Xaragua's End..

Section of an early map of the island of Haiti

Although they are limited, it is always interesting to read additional sources that mention the end of Anacaona and the Xaragua cacicazgo. In this case, coming across an account from a 1536 will by Diego Mendez, who was present during the massacres orchestrated by Ovando, is useful. While his brief account of this egregious episode in the annals of history did not go into the grisly details, Mendez stated that 84 caciques and Anacaona were killed by the Spaniards. Diego Mendez's testimony may be somewhat limited since he returned to Hispaniola from Jamaica while the Xaragua "campaign" had already started. Moreover, he wrote it several years after the events described therein, so perhaps his numbers are a little off or inaccurate. However, it was interesting to note that he remembered Anacaona as "sovereign mistress" of the island.

Another early mention of Xaragua can be found in a letter by Dominican friars to Fray Pedro Simon de Cordoba, written in 1516 or so. According to this letter, Xaragua was considered by the Indians of the island to be the principal chiefdom due to its great and many caciques, ample food, and beautiful women. In addition, they wrote a version of Ovando's actions which suggest some interesting parts not mentioned in other sources. For instance, they wrote that the Indians of Xaragua were indeed speaking of killing Ovando. Furthermore, when he trapped several caciques inside a caney or large bohio before having them burned to death (supposedly 60, according to the letter), Ovando supposedly wore guanin that he said was meant as a gift to Anacaona. Was this sign of gift-giving or exchange with Anacaona, an example of Spaniards participating in a system of reciprocity and exchange based on indigenous value systems? Either way, it was part of Ovando's plan, which eventually succeeded and led to a slaughter of several caciques. Those who survived or fled were enslaved, including on Guarocuya, a nephew of Anacaona who was later killed in the Bahoruco area. Perhaps Don Enrique or Enriquillo, the later indigenous rebel, was named after or related to this earlier Guarocuya? 

While the letter by the friars is sympathetic to the people of Xaragua, it is also somewhat condescending, alluding to them as easily deceived. What seems more likely is that there may have indeed been some sort of plot or conspiracy to free Xaragua from the Spanish threat, but it was still in its initial stages. Perhaps Anacaona was waiting for a better time or opportune moment to start it, but Ovando decided that quick, decisive and treacherous actions could neutralize the threat right away, although Oviedo wrote that it took 6 months to pacify the western part of the island, finally ending in February of 1504. It even brought in captives or slaves, like the later campaign against Higuey. Indeed, it ensured direct Spanish control over most of what is now Haiti and the establishment of the encomienda system and Spanish towns. Presumably, the captives taken in these campaigns were more easily transferred to the mining areas or Santo Domingo while others fled to Cuba.

Playing with G25 Coordinates and Indigenous Ancestry...

Again, playing with G25 coordinates (non-simulated ones, this time) and different calculators or Illustrative DNA revealed some degree of genetic continuity from the pre-Columbian Caribbean and modern populations in the region. For example, using my G25 coordinates and Tomenable's calculators for the world in the 6th century BC and 1st century BC, I received the following results: 

Target: Yo Distance: 1.7369% / 0.01736942
46.0	Africa(West)_Niger_Congo_Peoples
22.0	Europe_Northwest
15.2	Europe_Southwest
6.6	America_Cuba_Guanahatabey
5.0	Europe_South_Central
3.2	Africa(Central)_Foragers
0.6	Africa_Garamantians
0.6	America_Ancestral_Puebloans
0.4	America_Amazon_Foragers
0.4	MENA_Judah_Kingdom

Of course, this is only slightly accurate, in that it's using our G25 coordinates to match with select ancient population samples. The sub-Saharan African category is about right, but probably based on mostly modern samples. Europe is probably generically accurate, although most of our European ancestry was probably from southwestern Europe (overwhelmingly the Iberian peninsula, which, over 2000 years ago, had populations genetically related to northwestern European groups). The Garamantian connection is probably a reference to other admixture calculators assigning us some minor degree of North African ancestry (and the Garamantian sample had sub-Saharan ancestry). Intriguingly, the indigenous Americas ancestry, a total of about 7.6 percent, is overwhelmingly linked to this calculator's archaic Cuba sample. Of course, reducing the number of populations to 5 and following other recommendations erases the Guanahatabey. It also reclassifies European ancestry as just Roman Empire-Europe.

Interestingly, Illustrative DNA's Three Way modeling does come slightly close to our ancestry with a best fit of Medieval ancestry as 43.6% Medieval Iberian (Girona), Lucayan Taino (7.2%) and Bantu (49.2%). Obviously, this is only roughly useful, but comes closest to approximating our ancestry as a split of 3 major populations: indigenous Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe (mainly Iberian peninsula). It's a shame sub-Saharan Africa isn't properly broken down and analyzed, but the difficulty of finding ancient DNA samples makes it somewhat understandable. Regardless, it does seem like our Indigenous ancestry, usually always linked to South American groups, was at least partly based on indigenous populations in the Caribbean. 

