Collaborative timeline: Dunes of the Desert, a Timeline without Islam

[Tomislav Addai]

Hello folks, now we are to look at northeast Asia, a region which seldom gets much attention. This update is thus going to be speak of developments in Mongolia, Far North (1), Zorkia (2), Korea and Japan.

Mongolia

Silver Tree of Karakorum, modern imitation
The Eastern Steppe in the 14th century is very much different from what it has been some one hundred years ago. By the later 14th century, it is mostly a backwater, as many of its former inhabitants have either died in wars or settled down elsewhere, where they have established themselves as rulers of the land.

Those that have remained have generally continued to pursue the old nomadic lifestyle, and have been recruited to serve as cavalrymen for Yuan army.

With the fall of the Yuan dynasty in China proper, a large number of Mongols and Yuan officials have retreated northwards, beyond the Great Wall of China. A large number of sinicized Mongols has fled northwards as well, though many remained behind.

By the end of the 14th century, the Northern Yuan has lost almost all of its Chinese characteristics, and has generally become a standard steppe horde. Many of its peoples, especially those in the northeastern corners of the realm have turned back to Tengri shamanism, with the practices being highly syncretized.

A political map of northeast Asia. The Naiman Khanate is green, to the east of which is the Khamag Khanate and the Buryat Khanate is located at Lake Baikal
The late 14th century saw the general breakup of the Northern Yuan dynasty into a handful of statelets: the Hami kingdom , which was found along the Silk Road at the western end of the Gansu corridor, distinguished by its Manichean culture, possibly of old Uyghur origin (which had been suppressed, but resurfaced again during the 14th century, then we have the Naiman Horde (a Christian horde consisting of the southwestern Mongolic-speaking tribes, namely the Naimans and the Keraites, as well as other tribes), the Khamag Khanate found in the east, consisting mainly of Korchin and Khamag tribes, partially Christian and partially Tengri, while the Baikal region is dominated by the Buryat Khanate, a predominantly Tengri horde. And at the source of the Yenisey River, we still have the Kirghiz, who are Manicheans…

The Far North
Before reading this section, I suggest you get yourself some tea and put on some warm clothes, as temperatures get here, really, really cold.

The lands to the east of the Yenisei River and north of the Amur River are populated very sparsely. The Baikal Lake regions should neither be considered as part of this region; they are culturally very similar to the Mongol peoples further southwards

The Yenisei Valley is populated primarily by Ket, Yugh and other tribes belonging this linguistic family. However, large parts of the later Tunguska Plateau are populated by newly-arriving Tungusic-speaking peoples from the south, who have originated in the Upper Lena regions, and are known as the Solon (4). The Solon are equipped with better technology and are known to be reindeer-herders. As such, they gradually outcompete or assimilate any remaining Yeniseyan peoples in the Tunguska Plateau, which later becomes named after them.

A linguistic map of Northeast Asia. To be witnessed is the expansion of the Tungusic languages and a slow push northwards of the Japanese
Another group of northern Tungusic-speaking peoples, the Lamut (5) have spread eastwards along the coast of the Lamut Sea as far northeast as the beginning of the Kamchatkan Peninsula.

The Central Lena Basin is held by the Sakha, also popularly known as the Yakuts, who are a Northeastern Turkic (Siberian Turkic people). The Sakha also herd reindeer and small, sturdy Yakut horses for living

Ultimately, the north-easternmost expanses of the Asian continent are populated by more ancient tribal groups, who still rely mainly on hunting and gathering, as well as fishing for survival. The Kolyma and Ingidirka plains along the northern coast are home to the Yukaghir – an ancient people unrelated to any other, with only distant links to the Uralic language family.

Kamchatka and Chukotka are populated by a number of related tribes – Chukchi, Kamchadals, Koryaks, Itelmens. The Kamchatkan tribes by now are beginning to transition from hunter-gatherer culture to reindeer herding, which was introduced by the incoming Lamut from the southwest, while the Chukchi still remain dependent on hunting and fishing.

Zorkia
The areas east of Mongolia and north of Korea are populated by various Jurchen peoples, speaking Tungusic languages.

The Tungusic languages are one of the world´s primary linguistic families, and the Tungusic peoples are indigenous to these regions. Over time, two major branches evolved: the Northern Tungusic languages, consisting of the Solon and Lamut languages, who have expanded northwards, into the area labelled as Far North, and the Negidals.

The southern branch itself is divided into a southwestern group, consisting of the Jurchen and a few related dialects, and a south-eastern group, based on the lower Amur River, consisting of the Nanai, Orok and Ulch languages; the Udyge and Oroch may be considered transitional between the northern and the south-eastern groups

The regions of Zorkia proper had at first come under the rule of the Northern Yuan dynasty; however one of the generals a certain Naghacu has manged to win hegemony over the lands. His dominion was conquered by the Ming dynasty, and they have established stable relations with the local Jurchen tribes, namely the Haixi and Jiangzhou peoples; those living further northwards have maintained their own independence.

The various Jurchen tribes, be they under formal control of China or paying at least some form of tribute were gradually coming more and more into contact with Chinese culture, although still maintaining their own shamanistic practices (in fact the word shaman comes from the Jurchen language), while a small number of them has adopted Buddhism.

Sakhalin and Ezo
When thinking of the Sakhalin, which effectively forms an extension of Zorkian mainland, and could be easily reached by foot during winter, when the see freezes, one ought to think of the bigger picture, and the Lamut Sea (between Sakhalin, Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands) forms an organic unity, with trade being established and mainly facilitated by the Ainu, but also the Nivkhs. The Nivkhs lived in small villages with large households, and made their living by fishing, raising pigs, , hunting sea mammals, and during the autumn they were also known to go on prolonged hunting expeditions.

A Nivkh girl
The littoral regions of outer Zorkia and northern Sakhalin were populated by the Nivkh people who had accepted Naiman suzerainty. As such, the Nivkh had been supported by the Naimans, who had established their administrative headquarters at Nurgan on the Amur and Amgun confluence. The Nivkh were paying tribute in the form of highly prized sable furs, falcons, highly valued by the upper classes of the Yuan dynasty.

The Nivkh had complained that another tribe, the Ainu had been attacking their lands from the south. The Ainu had established themselves primarily on the island of Ezo, known to their Japanese neighbours as Hokkaido, but have also settled the Kuril Islands, the southern tip of Kamchatka and southern Sakhalin.

In the previous century, the Naimans had attempted to attack the Ainu settlements on Sakhalin, but were only briefly successful, as the Ainu continued to carry out raids against the Nivkh.

By the beginning of the 14th century, the Ainu had surrendered to the Yuan and were paying a tribute in form of largely animal furs. After the 1330s, however, the feeble Yuan control over Sakhalin and the adjacent regions of the mainland ceases and tribute is no longer offered.

The side effect of the brief subjugation of Sakhalin has been the end of free migration of the Ainu between Ezo and Sakhalin; as a result they were forced to look elsewhere – and that elsewhere being northern Honshu – thus creating some trouble in Japan.

Korea

Royal flag of the Goryeo dynasty
Introduction to Korea
Korea has been given little attention in this timeline so far, so hereby I wish to amend this. The Korean language is a language isolate, without any surviving relative, and this has been the case for a few centuries. In the past, however, there have been a handful of other Koreanic languages. These are said to include Ye Maek (historically spoken Zorkia), Koguryoic or Puyo languages (Gokuryon, Buyeo, Okjeo and Ye spoken in the Korean-Zorkian borderlands) and Samhan languages spoken on the peninsula proper (to include Kaya, Baekje and Sillan, which gave rise to later Korean and Jeju languages). In short, modern Korean is descended from the southern branch in the kingdom of Silla.

The first realms on the Korea Peninsula are said to have emerged in the 2nd millennium BC, and were the Gojoseon in the north and the Jin confederation in the south. By the 1st century AD, we can witness three kingdoms on the Korea Peninsula: Gokuryeo located in the northern parts of the peninsula and adjacent areas of Zorkia; then Silla occupying the central and south-eastern parts of the peninsula and ultimately Baekje found in the southwest. Later Silla united the realms in the 7th century, however the areas in the north became independent again in the late 7th century as Balhae.

A map of the the Three Kingdoms of Korea in the 5th century AD (yes, Gaya is a fourth one )
Korea had come into interaction with China as early as 1100 BC, when a Chinese sage sought asylum in Gojoseon to avoid wrath of the emperors of the Shang dynasty. Subsequently, Korea has come under periodic Chinese influence, sometimes also in the form of direct political control.

Both the writing system, called Hanja, based upon Chinese characters, and the system of civil service examinations (gwageo) document the strong level of Chinese influence.

The name Korea is derived from the name of Goryeo dynasty, which has been ruling the peninsula in some form since the 10th century. The founder of Goryeo dynasty, a certain Wang Jeon, claimed descent from the Goguryeo nobility. The Goryeo dynasty placed itself as a suzerain of both the Khitans and later the Naimans. At first, the Naimans sought to establish themselves in the peninsula with military might, however ultimately they reached an agreement after conquering roughly a third of the Peninsula.

Religion in Korea

The original religion of the Korean people was shamanism, very close to that practiced in China, among the Tungusic peoples or the Japanese Shinto. Korean shamanism is often referred to as Muism, with “Mu” being the Korean word denoting “shaman”. It is generally centred on veneration of ancestors and worship of gods.

A Korean shaman
Buddhism has arrived in Korea in the 4th century, when the country was divided into the three kingdoms of Silla, Gokuryo and Baekje, and has effectively become the state religion. As such it enjoyed many privileges. Gradually however, there rises a significant anti-Buddhist sentiment, mainly among the philosophers, but also due to the corruption.

Taoism has also had its place and there exist a number of Taoist shrines in the peninsula as well. Confucianism is also deeply rooted in Korean tradition, with the system of imperial examinations.

With the beginning of Naiman rule, Christianity is first established in Korea as well. Christianity arrives mainly with merchants from Central Asia, known to the Koreans as Saengmokin (Coloured-eyed people), or Semu. The Semu people have held a prominent position in the Yuan administration, and in Korea as well many of the Yuan government officials were Christians.

Christianity in Korea has however not been tied merely to Yuan officials. With Nestorian monks being Nestorian monks, a number of them have entered the Peninsula and were actively involved with the local population. Therefore, there are a handful of Christian converts, located in the towns.

Korea in the 14th Century
Korea has enjoyed a special status as a vassal kingdom under the Yuan dynasty, and its members often intermarried into the Yuan dynasty and vice versa. The Yuan wives of the Goryeo kings exerted great influence in the kingdom. As a subordinate kingdom, Korean kings often visited the Yuan imperial court, where they made lengthy stays, and also paid tribute to the Yuan, in the form of gold, silver, cloth, ginseng, falcons, grain, but also palace women, eunuchs as well as Buddhist monks.

Yuan influence in Korea was also present in the form of the darughachi, who was actively involved in the affairs of the Korean kingdom – and a number of Goryeo kings had been deposed by officials holding this position.

Around one half of the Jeju island off the coast of Korea in the Yellow Sea has been converted to pastures for the Yuan cavalry forces stationed there – Korea was seen as a base of operations against Japan, although these attacks have failed.

As the Yuan dynasty in China was crumbling, King Gongmin, previously held as a hostage at the Yuan court decided to act and sought to limit Yuan influence in Korea. By one of his first acts he removed all pro-Mongol or pro-Naiman officers, and restored Korean control over regions previously controlled directly by the Yuan in the northern parts of the peninsula.

During the fighting between the Red Turbans and the Yuan, Korea sought to stay on the side and not to engage in favour of any party; however they got invaded by both, however they manage to repel these invading forces.

Establishment of the Joseon Dynasty
In 1392, the Goryeo dynasty is overthrown and replaced by the Joseon dynasty, a reference to an earlier Korean state of Gojoseon, existing previously in the north-western parts of the Korean peninsula. The new regime has moved its capital to Hanyang (6) and embraced Confucianism as its primary philosophy. While demoted, Buddhism has in general become so in-grained into the Korean society and culture, as many government officials continue to visit Buddhist shrines in private.

