S2E15: The Somali Mercantile Age

 

Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed the newest episode. This week's episode was a little bit of a weird one. Instead of focusing on a specific period in Aksumite history or Aksumite ruler, this episode focuses on one of the multiple historical trends behind the ongoing (in our show) decline of the Aksumite empire. While we've already touched on the importance of plague, climate change, unrest, and political instability, another of the factors that contributed to Aksum's decline was the increasing out competition of Aksumite merchants by their Somali rivals.

Sort of error in the episode. In this episode, I kind of admittedly exaggerate just how grim Aksumite naval affairs were. While the Aksumite capacity for naval war was essentially destroyed by the raid on Adulis, the merchants of Aksum would quickly recover in this regard. As we'll talk about next episode, Aksumite merchant fleets were, in anything, more aggressive after the fall of Adulis. They fought an extended war over the Dahlak archipelago, and successfully raided Jeddah and Socotra. This isn't to downplay the devastation of the raid either, but just to note that ending the episode on such a bleak note without further listening may lead you to the wrong impression.

The Somali people have always existed in something of a background role in this podcast, with their most significant mention coming in the episode on Kaleb's war, when a group of Somalis (likely from the Dir clan) served as mercenaries during the invasion of Himyar. This episode provides some more details on what exactly the Somali people were doing throughout this era. Those in the northern cities served as an important hub for merchants that travelled between India and Egypt, while those on the Southern coast trafficked in the exotic goods of southern Africa. However, I didn't mention what the average Somali of the inland regions were doing. The answer there was primarily living a lifestyle of nomadic pastoralism. The Somali peninsula was one of the first regions of sub-saharan Africa to make widespread use of the geel, while also herding sheep and goats. Much like how the Aksumite empire was essentially a group of cities dependent on the vast tracts of farmland in between, the same applies to Somalia except with massive herds of sheep instead of teff fields. This, however, was less true in southern Somalia, or the Shebelle region. This relatively fertile region could maintain a combination of agrarian and pastoral living.

However, while Somali cities were able to acquire a degree of wealth from trading on the Indian ocean, the potential profits of these commercial ventures were severely limited by the Aksumite domination of Red Sea trade. By dominating the only trade route through the Red Sea, Aksumite merchants were able to successfully insert themselves between Somali merchants and markets in Egypt and the Mediterranean as middlemen. Additionally, Aksumite merchants engaged in direct competition by ferrying goods from India to Egypt, offering lower princes by avoiding the tarriffs that Aksum levelled on foreigners.

However, as Aksumite power in the Red Sea diminished over the 6th century, Somali merchants were able to break the Aksumite monopoly over the Red Sea. Additionally, the conversion of many urban Somalis to Islam gave them a competitive advantage when trading with the growing Muslim powers of the middle east. Somalis could avoid the Jizya tax that the caliphate leveled against non-Muslims, while also generally achieving better relations with Muslim states through the adoption of a common faith.

A small version of a Somali woven ship, called a beden.

With Somali merchants now outcompeting Aksumite merchants, Somali city states began a golden age of economic prosperity. From the 8th until the 17th century, Somali merchants maintained a dominant grip on trade in the Western Indian Ocean.

An early modern depiction of a larger Somali ship from a European atlas

S2E14: The Rise of Islam (From the Aksumite Perspective)

 

I hope you all enjoy the latest episode of the History of Africa podcast. This episode focuses on the Rise of Islam, but from the perspective of the Aksumites.

The story of the flight of the Muslims to Aksum, while obscure in the West, is a famous story in the Islamic world. However, the political and historical context behind the migration to Aksum is fairly obscure globally.

Depiction of Armah rejecting the demands of Amr ibn al-As to turn over the Muslims illus. Rashid ad-Din Sinan

Aksum, at the time of the First Hijrah, had fallen a long way since its apex a century prior. The once dynamic mercantile economy of the empire had fallen into crisis ever since the arrival of plague and the loss of Yemen, so the countryside of Aksum reverted from a wealthy, urbanized society into an agrarian, rural society. As the economy of Aksum declined and poverty became rampant, so too did criminality. In the region of Wolqayt, a few small groups of bandits rapidly grew into large, organized armies that ravaged the countryside. Soon enough, these bandits were a threat to the city of Aksum itself. To put down these bandits, the emperor of Aksum, Armah, appointed a local noble (or possible relative) named Daniel to serve as Hatsani. The Hatsani of Aksum was a title that had long been used to describe the head military leader of Aksum during times of war. Saizana, for example, was Hatsani during the Aksumite conquest of Nubia, as was Germa during the invasion of Arabia under Datwinas. After Armah's rule, the title would be adopted by the kings of Aksum. Hatsani Daniel proved to be incredibly successful in his effort to destroy the bandits

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I am Hatsani Danael, son of Dabra Ferem. When the people of Wolqayt devastated the land and came to Aksum, I expelled them, treated them harshly, and killed them. I captured 102 of their foals and 802 of their cattle. And I exiled the survivors. -Inscription attributed to Daniel

However, Daniel was, if anything, too successful at his task. Soon after he defeated the bandits, Daniel himself began ravaging the countryside himself, robbing the locals of their livestock. When Armah dispatched an army now to stop this looting, Daniel turned on Armah. He declared himself to be the new king of Aksum, and his looting soon transformed into an outright revolt.

Map of the two migrations of Muslims: the first to Aksum and the second to Medina

It may be confusing as to why Armah was bothering to dedicate so much attention to protecting refugees when his kingdom was falling apart around him. However, due to the study of this event usually stemming from the Arab perspective, the motives of Armah are not often considered. Armah's decision to welcome refugees from a city in Arabia that was persecuting a religious minority of monotheists closely mirrors another event in Aksumite history, and this comparison may provide us some insight into his motives. Before the invasion of Himyar, the Aksumite King Kaleb and his father welcomed Christian Himyarite refugees into his court. Later, after Kaleb's invasion of Himyar, one of these refugees, Sumyafa Ashwa, was elevated to the status of King of Himyar, ruling as an Aksumite client. Perhaps Armah sought to do a similar thing with the Muslim refugees of Mecca. Mecca, in this era, had notably stayed neutral in the competition for influence between Aksum, Rome, and Persia in Arabia. Should these Muslims ever take power, then Aksumite influence in Mecca would be secured. Others have argued that, rather than political concerns, Armah was simply drawing from a long Aksumite tradition of relative religious tolerance. This, however, is a questionable assertion, as Aksum possessed no reputation for tolerance ever since the zealot king Mehadyis had forcefully ended the remnants of Aksumite paganism in the late fourth century.

The silver coins of Armah, the last Aksumite coins ever minted

Regardless of whether Armah's decision to welcome the refugees was motivated by religious principles or geopolitical concerns, the decision certainly paid geopolitical dividends. After the Muslim refugees left Aksum to join the Islamic community in Medina, the Muslims would do a lot more than simply take power in Mecca. By the end of the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the Muslims had expanded to encompass the entire Arabian peninsula. Under the successors of Muhammad, known as the Rashidun Caliphs, the fledgling Muslim state began an expansionist streak. Sassanid Persia fell in its entirety, while Rome lost 2/3s of its territory. However, despite being in a position of weakness, Aksum remained untouched by the expanding Islamic power.