Dram Zafra

Joel Lorquet's Dram Zafra was another one of his socially conscious graphic novels on an important topic or theme of modern Haiti. In this case, Haitian braceros who cut sugarcane in the Dominican Republic, but also touching upon other themes like migration and exploitation. Like his other comics, this one features some interesting storytelling but underdeveloped art. That said, this short work, through telling the tale of 3 Haitian men who go cut cane in the DR to escape misery but only find more suffering and deprivation, is emotionally powerful. One of the 3 men dies in the Dominican Republic, another loses an arm for sleeping with a married Dominican woman, and the third, Murat, is imprisoned for entering the Dominican Republic illegally. The two survivors who eventually make it back to Haiti, one via a prison escape and the other after 6 months of living in the batey, return to their old lives with new ideas and conceptions of their experience abroad. Indeed, one, Murat, connects the bracero system to slavery while the armless Jean-Orius opens a boutique or shop. It is a shame Lorquet did not continue to write and illustrate stories in Haitian Creole. If his work was written in the standard Haitian Creole orthography and he was open to new genres, perhaps more Haitians would have followed in his footsteps and Haiti would have developed better comics. Nonetheless, Lorquet's socially relevant work addresses major issues Haiti faced during the 1980s while attempting to show the dignity of poorer Haitians. 

Sing, Sing, Sing

A classic from the legendary Benny Goodman. While Krupa's "primitivist" percussive work here is more interesting for representing an era in jazz's most popular phase, one cannot deny the brilliance of the arrangements and orchestration of Goodman's band.

Mra...Live

Another live performance of a personal favorite from Chris McGregor, written by the legendary Dudu Pukwana. Something about South African Jazz just lifts the spirits while capturing that joie de vivre of South Africa. This version slows things down and features a vocalist.

Fun with Simulated G25 Coordinates

Although using G25 coordinates from different admixture calculators and then using Vahaduo to run that information against G25 coordinates for various populations, past and present, is fun, it's not very reliable. However, using simulated coordinates from MDLP with a 1st Century BC calculator by Tomenable did match our data with a sample from Hispaniola, from Macorix Ciguayo. Using other simulated scaled G25 coordinates did not detect this, usually tracing our indigenous Americas ancestry to Amazon Farming Tribes and other South American groups. And, if we are being honest, about 2000 years ago was around the time when agriculturalists who likely spoke Arawakan languages were migrating to the Greater Antilles. Furthermore, we have no East African ancestry so the Africa_Cushitic Peoples ancestry is not accurate at all. Needless to say, none of this should be taken too seriously, but interesting to see nonetheless. The other set of G25 coordinates, which only listed Amazon Farming Tribes, was more accurate in other ways since it detected West African ancestry. 

Pictograms at Potoo Hole

Just a brief video on pictograms at Potoo Hole in Jamaica made by indigenous peoples.

Borno Guidelines...

Reading some of the research guidelines for projects in the 1980s on the history of Quranic education in Borno and the biographies of the ulama of the Central Sudan since the 15th century was an interesting experience. Although the projects seem to have never took off, the short publications tied to the Centre for Trans-Saharan Studies at the University of Maiduguri contain a number of interesting ideas, bibliographies and a rough plan for how to conduct these vast research projects. Alas, with the exception of a tabaqat of Borno ulama in Bobboyi's dissertation, "The Ulama of Borno: A study of the relations between scholars and state under the Sayfawa, 1470-1808" and the project edited by Hunwick and others on Arabic literature in the Central Sudan, we are still in the dark about these rich topics. 

Notes on French Culture in Haiti

Although not exactly the type of Haitian ethnological studies we usually read, we devoured J.B. Romain's Notes sur la culture française en Haiti. A short study based on a conference talk by the author in 1973, Romain outlines the areas of French cultural influence in Haiti. This, of course, is most evident in intellectual and literary culture, since Haiti, according to Romain's estimate, only had 200,000 Francophones. However, evidence of French influence is unsurprisingly ubiquitous in a former French colony whose official language includes French and a Creole with a French lexifier. Nonetheless, French influence in folk medicine, popular beliefs, song, politics, and other areas of Haitian life are evident. Haitian literary and intellectual currents undoubtedly evince this, since French literary models were an influence on Haitian arts and letters since the colonial period. How, exactly, to bring together the Francophone Haitian town and the Creole countryside of peasants, however, is not addressed here. Still, an interesting exploration of the French factor from J.B. Romain. 

On the Zagwe

Marie-Laure Derat's L’énigme d’une dynastie sainte et usurpatrice dans le royaume chrétien d’Ethiopie, XIe-XIIIe siècle is an intriguing and challenging work. The lack of adequate documentation for most of the rulers of the Zagwe dynasty and the problematic reliance on oral traditions, hagiographies and historiography based on the Solomonic legend of the subsequent dynasty makes it rather difficult to establish with greater clarity what was the Zagwe dynasty. However, using the available Arabic sources (particularly Copts writing the history of the Patriarchate of Alexandria), later hagiographies, archaeological evidence, and inscriptions, land grants and kings lists, Derat proposes some new interpretations while raising more questions. Derat does this while endeavoring to understand the paradox of how the Zagwe rulers were seen as both usurpers yet holy.