Japan
As hinted previously (Chapter 92), Japan had few links to the outside world, and mostly in contact with Korea and China. During the first half of the 14th century the previous Kamakura period ends and is followed by the Muromachi period. The capital during the Muromachi period is set up in Muromachi in the vicinity of Kyoto.

Links China have greatly increased during the second half of the 14th century, as the Japanese shoguns wrote to the Ming Emperors, signing their letters “Your subject, the King of Japan”, and trade volume increases, with Japan exchanging wood, sulfur, copper, swords and folding fans for Chinese silk and porcelain.

A Japanese samurai
The mountainous geography has greatly aided the further fragmentation of Japan, as each of the valleys were ruled by autonomous daimyo, who paid lip service in being vassals of the Shogunate. These daimyos had at fist been appointed as governors by the shoguns, however, they were growing more and more independent as the time went on.

The Japanese society was is characterized by a system not that dissimilar from European feudalism, with the daimyo dependent on the samurai class, which can be paralleled to European knights, having also their code of honour and rules. Agriculture is mainly present in the form of rice growing. Growing rice on the mountain slopes and in the valleys is a challenging task –as a result, a collectivistic spirit is deeply ingrained in Japanese society.

Religious breakdown of Japan
In terms of religion, both Buddhism in the form of Nichiren Buddhism of the Mahayana branch and Shinto coexist, and Shinto has experienced a revival after both Naiman invasions of Japan have failed. Another form of Buddhism , Shingon has emerged from the Vajrayana branch and established itself as an esoteric religion in Japan.

When projecting the different religions on the map, Buddhism is already present in the southwestern tips of Japan and on southern Honshu and in the regions of the capital; heavy Shinto presence can be found in north-eastern Honshu and Shikoku, but also in the more backwater parts of Japan elsewhere.

Northern Honshu is politically integrated into Japan, though ethnically distinct, with the native Emishi – Ainu population making still a significant proportion of the population. The Emishi have in general adopted the Japanese cultural norms, but still maintaining a degree of distinctiveness, and are known for their formidable horse archers.

Wokou pirates

Wokou pirade raids in the 14th century
Wokou pirates, also known as Japanese pirates, were a real menace in the coastal China, Korea and Japan, making operating in the Yellow and East China Sea. Their bases could be usually found on small islands, mainly off the coast of Japan, and the pirates were of Japanese, but also Korean and Chinese background.

Ryukyu Islands
The Ryukyuan islands are a volcanic island chain connecting Japan and Taiwan. The Ryukyuan people are closely related to the Japanese.​

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1. Russian Far East. This name could be found in a number of medieval maps to label the areas north of Mongolia. This name is to refer to all areas east of the Yenisey River and north of the Amur River
2. Manchuria; derived from Ciorcia as noted by Marco Polo and later Zorça by Fra Mauro, both derivated from the original name Jurchen.
3. Central Siberian Plateau
4. Evenks
5. Also known as Evens
6. Seoul, South Korea

Next up: Insula southeast Asia.

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Greetings all, now we are going to look at Maritime Southeast Asia, or Nusantara.

Greater Moluccas
The Greater Moluccas (1) form an archipelago, separating the South China Sea from the Pacific Ocean proper.

The island of Taiwan is located just off the coast of Chinese Mainland. During the 14th century, however one ought to think of the island as the northernmost extension of the Greater Moluccas archipelago. Indeed, scholars consider Taiwan to have been the place of origin of all the Austronesian languages, present in maritime Southeast Asia and the Pacific as well.

A Taiwanese native
The island is known to be mountainous, and as such has had difficulty in establishing more complex forms of social organization and unification into larger polities. The island thus remains divided among a number of tribes.

The largest island of the Greater Moluccas is Luzon, and politically is dominated by the Tondo kingdom, which has managed to unify also the northern sections of the island. The Tondo kingdom has been in frequent trade with the south-eastern coast of China, and contact has resulted in the establishment of a Mingjian community in the port-city of Sapa (2). This community was founded by Chinese emigrants from Fujian during the Yuan period, who have also managed to gain a few local converts. The rural population follows a predominatly a polytheistic religion called Anitism, which has come to be influenced by Hinduism

To the south of Tondo, the kingdom of Ma-I remains on that small island over there, in the Visaya a group of small islands between the large island of Luzon in the north and Mindanao in the south, we have Madyas and Cebu competing for power.

The island of Mindanao is home to a number of polities, the most important being the Indianised Kingdom of Butuan, the lesser polities being Zamboanga and Danao, which are still animist. Butuan has adopted the writing system from Cebu.

A map of the Sulu archipelago
The Sulu islands form a small monarchy, which has been in regular trade contact with the coastal cities of Champa. As a result of these trade routes the Sulu islands are among the first to adopt the Msadeqi religion in this part of the world during the late 14th century.

Borneo
The Sulu island chain leads us to Borneo, the third largest island in the world. The lush vegetation (the island is home to some of the world´s most ancient rainforests) has prevented a larger and more organized settlement of the interior, and over three quarters of all population in the 14th century on Borneo is within some 200 km from the coast.

The native peoples of the island are called the Dayak, and are largely found in the interior; while the Banjar and other coastal regions are populated predominantly by the Melayu people.

The local form of religion spread among the Dayak people is known as Kaharingan. Along the coasts, it is mainly a local form of Hinduism that is prevalent, while Brunei is home to an established Msadeqiyya community

Most of the coastal realms are in some form of vassalage to the Majapahit Empire having its capital on the island of Java – the southwestern parts of the island are under direct Majapahit administration, while the Kutai in the east, Negara Dipa (3) in the southeast, Melanau and Brunei are tributaries under the mandala system present in Southeast Asia. Berau, found in the northeast part of the island has stopped paying tribute in the second half of the century.

Lesser Moluccas
The Lesser Molucca islands include all the islands between Borneo and Papua, with the largest of them being Sulawesi or Celebes. The Lesser Moluccas are very important, as they are known as the Spice Islands with great worldwide demand for nutmeg, mace and cloves.

Sulawesi

Sulawesi is truly an island with an odd shape
The island of Sulawesi has an irregular shape; with mountain ridges forming spines of the island´s many peninsulas. Therefore, it has been difficult to unite the island, and any emergent polities were prone to become thalassocracies, oriented more to the sea than to their neighbours across the forested jungle hills.

The name Sulawesi means literally iron island, implying a richness in iron ore.

So what we have on the island of Sulawesi are a handful of named polities: Luwu dominating the central plateau of the island, Makassar on the southwestern tip of the island paying tribute to Majapahit, Konawe located at the south-eastern tip and Butuan, technically not on the Sulawesi island proper but on an adjacent island, also paying tribute to Majapahit. Buton has taken great profit from its position

There are also a number of smaller polities on the island, being literally city-states

The Mandala system, depicted in orange is by far the prevailing system of political organization in the region; sovereignty is a rather non-existent concept, and rather than establishing direct control, polities are happy to demand tribute from subdued states.
Lontara is the name of the writing system descended from Kawi used on the island of Sulawesi especially in the region of Makassar

Molucca Proper

The nutmeg tree, the source of one of the most lucrative spices
The Moluccas proper consists of a number of very small islands, but is a very lucrative region, as it has a monopoly on the world´s supply of spices. Therefore, Majapahit has established a presence here on the island of Kadali; profit from the trade has increased the power of the chieftains on the islands such as Nunusaku or Halmahera (controlled by Jilolo chiefs). However the two truly dominant powers in the region are Ternate and Tidore. The bitter rivalry between Ternate and Tidore has sometimes been likened to Venice, Pisa and Genoa, with their wealth being legendary and envied across all of Nusantara.

Tidore and Ternate speak Papuan languages, while practically all of Nusantara speaks some form of Austronesian
Unlike the majority of the Nusantaran islands, the northern Moluccas, including Ternate and Tidore, speak a Papuan language and not an Austronesian one

Papua
The island of Papua is the world´s second largest island, after the ice-covered Greenland, thus being the largest inhabitable island on the world.

The island itself has a shape of a bird, and its tips are known as the Bird´s Mouth in the west and the Bird´s Tail in the east. The spine of the bird reaches a height of over 4800 meters or 16 000 feet, making it higher than the Alps and housing even equatorial glaciers.

Papuan tribesmen
The population of Papua is descended from an earlier wave of human migrations than the prevalent Austronesian populations of Nusantara. The Papuans have a darker skin colour (similar to the Australian Aborigenes) and do indeed practice agriculture, supplemented by hunting and gathering. The Papuan society can be still described as locked in the Neolithic period.

Important in Papuan society is the pig, and prices for practically anything are counted in pigs.

Papua exhibits an intriguing diversity in tribes and languages, and tribal infighting is common. The larger settlements can be found in the highland zone, where the climate is cooler and offers protection from many tropical diseases

This exotic land of countless tribes has only sporadic contact with the outside world – if so, occasional merchants or pirates from Ternate make visits at the Bird´s Mouth, trading with the tribes located at the western coast.

Australia
The smallest continent of the world is Australia and since its settlement, the continent has developed in isolation. Much of the interior is arid and desert, and more hospitable areas can be found either in the southwestern tip, or along the eastern coast of the continent, as well as in the south. Of what we know, there have been occasional visits of the north-northwestern coast by mariners from Timur and the Lesser Sunda islands, with very infrequent trade. The Aborigenes are still in the Stone Age.

Lesser Sundas
The Lesser Sunda Islands form an island chain from the island of Timur in the east (literally meaning east in Malay them lingua franca of the Nusantara archipelago) to Bali in the west. From east to west, the islands are as follows: Wetar, Alor, Pantar, Lembata, Adonara, Flores, Sumbawa , Lombok and Bali in the northern chain and Timor, Roti and Sumba in the southern chain. As one travels from east to west, the society grows more complex – with Timur being an outer fringe of civilization and exporting sandalwood, slaves honey and wax, and Bali on the other hand being a highly civilized society almost undistinguishable culturally from neighbouring Java. Balinese is the sole writing system that has evolved here, on the island of Bali and has spread also to the neighbouring island of Lombok.

Almost all of the islands to speak an Austronesia language, with the exception of Alor and Pantar speaking a Papuan language; a few smaller Papuan languages can also be found in the eastern parts of Timur.

Politically, all the islands are tributaries of the Majapahit Empire under the mandala system; the major polities are Wehali on Timur, Sumba, Lombok and a handful of smaller states on the island of Flores; the island of Wetar in the east is the sole one to remain outside of Majapahit influence

The religion of the indigenous population of the Lesser Sunda islands is known as Marapu, and is essentially an animistic tradition.

Java
The island of Java remains the most densely populated island of Nusantara, with the eastern part dominated by Majapahit (and its tributary in the east, named Bilam, while the western half remains fully independent of all Majapahit influence and remains unified as the kingdom of Sunda.

Statue of the Hindu god Talaga from Sunda
The indigenous form, Kebatinan, also known as Javanism is a syncretic religious practice, emergent from the fusion of local practices, Hinduism and Buddhism.

In Java, Javanese or Carakan has evolved to become the new writing system and is used to write the Javanese, Sundanese, Banyumasan and Madurese languages. In the western half of the island, another abugida, Sundanese, was developed by the Sundanese people living in the western third of the densely populated island.

For more on Majapahit society, see Chapter 98.

Sumatra
On Sumatra, the southern third of the island remains directly under Majapahit rule, while the the northern and eastern coast remain autonomous as tributaries (the local kingdoms of Riau, Aru and Pasai, from south to north. The western coast maintains its independence in the form of Pagaruyung kingdom.

The Kawi script in Sumatra has evolved into the Batak script in the north-central part of the island and Rencong script, which is being used in the southern part of the island.

