Ethiopia's Armenian Envoy in the East

E.J. van Donzel's Foreign Relations of Ethiopia 1642-1700: Documents Relating to the Journeys of Khodja Murad contains translations of various primary source documents on an interesting figure in Ethiopia's diplomatic history. Said to have been an illiterate Armenian merchant from Aleppo, Khoja Murad served as an envoy for the Solomonic rulers of Ethiopia on a number of missions to Mughal India and the VOC in Batavia (Indonesia). Although, at least with regards to the VOC, trade of any significant scale between the powerful Dutch company and Ethiopia did not materialize, the documents, letters, and reports pertaining to Murad attest to the global presence of Solomonic Ethiopia in the Early Modern World. 

Indeed, despite relying, for the most part, on Ottoman-ruled Massawa for access to Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade, Fasiladas, Yohannes, and Iyasu I maintained or at least endeavored to send friendly missions to the powerful empires of Asia and the Mediterranean. Thus, the Ottomans, Persians, Mughals, and the VOC in Southeast Asia all received envoys from the Ethiopians at various moments in the 17th century. While the letters exchanged between the VOC and Ethiopia were vague and some of the Dutch sources questioned the authenticity of Murad or the likelihood of any profitable trade with the African kingdom, the letters illustrate a keen desire on the part of the Gondar kings to expand and sustain trading partnerships. In fact, despite the expulsion of the Jesuits and Roman Catholics, the rulers were not opposed to Protestant Europeans and were willing to promote trade with Muslim powers and neighbors. As revealed by the account of al-Haymi's mission from Yemen to Fasilides, the negus was hoping to promote Red Sea trade through the port of Baylul. Unfortunately, it did not succeed. This failure to develop trade on a large scale at that port meant that Massawa remained the main port of entry for Ethiopian access to Asian goods. While Zeila was later promoted to the Dutch as another possible port, the danger of Oromo groups on the way to the Ethiopian highlands and the necessity of requiring the permission of the imam of Mokha posed additional problems. Thus, the Solomonic dynasty had to rely on Massawa. Fortunately for the Ethiopians, the Ottoman pasha of Massawa was dependent on Ethiopian goodwill for food and water. In addition, Fasilides, his son, and his grandson also relied on the Ottoman officials in Massawa to help police the movement of Catholic Europeans into the kingdom. Nonetheless, the lack of direct access to the Red Sea at a viable port created complications for large-scale VOC trade in the region.

Despite this "failure" of Khoja Murad's voyages to Batavia, the sources translated in van Donzel's account allude to numerous aspects of Ethiopia's relations with the broader Red Sea and Indian Ocean worlds. With Mughal India, for instance, the sorry state of Murad's party when they finally met with Aurangzeb may have been saved by the depredations of Shivadji. Subsequent to their audience with Aurangzeb, Murad's Abyssinian mission received the equivalent of 20,000 francs of rupees from the Mughal ruler, which was later spent on Indian goods to bring back to Ethiopia at a profit. This episode reveals how Murad combined diplomacy and business while also illustrating how the Mughal ruler basically saw the gift to the Abyssinians as another way of promoting his economy. Since the Ethiopians used the funds to purchase Indian goods, it was another way for the Mughal ruler to boost his economy. As for the question of the Mughal ruler asking for Fasilides to rebuild a mosque in or near Gondar, perhaps this was just another element of the flexibility Abyssinian rulers (and their envoys) adopted in order to maintain profitable relations with Muslim powers. 

Other documents translated from Dutch, Arabic, and, in one case, Armenian, similarly shed light on Ethiopia during the second half of the 17th century. For instance, the Gongo region's population were said to be descendants of Hindustani Rajputs. The attempted coup against Iyasu, which involved his mother, was also reported. The Funj Sultanate, ruled from Sennar, was still reported to be a vassal province of the Christian Solomonic state. Furthermore, the identity of the Armenian bishop who traveled to Ethiopia during the reign of Yohannes is reported. Probably Hovannes Tutundju, who had traveled to Istanbul, Italy and Egypt, his account of Ethiopia, despite its brevity, provides another perspective on Gondar. One also wonders if the Ethiopians had developed a coffee industry in the 18th century, would they have been able to attract greater Dutch (and English) interest in trade? And if Iyasu had succeeded in somehow establishing relations with France or another Catholic European power, in spite of the opposition of the Ethiopian clergy, would the course of 18th century Ethiopian history have been quite different?

