of which he gives the longest description ever. Mogadishu: his description comes second after Battuta (1331). Brava: longest description ever. Lasa: not sure if in Africa.
Jub: The products of the land are lions, leopards with gold spots and ostriches who are 7 to 8 feet high. There is also ambergris, incense and golden amber.
Mogadishu: The native products are frankincense, gold coins, leopards, ambergris.
Brava: The country produces the animal ma-ha (Oryx), the zebra, the leopard, the antelope, the rhinoceros, myrrh, incense, ambergris, elephant tusks, camels.
He also finds African products in: Mecca, Aden, Dufar: gold, precious stones, pearls, lions, camels, tsu-la-fa, (giraffe), leopards, deer, donkeys with black mottling (zebra), camel-footed birds (ostrich), frankincense, ambergris.
- Xuanzong Shih-lu (1438) (Veritable records of Emperor Xuanzong)
The second and last emperor to send the fleet to the west and south. The following East African countries send embassies in 1430: Brava, Mogadishu, Zhu-nu (Jub). In 1433 no more African countries arrive but Arab countries offered: tribute of giraffes, elephants, horses and other products.
- From the Court of Al-Zahir; Ta’rikh al-Yaman (History of Yemen).(1439) (Ann. Rasulid Chronicle.)
A gift arrived from the land of Zanj. Among them were astonishing things that have never been to Yemen. It was on 28 Shawaru of the year 790 (7th November 1388)
During Higga 836 (1433) the nakoda of a ship from Kilwa with merchants from Mecca was welcomed.
- Abu al-Mahasin (1441) lived in Cairo. al-Manhal al-safi wa'l-mustawfi ba'd al-wafi: (The pure source of fullness after completion)
He tells a story about Lamu and Mogadsihu that he copied from Al Maqrizi (1441). In his ‘al-Nujum al-zahirah’ he talks about war preparations against the Zanj sending an army south overland to punish them after they killed a high official in 845AH (1441). They never send the military expedition.
He reports that during the plague in 1428 and 1438 many black slaves died in Egypt. In his ‘Hawadith al-duhur’ he mentions the black slaves in the spring pasturage in the land of Giza electing their own Sultan.
- Muhammad al-Husayni al-Din al Maqrizi (1441) In: Suluk li-ma‘rifat duwal al-muluk; (To See the Behavior of Countries and Kings) from Egypt.
In (1267AD) from Yemen an embassy to Egypt with a wild donkey, of attabi color then, as usual, the quantities of musk, amber, aloe wood of Qumar ….
In (1270AD) from Yemen an elephant …
In (1275AD) from Yemen a rhinoceros, an elephant, and a wild striped (al-Attabi) donkey …
In (1285) from Yemen the gifts were thirteen eunuchs, ten horses, non-castrated slaves, elephant, rhinoceros (harkand) …..
In (1436) an epidemic that continued for four months Bilad Zinj was taken out. Aden then died out. Evolved to include all the countries of Abyssinia, from Caffers and Moslem, and the rest of the country Zinj, and Mekdcoh up to Berbera, Aden, Taiz, and Saada, and its mountains.
Maqrizi: in his ‘Al Bayaan’: (period between 698-754 AH)
…. and chased the Bedouin to the country of Sudan …. even entered the limits of the country of Zinj, then came back …..
Al Maqrizi: in his aleuqud: The story of the city of Lamu and the take over by the monkeys. He also says that Lamu was invaded by the sand dunes. What is correct. The story of Mogadishu inside the Lamu story can not be attributed to Mogadishu.
- Luo Maodeng: Sanbao taijian Xiyangji tongsu yanyi (The western sea cruises of the Eununch San Bao)
In this later date drama a big war rages between the Chinese fleet and the town of Mogadishu. Its importance lays in showing that the peaceful voyages of the imperial fleets where not always so.
- Zhang, Tingyu: Ming Shi (Records of the Ming Dynasty)
A list of tribute bearing embassies for every year. The once for east Africa mentioned: Malindi, Brava, Mogadishu, Bilad Sofala, Zhubu (Jub)
There is also a list of countries where more information is given. In this list: Bengal (who brought 2 giraffes); Mogadishu; Brava; Chupu (Jub); Aden who brought many African products as tribute included a giraffe; Lasa which always comes with Aden and Brava; Malindi; Hormuz and Mecca who also bring African products in the tribute. Kilwa is also mentioned in the list but its entry dates from after the middle ages. However it is stated that it also send tribute once during the Youngle area. Its products being animal skins, feathers and felt. These however are not the products of Kilwa.
- The Mao K'un Map
The following placenames are tentatively translated from the map (North to South): Mogadishu; Brava; Merka; Mombasa; Kilwa; Shirazi-Sofala; Mafia; Quitangonha (island to the north of Mozambique island); Malindi. Some especially Malindi are wrongly located.
- Wang Khi; Sancai Tuhui (Three Talents Compendium)
In this webpage in which I compare two Chinese versions with a Japanese version of 1712 only the drawing of Madagascar of the Japanese version is important. It shows on top the giant bird Roc and under it a white and black person: the two ethic groups living on the island. The Austronesians and the Africans.
- Zare'a Ya'kob ruler of Ethiopia (Mashafa Milad) (Book of the Nativity)(1445)
The first mention of Mogadishu in a source from Africa (Ethiopia).
- Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani: Inba al-Ghumar bi Abna al-Umr (to Immerge the new generation in information) (d1448)
(in the year 838) (1435): In this year, an epidemic in the country of Yemen in the plains and mountains up to Sa'ada and Sana'a, Coming from the country of the Berbers, and Abyssinia and Zinj.