For example, the assumption of an Agaw or Cushitic origin of the Zagwe dynasty is far from clear. Further, the oral traditions compiled by Conti Rossini are contradictory and difficult to make sense of. Instead of assuming a Cushitic or Agaw origin, Derat proposes a model in which the Zagwe rulers emerged from a long-lasting second wave of Christianization that occured in the late Aksumite and post-Aksumite period in eastern Tigray. Archaeological evidence indicates there an area of ongoing church construction and thriving Christian communities, perhaps leading to a reunified Ethiopian Christian kingdom that reestablished contact with the Patriarchate in Egypt. Derat even suggests that the famous rock-hewn churches at the site associated with the most illustrious Zagwe ruler, Lalibela, were not built because of Muslims prohibiting Ethiopians from making the pilgrimage there. Indeed, the Zagwe appear to have contributed to the Christianization of an already used space, building marvels that were associated with rulers like Lalibela. Their donations to churches and ecclesiastical groups similarly exemplify their efforts to reinforce their rule as patrons of the Church and monasteries. 

Unfortunately, since it is so difficult to disentangle the problematic sources written during the Solomonic era and shed light on the Zagwe dynasty from sources written during their dynasty. The genealogy of rulers is uncertain, the hagiographies were written after their fall and promote the idea of the holiness of some as saints while also accepting the Solomonic legend of the legitimate dynasty which took over in 1270. Nonetheless, it does seem like the standard narrative on the Zagwe dynasty in Ethiopian historiography is in need of substantial change. Portraying them as "Cushitic" or Agaw usurpers against "legitimate" Semitic Solomonic rulers or implying that the former practiced matrilineal succession based on the contradictory sources available indicate this problem quite well. All one can say is that the Zagwe rulers such as Lalibela and Yemrehanna Krestos achieved sainthood while modeling an idealized kingship, one which was later adopted by Zara Yaq'ob and subsequent Solomonic rulers. This paradox of usurpers and holy rulers may reflect that long process of Christianization in other regions of the kingdom which, influenced by the traditions of the Kebra Negast and apocalyptic literature from Coptic and Syriac sources, later emerged the Solomonic dynasty as heirs to Aksum. 

I'm Coming Virginia

Yet another classic from Bix. Listening to these gems from the 1920s has rekindled our passion for Beiderbecke's music.

Earth

A classic from Joe Henderson (featuring Alice Coltrane). The song manages to impressively fuse the Indian influences with some funky bass lines for an interesting 13 minutes of music. One cannot go wrong with Charlie Haden on bass.

Hideo Shiraki

An interesting example of the use of the koto and Japanese musical traditions in a jazz song from Hideo Shiraki. We believe we first heard of this jazz drummer several years ago whilst reading a book on jazz in Japan. It is amazing how well jazz can absorb and mesh with so many different genres and types of world music.

Huecoid Documentary

Watching this old but interesting documentary on the Huecoid on the Youtube channel of Gerardo M. Piñero Cádiz was quite interesting. Luis Chanlatte Baik himself appears in this, explaining his work on the first Huecoid site identified back in the 1970s. While his theory of an Andean origin for the Huecoid needs more evidence, it is interesting to noe the amulets or pendants with a condor-like bird holding a human head does have a long pedigree in Andean cultures. Perhaps the Huecoid really were of Andean origin or were influenced by Andean cultures to some extent, before migrating to Puerto Rico and Vieques over 2000 years ago? And if evidence from the lithics can be relied upon, the Huecoid truly were a distinct tradition from the Saladoid who appear to have Arawakan speakers from Venezuela. Were the Huecoid representatives of another language family besides Arawakan? 

In a Mist

Listening to Fletcher Henderson and old Kansas City jazz reminded us of another jazz great from the 1920s, Bix Beiderbecke. "In a Mist" is one of those famous compositions we first heard several years ago, although we were always more partial to "Singing the Blues" since Beiderbecke got to shine on his main instrument. Nonetheless, it is amazing to hear such a "modern" piece from the late 1920s. It was a great loss for our music when Beiderbecke passed away.

Guesstimating Xaragua's Population

While perusing Repartimientos y encomiendas en la Isla Española: El repartimiento de Albuquerque de 1514 by Luis Arranz Márquez, we decided to speculate on what the population of areas associated with the former cacicazgo of Xaragua may have been before 1514. Obviously, there are severe problems and limitations with the data. For instance, Anderson-Cordova's totals for the 3 areas we are considering here as part of the former Xaragua was only 3554. However, the data as presented by Arranz Márquez gives a somewhat higher total for Yaquimo, La Sabana (perhaps more autonomous due to its distance) and La Vera Paz, 3625. One must also remember that some of the indigenous population in this part of Hispaniola may have been relocated to areas closer to mining operations. While the 1517 Interrogatory found forced relocation to be something severely resisted by the Indians, causing them to rebel, flee to the mountains or threaten to commit suicide, some indigenous peoples were probably forcibly relocate during the initial phases of conquest. Of course, the brutal Spanish conquest of Xaragua under Ovando must have similarly lowered the area's population through slaughter and fleeing populations. That raises another issue, too, since some of the population may have fled to other islands or other inaccessible areas and were not formally enumerated in repartimiento statistics.

That said, looking at population data for 3 areas associated with the former cacicazgo of Xaragua in 1514 might offer suggestions for its population before 1492. We know from Spanish sources that it was considered the most powerful chiefdom on the island before the Spanish conquest. Xaragua would have been able to support a relatively large population through its use of irrigation canals, too. That would have been necessary to support Xaragua's unusually large nitaino population. Indeed, the very name Xaragua, according to Granberry and Vescelius, means Lake Country. The "Taino" are known to have relied heavily on seafood as well as some of the fauna that would have also lived in the lakes and rivers. Furthermore, according to Oviedo, Xaragua still had large villages in the 1510s. When he first visited the area in 1515, Oviedo reported large villages near Lake Azuei. While Oviedo may have exaggerated the population capacity of Taino villages or aldeas in the precolonial period, there was undoubtedly a large concentration of people in the area of Xaragua. The combination of lakes, rivers, access to the sea, irrigation, large cotton production, and larger than average "elite" population make this seem likely.