Southeast Asia's Critical Crossroads

We have perhaps exhausted our interest in general histories of Southeast Asia. Anthony Reid's A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads covers over 2000 years of history in a little over 400 pages. Any attempt to cover the history of an entire region in a single volume will undoubtedly contain omissions and some simplifications, but this particular book is especially strong on the period from c.1500 onwards. Due to the author's specialization on the Age of Commerce and more recent eras in Southeast Asian history, the earlier period of "Indianized" kingdoms does not receive as much attention as some would like. Moreover, due to the vast terrain and types of post-colonial wars, conflicts, and Cold War confrontations, some of the intricate details of events like the Vietnam War and US intervention in Indochina do not receive the attention as US reader might expect. That said, this is a worthwhile read for those of us who, though somewhat familiar with the region, can find specific information and references to learn more about topics or themes of personal interest. As a crossroads vital for global exchange and what Reid sees as distinct patterns of gender relations, post-colonial nation-building, and economic development in the tropics, the Southeast Asian case offers some fruit avenues for comparison with other regions. Moreover, the history of the region's Chinese communities or the role of "weak" states in the precolonial area becomes an even more interesting development as anti-colonial leaders sought to create centralized states on territory carved by European powers. We hope to continue to pursue the history of this region with specific case studies that emphasize specific nations or areas. 

Indian Ocean Slavery

An enjoyable lecture on the topic of slavery and slave trade in the Indian Ocean (and the tyranny of the particular). Very enlightening about the global dimensions of European slave trading and its connections with the "Atlantic World." At the moment, I am currently interested in the captives from the Indian Ocean who were brought to Saint Domingue (Haiti) on French slave ships. Learning more about the "Mozambiques," "Malagasy" and "Indiens" sold into slavery in the Mascarenes and its relationship to the larger context of the French slave trade have been very informative. 

Black Kunlun Slaves in Premodern China

Source

Kunlun figure discovered in the tomb of a Chinese woman in Tang-era Chang'an (850 CE), capital of that dynasty. Kunlun by the T'ang period often meant 'black Africans,' as in, people from the eastern coast of Africa (from the Juba River to Cape Delgado and perhaps Madagascar). Black people went from a mere philosophical abstraction to actual beings walking the streets of Guangzhou, serving wealthy Chinese masters (and Arab, Persian, and sometimes other foreign traders active in that cosmopolitan port (yet not too cosmopolitan because the movement of foreigners was highly restricted).

Of course, to the pre-modern Han Chinese, who are a perfect example of historical non-European forms of whiteness (they perceived themselves as such), often used the word 'kunlun' to describe darker peoples of Southeast Asia (such as the Malays or Javanese) and South Asia (Sri Lanka, Malabar, etc.), but these 'kunlun' slaves (kunlun originally referred to the far west, to the Kunlun mountains of Tibet, and therefore connoted remoteness) slaves were described as having dark skin, curly hair, 'black as ink,' etc. Lexical evidence would suggest an origin for these 'black slaves' in eastern Africa, likely arriving in China on the ships of Arabs and Persians and purchased by some wealthy Chinese in Guangzhou and other ports of the empire. Thus, blackness was associated with servility, inferiority, etc. centuries before the coming of Europeans in East Asia. Indeed, revulsion towards the allegedly cultural deficiencies of the various types of 'kunlun' often emphasized their blackness, particularly Zhu Yu's writings in the Song dynasty.

Yet, in short stories from the T'ang era, these black slaves could be brave, courageous, resourceful, and show some sign of assimilation into Chinese society. The Chinese Confucianist universalist ideal (basically, anyone could become civilized if they accepted and assimilated into the Middle Kingdom's 'superior culture') could seemingly apply to fictional black slaves, but in the Song dynasty these black slaves were seen as bestial and semi-human, at best. Chinese knowledge of eastern Africa and 'black people' from Africa is certainly interesting and the Guangzhou black slaves certainly deserve more attention, just as the Jews of Kaifeng and other ethnic and religious minorities in pre-modern China get. Furthermore, this area of study reveals how some East Asian stigmatization and stereotypes of blackness (and not just dark-skinned Asians, but people from Africa directly) predated European modern racism by several centuries, although culture more than skin color remained the major reason for Chinese disdain and revulsion towards 'blacks' though they had no direct experience or ties to blacks beyond word of mouth via Arabs and Persians. Indeed, Zhu Yu describes converting the slaves from a raw food diet to cooked food (cooked food being seen as essential to any civilization by the Han), which is certainly exaggerating the diets of Africans while also speaking to the capacity of black slaves to be 'civilized' (but they supposedly still couldn't learn to speak Chinese??).