What can be observed in Sumatra during the 14th century again is the gradual spread of Msadeqiyya, which was done mostly peacefully from neighbouring Pasai. The Aru Kingdom was among the first ones to have the majority population convert to Msadeqiyya, mainly in the urban centres, where the lower strata of the society are more than happy to do away with the caste system. Apart from Msadeqiyya, there still remains a significant Hindu community of Indian merchants as well the native religious system, called Pemena, surviving in the more isolated rural communities.

Religions in the region. Notice that while Msadeqiyya has established itself along the northeast of Sumatra, Christianity can be found on the western coast. It has been discovered that earlier maps were wrong and the Buddhist traditions of Sumatra were neither Theravada nor Mahayana but belonging to fourth branch of Budddhism called Hinayana
Parallel to the spread of Msadeqiyya, Christianity has also arrived to the island. The very first Christian colonies on the island were communities of Mar Thoma Christians, from the Malabar Coast establishing themselves along the western coast of the island. Established at the port city of Barus, which has been elevated into a metropolitan bishopric, Christianity has gained a foothold in the Pagaruyung kingdom located on the western coast of the island.

Malay Peninsula
During the 14th century, the Malay Peninsula has come under the influence of the Majapahit, though it is ruled indirectly by local states. There exist four polities on the peninsula: Johor at the southern tip, Pahang inland and Chermin dominating the coastal northern regions. The fourth polity, Singapura, had its capital on the eponymous island, and controlled also parts of the Straits of Malacca.

Gradually, Msadeqiyya is spreading from the port of Kedah alongside the western coasts of the Malay Peninsula, rapidly displacing Hinayana Buddhism in the process.

Champa
While technically a part of peninsular Southeast Asia, culturally and linguistically, Champa has more in common with the island world of Nusantara than with the rest of the Peninsula. The region has experienced periodic suzerainty of Dai Viet, its northern neighbour, but generally speaking, the Cham confederation of city states remains largely intact and has been greatly engaged in maritime trade with Borneo, the Sulu islands and the Greater Moluccas. As a result, the Msadeqiyya religion spreads to places such as Sulu, Butuan and Brunei​

1. Known to our readers as the Phillippines. However as they we named after some Spanish king named Philip, the name as such is anachronistic and an alternative name has been found and used
2. Not far from the city of Manila
3. In OTL later to become sultanate of Banjar

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Continuing further on to the mainland, we reach the region of Indochina. This is the name quite often given to the peninsula of Further India. Culturally, however the region is more India than China, with the big exception being Dai Viet.

When considering the region as a whole, what we can see is a general tendency towards decentralization, with previous empires in power collapsing, and emergent petty states competing to fill in the vacuum.
The fourteenth century has seen a general redrawing of the political and cultural map in the area, with the decline of the Khmer and Pagan kingdoms and the rise of several Thaic polities.

When considering the linguistic situation, the Thaic peoples have in a significant number displaced the Mon-Khmeric or Austroasiatic groups: while the Vietic and Khmer peoples maintain a degree of influence, the Mon have been effectively assimilated in the eastern parts of their homeland by the Thais; Palaungic, Khmuic , Katuic and Bahnaric peoples have also been largely displaced and pushed into the hills by the incoming Thais, who are now among the dominant power in the area. The Thais have arrived from the Nanzhao and Dali regions further northwards, and have established a number of polities and tribal groupings: the Shan and some highland tribes along between Dai Viet and Lan Xang form the major highland groupings; in the lowlands a number of Thaic polities were established, namely Lan Xang, Lan Na, Sukhothai and Ayuthaya.

The Thaic peoples (blue) have come to dominate much of the Peninsula at the expense of the Mon-Khmeric peoples (green)
In terms of religion, Theravada Buddhism is by far the prevailing religious system in practically all of the peninsula, the notable exception being Dai Viet being of Mahayana Buddhism and a number of Hillman tribes.

Dai Viet

The battle standard of the Tran dynasty ruling in Dai Viet in the 14th century
Dai Viet, located in the east of the Peninsula is found along the coasts of the South China Sea. The Viets, or by their autonym the Kinh are an Austroasiatic people, forming its own Vietic branch of the linguistic family, parallel to other prominent branches, as the Khmer or Monic ones. Unlike its Austroasiatic kinsmen, the Kinh had come under prolonged periods of Chinese domination, mainly during the period between the 1st century BC and the 10th century AD (with minor interruptions). As such, the area has become a genuine part of the Sinosphere – also thanks to geography, as the narrow coastal corridor along the northern borders of Dai Viet is one of the few openings through which armies can march across comfortably into the peninsula of Indochina.

During the past century, the Kinh have resisted several attempts of the Yuan dynasty to subjugate them; however they also paid tribute as a means of preventing further invasions. After the Ming dynasty has established itself in China proper, the ruling Tran dynasty of Dai Viet acknowledged them as emperors of China and agreed to pay tribute.

Fourteenth-century Dai Viet has effectively integrated gunpowder firearms into their military, gaining an advantage which has been actually the reason why they had managed to repel successive Yuan attempts at full subjugation of the country. Furthermore, the Dai Viet defenders had sought an alliance with the neighbouring Champa people to their south and used the climate and terrain to their advantage.

While Mahayana Buddhism remains by far the prevailing religion in the country, but Confucianism and Taoism are also practiced and, unlike in China, coexist with the local form of Buddhism largely in harmony. Mahayana can be seen as the effective state religion in Dai Viet during the 14th century.

With the establishment of the Ming dynasty in China, Mingjian has also established a small presence in Dai Viet, mainly in the form of Chinese merchant communities and advisors, who as a matter of fact practiced it mainly within their diasporic community, and did not try to proselytize among the wider local population..

Upper Mekong
The Upper Mekong drainage basin (1) has been held only loosely as subject mandalas or s of the Khmer Empire. The largest of these was Muang Sua (2) These areas are relatively hilly, with deep valleys and large differences between elevations at short distances. This, along with subsequent waves of migrations, has caused the area to have a striking ethnic and linguistic diversity.

Fa Ngun, the founder of Lan Xang
Thaic peoples had been pushed southwards by the incoming Naiman invasions, and have entered the Mekong Basin.

The indigenous peoples, who used to live in the entire area are the Khmu people, related to the Kinh of Dai Viet, speaking an Austroasiatic tongue and the Katu living further southwards. The lowland regions have been occupied by the incoming Thaic peoples, who while seizing political power have also taken up the best and most fertile lowland regions along the Mekong Valley itself. These comprise of the Laotians, the Phu Thai and the Phuan peoples, practicing Theravada Buddhism. Ultimately, the uppermost highland regions are settled by the Hmong, but also various Thaic-speaking clans

By the mid-14th century, the Kingdom of Lan Xang has come to dominate this region, taking advantage of the weakening of the Khmer by both the influx of Thai peoples, and the Black Death. As a result, the invading chieftains from the north found little resistance, and were able to subdue the indigenous Khmuic peoples and force them into the higher altitudes, while keeping the fertile lowlands for themselves.

Lower Mekong
The Khmer Empire has dominated the Mekong Basin for centuries, and the Khmer have built astonishing cultural monuments in the tropical jungle environment.

However, by the 14th century, the Khmer civilization has come into decline, caused by a handful of factors. Firstly, was the worldwide disaster of the Black Death, which caused severe depopulation, especially in a humid environment such as that of Southeast Asia. With many people dead, there was not enough people to repair the irrigation system and with the collapse of the water management, an ecological breakdown might have been a likely option

However, this was not the only reason for the drastic collapse. The conversion from Vaishnavite and Shaivist Hinduism to Buddhism of the Theravada form dominant across the region has also caused some instability, as now the authority of the leaders was questioned, being no longer considered devarajas.

Thailand

The Thai tribes have managed to install themselves in the basin of the Menam , or Chao Phraya river. The Thais have established numerous realms – the older kingdom had its capital in Sukhothai, and had managed to achieve full independence in the 13th century. By the 14th century, another rival realm was established at a place known as Ayodhya to the Mon, and Ayyuthaya to the Thais, located along the lower course of the Chao Phraya River. This area had been earlier home to a number of ancient civilizations, such as the Dvaravati or the Lavo; now the Thai have established their realm in this area.

A political map of Indochina during the late 14th century
Needless to say, the Thais, once settling down and establishing their realms – much of this was actually possible mainly to the weakening of the established polities caused by the Black Death – have naturally taken up many influences from the pre-existing civilizations and societies present in the area. Thus, it does not surprise us much that the Thais are heavily culturally influenced by the Mon people, part of whom were assimilated into the Thais, while another part maintained their old language and identity a little further westwards.

The vast majority of Thaic peoples have settled down and became part of the mandala framework in the region.
The southernmost of the Thai realms is the kingdom of Ligor, which has often been just peripheral region, being outside of major trade routes. The kingdom is Theravada Buddhist and significantly influenced by India.

The kingdom of Lanna is located to the north of the Sukhathai kingdom, in an area that had been previously known as the Mon kingdom of Hariphuncai , a hilly region, to the north of which there were multiple Shan states.

Irawaddy Valley
The Naiman invasions into the Irrawaddy Valley have caused the collapse of the Pagan kingdom, which had previously unified the entire region. The result was that the country has broken up into a number of polities.

In the central basin of the Irrawaddy Valley, numerous at first independent kingdoms emerged, such Taungoo, Myinsaing and Sagaing. These have been united into the Ava Kingdom, which can be said to encompass most of Upper Burma. The Avans sought to reassemble the former empire. While successful in the palins, they were unable to overcome the resistance in the hills.

As you may have guessed, the dominant ethnic group of the Ava Kingdom is of course the Bamar; although interestingly, their kings were actually of Shan, that is, Thaic descent.

The Irrawaddy Delta has become the new core of the Mon, who had established their own kingdom in the area called Hanthawaddy for long or simply Pegu for short. The existence of the kingdom has been period of revival and flourishing of the Mon culture and language.

Traditional Shan dance
In the northeast, the Shan, a group of Thai-speaking hillmen, have established numerous smaller kingdoms in the highlands, with the most powerful being Hsenwi, located in the east, and others being much smaller, like Mongyang and Hsipaw. In the uppermost Burma, the lands are populated by the Kachin, a people related to the Bamar in language, though living in a manner similar to the Shan.

To the west is a coastal strip of land, separated from the Irrawaddy Valley proper by a range of hills – the Arakan Mountains. The area between these mountains and the sea is known as Arakan and has become politically organized as the kingdom of Mrauk U. The region of Arakan is, due to geography, much closer tied to India than the Irrawaddy Valley

Ultimately, we can see a religious map of the area​

1. Referring mainly to Laos and adjacent areas of eastern Thailand​
2. OTL later Luang Prabang​

(There are only subtle changes to OTL, such as the establishment of Mingjian Manicheism in Dai Viet and also some relating to the demography of Arakan. Other than that, not much of achange, hey)

 

[Tomislav Addai]

The Land of the Midnight Sun- A Land of Always Winter
The conditions in Greenland were gradually worsening, although the Norse Greenlanders could not sense actually when the climate has dropped beneath a certain point of of inhospitability. More likely, one could argue that it was in fact a boiling-syndrome, as the decrease in temperature was very gradual. Provided the connection with Norway remains secure, all material necessary could be imported from further southwards, while the Norse provided walrus ivory to the European market, often selling it through middlemen as unicorn horns with magical effects. In fact, with this export item, Greenland provided way more money to Norway than Iceland, which humbled itself mainly to sheep wool.