So, how does one interpret that demographic past with the sad statistics of 1514? If 3554-3625 is a rough estimate of what the Indian population of that part of Hispaniola was in 1514, then what would the population in precolonial times have been? Surely, it must have been orders of magnitude greater. While the aDNA evidence of precontact remains by David Reich et al suggest a population of the island in the tens of thousands, we find it likely that Xaragua could have supported at least two or three times more (probably even more) people before the Spanish conquest. Indeed, using the number of caciques (plus 1 nitaino) reported in the 1514 Repartimiento, one finds 85 for the region of what once comprised Xaragua. According to Las Casas, writing from memory as an elderly man, Xaragua before Spanish rule had 100-200 nitainos. Supposedly the Spaniards under Ovando's leadership also massacred around 80 nitaino when they killed Anacaona. If that is accurate, assuming Las Casas remembered correctly, but 60-70 Spaniards married women from among the elite of Xaragua in Vera Paz. Yet, in 1514, Vera Paz only had 24 caciques (25 if you count the nitaino). Yaquimo had 40 caciques while Sabana had 21. If these numbers are added up, you have a total of 86 "caciques (including 1 nitaino who functioned as a cacique). Due to the unspecified breakdown of Xaragua's caciques and the caciques to their south and southwest, we can only guess that the core of Xaragua may have had 100+ caciques. The lesser caciques may have been counted as nitainos by Las Casas, though we have no evidence for that.

Moreover, in 1514, there was an average of about 43 people per cacique in the three areas considered here as part of the chiefdom. In preconquest times, when Xaragua had more caciques and a higher population, each cacique ruling over an aldea or yucayeque probably included at least 100-150 in his community. Francisco Moscoso, in his detailed study of "Taino" demographics in Puerto Rico, reached some conclusions which may be worth applying to the Haitian case, too. For example, assuming the figure of Las Casas for an average yucayeque being around 2500 (unlikely to be true in all parts of the Greater Antilles), and each cacique ruled over an aldea, Puerto Rico's population may have reached as high as 110,000 (assuming the number of 44 caciques is accurate). If we assume that each cacique ruled an aldea of around 2500 for Xaragua in precolonial times, then we can easily reach figures of 60,000 for the "core" part of the chiefdom. For the other two sections, again assuming each cacique had a community of 2500, we would quickly reach numbers that are contradicted by the genetic data for population estimates (over 200,000 people living in western Hispaniola, or Haiti's Ouest and Sud departments).

However, applying the lower range of estimates used by Moscoso might bring us closer to the demographic realities of Xaragua. If the paramount chiefs ruled aldeas of 2500 or more but the regional caciques headed communities of 500-1000, Puerto Rico's "Taino" population may have been around 44,000. Applying those same figures to Xaragua's "core" area with 24 "caciques" (23 times 500, plus 2500 for the paramount cacique's community) gives a figure of 14,000. Of course, one must remember that the Spaniards had killed Anacaona and a large segment of Xaragua's nitaino. Perhaps the center of the chiefdom had a population greater than this. Nonetheless, a figure of 14,000 for the "core" province of Xaragua with about 24 caciques would mean each cacique ruled an average of 583 people. That is probably still too high. Including Yaquimo's 40 caciques, associating each with a community of about 500 people, leads to an estimate of 20,000, which is also likely far too high. Instead, we must apply different formulas to arrive at a possible estimate. If our 43 people per cacique in 1514 is any reliable estimate, we may be safer tripling that number in precolonial times to reach more accurate estimates. If, say, there were around 129 people per cacique before the Spanish conquest, then perhaps the total population of Xaragua would have been around 18, 207, including about 7500 people living in larger settlements associated with the most powerful caciques in Xaragua  (Behechio's settlement), Yaquimo, and the area of La Sabana. 

Overall, we are still not sure what the population of Xaragua may have been before its fall. We believe the "core" could have possibly supported a large, extensive population. That area, which presumably lost quite a few of its caciques during the violent conquest, may have had several thousands of people living there. The whole chiefdom, extending it to the southeast and southwest (Haiti's Sud) may have had over 18,000 people although that is a very rough estimate. We are assuming that the average population in an area per cacique in 1514 can be tripled to reach very tentative figures. If we went with a less conservative approach that assumed a population of 5 times as many people per cacique in the precolonial era, Xaragua may have had over 20,000 people, which is not unlikely given its influence and wealth. Unfortunately, the lack of a more detailed breakdown or reliable accounts of Xaragua make all this guesswork. It is also possible that the system of repartimientos elevated the number of caciques in some areas (Yaquimo) or lowered it in others, or perhaps some nitainos became caciques in the Spanish system. 

