S6E5: Make Way for Prince Ali, the Mysterious Kilwa Chronicles

Decades da Asia - a historical compilation that includes the Portuguese translation of the Kilwa Chronicle

(Yes, I have now made two references to Disney Renaissance movies in season six. I can't promise these will be the last.)

Today's episode concerns the controversial semi-mythical history of Kilwa's foundation, relayed to us through a pair of texts which allegedly translate a much older indigenous document containing the story.

The location of the city of Shiraz in southern Iran

The Kilwa chronicle(s) tell the story of Ali Ibn Hasan, a prince from the City of Shiraz, then a vassal of the Buyid Dynasty of southern Iran and Mesopotamia. According to the chronicle, Ali was shunned by his brothers due to his heritage, with his mother being an enslaved East African woman. As a result, he decided to leave the city to avoid his brothers machinations, taking himself, his family, and an entourage to East Africa to start a new life. Eventually, he ended up on Kilwa, purchased the island from the locals, and created the kingdom that would late become known in history as the Kilwa Sultanate.

The extent to which this story is based on historical reality is highly contentious. Genetic evidence indicates that local Swahili people often have a noticeable degree of Persian ancestry, while archaeological evidence shows the presence of trade between Persia and Kilwa from an early stage.

However, historians are cautious about accepting the tale. Claims of distant Arab, Hebrew, and other Middle Eastern origins are a common trope in much of Africa, and much of the Islamic world outside of the Middle East more generally. For the most part, these stories are regarded as merely attempts to associate a family or people with the prestige that Middle Eastern ancestry holds within the Islamic faith.

These competing factors lead us to an interesting conclusion about the veracity of such a claim in the episode.

S6E4: Second Fiddle in East Africa

Shangaani District of Mogadishu, an area still featuring many of the city's medieval structures

While Kilwa would one day become the most significant part of the East African coastline, its early history consisted of the island's small settlements staying humble in scale and largely overshadowed by its distant northern neighbor - Mogadishu. 

Throughout the Medieval period, Mogadishu emerged as the most significant city on the East African coastline, despite its lack of a natural harbor. The city offered such an immense diversity of precious goods, and was in such a convenient location shortly away from a well-trafficked international trade route, that a small settlement like Kilwa struggled to peel off merchants from this well-established route.

Map of Kilwa Kisiwani and its Surroundings (from The Chronology of Kilwa Kisiwani, AD 800–1500

It would not be until well into the 11th century that Kilwa's geography, sitting in the middle of multiple river estuaries and a natural harbor, would begin to pay dividends. While the island would one day host a tremendously impressive urban complex, for the moment, it was still a humble settlement of small square houses, and a population consisting mostly of fishermen. 

S6E3: Lost Cities of Azania

 Today's episode focuses on the lost cities of Azania, a name of unclear etymology used for the region of East Africa stretching for the Swahili Coast to the southern regions of Somalia. The region is referred to in ancient Roman geographic manuscripts, such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

According to the Periplus and other contemporary texts, the grandest city in Azania was known to the Greek speaking authors as Rhapta, or City of Weaving, named after its practice of creating ships made of planks of wood woven together with rope.

The Periplus describes Rhapta as a major exporter of ivory, turtle shells, and other goods, while other Roman sources describe it as a "metropolis", or "mother city", implying that colonists from Rhapta founded cities of their own. 

Despite the city's notable influence, its exact location remains unknown to this day. The city's location in the Periplus is described only as "two days sail south of the island of Menuthias", an island varyingly associated with Madagascar, Zanzibar, and Mafia Island. Recently, however, certain Tanzanian historians have claimed that an underwater site in the Rufiji delta represent the remains of the city, a claim which we will investigate further in our upcoming premium episode.

S6E2: The World's Oldest Trade Route?

Wavy Line Pottery Sherds (D. Wright)

The early history of Tanzania and Kenya is defined by its environment. During the "aqualithic period", the region's hunting and gathering population relied heavily on the exploitation of marine life from the freshwater swamps that covered much of East Africa during a period of especially high humidity and rainfall. 

Coastal Tanzania and Kenya began to shift to an agrarian lifestyle around 3,000 BC, which can be observed in the form of abandoned irrigation canals and grinding bowls from the period.