Walrus tusks were the essential export item of Greenland
However, as the cooling continued, even the most adaptable crops failed, and as the willow groves of the coastal areas were cut down, the very little soil available in the country has sand and grovel blown on top of it, vastly reducing its fertility. With the climate worsening, the waters of the North Atlantic in the Greenland Sea become rougher and more treacherous, and contact with both Iceland and then ultimately Norway weakens. Once the Black Death kills of around a third of Norway´s population, the dangerous maritime link with Norway ceases to exist, as the country itself is troubled with its internal problems and has to deal with the pandemic. Few would dare the risky voyage to the northern end of the world.
People in Greenland had experienced multiple crop failures by now. For quite a time, they had come into contact with a people they named as the Skraelings (1), dressed in seal skins, living a nomadic life and living mainly by hunting the sea mammals for food. Ever since their arrival, the Norse were reluctant to adopt these customs from their neighbours and looked at them with suspicion. Nevertheless, as food was becoming scarce, the Norse were forced to supplement their diet with hunting. Many young men had to attempt risky hunting voyages along the coast, perhaps hundreds of miles away from home, or else risk starvation.

Climate in Greenland is getting colder and colder..
These hunting expeditions in the rough sea were highly dangerous, and it may be assumed that accidents, where many able-bodied men were killed were often common.
Ultimately, the Greenlanders decide that enough is enough. Once a ship blown off-course from Vinland reaches their shores, the Greenlanders approach the captain and plea for the captain to take them with him. At first five ships were equipped and evacuated the Western Settlement. Then, ten ships returned for the people of the Eastern Settlement; a few of them had already moved to neighbouring Iceland.
What happened to the Middle Settlement remains a mystery. Like the buildings in the Western and Eastern Settlements, there remain signs of an orderly abandonment of the buildings. Later explorers found occasional bodies of Norsemen dressed in the Inuit fashion. So perhaps some of them reduced their society and adapted to the ever more hostile environment, and implying the Middle Settlement was the first to be abandoned. Others claim, that the people of the Middle Settlement had abandoned their villages and after perhaps some hunting accidents moved to the Eastern and Western Settlements, or attempted to quit themselves, but their ships sunk in the dangerous waters. Or perhaps they have managed to reach Iceland, where there were abandoned farms after the Black Death. With the Black Death taking a high toll, it may explain why we read no mentions of Greenlander refugees – perhaps there were few of them, and the chroniclers had more urgent things to worry about, not some five hundred people coming to occupy vacant farms.
Vinland – An Isolated Outpost?
By the 14th century, all links between Vinland and Europe are effectively lost. The use of Latin script, until now only sporadic in some official records by this period comes completely out of use, and we can see a resurgence of the use of the runic script – this may be due to other complex changes to the society as well.

By the mid-fourteenth century, the population of Vinland peaks at 350 000. This number, connected with population tensions and a harsher climate is to drop to smaller number, as many head southwards.

The largest settlements are Leifsbudir 30 000, Erikshófn with 20 000 and Straumfjordr (2) with 10 000. Note the fact that Leifsbudir takes over as the capital of the realm rather than Erikshófn.

By now, much of the taiga forest of Vinland has been cut down, as more and more land was taken for agriculture, and trees were cut down for timber. However, by this time, all the fertile land was taken, and as winter is coming, with temperatures getting colder as time passes by, the yields are smaller and crop failures more often. Therefore, many Vinlanders are eager to do the same thing that their forefathers did to arrive in the country they call home in the first place: to look for new lands, available for them to settle, with a more temperate climate.

With roughly 70 000 departing for Degunarsland further southwards, and a another 70 000 having left for Matabessic and Lenapehoking, and another 30 000 establish outposts and small merchant communities or serve as mercenaries across much of the continent, the population of Vinland sinks back to some 190 000 people on the Vinland island itself, which relieves the population pressure on the island.

The Land of Dawn
The wooded coastal areas stretching southwards from the Mikmaq realm as far southwards as the Massachusetts Bay, where the realm of Mattabesic begins are populated by several tribal groupings: the Mikmaq, Maliseet, Penobscott and Pennacook, sharing a common language and culture, known collectively as the Abenaki, or People of Dawn, as their homeland is the Land of the Rising Sun, in reference to the continent they inhabit.

While at first relying on fishing and hunting for living, gradually as the peoples had come into contact with peculiar red-haired, bearded men who possess weapons of an unknown material, and carved peculiar symbols into wood and stone. Formidable warriors, the strangers from the north cut down trees in order to grow a peculiar type of grass and strange animals unseen before.

A depiction of life in the Abenaki communities
Ultimately, one of the chieftains, a man named Gwalni Helgison (4), landed at a place called Oranbega (5) with five ships and two hundred warriors. Gwalni and his men knew of the Abenaki well, there had been indeed Vinlander merchants often arriving at the largest hillfort of the Penobscott tribe named Pessamkuk (6), found on top of a hillock on a small island overlooking the sea, and separated from the mainland by a narrow strait.

Bwalni and his men, armed with superior weapons were able to overcome the amazed Abenaki, and declared themselves “Kings of Dawn” (Døgunarkonung in Icelandic, Degwunakunuk in an indiginizid dialect), and many people from Vinland were more than happy to join Bwalni and his adventurers, who had just carved a realm for his men, just as Karl Hjarlsson has done roughly a century ago further southwards, for farmland has become scarce in Vinland proper.

Roughly seventy thousand Vinlanders have moved southwards into the “Wabanahkih” – or as it has come to be known Degunarsland, literally meaning Land of Dawn.

Lenapehoking and Mattabessic
The realms of Lenapehoking and Mattabesic, established at the mouths of Møkenik and Quinetuket (7) Rivers are strikingly similar: both had been established by Norse adventurers who managed to dominate the coastal Algonquian peoples: the Mohegan or Mohican peoples for Mattabesic and the Lenape in Lenapehoking. By the late 14th century, the kings presiding over the Lenape, ruling over a larger, more populous realm, are able to subdue the realm of Mattabesic to their east.

Both of these realms have become home to significant Vinlander communites – perhaps some 70 000 together

Rise of the Powhatan
So far, we could have witnessed the domination of the Norse over various Eastern Algonquian peoples inhabiting the coastal areas of the Atlantic.

A linguistic map of eastern Mackinack
Tsenacommacah or simplified as Senakomka is the name a native people (8) gave to their land west of the Chesepyook Bay, literally meaning densely populated land. The area has come home to powerful chieftains, with a title of Mamanatowick.

Tsenacommacah, or Senakomka was found in one of the most fertile regions on the continent, and its residents lived in villages protected by wooden palisade, and their people cultivated maize, beans, squash and vegetables. The people were divided into a number of tribes, such as the Appomatoc, Arrohatock, Chesepeake,Kecoughtan, Nansemond,Paspanegh, Potchayick, Powhatan, Quoyocohannock, Warrascock and Weanock – and these being only the tribes in the central region of the Senakomka country.

A reconstruction of a Powhatan village
The chiefs of the Powhatan tribe were the ones who actually became the paramount chiefs of the entire Senakomka region. As such, they ruled over at least 500 000 people, and once having discovered iron ore deposits (9), the Powhatan take advantage of getting knowledge of iron-working techniques, due to gradual diffusion by Norse ironsmiths.

The Cánuáca Seaway
Living north of the Vinland Sea are some hunter-gatherer bands of the Lúmanar, speaking a mixed Irish-Innu language, inhabiting the land of Nithasin. Their lands are attacked by Vinlanders, who subjugate them and demand tribute.

The Vinlanders (as well as number of Greenlander refugees) establish a fortified hillfort at Saguenay, located inland to the northwest of the Cánuaca delta, and has become one of the major places of collecting tribute in the form of both furs and timber, which is sent on small boat down the Saguenay River, where, at the estuary it is again reshipped and sent to Vinland

The Cánuáca (10) River is one of the largest rivers in the Mackinack (11) and connects the Vinland Sea with the Great Lakes, enabling thus access to the Mississippi Plains. As such, the Cánuáca River has come to be one of the most important arteries and trade routes. As mentioned previously, the Cánuáca Valley is populated by Iroquian peoples, more often than not at odds with their Algonquian neighbours.

The major hillforts in the river valley itself are Hochelaga and Stadacona, and this area has already been in contact with the Lúmanar people who had introduced some domestic animals and metal-working during the past centuries.

A little further southwards lies a number of tribes speaking related Iroquian languages: from west to east being Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk. These peoples are now mainly growing maize, and have a matrilineal society.

The Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are one of the dominant natural features in the eastern half of Mackinack, consisting of a network of interconnected lakes, beginning with Lake Gitchigan (12) in the west, then continuing with Lakes Michigan and Huron further downstream, then followed by Lake Ontario further eastwards, which is connected to Lake Erie by the iconic Niagara waterfalls.

The Niagara Falls
The Great Lakes, as inland seas with still waters offer an incentive to lacustrine navigation in the area.

When considering linguistics, two different people groups can be found inhabiting the lakeside regions. While the eastern two lakes: Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, as well as the eastern shores of Lake Huron are populated largely by Iroquoian peoples, such as the Huron and Wyandot peoples in the Ontario peninsula and the Erie tribe to the south of the eponymous lake, or the Iroquois living east of Lake Ontario, the western parts of the Great Lakes Basin are inhabited primarily by Algonquian peoples – the Potawatomi and Ottawa in Michigan, the large peninsula between lake Michigan and Huron having the shape of a left-hand palm, the Ojibway or Chippewa peoples west of Lake Gitchigan and then the various Meskwaki, Sauk and Kickapoo peoples to the west of Lake Michigan. The sole exception were the Winnebago peoples speaking a Siouan language living at the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan

Lacustrine trade has helped establish a network of trade and exchange of ideas; both the Algonquians and Iroquians have stablished numerous coastal port cities, and in contact with each other. The common crops farmed by peoples here are mainly maize, beans and squash ,but also wild rice, an indigenous plant growing in the region. The peoples of the region also grow orchards of sugar maple, being used for collecting maple syrup.

The Ojibwe warriors are becoming the dominat power in the Great Lakes region
The arrival of iron tools into the Great Lakes region dramatically changes the power relations in the area. The access to this vital metal will give advantage over those that lack it: when considering, there are abundant iron ore mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the home of the Menominee people, and at the north-western shores of Lake Gitchigan, which is home to the Chibeway or Ojibwe people.

As such, these two nations are thus the most likely candidates for expansion in the Great Lakes region. The primary target for Menominee expansion are their neighbours across Lake Michigan: the Ottawas and Potawatomis living in the Left-hand palm Michigan peninsula. The Menominee occupy the region, and push the remaining Potawatomis southwards, into Miami and Erie territory.

A political map of northeastern Mackinack
Meanwhile, the target of Ojibwe expansion is the Oneota civilization, located at the upper reaches of the Mississippi river. This civilization, which shares some traits with the Cahokian complex and has their bearers being the Ho-Chunk people. While these attacks show us signs of plunder and result in a period of decline among the Oneota, there is no evidence of movement of larger groups of Ojibwe into the upper Mississippi region. Rather, the Ojibwe and the Menominee have become feared raiders, attacking many lakeside settlements in the area. The Ojibwe have come to dominate the entire Gitchigan Lake basin and parts of Lake Huron basin​

1. The Thule Inuit
2. Historians speculated that it was L´Anse aux Meadows; I buy into this and consider the two to be the same
3. At Camden, Maine
4. The dude was named originally Bjarni. However, the Abenaki language does have the “r” sound in its phonology.
5. Either in Penobscott or Knox County, Maine
6. Located in Hancock County, Maine
7. Connecticut river – this is the original name that was given by the Mohegan people to the body of water
8. Known to us as the Powhatan
9. In Chesterfield County, VA
10. St. Lawrence River
11. An anglicised name of one of the very few native names of North America I have come across. The original name is Mikinoc Waajew, a name in the Ojibwe language or so meaning Turtle Island. Source: https://www.quora.com/What-are-Native-American-names-for-the-North-American-subcontinent
12. Derived from Gichigami, the Ojibwe name for Lake Superior meaning “large body of water!

 

[Tomislav Addai]

The Southeast of the continent of Mackinack is a largely lowland area, with the exception being the Appalachian Mountains, and can be found in the humid subtropical climate zone. Summers in this region are long and winters short and mild. As a result, there are six months available for crops to grow, and this has enabled sustained growth of large populations.