African Ancestry

The above are the African components of the Ancestry report. Like our Haitian parent, we are a mix of all the major areas that contributed captives to the colony of Saint Domingue. Sadly, these broad national categories are not particularly useful. After all, Nigeria is a huge nation with hundreds of ethnic groups. The category of Cameroon, Congo and Western Bantu Peoples encompass a huge area of great diversity, too. Comparing the above information with the records of the enslaved population in colonial Bainet suggests that Igbo, Arada, Nago (Yoruba), Bambara or Mandingue, "Mina" and "Congo" may have been the "nations" used to describe them in the 17th and 18th centuries. Perhaps, though they were less numerous, a few Bariba, Hausa, Nupe, and "Senegal" may have also been part of the enslaved Africans we descend from. Running this as raw DNA data on various admixture tests still doesn't tell us much, either. All we can say is that we are overwhelmingly of West African ancestry, and perhaps Northern Africa comes from Spain or the Canary Islands (or both?). After all, "Berbers" were part of the Islamic population in medieval Spain and the indigenous peoples of the Canary Islands were of North African origin.

Indigenous Ancestry

Like everyone else, we succumbed to genetic testing. Using AncestryDNA, which is said to sometimes inflate the indigenous ancestry of people with roots in the Spanish Caribbean, we found we do indeed possess "Amerindian" ancestry from the Caribbean. Playing around with GEDMatch has led me to think the "hacked" score of around 7% for Indigenous Puerto Rico may be more accurate than the 9% assigned in the official AncestryDNA results. Overall, this is not surprising. If the average Puerto Rican, according to studies by researchers, possesses around 14 or 15% indigenous ancestry, then someone who is half Puerto Rican will probably inherit some of that. 

We suspect the Bolivia & Peru ancestry detected at 1% might just be from the indigenous Caribbean ancestry. After reading studies on the "Taino" genome and their relations to South America, including the around 14% Ceramic-related ancestry found in Puerto Ricans, we found allusions to some degree of overlap with populations in Andean South America. While the genetic, linguistic, and archaeological evidence points to an origin among Arawakan-speaking groups of the Amazon region, the "Taino" also overlaps with other South American populations. Indeed, one study found links between pre-contact ceramic Puerto Rico and Amazonia and the Andes, although the strongest similarities in terms of mtDNA variation and haplotype frequency was with Eastern Tukanoan groups. What surprised us is that Ancestry reported the Bolivia & Peru was inherited from both parents. Perhaps our Haitian mother does indeed have very distant indigenous ancestry? 

Playing with GEDmatch also pointed to some "Amerindian" ancestry. Various admixture calculations suggest about 6-7% indigenous Americas ancestry, and the "archaic" matches did point to indigenous people in Brazil. Autosomal DNA comparison with the kit for an indigenous woman of the Bahamas who lived around 1000 years ago showed very minor connections, with the longest segment at 6.7 cm for a match. G25 simulated coordinates also included a prehistoric Brazil sample. This all seems about right, although I am sure I do not have mtDNA or Y-DNA haplogroups of indigenous ancestry. Indeed, playing around with raw data suggested J for Y-DNA, which also seems about right. Alas, sub-Saharan African ancestry is never easy to analyze here...

Sun Ra's Christopher Columbus

Listening to Sun Ra's musical tributes to the legendary Fletcher Henderson is always a delight. You can tell the Arkestra was having a lot of fun with this one.

The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium

Reading Anthony Kaldellis's The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium took quite some time. Unlike Norwich's series, this vast work is a single volume. Unlike Norwich's work, however, it was written by a specialist whose work work benefits from the more recent scholarship on the history of Byzantium, Europe and the Mediterranean. Kaldellis's style is also very accessible and at times, rather hilarious. The sense of humor, sarcasm, and occasional references to contemporary events or phrases definitely made it easier to finish the massive tome. Nonetheless, the last few hundred pages were painful reading. The sad decline of Byzantium from the pillaging of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade to the final fall of the capital in 1453 was one almost continual tale of territorial loss, destructive civil wars, dangerous alliances with Latins or Turks, and final reduction to impotence. 

While Byzantium undoubtedly made contributions to the world for its preservation of ancient texts, art and architecture, one of the true wonders of this state that lasted over 1000 years is its longevity. At multiple other times in its long history of over 1000 years, the Eastern Roman Empire suffered various setbacks, loss of territory, existential threats, and frequent rebellions, coups, and, to our modern eyes, pointless debates over Church doctrine. Yet, despite this, the empire endured and at various times, remained a major power in the Mediterranean. Indeed, even under the Komnenos, the Empire experienced a comeback of sorts that may have sown the seeds for its future destruction. Still, we sometimes wonder if the Empire was bound to experience a huge transformation or existential threat by the end of the "Middle Ages" due to the rise of peer polities and the growth of western Europe's power. 

But the Roman Empire's existence for so long shows us how a state with Roman institutions (which changed, sure, but still bearing a great degree of continuity with the ancient state) existed to the cusp of a new world. That remarkable endurance and strength of institutions does not appear to have ever seriously wavered until the changes in imperial rule ushered by the Komnenos and the later Palaiologos who ruled through their families, engaged in frequent conflicts over the throne within their extended family networks, and relied on paying their relations and officials with pronoia on land that was increasingly scarce as the "Byzantines" continued to lose territory. As so eloquently elucidated in Kaldellis's work, those without elite family connections to the ruling dynasty had fewer avenues to advance and the state lost land and the resources to support reconquest of former territories. The final 2 centuries of Byzantium are especially tragic, despite the cultural and literary accomplishments by some. 

