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Adhan From Every Mountaintop: The First Habashab
The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary
Adhan From Every Mountaintop.
Through the remainder of his reign Al-Kaleem Faysal would spend much of his time working on two major projects that would see his dynasty through the following centuries.
Negus Al-Kaleem Faysal Habashah. Otherwise known as Emperor of Ethiopia.
The first of which was his capital of Gondar on Lake Tana. As I had already mentioned, the locals around Gondar were evicted and from across the newly minted Al-Habashah Sultanate the peoples from the Amhara-Tigrean founders who were the majority upper classes to the Red Sea peoples and trickling Eastern Rift peoples. In Gondar, Negus Al-Kaleem Faysal sought to bring together the many pieces of greater Habashah into one place, much as old Axum had been the center for the Axumite Kingdom. In this he undertook to build a city which encapsulated many of the influences from the Roha and Asmera Sultanates that compromised Al-Habashah Sultanate. Where Agew met Tigrean, and Ahmeran could meet Afar. On Lake Tana’s many islands he would establish the first monuments to his people’s legacy.
Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile river which flows northward to join the White Nile as the source of the Nile river. It could be said that from Al-Habashah’s capital, life flowed outward into the world. Which is fitting in another aspect as the area is also part of the Habashah highlands, known as the Roof of Africa. With a solid core region under his belt Al-Kaleem Faysal could begin to cement the power of his dynasty as well as look outward across his realm and much further afield. The conflicts he waged before his passing were in much a part to consolidate his dynasty as they were to consolidate Habashah. His collective raids and border conflicts against the Afar tribes, and east of the Great Rift would begin a general change in the makeup of the Feudal and Tribal structures of the many tribes and polities within Habashah as he sought to weld the two together.
This would come to pass in his son’s reign as Negus Hafiz Al-Kaleem, and his son’s reign Negus Ahmed Hafiz. In 1290 Negus Hafiz Al-Kaleem faced several revolts against his power following the death of his father as forces within the Asmera and Roha Sultanate sought to regain their importance and independence. Negus Hafiz would travel from one end of his Sultanate preventing the breakup of his father’s kingdom. As result of this Negus Hafiz would begin to break-up the traditional holdings of many nobles and communal tribal lands, preventing them from amassing large lands through intermarriage. He would also be a patron for urban development of Gondar as he favored the city dwellers who would typically support his reign and would provide a wealthy lifeline out of Habashah through trade.
It is said as Negus Hafiz traveled his land he took great notice of the drought and famines that would plague the sultanate as a result of war and natural development. Indeed, in some ways this was the root of some of the revolts against his rule and why serfs and hard hit tribal groups would rebel against his rule. Perplexed and perhaps desiring to help the people he commissioned the greatest scholars in Habashah to go out across the land and fix the reasons why drought and famine were occurring. His quest to these learned men came back to him with unexpected results.
Over the course of many years the scholars instead of not just fixing the problem also compiled knowledge about why it occurred. They studied the geography and nature of the land itself, observing not just how drought or crop failures could happen in one village but why it occurred. Some may say they practiced the scientific method before it was invented, but they observed, wrote down their knowledge and would pass it down to be enacted by the royal family and eventually nobles and as literacy spread the common people themselves. Negus Hafiz would plant the seeds of future innovations for the sultanate.
With his death and the rise of his son, Negus Ahmed Hafiz, in 1330 the Habashah Sultanate would once more expand outwards. At this time frame, Al-Habashah Sultanate was becoming a major regional power for sure but it was still very much isolated from the outside world. This would be a trend to continue over the next few centuries but one which would in some ways help it greatly. One of the ways was in the wake of the bubonic plague arriving in the Adal Sultanates around Negus Ahmed’s ascension. The Plague, carried by ships across the oceanic routes of the silk road hit the Adal Sultanates but fortunately did not spread very far into Al-Habashah itself, though it would hit around the Red Sea lowlands it was largely self-contained.
With the Adal Sultanates weakened, Negus Hafiz struck out from the highlands and descended on the Adal Sultanates, overrunning them and gaining for Habashah. First capturing their inland territories and sweeping out, crushing the Adal Sultanates against the sea itself. With this victory gained the Habashah Sultanate gained a large amount of coastal territory, as well as unruly Somalis to deal with. The best boon at the time for Negus Ahmed was gaining the varied skill labor from the coastal cities which the Negus promptly “imported” to Gondar to add to the growing hinterland urban center. Habashah would continue to export wheat and barley, as well as local metals across both sides of the Mediterranean and Indian periphery.
However, perhaps the most unsuspected boon for Habashah would be in a little under a century with the arrival of Zheng He and the Ming Treasure Fleets.