Agriculture and Cuisine
The predominant stable crops grown in this region are maize along with the two remaining being squash and beans. The climate is such that it actually enables multiple harvests a year, thus hastening population growth. Other plants used in agriculture are little barley, knotweed, goosefoot, maygrass, sumpweed and sunflowers. These plants had once been the primary staple foods before the introduction of maize; by the 14th century, they are grown only as a supplement to maize just to supplement the diet, perhaps planted as one fifth in comparison to maize.

Vegetables grown in southeastern Mackinack include tomatoes, pumpkins, beans, peppers, sassafras, while the cultivated fruits include raspberries, blackberries and muscadines. Wild grapes and plums were also common.

It appears that no native domestic animals existed in the region prior to introduction of sheep (which were raised primarily in the Appalachian Mountains) and cattle (soon experiencing a boom in the prairies ) via contact with the Great Lakes region. The hog or pig has also become very common, though there were serious problems with escaped pigs digging out and eating the planted crops.

The swamp rabbit is domesticated in the lower Mississippi region
It appears that swamp rabbits (Sylvilagus aquaticus), native to the lower Mississippi basin were independently domesticated by the lower Mississippian peoples some time in the 13th-14th century, thus becoming the only animal domesticated in Mackinack outside of Mesoamerica, although most likely the idea came from the contact with Ojibwe people having introduced European domestic animals. The only other domesticated animal was the dog

Trade, Contact and Arrival of Iron Age
The principal artery of the entire region was of course the Mississippi River, being the single largest river in the continent. In its lower course, however, the river was rather volative, and an alternative path, using the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers was often preferred.

The very geography of the Mackinack Continent has encouraged most trade routes to connect the north and the south, rather than the east to the west, or to run diagonally parallel to the Atlantic Coast or the ridges of the Appalachain Mountains. The major exception to this rule were the trade routes located in the south of the Great Plains, connecting the lower Mississippi area to the Hopi, Navajo and Zuni peoples in the southwest of the continent.

Nevertheless, the general pattern allows for contact both with the Cánuáca River basin and ultimately Vinland in the northeast, and then through the *Gulf of Mexico* in the south to connect with Anahuac (1).

The introduction of iron tools to the region results in a sudden change of the previous development. The previous, highly hierarchical social order with matrilineal clans becomes questioned, and previously peripheral groups take over the prominent role, while previous centres of power, such as Cahokia or polities found on the Lower Mississippi are plundered and left to fall into decay.

The general shifting of power potential has thus profited more “rurally” based peoples or tribal groupings, while previously “centralized” polities are pulling the shorter end of the string

The bronze and obsidian ages have empowered the rich and wealthy, and it has been chiefly the priestly class and the merchants who were in power. Bronze being a combination of copper and tin is very expensive, as long-distance trade is needed to bring the two resources together.

With iron being much more common, warfare and thus power dynamics turn the table completely around. No longer is it the question of whom can afford to bring together copper and tin to and forge bronze weapons, resulting in highly hierarchical societies, but with the coming of iron, it gives advantage to the brave and courageous, especially if both physically fit and numerous enough.

Prior to the introduction of iron weapons, the rulers of Cahokia needed not to fear that much their neighbours, for they alone could afford to purchase and manufacture way more bronze weapons than their rural neighbours. However, as is the case within urban societies, the proportion of recruits is far smaller than among rural or tribal populations.

Societies, Urban and Rural
South-eastern Mackinack during the 14th century sees predominantly two types of organized societies. Firstly, there are the “Mississippian” societies of the Natchez, Cahokia, Caddo, or Apalachee. These peoples are known to live in larger fortified cities, with mounds and pyramids at their centre, emulating Anahuacan cities. Society among these peoples is stratified, and population and government is centralized, with often one clearly dominant capital city, where often over half of the population and the entire political power is concentrated.

To contrast these largely city-state are territorial chiefdoms of peoples such as the Cherokee, Choctaw, or Muscogee, who had outright rejected Anahuacan influences and the idea of such concentration of power and strict differentiation of society are frowned upon.

Rather, a more egalitarian organization of the society is preferred, with power being devoluted among numerous local chieftains, being heads of powerful clans. The realms are thus de-centralized, with powerful local chieftains holding the power of the paramount chiefs in check.



Atlantic Region
The Atlantic Region of southeastern Mackinack begins at the southern borders of Senakomka, the land of the Powhatan. One of the larger tribal groupings to their south were the Tuscarora, an Iroquian people living on the lower Roanoke. The dominant power between the Santee and the Nouse Rivers (2) were the Catawba people, strangely enough speaking a Siouan language.

The coastal regions of this area are sparsely populated as they are unhealthy marshy regions. Therefore, the Tuscarora and Catawban peoples, forming the largest population groups in this corner of the continent are not looking towards the ocean. On the contrary, most trade and traffic will have to travel over land. With the rivers flowing from the northwest to the southeast and mostly parallel to each other, they provide little, if any use to trade between communities. Rather, the need arises to construct roads running perpendicular to the rivers in the region,



Florida
The Floridan Peninsula is a tip of swampy land extending into the Atlantic to meet Cuba and the Bahamas. Culturally, it remains more connected to the Carribean Islands than to the rest of Mackinack mainland. The swampy terrain of the Everglades has actually prohibited denser and larger settlements from becoming established in the area.

The major tribe groupings are the Timucua located in the northwest of the peninsula and the Calusa to be found at the southwestern tip; Ais, Tequesta and Jelagua peoples could be found along the southeastern coast. The Apalachee peoples have set up numerous trading stations along the western coast of the peninsula to trade with the Timucua and Calusa peoples.

Muscogeen Peoples

Languages of the southeast
During the 14th century, it has become clear that the Muscogeean peoples are to becoming the most important factor in the Southeast. There exist six major Muscogeean peoples: Muscogee proper, often sometimes referred to as the Creek (3), then Hitchit just north of the Florida Peninsula. These two together form the eastern branch. The central branch is composed of the Chatot, Mobile, Coasati, Alabama and Apalachee languages, while the western branch is made of the Choctaw and Chickasaw languages. More divergent languages can be found in the valley of the Mississippi River and further westwards – the Tunica, Natchez, Chitimacha and Atakapa languages.

While belonging to different ethnic groups, the Muscogeean peoples share many common customs in the organization of their society, as a result of close relation and common geographic environment. One of the major peculiarities in Muscogeean societies is its matrilineal nature. Indeed, you read well. In the south, it is the women, who hold important positions in regard to governing the society, being in charge of the civilian sphere, while the men remain in charge of the military sphere.

The Muscogeean or Creek peoples have thus established themselves to the north of the Floridan peninsula, in the basins of rivers such as the Alabama.

The coastal region between Florida and the Mississippi Delta is in strong contact and under heavy influence of Anahuac, and ball game pitches were found in major Apalachee cities. The Apalachee peoples look to the sea as an opportunity, and have cut down much of the forests surrounding their lands just to build ships and participate in trade. The trade network of the Apalachee connects the chiefdoms of the Tuscarora and Catawba peoples in the northeast, then running through Creek or Muscogee and Hitchit territory to their principal ports. To the northwest, they make use of larger rivers as arteries for trade, but their focus is to the south, trading with peoples living along the coast of the swampy Floridan Peninsula such as Timucua and Calusa, but more importantly, the Apalachee merchants visited the island of Cuba, where they would trade with the Taíno peoples, before visiting the marketplaces of the Maya at the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula.

A political map of Southeast Mackinack.
Rivalling to the Apalachee are the Pensacola peoples to their west. The Pensacolans specialized themselves more to trading with the Alabama people of the interior, and their trade routes followed the coast westwards, to the mangrove-covered marshes of the Mississippi delta and to the Karankawa peoples living on the coast of Texas

The Alabama people, located at the banks of the eponymous river, have taken advantage of the fact, that the trade routes have diverged into their lands. Controlling an area rich in iron, they are known as formidable mercenary warriors, ready to be hired by foreign kings and princes at places such as Cuba or the Yucatan Peninsula. In fact, the 14th century saw a great number of Alabama mercenaries be hired by Mayan kings.

Lower Mississippi Valley
The lower Mississippi floodplain is inhabited by the Tunica, Natchez (4) and Chitimacha peoples, related to the Muscogeean peoples. Living in marshy floodplains, and with the general reshuffling of power with the arrival of the iron age and the shifting of the trade routes, it appears that what happened to these previously flourishing communities may have been any combination of the following: their cities become targets of Choctaw and Chickasaw raiding and plunder, resulting in a population decline. When hit by heavy floods, the irrigation system falls into disrepair, as there is a lack of manpower to repair them. With that, crops fail and with people having difficulty to find food, they seek to find a new home.

A reconstruction of cities on the lower Mississippi
From archaeological findings we can observe layers of ash and sediments in many of their cities and hillforts during this period. However, far from utterly collapsing, the Natchez are undergoing a prolonged period of decline and crisis, only to emerge once more.

Previously omnipotent Sun Lords, the powerful god-kings of the Lower Mississippi are deposed from absolute power, as military chieftains take up the political power in the area, establishing a military-based royalty.

Cahokia, Shawnee and Cherokee
Cahokia has been the largest city in the Mackinack continent, with an estimated population of 40 000 people at its height. The people of Cahokia appear to have been of Illiwinek ancestry, meaning that the Cahokians also spoke an Algonquin language. Cahokia is one of the major sites that have severely declined due to the introduction of Iron Age, and the city itself was plundered by invaders. The population of Cahokia is subsequently reduced only to a few thousand, while still maintaining a symbolic significance similar to that of the legacy of Rome in the Mediterranean.

As we have no written records as of what has happened to the Cahokians, we may only guess. However a group of historians attributes the fall of Cahokia to the introduction of the horse to the Plains, where these groups have now become very mobile and the hordes an unstoppable force. In Eurasia, it has taken centuries to develop an effective counter for mounted archers –now considering that the introduction of this animal to Mackinack is relatively new, and that Cahokians had previously relied almost exclusively on the fact that they had a better supply of weapons, which are now considered outdated, it makes perfect sense that the attack from the Great Plains came unexpected and once surrounded by horse archers, who just kept riding around them in circles before riding away and returning again, the warriors of Cahokia no idea how to defeat them.

The Shawnee people inhabiting the lower Tennessee Valley and middle Ohio are of the Algonquian stock, and were dwelling in large fortified towns with earthen mounds at their midst. Like many of their neighbours, the Shawnee had a matrilineal society, although the kingship (Sachema) was hereditary by the matrilineal line. This was so as to prevent questioning of legitimacy of claimants to the throne, as monogamy appears not to be a real thing among all the peoples of Mackinack. So technically, you would have the children of the king´s sister or king´s brother (by the same mother) inherit the throne, but not the king´s sons for that matter.

An artist´s depiction of a Cherokee village
The Cherokee people, living in the southern extension of the Appalachian Mountains are distantly related to the Iroquois. Occupying the higher altitudes, the Cherokee peoples were one of the peoples who have adapted rather quickly to the introduction of new domesticated animals and iron-working.

Caddo
The Caddo peoples can be found living to the west of the Lower Mississippi River, in the area of the transition zone from the monsoon region to the Great Plains. As such, the area is far more arid than other parts of the Southeast. The Caddoan people are making great use of cattle.

However, the Caddoans are also remarkable for one major innovation in the Mackinack continent: they are the earliest to make effective use of the horse in warfare. The Caddoans have obtained a small number of horses via the Mississippi trade network, and once realizing the full potential of these animals, they sought to breed them as fast as possible, and at first horses were reserved to messengers, chieftains and their bodyguards, but as the number of horses multiplied, more and more warriors were able to fight on horseback.

The Great Plains
The Great Plains, a stretch of land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, provides a natural grassland corridor, from north to south, between Saskatchewan River in the north to the shores of the Gulf in the south.

This natural grassland zone was inhabited by numerous tribes, chiefly the Lakota (Teton), Nakota (Assinoboine) and Dakota (Santee) in the north, belonging to the Siouan language family, in the north, and the Wichita, Shoshone and Comanche in the south.