Despite its length, anyone interested in Byzantium should read this. Kaldellis's perspective is intriguing, fresh, and deviates from past preoccupations or problematic frameworks. For instance, the greatness of Justinian is presented here in a more mixed manner, as the author points frequently to the problems of overextension and Justinian's brutality. The Crusades are presented unquestionably as colonial ventures, with the Latins doing to the Romans what they would go on to perfect in the Americas a few centuries later. The issue of iconoclasm is portrayed as something often exaggerated or overblown, at least based on the sources that have survived. And throughout it all, there's a deep sense of continuity for the 1000+ years of Byzantium's existence. The foundations of a state based on law, government responsibility its subjects, Christianity (not that the Church was always unified) and the role of the people (at least in Constantinople) in determining legitimacy were powerful factors that favored this type of longevity.

Black Bottom Stomping Today

Randomly encountered a modern group, Swamp City Six, performing a masterpiece of 1920s jazz by Jelly Roll Morton. "Black Bottom Stomp" has long been a personal favorite due to its complex structure and amazing banjo playing. This group does not disappoint, giving one a sense of what the group may have sounded like if they had not been restricted to the 3 minute recording format of their era. 

Nubia Under the Pharaohs

Bruce Trigger's Nubia Under the Pharaohs is a brief study of the relations between Egypt and its southern neighbor from the Early Dynastic Period to the rise of the Napatan Kushite kingdom. As one can expect, a study such as this relies heavily on archaeological surveys, excavations and inscriptions to make sense of Pharaonic Egypt's interests and subjugation of Nubia. However, Trigger's publication is rather outdated by now, and reflects older scholarship's occasionally problematic racial framework. For instance, Egyptian attitudes about the southerners during the period of the New Kingdom empire are compared to the attitudes of Europeans about black Africans during the period of European colonial rule in Africa. Sure, Egyptian inscriptions recorded during the zenith of their empire in Nubia reflected their self-serving narrative but one wonders to what extent it was any different from Egyptian attitudes about their Levantine subjects. In addition, "brown" populations in Lower Nubian are distinguished from the "negroid" populations further south in a way that racializes the population history of Nubia. This does not seem particularly helpful, especially given the wide-ranging ties between Lower Nubia and Upper Nubia since prehistoric times. Indeed, the widely-shared C-Group characteristics as well as the presence of Pan-Grave burials (in addition to Egyptian imports and Egyptian-styled graves) point to a heterogeneous population in which "race" as we see it today should not be imposed. 

Despite these aforementioned "issues" and being somewhat dated, Trigger's study does suggest some ideas about how and why "Egyptianization" in Nubia became so influential and enduring. While influences from predynastic Upper Egypt appear already in the A-Group culture of Lower Nubia, the less favorable agricultural conditions in that section of Nubia may have limited the development of states or stratified societies. Nonetheless, populations in Lower Nubia were able to enjoy imported manufactured products from Egypt in exchange for African products desired by the Egyptian royal court and luxury markets in the Near East. Acting as middlemen between the powerful Egyptian state to the north and southern territories like Yam (Iam, assuming it was indeed in the area that later became known as Kerma), Lower Nubian groups appear to have enjoyed a degree of prosperity in the Old Kingdom period. However, Middle Kingdom Egyptian expansion, which included fortifications at key sites along the Nile to protect trade routes and access to gold, removed the need for Nubian middlemen in this next phase of Egyptian relations with Nubia. Nonetheless, a powerful state centered at Kerma, Kush, was able to prosper and during the Second Intermediate Period, even trade with the Hyksos in Lower Egypt profitably. Kerma expansion to the Egyptian frontier made them a potent state whose rulers were interred in large burials featuring human sacrifice on an impressive scale. Undoubtedly, Kerma was a power with access to Egyptian and Near Eastern products as well as some of the amenities and features of pharaonic civilization (the adoption or use of hieroglyphics is inferred from an Upper Egyptian ruler intercepting a letter from the Hyksos ruler to the Kerma king). 

The New Kingdom era, however, ushered in the most extensive period of Egyptian rule. Extending to at least the 4th Cataract, the New Kingdom pharaohs sponsored more fortifications, Egyptian settlements, gold mining operations, trade expeditions with the south, and Egyptian settlements. Egyptianization took on a new dimension as local elites (which included some descendants of the Kerma rulers as well as local headmen who had probably enjoyed a degree of status and power under Kerman rule) were sometimes sent to Egypt for education and adopted Egyptian burial styles, ritual worship and other traits. To what extent the population of Nubia was reduced to serving as peasant labor for estates of temples or serving the Pharaohs for mining or military service is unclear. According to Trigger, Egyptianization here was so heavily promoted because the Egyptians had little respect for local institutions and cultures in Nubia while also eager to fill the void left by the fall of Kush with more "advanced" Egyptian administrative, economic, and religious features. We find it hard to imagine the kingdom at Kerma was so lacking in establishing an administrative framework but perhaps the Egyptians wanted to efface the old system of Kush, especially since occasional rebellions in Upper Nubia continued to arise that may have preferred the Kushite state system. Regardless of the extent to which Egyptianization was more heavily promoted in Nubia than in the Levant, after 500 years, one can see why the Napatan-Meroitic civilization that emerged after Egyptian colonial occupation may have borrowed heavily from pharaonic civilization as a framework for the administration of an state that encompassed all of Nubia.