Kuumbi Cave, an important neolithic site in Tanzania

Kuumbi Cave is one example of a neolithic settlement site on Zanzibar island. These neolithic settlements often consisted of a series of small dwellings surrounding a natural shelter like a cave, used as a community shelter, with these caves also often being used by their paleolithic ancestors. Kuumbi Cave might also contain evidence for the world's oldest transoceanic trade route, as a series of poultry remains, resembling those of domestic chickens, were discovered in the cave during recent archaeological excavations and dated to roughly 4,000 BC.

Red junglefowl, often identified as the earliest wild ancestors of domestic chickens, may have made their way to Kuumbi cave through international trade with South Asia

If Kuumbi Cave features chicken bones from chickens, it would be evidence of a transoceanic trade route, since, by 4,000 BC, chickens were still only known in their home regions of South and Southeast Asia. As a result, the Kuumbi bones might be evidence of an early trade route between East Africa and South Asia.

Helmeted guineafowl, a more likely candidate for the source of the Kuumbi bones

On the other hand, it seems more likely that these bones originated from helmeted guineafowl, a local species that closely resembles chickens anatomically, and are still widely consumed around the world today.

While 4,000 BC might be an excessively old date for the origin of international trade in East Africa, it would soon become better established, as ancient sources record the region as a crucial trade route by the turn of the first millennium. Our next episode will analyze the appearance of East Africa in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. 

Season 6 Episode 1: The Swahili Coast

The Swahili Language (properly KiSwahili) has become synonymous with Africa writ large, a symbol of anti-imperialism, and far and away the most popular African language for non-Africans to learn.

It might surprise you to learn that such an iconic language can trace its origins back to an ethnic group that composes only a tiny fraction of modern KiSwahili people. The WaSwahili (Swahili people) are a testament to the idea that number and influence are not always synonymous. This season will focus on the most influential state to arise from the Swahili civilization of East Africa: the Sultanate of Kilwa.

Vague map of the area traditionally considered the "Swahili Coast". Not everyone within this area were ethnically WaSwahili, but this is the area where we can confidently say Swahili culture would eventually become dominant.

Saadani National Park: A decent representation of the natural geography of much of the Swahili Coast

Most of the Swahili Coast is considered "tropical savanna", but doesn't resemble the stereotypical idea of an African savanna, as in the tall, semi-arid grasslands. Rather, if you'd like to imagine the natural state of most of the "Swahili Coast", imagine something like Saadani national park, a low-lying forest peripheral to white, sandy beaches.

The area is also subject to the system of Indian ocean currents and monsoons, which will eventually come to have an enormous impact on the region's history

Indian Ocean currents and monsoons

Season 5 Episode 3: Trans-Saharan Trade in the Garamantian Age

A piece of Roman jewelry embedded with carbuncle, one of the key goods traded in Germa.

Horses, carbuncles, gold, salt, and more. What do all these things have in common? They were first traded across the Sahara by the Garamantes. Today's episode discusses the earliest rise of Garamantian trans-Saharan trade, the first documented example of trade across the vast desert.

Season 5 Episode 2: Fossil Water Farming

 

An image of a farm irritated by a qanat/fouggara

Brought to the Sahara following the Persian conquest of Egypt, the spread of a new irrigation technology allowed Garamantian civilization to expand dramatically

An archaeological map of Zinkekra

The earliest evidence of a unique Garamantian culture comes from the settlement of Zinkekra, located at the top of a rocky plateau near the Wadi al Ajal. However, settlements gradually drifted further down the valley.

The location at the bottom of these valleys allowed new Garamantian settlements to better take advantage of a technology recently brought to North Africa with the Persian conquest of Egypt. Known as Qanats, or Fouggaras in North Africa, this advanced irrigation technology allowed Garamantian settlements to tap into groundwater reserves without the labor intensive practice of extracting water from wells with buckets. Instead, gravity brought water through the slightly inclined channel and delivered it to the irrigated outlet.

A fouggara seen from the surface, visible in the form of the round access tunnels created for construction and maintainence

Fouggaras were very labor intensive to produce, indicating that Garamantian cities were combined in some form of larger state, which allowed them to leverage a more robust labor pool. Additionally, the newly abundant sources of groundwater allowed the population of Garamantian settlements to expand dramatically.