End of the Middle-Ages View on 'Horses in East Africa' by the Portuguese.
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Al Masudi (916) in Muruj al-Dhahab said: The Zanj use the ox as a beast of burden, for their country has no horses or mules or camels and they do not even know these animals. Throughout the Medieval History of East Africa, the Arab/Persian authors keep repeating this. This had changed by the end of the Middle Ages; but only a tiny little bid. The Sultans are sometimes mentioned to have a small number of horses. I add the different cases of early Portuguese authors.
Note that after the independence of Tanzania from the British horses became fast a normal sight in some areas. Then a disease came and there were none left.
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol I
ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE OF D. FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA, VICEROY OF INDIA, ALONG THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA (Manuscrito de Valentim Fernandes d1519)
[1506] (This is the eyewitness account of Hans Mayer)
(The Portuguese loot Kilwa; the Sultan fled and the Portuguese appoint a new one)
…………. The king fled Kilwa, the captain-major set up another king, a Moor of the land beloved by all, and they took him through the city on horseback. ……………….
(The Portuguese loot Mombasa)
……………. They found a great number of very rich cloths, of silk and gold, carpets and saddle-cloths, especially one carpet that cannot be bettered anywhere and which was sent to the king of Portugal with many other articles of great value. ………………
(De Almeida still wants to loot Mogadishu but as the monsoon wind will change he has to continue to India)
………………. Mogadishu lies on the coast one hundred leagues from Malindi and is a great city with many horses and lies half a league from the sea and its coast is boisterous and it lies near Cape of Guardafui. It is a very strong city powerful and wealthy. They would have gone there but time being short they passed it by. ……………
Taken from: Álvaro Velho: Roteiro da primeira viagem de Vasco da Gama. (1497-1499).
Álvaro Velho was on board but left on the return at Sierra Leone.
(in 1498 in Malindi)
……….. And the king, much pleased, made the circuit of our ships, the bombards of which fired a salute. About three hours were spent in this way. When the king went away he left in the ship one of his sons and a sharif, and took two of us away with him, to whom he desired to show his palace. He, moreover, told the captain that as he would not go ashore he would himself return on the following day to the beach, and would order his horsemen to go through some exercises.
Taken from: The first Booke of the Historie of the Discoverie and Conquest of the East Indias by the Portingals, in the time of King Don John, the second of that name. By Hernan Lopes de Castaneda. Translated into English by Nicholas Lichefield 1582.
(When describing the first trip of Vasco da Gama to India: 1497–1499).
(in Mombasa 1498)
……………. They account themselves good horsemen; yet there is a common saying on this coast, the horsemen of Mombaza, and the women of Melinda, as in Mombaza they are excellent horsemen, and the women of Melinda are very handsome, and dress richly. ……………..
(Voyage of Pedro Alvarez Cabral to India in 1500)
(in Malindi 1500)
…… (to meet Cabral) though the palace was very near the sea, he went on horseback to the shore, having his horse decorated with the rich caparisons sent him by the king of Portugal, which were obliged to be put on by one of our men as none of the natives knew their use. ………………
Taken from: Chronica d'el-rei D. Manuel by Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574; Pereira, Gabriel, d. 1911 (1909) Vol 4
(After looting Brava Tristao da Cunha went to the city of Magadaxo in 1507)
……………… But they took him badly, because he threw a captive of Brava ashore, to tell them why he was coming, and they tore him to pieces before him, at the command of many covered horsemen, who were walking along the beach …………….
Taken from: A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa 1514. Transl Stanley.
MAGADOXO.
……………. In this town there is plenty of meat, wheat, barley, and horses, and much fruit; it is a very rich place. All the people speak Arabic; they are dusky, and black, and some of them white. ……………