Ad Lib on Nippon Live

Randomly encountered a live performance of one of the great pieces of late Ellingtonia on Youtube this week. Sure, Orientalism in jazz sometimes relied on coarse stereotypes, but at least it occasionally produced some gems in the musical tradition.  

Haiti, Feudalism and Capitalism

Re-reading Jean-Jacques Doubout's Haïti, féodalisme ou capitalisme?: Essai sur l'évolution de la formation sociale d'Haïti depuis l'indépendance was a pleasant experience. After not revisiting Doubout (Michel Hector's) work in years, we were afraid that some of his young scholarship that was unabashedly Marxist would not have aged well. However, if one is willing to not interpret literally the allegedly "feudal" character of Haiti's retrograde social and economic structures, the author's argument is still compelling. In short, one can have a society with capitalist penetration (semi-colonial in that it's a form of colonial subordination to international capitalism dominated by Europe and then the US in the 20th century) and very limited industry yet, in the main, the "semi-feudal" relations of the agrarian sector continue to predominate. Thus, the US Occupation may have favored developments like HASCO and expropriated land from peasants without any overall structural changes in the Haitian economy as it continued to stagnate. Haitian Marxists understandably had to develop novel ways to analyze the question of land due to the differences between Haiti and, say, Latin American countries with a more obvious latifundia problem. Nonetheless, Haitian scholars like Doubout/Hector and Brisson have made it clear how large estates or farms have coexisted with smallholder production by peasants, and how peasants are exploited by the grands dons and speculators who, with foreign or semi-foreign capitalists, extract profit from the peasantry. The short essay, as a product of its early 1970s context, ends with the idea of armed struggle and collaboration between the peasantry of Cazale and the PUCH as the path forward for Haiti to truly connect the goals and needs of the Haitian peasantry with a movement that is anti-colonial. 

Mali, Masks and Mosques

François-Xavier Fauvelle's highly readable Les masques et la mosquee: L'empire du Mali (XIII-XIVe siecle) is based on a series of lectures given by the author, benefitting from its written form to incorporate new insights and depth. Due to the limitation of the available sources, Fauvelle endeavors to put the pieces of the puzzle together in a manner that is likely or at least to propose hypotheses that match or can correspond with what is known, often without adopting literalist interpretations of external Arabic sources or the large corpus of oral traditions. Thus, a possible area is proposed for the site of Mali's capital during the 1300s, when Mali was at its apogee. In addition, a reinterpretation of Ibn Khaldun's chronology of Mali kings in the 1200s and 1300s is offered that attempts to make sense of the two distinct "houses" of the imperial dynasty, one claiming descent from Sunjata and the other from his brother, Abu Bakr. The legendary Mansa Musa, a descendant of the house of Abu Bakr, may not be remembered by traditionists because of his lack of direct descent from Sunjata. While some of the ideas of Fauvelle are still just hypotheses, we found his analysis of Mansa Musa's pilgrimage and the story of his rise to the throne interesting. Mansa Musa as Moses and his predecessor, who allegedly perished in the Atlantic, as a Pharaoh, is a "fresh take" on the anecdote and how Mansa Musa possibly positioned himself in relation to Quranic or Islamic notions of Moses and proper leadership. The intriguing take on Malian court ritual under Mansa Sulayman is also fascinating, indicating how the rulers of the Mali Empire were mansas and sultans who interfaced between two distinct conceptions of power and legitimacy.

The Inugami Curse

Ah, The Inugami Curse. We watched the film adaptation years ago but fortunately forgot the ending, so we were able to enjoy the pleasant surprise of the revelation at the novel's conclusion. Like the last Seishi Yokomizo-authored mystery featuring Kosuke Kindaichi, this one takes place in the aftermath of World War II and involves the inheritance to a fabulously wealthy estate. Unfortunately, everyone in the family hates each other and when grandsons of the deceased start dying, Kosuke Kindaichi must solve the case. The novel's sordid and "deviant" twists and turns and the ultimate revelations about the origin of the Inugami are sure to shock, and seem to point to possible social anxieties about the state of the family and gender roles. Of course, we don't want to read too much into it, but featuring such a dysfunctional family whose murderous relations became the subject of national newspapers in a time after World War II seems to symbolically represent the broken nation that was defeated in World War II? 

Meroe as a Sudanic State

The Archaeology of the Meroitic State: New perspectives on its social and political organisation by David N. Edwards is an interesting, yet short read. Arguing in favor of the Meroitic state (and perhaps during its Napatan phase and even the state of Kerma) as a Sudanic one resembling medieval and early modern states like the Darfur Sultanate, Borno, and the Funj or Sinnar Sultanate, Edwards believes the Meroitic state must be reconceived. Although the impact of Egyptian civilization and influences is undeniable in Kush, the role of the environment and archaeological evidence suggests the Meroitic state was founded upon different principles than that of Egypt. 

Instead of the control of production with ample surpluses, Nubia, especially Lower Nubia before the adoption of the waterwheel or saqia by the 300s, the kingdom was likely a segmentary state with the power of the rulers based on "trade" and warfare. In this case, the Meroitic rulers controlled "trade" or exchange with the North and through a redistribution network to provincial elites, controlled other provinces (loosely). The state's military capacity was likely also significant since military force and raiding could ensure a supply of locally valuable commodities (like livestock) and, through subjugated territories, access to gold, ivory, slaves, and other valuable exports to the north. 

