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The Golden Age Slips to Dark: Lakomelza Light
The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary
The Golden Age Slips to Dark
...which leads me to the conclusion that one really has to give credit to the Aksumite Kings, despite losing much of the trade access by land and by sea due to the movement of nomadic tribes they still managed to hold together. If it had not been for the advent of Islam the Aksumite Kingdom may have been able persist quite possibly for several centuries more, maybe even into the modern times if their rulers showed the same tenacity and will to hang on by their nails that many of the Aksumite Kings of the Decline had shown. While Habeshaen scholars and talking heads do love to bash the Arabs for contributing to the downfall of Aksum and half a dozen other historical slights, the truth is the avalanche of movement of people as a result of Islamic Arab expansion allowed for the spread of Islam into Al-Habesha and saw the formation of even greater dynasties.
As has been discussed elsewhere the rise of Islam saw a domino effect throughout much of the world and in Al-Habesha it happened to spell the doom of the Aksumite Kingdom-three centuries before it would collapse. The rapid expansion of Islam across the shores of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden resulted in the establishment of several Arab or Arabized political entities along the coastline from the Gulf of Suez to Berbera. For the Beja and Saho Northern Cushite speaking peoples this saw a general push southward as the inhabitants of these bleak and infertile lands sought safety and booty. Which lead them into a collision course with the Aksumite Kingdom who would gradually fail to repel the nomadic pastoralists from their borders which lead to loss of economy and loss of loyalty amongst the local tribal groups which lead to the Aksumites eventually abandoning the city of their namesake and pushing their people southward into the Central Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands and on a grade A collision course with the Falasha Jews and the Agwe tribes. The general reaction of the latter two was a series of endemic wars but, also of inter marriage, which eventually resulted in the destruction of the Aksumite lineage and the Age of Princes sometime around 970CE.
From here things would explode as all bets were off and no large Imperial entity existed in the region and for the next three centuries it was every tribe and small kingdom for itself. The ancestors of the Amhara-Tigray people fragmented and from the south east of the Great Rift the Afar and other East Cushite speaking groups pushed with war and trade. It would be the trade that would be the most important of these which introduced Islam which around the time of the collapse of the Aksumites lead to the bare foundation of the Lakomelza Sultanate. True to the times the Lakomelza Sultanate formed thanks to the personage of Imran ibn Melek Seged who fought off the prime kingdoms of the Falasha and Agwe peoples of the time frame.
Noticeably the Lakomelza Sultanate is not famed for its military conquests, indeed after Imran the territory of the Sultanate remained relatively constant for only a century before its collapse half a century after that. What the Lakomelza Sultanate is prized for is not its military conquests or monuments but that it acted as a cultural blender. It was through the hands and mouths of the Lakomelza Sultans and Ulema that Islam was translated and formed for the appeal to the wider population of Al-Habesha. The people of the region were majorly overtime converted to Islam, learned Arabic, and fitted it all into a context that would make it highly appealing in the oncoming centuries of religious conversion to follow. Noticeably incorporating many elements of the Pagan Habeshan religion as well as popular culture that was widespread across all of Al-Habesha or what would become Al-Habesha. Former gods and spirits such as Wad and Lok were incorporated as Angels, Islamic prescriptions for Magical plagues were formed, and the searing 'Chief's Eye' was declared a manifestation of a ruler's masculinity and divine favor. The Sultans and several tribal chiefs had already established their own historical family legacy by making claims they were the descendants of the Prophet, despite probably never meeting an actual Arabian in their lives. Lakomelzan missionaries, notably Amharaic speaking, were at the forefront of spreading Islam well beyond the frontier of the Lakomelza Sultanate and many are regarded as Islamic Saints amongst the populations they preached to even today.
By the time the Lakomelza Sultanate was conquered, ironically by another Islamic Sultanate, in 1130 the Empire of Islam it had founded stretched well across the Central Plateau and Highlands and formed the basis for the next great Al-Habesha Kingdoms.