Indeed, as Sino-African relations become more complex in the 21st century world, and sometimes in surprising or new ways (check out this), learning more about how Sino-African contact and exchange worked before the rise of the West will certainly draw more interest from scholars and the general public. My main source for this has been Wyatt's The Blacks of Premodern China, and expect a follow up post later today or tomorrow.

Intersections of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean Worlds

I came across this fascinating post from a blog I follow on Haiti. I suppose it's not that surprising that British colonial newspapers in early 19th century India reported on events in the Caribbean, such as Haitian independence, but it's interesting to note that readers there followed closely events in the Atlantic. The readership for the Courier is not stated to be primarily British/European colonists in India (which was the domain of the British East India Company, I believe, and not a direct colony under the authority of the British government), I would suspect that the majority of its readers were Europeans and assimilated and local India allies. Nonetheless, I am fascinated by the fact that readers in Bombay were following news from around the world! As the post explains, limiting ourselves into a single area of study or region ignores the plethora of instances of mutual influence and exchange, which also grew exponentially in the age of European dominance as the 19th century proceeded. Transnational/transcolonial history, my friends, transnational/transcolonial history.

Origins of Slaves Imported at the Cape, 1652-1808

The Swahili Coast: East Africa and the Indian Ocean

Ibn Battuta, 14th century Moroccan traveler
When he visited Mogadishu, Kilwa, and other parts of the East African coast, Battuta made sure to identify most of the inhabitants as "black-skinned Zanj," also taking note of facial scarification and the beautiful architecture of the region, particularly Kilwa. Furthermore, Ibn Battuta describes the inhabitants of Zeila and Berbera as black people, clearly distinguishing them from lighter-skinned Arab Muslims from the Arabian peninsula. Read the following from Ibn Battuta's own writings: We stayed one night in this island [Mombasa], and then pursued our journey to Kulwa, which is a large town on the coast. The majority of its inhabitants are Zanj, jet-black in colour, and with tattoo marks on their faces." He goes on to describe the trade in gold and other resources between the coastal Swahili town of Sofala and interior peoples, in this case, the Shona and other cultures that produces the hundreds of 'zimbabwes' across modern Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Based on archaeological work, Chinese porcelain and presumably textiles from the "Middle East," India, and Asia were traded in exchange for gold, ivory, iron, and other eastern African products of the hinterland societies. The slave trade only in later centuries emerged as a major commodity in East Africa during the 18th and 19th centuries when actual Arabs did settle in Zanzibar and establish imperial control over large sections of the East African coast. Neverthelesss, Zanzibar literally means land of the blacks, from the Persian "Zanj" for dark-skinned peoples of the East African coast.

Palace of the Sultan of Kilwa, likely made in the 14th century or earlier. Interestingly, Ibn Battuta describes Kilwa and Mombasa as cities expertly constructed with wood and ranks the Swahili towns as among the most beautiful in the world. However, as one can clearly see here, the use of coral stone and other types of stone for construction means that by the end of the 1st millenium CE, Swahili towns were also using large amounts of stone with some Islamic influences in the mosques and palaces. Archaeologists have also uncovered continuity in the transition from pre-stone to stone cities, with a general "African" layout of the pre-Islamic 

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. did a problematic documentary series that included an episode about the Swahili coast that simply reiterated some of the worst previously held beliefs on the origin of Swahili city-states. Watch it here, the second half of the video. However, some of the waSwahili reinforce these beliefs, especially an elder in the ancient town of Lamu, off the coast of Kenya. Though obviously of African ancestry, he claims he has no African ancestry, which has a complex origin that Gates never interrogates. He does, however, demonstrate the African origins of the Swahili through archaeology (the ancient ruins of Shanga, the Bantu-origins of kiSwahili and how the British colonial government favored those who identified with Arabs, thus giving an incentive for colonized subjects to claim an Arab identity). Furthermore, Gates shows his views evidence of widespread, African-derived spirit cults and spirit possession, something one rarely sees with Persians and Arab Muslims from the "Middle East." Thus, Gates does some justice, simply by giving life and visuals to the fascinating world of the Swahili coast and key ancient towns, such as Mombasa, Lamu, Gedi (ancient city with plumbing!, and Zanzibar. One of the problems with how Gates treats the Swahili's history is neglect of the fact that many latched on Arab or Persian lineages because of their Islamic faith.

Iskander (Alexander the Great Fighting people of Zanzibar. From Persia. Ignore the fact that Alexander never reached Zanzibar...)

Basil Davidson, well-known English historian, also included the Swahili coast in a documentary on Africa. Watch it here to see Davidson take the view to many of the same Swahili ruins and towns constructed with coral stone. Furthermore, he also includes unique aspects of Swahili architecture, such as the pillar tombs, as part of Swahili local variation and stylistic independence from Middle Eastern Islamic architecture.