The bison is the essential supply of food for the tribes of the Great Plains
While most of the tribes had previously sustained on hunting the bison and growing maize. The previously sedentary cultures of Plains , living in villages of grass houses, pithouses and earth lodges.

All has changed with the introduction of animals such as sheep and cattle. These animals are heavy grazers, and are particularly well adapted to living in large herds in endless steppes. The previous village culture of the Plains Indians, as well as their growing of crops is thus largely abandoned, as vast herds of sheep and cattle now dominate the landscape.

But the sheep or the cattle are not the animal these peoples prized most. It was the horse that was prized and valued most by the Lakota. The horse, allowing much faster transport across open landscape was soon the most prized animal among the peoples of the Plains. The number of these animals was small, as they were not used as much in the eastern woodlands.

However the demand for the horses was high and the Ojibwe, who were controlling much of the western shores of the Great Lakes, armed with iron weapons, carefully protecting their trade were lacking the sufficient numbers for these valuable animals, selling perhaps a few of dozen every year.

At first, the first horse has the shepherds or cowboys on the saddle, takin care of the vast herds of cattle and sheep. Gradually, however as the horses become more and more available among tribesmen, they shift once more back to hunting the bison. Equipped with bows and arrows, and now highly mobile, the Plains tribes choose the much more nutritious bison over the petty sheep and cattle.​

1. Know to us as Mesoamerica.
2. Roughly corresponding to North Carolina and northeastern half of South Carolina
3. Located mainly in Georgia and adjacent parts of South Carolina
4. The bearers of the Plaquemine culture
5. These are the early names for subgroups of the Sioux

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Greetings all, it has been quite a while since I have posted last time. So well this is my attempt to fix it all, now I am going to take a look again at the Indian Subcontinent in the 14th century.

Ceylon and Maldives
The island of Ceylon has for centuries been a bastion of Buddhism in the south of the Subcontinent. Established trade networks have brought communities of Christians and Manicheans onto the island, who have settled in distinct neighbourhoods in the major coastal ports.

The chain of coral atolls known as the Maldives and the Laccadives is now fully in the hands of Msadeqi merchants, who are careful enough to fight with pirates having established a base or two on some smaller atoll.

Deccan
The tip of the Subcontinent consists of two major regions. The Malabar Coast, looking westwards, is known for its close ties to the Middle East and multicultural environment. This area was divided into numerous principalities: the largest being Cochin, Calicut, Venad and Quilon, although the former two remain most prominent.

The Malabar Coast is also known for being one of the regions where Hinduism failed to become a majority religion. In the 14th century, the Nestorians were a plurality in this area, though other faiths were common as well. One of the fast growing communities are the Msadeqi Manicheans, who have managed to convert the local ruler , styled Zamoorin of Calicut, known also by the local name of Kozhikode. Apart from Chistians and Msadeqis, a considerable number of both Hindus could be found in Kerala, who could be found in the deep hinterlands of Kerala as well as many being employed as servants in the city, as well as Jain, Jewish and Zoroastrian communities. The demands for labour were met by not only servants employed from the hinterland, but also slave labour, brought by ships following the monsoon from the Kinari Coast.

A church in Calicut. Nestorianism is the plurality religion in Kerala

The Malabar Coast in the 14th century is thus a cosmopolitan region, being at the heart of the global trade network, rich in spices and seaward looking.

The kingdom of Mysore, continues to occupy the Kannada speaking region. Unlike the Malabar coast, Mysore is a predominantly agrarian region. Unlike in the Malabar Coast, in Mysore we can witness a well-established caste system. Apart from Hinduism which is the prevailing religion of the kings and most of the populace, Jainism continues to be patronized by the state, while a few Msadeqi places of worship exist as well.

To its southeast lay the Tamil-speaking region, which is presided over by the Pandya dynasty. The Pandya dynasty are a local Tamil dynasty which has succeeded the previously ruling Cholas, one of the longest-reigning dynasties in India. The Pandyan dynasty continues to sponsor Tamil literature, and though the prestige of the Tamil language is gradually fading, it still continues being the most prestigious of the Dravidian tongues. Unlike the Malabar coast, the Tamil country is nowhere near as cosmopolitan, and is better known for it being a beacon of Shaivite Hinduism. Pandyan architecture is also known for their impressive rock-carved structures.

The Tamil country is also known for its capable military, composed of infantry, cavalry and elephantry. Bows and arrows, swords and lances were common weapons. Most of the troops were lightly armed – after all considering the climate, they could sweat to death were they to wear a heavy armour. For protection, animal skins and oil was preferred, as well as shields.

Further to the northeast is the Kakatiya kingdom ruling over the Telugu lands. The Kakatiya realm stands out largely for its general absence of the caste system. While the notion of a caste was known, it had little if no importance to the general life of the Telugu kingdom. The Kakatiya kings have sponsored many marvellous works of architecture and Telugu culture.

Scripts used in India

Spoiler: Legend

The coastal regions of the Telugu country were becoming much more prosperous than the inland heart of the kingdom. What we can witness is the growth of the cities like Madurai and actively taking part in the trade network. The shift of population to the coast is likely to be followed by a shift of power as well.

Ultimately even further to the northeast was the realm of Haihaivansi. Occupying an ethnically diverse region of Orissa and Chattisgarh, and nothing much else is outstanding about it.

A political representation of India in 1400AD

Eastern India
Continuing to eastern India, we arrive to the low-lying combined delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. This densely populated region is now home to the Kingdom of Vanga , with its capital at Gauda. Vanga (1) has slightly taken advantage of the weakening of the Shahdom of Hind, which has been the hegemonic power of the Gangetic plains. Vanga, while not being a primarily land power, nevertheless has built a solid army, allowing to defend itself chiefly from the northwest, the direction from where empires localted on the middle and upper Gangetic plain could invade. Other directions featured less organized foes; chiefly being hill-clans interested in raiding, rather than possible full-scale invasion.

Vanga focuses its attention to the sea, being a major exporter of cotton, silk and having a large commercial fleet. Having underwent an agrarian reform and improvement in administration, Vanga has become one of the major powers in the Subcontinent, and continues to make further advances in mathematics, astronomy and commerce.

Literature in the Vangi language, be it in the forms of poetry, epic romance but also philosophical and scientific essays has developed significantly, and Vanga can be considered as one of the major “soft powers” in the Subcontinent.

Languages of India: Nt much has changed, except for some Indo-Aryan advancements in the Deccan

Vanga remains a firmly Buddhist nation, and has put the Kingdom of Ahom, located to the south of the eastern Himalayas in the valley of the Brahamaputra river, to Buddhist faith as well.

The Kingdom of Ahom, only recently converted to Buddhism is practically a buffer of Vanga, known particularly for its major tea exports.

The tea fields of Ahom

In the hilly jungle at the eastern border of the Subcontinent is located Manipur, an enigmatic kingdom still clinging to its own Sanamahist faith. In many medieval maps, Manipur was represented by a bunch of hills forming the border between Vanga and Burma. Manipuri royalty was married in into the royal houses of Ahom and Burma; culturally after all, these folks spoke a language related to the Burmese. Manipur was known in Vanga for selling teak and other wood, essential for Vangi shipwrights, but also selling cardammon, oranges and tea, while also being a frequent source of mercenaries into the Vangi army.

Gangetic Plains
Domineering the Gangetic Plains has been the Shahdom of Hindh, or as sometimes known Shahdom of Hindustan. However, the previously dominant realm was facing hardship as the 14th century progressed. While one of Hindustanis successful campaign has managed to conquer the bigger part of Kathiawar, the continuity of the entire realm was challenged by Abaqid army attacking across the Khyber Pass

The Abaqid dynasty has been ruling over Sogdia and Central Asia, and has been actively preparing for the invasion of India, lured by the tales of the wonders and riches of the Subcontinent. Having superior military organization, experience and skill, the invading army was nevertheless unfamiliar with the tropical climate of the Subcontinent as well as Hindustani deployment of elephants to battle.

The two forces met between the towns of Attock and Rawalpindi in the northwestern part of Punjab. Despite the Shahdom of Hindustan fielding a large number of war elephants and a large number of men altogether, the more mobile and organized Abaqid forces were able celebrate a decisive victory.

The Abaqid army had to face the Hindustanis again near Gujranwala between the Chenab and Ravi rivers. This second Hindustani force was rallied hastily, and a large proportion of it consisted of new recruits with little to no experience, while the veterans were pulled southwards to defend the capital region. Unsurprisingly, the Abaqids scored another major victory at Gujranwala, before establishing a border at the Sutlej River, marking the eastern borderlands of Punjab itself. Abaqid raids continued even further eastwards and southwards, plundering and looting magnificent cities in Rajasthan and the alluvial plains of the Doab.

This major defeat of Hindustan in the 1320s resulted in an internal earthquake as well. Its adversaries saw the moment of weakness as an opportunity to strike against their feared nemesis, resulting in even further weakening of Hindustan. The ruling shahs appear unable to hold the realm together and being incompetent. In 1341 the wuzurg framadar, effectively the prime minister, a man named Piroz of Hardwar, born to a Persianate father and a Hindu mother. Piroz has proven to be a competent commander, defeating numerous Abaqid raiding parties, while being also a competent statesman, securing alliance with the spurious Rajput clans. Piroz of Hardwar ultimately deposed the last Shah, cutting his hair and away his right hand.

The Hardwari Dynasty ruling over a plundered Hindustan has made many accommodations to the prevailing Hindu religion. Many new Hindu temple were erected, and the caste system being recognized as part of the social fabric.

One of the realms established on the ruins of Hindustan was Avadh (2). This region, bound between Vanga, Himalayas and the Hindustani heartland. Avadh is a highly urbanized region, and one where the urban Buddhist culture of India incorporates Persianate influences passed down from the period of Hindustani rule.

The middle and upper Gangetic plains remain under Hindustani rule, though turmoil and civil war are common phenomena during this era, as well as various rebellions, often led by princes or satraps – the independence of Avadh being an example of a clean and successful one; others were bloodier and were suppressed in the end. The resulting depopulation was solved by some migration of peasants from the south, who were largely Hindu, thus by large weakening the Buddhist element in the Gangetic plain.

The Buddhists were the politically and intellectually and militarily dominant elite, yet the vast majority of their subjects were Hindus. This is likely to have further consequences on the stability and continued existence of the Shahdom of Hindustan.

The Indus Valley
Mountainous Kashmir, nicknamed “Garden of India” has been mentioned in a lot of Indian poetry as an idyllic mountain environment. While Ladakh and Baltistan in the high altitudes are a continuation of the greater Tibetan cultural regions, with inaccessible monasteries in the mountain vales, with fabulous warrior monks. Kashmir and Jammu themselves have been conquered by the Abaqids as northern extension of Punjab of some sort. Kashmir is known for its fine cashmere wool, made from the Cashmere goat, the common herd animal bred on the mountain slopes. Unlike elsewhere in India, meat-eating is a common thing, even for Buddhists and Roshblani converts. Kashmir is also known for its tradition of martial arts and is also a place where some of the first warrior monks of the Roshblani – “The Champions of the Light”, also known for their martial arts, taking inspiration from the Tibetan warrior monks.

A mountain scenery of Kashmir

The Abaqid conquest of Punjab was marked of course by a big degree of brutality, with a lot of plunder and devastation taking place. The continued history of Punjab betting invaded has had profound influences on local culture – with a stark martial culture became ingrained into the Punjabi customs, as those who were unable to defend themselves would have failed to pass their genes further down. Carrying a dagger has indeed become an essential part of the traditional costume in Punjab. The “Champions of the Light” are establishing outposts in Punjab.

The Abaqid conquest also resulted in a significant number of Central Asian nobility and warriors settling in the area. Quite a lot of the conquerors were of Manichean background – and adopted the local Roshblani denomination.