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And some OTL maps
By Taym Ansary
The Golden Age Slips to Dark
...which leads me to the conclusion that one really has to give credit to the Aksumite Kings, despite losing much of the trade access by land and by sea due to the movement of nomadic tribes they still managed to hold together. If it had not been for the advent of Islam the Aksumite Kingdom may have been able persist quite possibly for several centuries more, maybe even into the modern times if their rulers showed the same tenacity and will to hang on by their nails that many of the Aksumite Kings of the Decline had shown. While Habeshaen scholars and talking heads do love to bash the Arabs for contributing to the downfall of Aksum and half a dozen other historical slights, the truth is the avalanche of movement of people as a result of Islamic Arab expansion allowed for the spread of Islam into Al-Habesha and saw the formation of even greater dynasties.
As has been discussed elsewhere the rise of Islam saw a domino effect throughout much of the world and in Al-Habesha it happened to spell the doom of the Aksumite Kingdom-three centuries before it would collapse. The rapid expansion of Islam across the shores of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden resulted in the establishment of several Arab or Arabized political entities along the coastline from the Gulf of Suez to Berbera. For the Beja and Saho Northern Cushite speaking peoples this saw a general push southward as the inhabitants of these bleak and infertile lands sought safety and booty. Which lead them into a collision course with the Aksumite Kingdom who would gradually fail to repel the nomadic pastoralists from their borders which lead to loss of economy and loss of loyalty amongst the local tribal groups which lead to the Aksumites eventually abandoning the city of their namesake and pushing their people southward into the Central Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands and on a grade A collision course with the Falasha Jews and the Agwe tribes. The general reaction of the latter two was a series of endemic wars but, also of inter marriage, which eventually resulted in the destruction of the Aksumite lineage and the Age of Princes sometime around 970CE.
From here things would explode as all bets were off and no large Imperial entity existed in the region and for the next three centuries it was every tribe and small kingdom for itself. The ancestors of the Amhara-Tigray people fragmented and from the south east of the Great Rift the Afar and other East Cushite speaking groups pushed with war and trade. It would be the trade that would be the most important of these which introduced Islam which around the time of the collapse of the Aksumites lead to the bare foundation of the Lakomelza Sultanate. True to the times the Lakomelza Sultanate formed thanks to the personage of Imran ibn Melek Seged who fought off the prime kingdoms of the Falasha and Agwe peoples of the time frame.
Noticeably the Lakomelza Sultanate is not famed for its military conquests, indeed after Imran the territory of the Sultanate remained relatively constant for only a century before its collapse half a century after that. What the Lakomelza Sultanate is prized for is not its military conquests or monuments but that it acted as a cultural blender. It was through the hands and mouths of the Lakomelza Sultans and Ulema that Islam was translated and formed for the appeal to the wider population of Al-Habesha. The people of the region were majorly overtime converted to Islam, learned Arabic, and fitted it all into a context that would make it highly appealing in the oncoming centuries of religious conversion to follow. Noticeably incorporating many elements of the Pagan Habeshan religion as well as popular culture that was widespread across all of Al-Habesha or what would become Al-Habesha. Former gods and spirits such as Wad and Lok were incorporated as Angels, Islamic prescriptions for Magical plagues were formed, and the searing 'Chief's Eye' was declared a manifestation of a ruler's masculinity and divine favor. The Sultans and several tribal chiefs had already established their own historical family legacy by making claims they were the descendants of the Prophet, despite probably never meeting an actual Arabian in their lives. Lakomelzan missionaries, notably Amharaic speaking, were at the forefront of spreading Islam well beyond the frontier of the Lakomelza Sultanate and many are regarded as Islamic Saints amongst the populations they preached to even today.
By the time the Lakomelza Sultanate was conquered, ironically by another Islamic Sultanate, in 1130 the Empire of Islam it had founded stretched well across the Central Plateau and Highlands and formed the basis for the next great Al-Habesha Kingdoms.
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And some OTL maps
- Malta
- Word Count: 820