- Ibn Arabshah: Timur-Nahmeh (History of Timur) (before1450) Syria
And (Timor) ordered slaves of Zinj to be collected, of whom he sought to possess more and preferred them to others.
- Ibn al-Ahdal: Tuhfat al-zaman fi tarikh sadat al-Yaman (The Wonder of the Age in the History of Yemen) (d1451)
He talks about people moving to Mogadishu and gifts to Yemen of amber, tusks and musk.
- (Pseudo) Ibn Al Wardi (about 1456) Kharidat al aji ib (The Pearls of Wonders and the Uniqueness of Things Strange) Syria
In Sofala is iron and gold for export. In Aden is found: kaimoukt (kind of leader) , musk, aloes wood, several aromatics, ivory, ebony, pearls, precious stones, the zoubad (civet) and amber etc.
Yemen has giraffes. He tells us nothing new.
-Fra Mauro (1459) (Mappamundi) (Monk in Venice)
Fra Mauro seems to have had two informants giving him a list of cities of East Africa. The first being: Mogodisso, Xengibar, Soffala ; The second: Chelue (Kilwa), Maabasa (9), Baraua (10), Mac-da-sui, (Mogadishu) all are on the island of DIAB (1) and far into the ocean is still the island of Changibar. (Zanzibar). He also mentions Sofala.
-Al Himyari: Kitab ar-rawd al Mi'tar (1461) (The Fragrant Garden) Maghrib
In Al Zenj there is iron and leopard skins. He tells us nothing new.
- Li Hsien (Compiler); Ta Ming i t'ung chih (the great geography of the Ming) (1461)
He mentions Malindi bringing a giraffe as tribute (and Bengal also one). In Mecca, Hormuz, Dhofar are found: rhinoceros horn; lions, ostriches; zebras, amber, incense.
- Abdurazzak (1470) (Envoy of Shah Rukh to India) Matla'us Sa'dain wa Majmu'ul Bahrain:
The coming of the two favorable stars, and the reunion of the two seas. Persia
Hormuz and Calicut are the port of call for ships from Zanzibar.
-Copy of Amir Khusrau's Khamsah: The two divs, a miniature painting (1470) (manuscript from Mandu)
It might be that the very human, black skinned divs (demons) are the workforce of African slaves that helped build the fortress city of Mandu.
-Ahmad ibn Majid al-Najid (1462): Kitab al-Fawa'id/ As-Sufaliyya/ Hawiya/ Other Poems.
He is the most important author of this century. In his work a detailed view is found on how far Islam has moved down the coast of East Africa (see his part on my document: The growth of Islam). It is with him that we finally get a complete picture of the coast. The gap of south of Kilwa till Sofala was been filled and south of Sofala more reliable information is given. A map of the harbours he gave in Madagascar is made. His Hawiya is an important part of my document on: The Medieval History of Madagascar as found in the Written Sources. For every part of the East African coast more details are given, some only useful to the ships pilot. About what is said about the people of the East African coast in his work I made a special document. He also provided a lot of the text in my document: The Medieval History of Zimbabwe as found in the Written Sources.
-Josafa Barbaro; Viaggio di Josaphat Barbaro, Ambasciadore di Venetia, alla Tana et in Persia (Travels to Tana and Persia) (1471).
Meets in Tabriz a giraffe being brought from India.
-Athanasius Nikitin : Khozhenie za tri moria (Travels in the three Seas) (1475)from Twer-in Russia
First European to reach East Africa in medieval Times.
- Najm al-Din Umar ibn Fahd: 'Ithaf alwry bi'Akhbar 'am alqri (Al-Wary Reciting News of Umm Al-Qura) (d1480) Mecca
The laborers of Zaila and Maqadisha (=Mogadishu) were used on the waterwheel to provide Mecca with water. These might have been slaves brought from Zaila and Mogadishu.
-Pedro de Covilham (1490) Portugal
The report of the European spy about East Africa.
-Abd al Basit ibn Khalil: Nayl al amal fi dhayl al-duwal (The hope of the tail of states) (1490) Egypt
Epidemic in Yemen coming from Ethiopia and Zanj.
-Henricus Martellus’s World Map at Yale (c. 1491)
Maps like this without Zanzibar but with Madagascar on the east coast of Africa show how the island of Madagascar got its name.
-Aayani : Fateh-Namah Mahmood Shah. (1495)(History of Shah Mahmood)
War against an African nobleman in India.
-Annon: Ni'matnama (1495): The Sultan's Book of Delights
Some small indications on the close ties that existed with East Africa.
- Ibn al-Dayba : Bugyat al-mustafid fi ahbar madinat Zabid (History of Zabid) (1496) Egypt
Soaring prices of grain in Yemen and Mogadishu followed by famine.
- Muhammad ibn Da'ud Shadiyabadi: Miftah al-Fuzala (15th century) A glossary of rare words and proper names occurring in Persian poetry found in Mandu (Shadiabad), India.
Another faint indication of the close ties of Mandu with Africa.
- Alf layla wa Layla (One Thousand and One Nights) (15th cent)
The list of the travels of Sindbad the sailor is an example of the trade-contacts of Basra and Baghdad with East Africa.
- Abu Albaqqa, Abdullah bin Mohammed Badri: Nuzhat Alanam fi muhasin al-Sham (Picnics in Sham) (15th)
Sugarcane from Zanj.
- Muhammad ibn Omar al-Tayyib Bafqih: Tarikh al-Shihr (History of Shihr in the 10th century)
A small anecdote from Mombasa.
- Alberto Cantino (1502) World map
This map brings us the old Arab names for the Mascarenes islands.
-Suyuti (1445-d1505) From Cairo
He wrote a book: Raf' Sha'n al-Hubshan (The raising of the status of the Ethiopians; to defend the blacks against the accusations made against them).