A map of the religions of India in 1400AD

​

The region of Sindh, close to the delta of the Indus River has emerged as an independent realm during the havoc and turmoil connected with the weakening of the Shahdom of Hind. The Sodha dynasty (3) have become the new rulers of region. Sindh was distinguished by its largely Christian population, although the new rulers were zealous Buddhists.

An artistic depiction of Rajputs

The Sodha dynasty were a Rajput clan – the Rajputs being descended from the bloodlines of various assimilated ethnic groups, who were considered inferior to the Kshatriya caste – some may have been descendants from the Indo-Greeks, others from Kushans and others of Hunas.

Their clan-based social structure may be traced back to their origins in the Central Asian steppe. The Rajputs were seen by their Hindu countrymen as champions in the struggle against various conqueror dynasties; and as a matter of fact, political unity among the Rajputs was essentially non-existent.

The Sodha dynasty were staunch proponents of Hinduism, and during their reign they sponsored construction of new temples, even in largely Christian areas.

Western India
While the Kathiawar Peninsula has been conquered by the Shahdom of Hindustan, there remain two largely independent realms bordering it. Kathiawar and the region east of the Thar Desert are ruled by various squabbling Rajput clans, previously revolting against the Shahdom of Hindustan, now having reached an agreement with the Hardwari dynasty, which accepted their internal autonomy.

We can see small changes to the social structure of India

In the west, there is Kutch, holding onto its independence also due to favourable terrain (which is however not favourable for most of any other economic activities), as there are large wetlands in the rainy seasons, which turn into saltpans during the dry season.

To the east of the Kathiawar Peninsula, we find the Baroda Kingdom, which is focused mostly on trade. The ruling monarch has converted from Jainism to Msadeqi Manicheism, and many townspeople living in the coastal regions are Msadeqiyyan Manicheans as well; in the hinterlands most are Jainists of the Svetambara sect. Baroda, as well as Hindustani Kathiawar, has benefitted from the trade with the Kinari Coast, and many slaves, sometimes called servants, are found in the households of wealthy Barodian merchants or toiling the fields for the land owners.

Among the states rebelling from the Hindustani Shahdom were also Gwalior, which became a small Hindu principality ruled by a clan of the warrior caste, and Malwa, which becomes known as the centre of Jain culture of the Digambara sect, enabling, together with Baroda, a period of renaissance of Jainism across western India.

The Yadava dynasty, ruling much Maharashtra remains the dominant force in much of the western India, yet having lost the Konkanic Coast, where an independent plutocratic realm dependent on maritime trade establishes itself.

The Konkani Coast shares many characteristics of the Malabar Coast, although it is slightly less cosmopolitan, and Christians dominate the towns, while Jains can be found largely in the hinterlands, with emergent Msadeqi communities in the coastal towns as well.

1. Originally, Bengal was named Banga or Vanga, and the suffix –al came later. I decided to spell it Vanga.
2. Paralleling the Sultanate of Jaunpur, a Muslim realm, whose rulers styled themselves as Sultans of Sharqiya (Sultans of the East). Now Avadh is a predominantly Buddhist and partially Hindu realm
3. Named after one of the Rajput clans of Sindh; analogues to the Samma dynasty

 

[Tomislav Addai]

In the Lap of the Himalayas: Nepal
We have missed one major area of the Indian Subcontinent, and that is the sub-Himalayan realms in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. I would like to hereby thank @Food-Oh_Koon for introducing me to the history of his country.

Given Nepal´s mountainous terrain, it is no surprise that throughout the 14th century it remains disunited. In the western parts of what is known to us as Nepal we have the Khasa kingdom, a solid Vajrayana Buddhist realm, which at times extended to the borders of powerful Indian empires in the Gangetic Plains. The Khasas are an Indo-European people (1).

The Sinja valley, considered to be the core of the Khasa kingdom
As a side note, I mention the independent Buddhist kingdom of Kumaon, located just to the west of the area known as Nepal.

The Kathmandu Valley is one of the established population and power centres in the 14th century Himalayan region. This region of the country is known as Nepal Mandala ruled by the Malla dynasty. The original inhabitants of this region were speaking the Newar language, of Tibetan stock. Gradual exposure to the Sanskrit language used as a prestige language, as well as arrivals of more peoples from the south have resulted in the rooting of the Kathmandu Valley fully into the Indian cultural sphere. The Kings of Newar stylicized themselves as Rajas using Sanskrit terminology and are not to have codified Nepali law in the 14th century – law was written in Newar and Sanskrit languages.

Several other Tibetan-related ethnic groups continue to inhabit Nepal, like the Kirat, the Gurung, the Tamang and the Limbu. The Kingdom of Limbuwan, extending into Sikkim was one of the most powerful of these entities. As general rule, the lowland terrace plains, known as Terai are populated by Indo-Aryan peoples, while the upland valleys, particularly more as one travels east, are populated more and more by Tibetan-related peoples. While also the Tibetan- related groups have adopted Buddhism and many monasteries have been built even in relatively high-altitude localities, elements of pre-Buddhist Tibetan shamanism (called Bon), continue to shape local spirituality.

Tibet – A Land of Yaks and Monasteries
The land of Bhutan, culturally an extension of the vast Tibetan Plateau, located on the southern foothills of the Himalayas was a country divided into many local polities. Bumthang was the most powerful of these petty lordships. Rivalry among various sects of Buddhism appears to have been a major issue in this forgotten corner of the world.

The Tibetan Plateau itself has fragmented into four (five if you count Ladakh as well) major realms: In the southeast, between Lhasa and the gorge that the Brahmaputra River has carved across the Himalayas is the land of U. Further upstream is the realm of Tsang. The realm of U supported the Gelugpa sect, while Tsang favoured the Sakya sect of Buddhism; both realms had many monasteries.

The eastern end of the Tibetan Plateau is called Kham, with its warriors having a reputation of high quality and fierceness. The land itself is on the borders with the Chinese Ming Dynasty, and is marked by gorges of many major rivers, such as the Mekong or the Yangtze.

At the western end of the Tibetan Plateau is the realm of Guge, dominated by the Sakya monastic regime

The realm of Ladakh has undergone periods of rule by both from Kashmir and Guge, before establishing itself as an independent realm altogether. Most of Ladakhi trade is oriented downstream towards Kashmir and Pantzab. Unlike the fertile meadows of Kashmir, Ladakh is situated in a rain shadow, causing it to be much drier than Kashmir, known as the “garden of India”.

The domestic yak- this hardy animal is crucial to the Tibetans
Buddhism has thus become one of the defining aspects of Tibetan culture, and monasteries are common landmarks in the Tibetan Plateau. Statues of Buddhas can be seen very often. Tibetans had for centuries eaten barley noodles and drank butter tea, yak milk or jasmine tea, rice wine or barley beer. Yogurt, butter and cheese, as well as yak meat are common foods in the Tibetan cuisine as well. One of Tibet´s major exports has been its rugs. Given Tibet´s high altitude, astronomy should be one of the science that were well developed, as observing the stars was much easier when you have a shallower atmosphere.

The Splintering of Abaqid Khanate
As has been hinted in the previous update, the Abaqids ruling over a vast Naiman successor realm across much of Central Asia, has succeeded in making an invasion into India. However, as the new khans in the mid-14th century are to discover, holding onto land is not as easy as conquering land.

The Abaqid Khanate, stretching from the Altai to the Thar Desert on the north-south axis and from the Aral Sea to the Taklamakan Desert finds itself utterly overstretched, and demographics don’t help to glue the realm together either. While the Silk Road network of postal stations and Nestorian monasteries does a little to easen the effects, nevertheless, the different parts of this khanate, separated by some of the tallest mountain ranges on the planet ultimately pull the realm apart. The disconnection of the different parts of the Abaqid Khanate may have not been as profound had the Black Death not plagued the area.

Both linguistic and religious difference within the Abaqid Khanate resurface, with an Iranian-speaking and Nestorian Sogdia (with a notable Denawari Manichean minority) in the west, a Turkic speaking northern steppe (known as Turkestan), also Nestorian in religion, a ch language, and Buddhists and Manicheans live next to each other, with ultimately the Indian-speaking Roshblani Manichean Pantzab, all having their cultural differences.
A political map of central Asia in 14th century. Pinkish purple is Karlukistan, green is Sughd and orange is Pantzab

What it takes is a simple succession crisis, with Khan Kaidu having left three claimants to throne. His grandson Tarmashirin (2), son of his eldest daughter rallied support in Pantzab. Taliku, the son of Kaidu, sought support in Sogdia, while the Tarim Basin was the bastion of Kaidu´s younger brother Koncheq. The holding of a kurultai at Samarqand, where the successor was to be chosen has was postponed several times, and after Koncheq was murdered before arriving – his son and Kaidu´s nephew Kebek blamed it on his cousin Taliku and refused to attend the kurultai along with his supporters. Thus, a period of strife followed, but ultimately the Abaqid realm split into three khanates by the mid 14th century:
​

• Multan, ruled by Tarmashirin (sometimes named Dharmashirin) and his successors​
• Sughd or Sogdia ruled by Taliku and his family​
• Karlukistan (3) ruled by the heirs of Kebek.​

Khanate of Karlukistan, True to its Nomadic Legacy
The realm of Karlukistan is the successor state of the Abaqid Khanate located in the east of its former domains. It spans both ends of the Tengri Mountains, including the Tarim Basin and the Taklamakan Desert in the south, as well as the Ili region between Lake Balkash and Aral Lakeand the Tengri Mountains in the north. These two parts themselves are also rather contrasting: the Tarim Basin has its population concentrated in a handful of cities found in oases, which were important stops on the Silk Road. The eastern part of the Tarim Basin is populated largely by Turkic Uyghurs, while its western regions are home to Iranian Sakas.

Manichaeism has been in continuous decline among the Uyghurs after their early medieval khanate had collapsed, and most had adopted the Buddhist religion of their Saka neighbours; however relatively recently, there has been vibrant missionary activity by Manichean preachers from Sogdia proper among the Uyghurs.

Languages spoken in central Asia: we can see Iranic in dark blue, Indo-Aryan in light blue, Tibeto-Burman in one shade of green, and different varieties of Turkic: Oghuz in the southwest, Kipchak dark in the north, Karluk in the centre and uyghur in the Tarim Basin
During the 14th century, the oasis-cities of the Tarim Basin of the Sakas and the Uyghurs are falling into decline, as they were particularly hard-hit by the Black Death, and with Karlukistan being a nomadic realm, taking pride in its Turkic culture. The Karluk language, already having achieved a refined and prestige status during the previous century continues to flourish at this period.

Karluks continue to live a nomadic lifestyle
The Karluk people themselves were largely living a nomadic transhumance lifestyle – shepherding vast herds of horse and sheep, in the steppe and the mountain pastures of the Tengri Mountains. The urbanization rate of the Karluks is very low, down to the absolute minimum, necessary to run the khanate. These include the cities of Almaliq and Balasagun, as well as Taskhent, which stands out as a relatively large city among the Karluks – though when one examines the situation more carefully, it is evident that many of its citizens are actually Turkified Sogdians, rather than Karluks proper.

A Persianate Sughd

The walls of Bukhara, one of the greatest cities of Sughd
The basin of the Oxus, or as it was known locally, Gozan, along with the densely populated Ferghana Valley is the realm ruled by the successors of Taliku. This land is known as Sughd or Sogdia. Unlike Karlukistan, Taliku abandons the steppe origins of their dynasty and embraces the rich cultural heritage of Sughd. While the Sughdian army remains a largely Turkic cavalry force, many local recruits from amongst the sons of the local landed petty nobility are incorporated into the army. The old Naiman language is used rarely if ever, perhaps one of the Abaqids may utter a sentence or two at a kurultai, but as it is not widely understood, apart from a handful of phrases, its use in Sughd is little to none.