Here, this article explains through analysis of skeletal remains from early Swahili coastal settlements that the peoples of the coast were essentially "Negroid" or closely related to hinterland inhabitants of modern Kenya and Tanzania. This article from the Field Museum says the same, that early Swahili settlements, at least from the sites they've excavated, were more like neighboring East Africans from the interior rather than "Arabs" or Persians. Archaeological expeditions as well as analyses of physical remains have dispelled any myths about Arab or Persian colonization of the East African coast in distant times. Trade with this region goes back to the days of the Roman Empire, when Rhapta and coastal areas of the Horn of Africa were involved and connected with the Indian Ocean world. Furthermore, the ancient kingdom of Axum was a naval power in the southern Red Sea and one specialist in the Swahili world argued for influence from the Horn of Africa for the unique and beautiful coral stone architecture appearing at some Swahili ruin sites.

Part of the confusion regarding Swahili origins are the fictive lineages and oral traditions of the waSwahili themselves, often linking themselves to Arab and Persian colonizer myths. Part of this stems from the Swahili's Islamic faith, which distinguishes them from other East Africans in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. Furthermore, Africans from the interior were often labelled washenzi and considered 'barbarians' because of their lack of Islam. In order to increase their prestige within the broader Islamic world during the period of Omani dominance from Zanzibar, as well as British colonialism, many claimed Arab or Persian descent as a further method of raising their status in a time of universal denigration of Africans as black savages and slaves. The irony is that many of the Swahili themselves are descendants of slaves from East and Central Africa who gradually converted to Islam and became part of the Swahili cultural zone in the 18th and 19th centuries. Another contributory factor is the attribution of their origins in the Pate Chronicle and other oral and written traditions to Persian, specifically Shirazi, immigrants who intermarried with local peoples. This is plausible in that foreign traders likely did intermarry with local elites in the early centuries of Swahili trade with the Indian Ocean world, but the long history of 'civilization' on the coast predates significant Arab or Persian immigration. However, as a cosmopolitan region of the world connected to Southwest Asia, India, and China, many local elites probably did intermarry with Arabs or Asians. That did not change their perception by others though, since Ibn Battuta identified the Swahili of the 14th century as dark-skinned people with facial tattoos, hardly similar to Islamic Arabs and Southwest Asians.

Another problem with the effort to identify the Swahili with Arab civilizations colonizing the coast is the obvious fact that Swahili is a Bantu language. Though it has many loan words of Arabic origin, it's fundamentally Bantu and closely related to other East African Bantu languages, part of the reason it became a lingua franca in pre-colonial East Africa. The Swahili even used the Arabic script to write in their own language, composing poetry and histories of their particular towns. Their use of mtepes, or advanced ships and nautical knowledge was likely influenced by Arab sailors, which may be reflected in the vocabulary pertaining to sailing. Regardless, the Swahili were connected to the Comoros islands, likely traded with Madagascar, and perhaps crossed the Indian Ocean themselves since Swahili cultural material has been uncovered in port towns in Southwestern Asia and India. In addition, al-Masudi, a 10th century geographer, describes unique royalism rooted in East African Bantu-speaking concepts of kingship and royal regalia, as well as the term mfalme for the kings of the Swahili coast.

Chinese documents also reveal the dark-skinned, East African indigenes of "Bobali" (modern Somalia) and other parts of the coast. The people are described as dark-skinned with tightly curled hair, features that could be found in some Southeast Asians, but, in the context of East Africa, demonstrate that the Swahili coast has always been inhabited primarily by 'black' Swahili people.

In spite of my purpose of writing this post to prove beyond doubt the "African" origins of Swahili civilization, I understand cultures advance through interactions with others and the cosmopolitan world of the Swahili coast clearly interacted with a much broader world than East Africa. No cultures exist in a vacuum, and clearly, every culture changes over time. Also, no such thing as a monolithic African culture exists, but it remains important for Africanists such as myself to disprove assumptions about a lack of African agency and innovation. Thus, many African archaeologists and historians have gone to great lengths to prove unquestionably the African origins of the Swahili peoples. They have done so through analyses of ancient crania from the 1st millenium CE, reviews of written sources from Arabic, Persian, Chinese, and European records, as well as archaeological work that has demonstrated continuity in architectural patters, unique pottery related to that of geographically close hinterland societies, the Bantu structure of the Swahili language, and the unique aspects of Swahili kingship, as well as Swahili religious expression, music, and spirituality.