Much of the book tries to fit Lower Nubia into this model, based on analyses of settlement patterns and data from cemeteries or burials. While much work remains to be done, if Lower Nubia's population truly was so low during this period of Meroitic "resettlement," then the theory of Edwards that these settlements were likely oriented to continue or ensure central government control of the routes to trade with Egypt for Mediterranean or Near Eastern prestige goods (later redistributed through the royally-controlled distribution network across the state). Thus, Meroe's "fall" in the 4th century may have had more to do with the loss of control of northern trade from the royal court, eventually leading to provincial elites severing ties while Blemmyes and Nobadaes settled in Lower Nubia in larger numbers. Since we don't know enough about the Meroitic state in relation to its core area (where it presumably exerted far more direct control and was better able to tap into local production and control access to water sources), one wonders about the core of the state's productive capacity for locally produced prestige goods. Despite the limited evidence from archaeology and our inability to read Meroitic inscriptions, the idea of the Meroitic state being "Sudanic" is an interesting hypothesis.

Lacour, Alexandre, and Cange

One genealogical tip we have heard often is to look into the origins of godparents. Sometimes they will lead you on the right path to uncovering more ancestors or finding connections with other families. In this post, we will post our musings on a Rose Adelaide Lacour, a woman in the valley of Bainet during the late 18th century and early 20th century. 

She first caught our notice when, in 1807, her name appeared as a godmother of a child born in 1804. This child, the daughter of a Pierre Minaud and a Louise Alexandre, apparently had a father who knew how to read and write. It is possible that Pierre Minaud was a son of a Francois Mineaud, a colon who owned land in the valley but died in 1784.

Rose Adelaide Lacour also appeared in 1820, when she was listed as the godmother of a child of Jean Baptiste Alexandre and Marie Therese Cange. Listed as residents of the valley section of Jacmel, it is probable that this Lacour is the same woman as the one who appeared in 1807. Now, however, her name is attached to another Alexandre. It makes us wonder if, perhaps, Louise Alexandre and Jean Baptiste Alexandre may have been relatives. We also wonder if Jean Baptiste Alexandre was the same person as the "Cadet Alexandre" listed as a father of a Cange Alexandre whose name appears in the 19th century Bainet records as a resident of the valley. 

Now, with a little bit of digging through the digitized parish books for Bainet and Jacmel from ANOM, one can trace Rose Adelaide Lacour's origins back into the 18th century. Notarized records also indicate that the Lacour habitation was purchased by Pierre Celin Cange in 1767, for example. Rose Adelaide Lacour herself was baptized in 1778 in Bainet, and was the daughter of Catherine Rosalie Lacour. Catherine Rosalie Lacour, was the daughter of Guillaume Lacour and Marie Jeanne Rosaire. Rose Adelaide Lacour was an illegitimate child and so was her mother, until her mother's parents wedded in 1774. When they did so, they legitimized Catherine Rosalie, who was born in 1754. Now, Marie Jeanne Rosaire herself was also illegitimate, only appearing as the daughter of a Magdelaine Franque in Jacmel. As for Rose Adelaide Lacour's grandfather, Guillaume, he was the son of Guillaume Lacour and a Marie Laboissier. In 1781, a Guillaume Lacour passed away, probably the same Guillaume who was Rose Adelaide's grandfather. Last, but certainly not least, in 1793, also in the valley of Bainet, a Marie Rose Lacour was baptized. Her mother was Rose Lacour, presumably Rose Adelaide Lacour, and her godfather was her uncle, Louis Lacour. Her godmother, a Marie Arbouet, also shows the family's links to other residents of the valley section of Bainet. An illegitimate Lacour baptized in 1784, son of Marie Jeanne Lacour, had Funel de Seranon for a godfather.

Unfortunately, this digging into the roots of Rose Adelaide Lacour did not reveal anything about the Alexandre and Cange we are looking for. The fact that she was connected two at least 2 Alexandres in the valley tells us some connection existed, but perhaps only as neighbors. The Cange, on the other hand, were linked to her family since the mid-1700s if not earlier. If she was the godmother to a child of Jean Baptiste Alexandre and Marie Therese Cange, we assume this Cange was part of that same family. In addition, when she was named as the godparent of Louise Alexandre's child in 1807, the godfather, Louis Jean, signed his name. Jean Charles Cange later had a son in 1825 named Louis Jean, perhaps after the same man? And that Louis Jean Cange had a godfather named Desire Alexandre. There were clearly connections among all these people, with a Lacour, Alexandre, and Cange link plausible.

 However, this ultimately does not elucidate for us the exact parentage of Marie Therese Cange, the daughter of Jean Michel Cange and Cherilise Alexandre. Unless the Haitian penchant for naming children after their grandparents was at play, it seems unlikely that Cherilise Alexandre was the daughter of Jean Baptiste Alexandre and Marie Therese Cange. Alternatively, Jean Michel Cange could have been a son of Jean Charles Cange and Cherilise Alexandre could have been related to Desire Alexandre. Perhaps Desire was the older brother to "Cadet" Alexandre, the husband of a Marie Therese Cange and father of Jean Baptiste Alexandre fils and Cange Alexandre.