By Taym Ansary
Adhan From Every Mountaintop.
Through the remainder of his reign Al-Kaleem Faysal would spend much of his time working on two major projects that would see his dynasty through the following centuries.
Negus Al-Kaleem Faysal Habashah. Otherwise known as Emperor of Ethiopia.
The first of which was his capital of Gondar on Lake Tana. As I had already mentioned, the locals around Gondar were evicted and from across the newly minted Al-Habashah Sultanate the peoples from the Amhara-Tigrean founders who were the majority upper classes to the Red Sea peoples and trickling Eastern Rift peoples. In Gondar, Negus Al-Kaleem Faysal sought to bring together the many pieces of greater Habashah into one place, much as old Axum had been the center for the Axumite Kingdom. In this he undertook to build a city which encapsulated many of the influences from the Roha and Asmera Sultanates that compromised Al-Habashah Sultanate. Where Agew met Tigrean, and Ahmeran could meet Afar. On Lake Tana’s many islands he would establish the first monuments to his people’s legacy.
Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile river which flows northward to join the White Nile as the source of the Nile river. It could be said that from Al-Habashah’s capital, life flowed outward into the world. Which is fitting in another aspect as the area is also part of the Habashah highlands, known as the Roof of Africa. With a solid core region under his belt Al-Kaleem Faysal could begin to cement the power of his dynasty as well as look outward across his realm and much further afield. The conflicts he waged before his passing were in much a part to consolidate his dynasty as they were to consolidate Habashah. His collective raids and border conflicts against the Afar tribes, and east of the Great Rift would begin a general change in the makeup of the Feudal and Tribal structures of the many tribes and polities within Habashah as he sought to weld the two together.
This would come to pass in his son’s reign as Negus Hafiz Al-Kaleem, and his son’s reign Negus Ahmed Hafiz. In 1290 Negus Hafiz Al-Kaleem faced several revolts against his power following the death of his father as forces within the Asmera and Roha Sultanate sought to regain their importance and independence. Negus Hafiz would travel from one end of his Sultanate preventing the breakup of his father’s kingdom. As result of this Negus Hafiz would begin to break-up the traditional holdings of many nobles and communal tribal lands, preventing them from amassing large lands through intermarriage. He would also be a patron for urban development of Gondar as he favored the city dwellers who would typically support his reign and would provide a wealthy lifeline out of Habashah through trade.
It is said as Negus Hafiz traveled his land he took great notice of the drought and famines that would plague the sultanate as a result of war and natural development. Indeed, in some ways this was the root of some of the revolts against his rule and why serfs and hard hit tribal groups would rebel against his rule. Perplexed and perhaps desiring to help the people he commissioned the greatest scholars in Habashah to go out across the land and fix the reasons why drought and famine were occurring. His quest to these learned men came back to him with unexpected results.
Over the course of many years the scholars instead of not just fixing the problem also compiled knowledge about why it occurred. They studied the geography and nature of the land itself, observing not just how drought or crop failures could happen in one village but why it occurred. Some may say they practiced the scientific method before it was invented, but they observed, wrote down their knowledge and would pass it down to be enacted by the royal family and eventually nobles and as literacy spread the common people themselves. Negus Hafiz would plant the seeds of future innovations for the sultanate.
With his death and the rise of his son, Negus Ahmed Hafiz, in 1330 the Habashah Sultanate would once more expand outwards. At this time frame, Al-Habashah Sultanate was becoming a major regional power for sure but it was still very much isolated from the outside world. This would be a trend to continue over the next few centuries but one which would in some ways help it greatly. One of the ways was in the wake of the bubonic plague arriving in the Adal Sultanates around Negus Ahmed’s ascension. The Plague, carried by ships across the oceanic routes of the silk road hit the Adal Sultanates but fortunately did not spread very far into Al-Habashah itself, though it would hit around the Red Sea lowlands it was largely self-contained.
With the Adal Sultanates weakened, Negus Hafiz struck out from the highlands and descended on the Adal Sultanates, overrunning them and gaining for Habashah. First capturing their inland territories and sweeping out, crushing the Adal Sultanates against the sea itself. With this victory gained the Habashah Sultanate gained a large amount of coastal territory, as well as unruly Somalis to deal with. The best boon at the time for Negus Ahmed was gaining the varied skill labor from the coastal cities which the Negus promptly “imported” to Gondar to add to the growing hinterland urban center. Habashah would continue to export wheat and barley, as well as local metals across both sides of the Mediterranean and Indian periphery.
However, perhaps the most unsuspected boon for Habashah would be in a little under a century with the arrival of Zheng He and the Ming Treasure Fleets.
- Malta
- Word Count: 980