The Karluk language retains its importance particularly as the language of the military, as the military of Sughd remains one of the few spheres of the society, where the Karluk people remain dominant. Elsewhere, Taliku and his son Varzak (4) had sought to embrace the culture of the surrounding population.

Writing systems in Central Asia: nothing, if anything has changed since we last came here
Sogdian once again becomes the language of court and liturgy. Khan Taliku has learnt the language gradually and tried to speak in Sogdian during audiences – although in the early years of his reign, his language skills were far from perfect, and his language errors have become a source of anecdotes among the common people. Nevertheless, he did gain sympathy of the common people as a wise and caring monarch. Khan Varzak was fluent in Sogdian himself and surrounded himself by numerous Sogdian writers and poets while having built magnificent palaces and sponsoring also many scholars. One of his favourite past-times was hunting, and was in generally viewed as a fully Iranian monarch. The elaborate court with its strict protocol, numerous plotting courtiers and Varzak´s many mistresses has become a source of inspiration of many historical novels in the later periods (5).

Sogdian carpets are a renown product
Sogdia is renown for its fine carpets and skilful merchants. Sogdian merchants had prospered greatly by the political unification of the Eurasian continent. Owing to their strategic location in the heart of the Silk Road, they made great profit before the outbreak of the Black Death. A century later, they have resumed their trade links, mostly because the warrior ethos of the Turkic nomads did not really acknowledge trade as the best way to accumulate wealth. Apart from the east-west Silk Road, Sogdians operated fur roads across the Karluk and Kipchak country into the Samyedic forest where they bought fur from local chieftains; in the south they traded with the peoples of India and western Tibet.

Being at a crossroad of cultures and civilizations, the Sogdian merchants have always found ways how to adapt. Some say their sons were born with golden tongues. Capable diplomats and negotiators, the Sogdians were able to make their points and bring their goods across a vast continent. In China, Sogdians were known to have been found in almost any city, especially those in the northeast of China, and running many taverns (the drunken Sogdian was a common trope in Chinese literature), while Sogdian maids were known to be exceptionally beautiful (6).

Religion in central Asia. Brown represents the Manicheans - mostly Denwar except Pantzab where it is Roshblani. I believe all of you are familiar with the pink colour used for Nestorians in this thread, while bright pink is for Mahayana Buddhists and pink-purple is for Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhists
While religious tensions between Nestorian Christians and Denawar Manicheans remain, most Sogdians have only a lukewarm relation and affection to religion, and Taliku and Varzak continue to patronize both Christian and Manichean religious institutions. The relationship to Buddhism is a little different, as the khans did not use gold from the royal coffers to sustain them but they ordered the neighbouring villages to sustain the Buddhist monasteries, while being free from royal taxation.

The Khorasmian language of the Lower Oxus by this period is occasionally remembered by quite a few Denawar elect. Nevertheless, as a general means of communication it was dropped in favour of Karluk in the countryside and Sogdian in the river valley.

The Upper Oxus Valley, or Tukharistan (7), ancient Bactria is home to the Buddhist Tukhari people. Its mountainous terrain resulted in quite a few differences from the rest of the Sughd Khanate. The people of Tukharistan were concentrated in many, but small-sized villages located in the deep river valleys, surrounded by high-altitude mountains. The role of the village chiefs remains important among the Tukhari.

Unlike most of the peoples of Central Asia, the Tukharis did not place as much value in the mounted archer cavalry, so favoured by the Turkic peoples. Rather, Tukharistan was renown by their fabulous pikemen and heavy cavalry.

The Tukhari culture is influenced not only by Iranian peoples, but also by influences from further south and east – by influences from Pantzab and Ladakh and the Tarim Basin, although generally these connections are not as often understood or attributed. An example of these connections is the use of Kharoshti script by the Sakas and the Tukharis – and Indian script which originated in Gandhara in northwestern Pantzab. The same path was used to the spread of Buddhism in the past, though Gandhara in the 14th century is no longer Buddhist. The introduction of the highland yak from the Tibetan Plateau is further evidence of connections between peoples living on different slopes of the “Roof of the World”

Loyalty and identity in Tukharistan was felt towards one´s village, clan and chief, rather than the wider realm or Tukharistan as a whole. In Sughd, the Tukhari are known to be short-tempered and hot-blooded, lacking the usual elaborate etiquette of the Persianate urban society.

The Talikids struggled to reign in Tukharistan, as the local chiefs struggled to maintain their autonomy and customs. Buddhist monks of the “True Fire “school of Mahayana Buddhism- this school of Buddhism, broadly belonging to the Mahayana branch, can trace some of its elements to the original Mazdaic (8) beliefs that had been ingrained within the culture of the realm prior to the advent of Buddhism

Of Multan and Pantzab


While Multan and Pantzab got conquered by the Abaqids early on in the 14th century, the areas distinctiveness has made it sure that it during the succession crisis in easily tore itself apart from the rest of the khanate. Tarmashirin, the Abaqid prince that rallied his followers in Multan has sought to adopt the customs of his new-found followers , earning him the name “Dharmashirin”, Dharma being a reference to his open-mindedness towards Indian culture.

It can be argued that Pantzab is the part of the Subcontinent that has experienced much more contact with the rest of Eurasia than any other part of the Subcontinent. The warrior-ethos of the Multani people has become even strengthened once the Abaqids conquered their realm.

Different forms of society organization in Central Asia. Notice the resurfacing of nomadic tribe organization in Karlukistan .
Dharmashirin and his court were fast to accept the Roshblani creed of the Manicheans and Manichean elect or clergy have assumed an important role in the society of Pantzab. Indian caste system has actually resurfaced the original Gnostic roots of the Manichean faith in this corner of the world, which even further strengthens inequality and the hierarchic nature of Pantzabi society (9). While three in five of every Pantzabi are peasants, roughly one quarter of the Pantzabi are artisans and other townsfolk. The remaining fifteen percent belong to the elite of the Pantzabi society, belonging to warrior and clerical castes.
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1. The word Khasa is an archaic term for the language, which later becomes known as Gorkha or Nepali
2. I have come across these names on the wikipedia. These however do not correspond to their OTL counterparts
3. Analogue of “Moghulistan”
4. Notice, this is a Sogdian name he gave his son
5. Being a fan of the Game of Thrones, we could get a number of courtiers like Varys and Littlefinger at the court, and most likely and Tukhari arriving to the court with their short-temper and a sense of honour is likely to face a fast end like Ned Stark in Season 1. Or perhaps they may navigate the court intrigue like D´Artagnan in the Three Muscateers. Be their fate as it would, the reign of Varzak is often written about.
6. With a geographic position and history like Sogdia, the genetics of the population are so diverse, that you can find a vast diversity of phenotypes, from people looking like Greeks to people looking like Chinese or Pashtuns. With each conqueror having also contributed to the genetics, the competition na dnatural selection seem to have selected the best genes, so if there are a people who were inbred, definitely not the Sogdians.
7. Remember the country of Kafiristan in the The Man Who Would Be King? Replace Sicandarism with Buddhism, and you get what I imagine the culture in Tukharistan.
8. Zoroastrian-like
9. Is it really a natural evolution of things that civilizations along great river systems develop high inequality and a rigid hierarchy, as well as a strong religiosity – see Egypt, Mesopotamia, Pakistan, you could argue also the Mississippians of North America. Compare it with the maritime cultures, where the family you were born to and your religion are not of such primary concern- being more the question of your talent or lack thereof that defines your destiny.

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What are your thoughts about developments so far? What would you like to know more about? Next time, we are to be taking a look at Iran. Let me know in the comments​

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Demise of the Ilkhans
The Ilkhanate, ruling over a vast empire stretching from Khyber Pass in the east to the banks of the Eastern Mediterranean in the west has become overstretched to such a degree, that effective governance of their empire has become a pipe-dream. A variant of the feudal system which is in place may be effective for a bold and capable ruler, however in case of a weak khan, the Armenian, Turkic and Lurish clans are almost impossible to be brought into the fold.

The early 14th century has seen a decade without a competent or undisputed ruler, with the succession crisis resulting in a minor being put on the throne, and a regency council being established. This decade of absence of exercise of political authority saw various vassals of the Ilkhanate assert their independence in a gradual, quiet manner. Many outer parts of the empire were thus quick to reassert their own independence – from Anatolia in the west through Caucasus in the north to Khorasan in the east.

Once prince Taraqay (1) came of age he sought to restore his rule over the entirety of the Ilkhanate rather energetically. His aim of bringing the various vassals and warlords under his fold appears to be rather distant, as his authority is respected largely only in a region stretching from the Araxes Valley to Hormuz, on the eastern foothills of the Zagros and inland roughly to Rayy and Ispahan. Taraqay´s authority in the east, in Herat was defied, however by the Qartid dynasty, nominally their vassals, ruling over Herat. Thus Taraqay set out east to bring down the rebellious warlords. What he did not know was an imminent danger arising in the south.

Qartids and Pakhtuns
The eastern end of the Iranian Plateau has come under the rule of two major dynasties. Based in Herat and controlling Khorasan was the Qartid dynasty, an Iranian-descended dynasty having embraced Denawari Manichaeism, while Makran and Zabulistan were ruled by the Bettani dynasty.

Religion in mid-14th century Iranian Plateau​

The Qartids were known to be fielding a formidable cavalry, largely composed of both local and Naiman-descended Qaraunas clans, as well as heavy pikemen. Their geographic position has taught them to become some of the hardiest fighters in Asia, and now the Qartid prince Pattokh was ready to turn away any of the Ilkhan´s attempted invasion forces.

The Qartids are remembered throughout Khorasan for having dotted the landscape with magnificent palaces and gardens. For quite some time, they have been ruling their own little fiefdom with little or no interference from the Ilkhans, and commands from the capital had been regularly ignored. However, in 1339, Ilkhan Taraqay demanded the tax revenue and bannermen from Pattokh. The Qartid prince, while formally acknowledging his suzerainty, did not fulfil his promises. Unlike his predecessors, Taraqay did not buy this and set march upon Herat.

The Bettani are a Pakhtun dynasty, ruling over both Makran and Zabulistan. However, actual control over different parts of this corner of the world is held firmly by the chiefs of the individual clans, who recognize some level of Bettani control over them. Each of the clans , based in a fortified location called a qalat , enjoys considerable autonomy.

The city of Jaguda, on a later painting​

The city of Jaguda, the seat of the Bettani dynasty, was an outstanding city in contrast to generally the rural character of their realm. Many architectural monuments, in forms of palace complexes or Manichean temples can be witnessed even today.

A rather mysterious population are the Brahui peoples in the south. Their origin remains a mystery, as well as their history throughout the centuries – however by the 14th centuries their presence is noted, as “to the east of Makran there are clans who speak a tongue different from all the tongues of Iran and India, unrelated to Persian or Sanskrit.” The geographer went on to say that these people were Buddhists.

Languages of the Iranian Plateau in the mid-14th century​

While Buddhism certainly was a thing in the more remote and mountainous parts of both the Baloch lands and in the mountains of Hindukush, the coastal regions and the broad valley of Zabulistan were Manichean in religion, with traces of the original sun-cult still present among the Pakhtun people. The popular manifestation of Manichean religion generally exhibited many Indian influences, while folk Buddhism in the mountains has also greatly diverged from what would have been considered standard in India.

The Guardians of Fire and the Rebellion of Parbod
The Guardians of the Fire were an underground organization, fighting the Ilkhanate regime in a low-level insurgency as one would label it using modern terms. The Guardians of Fire have been existing roughly since mid-13th century, and were operating largely in south-eastern Persia, making Carmania a difficult province to administer. While numerous retaliatory raids against Persian villages were made by Turkic horsemen, the Guardians of Fire were gaining more and more sympathy amongst the Persian villagers.

The cauldron of fire, an important liturgical object in Zoroastrianism has become the symbol of the Persian resistance fighters​

Their aim was to kick out the foreign horse-lords once and for all from Persia, and re-establish a true Persian Shahdom, something that has not been present in the country sicne the arrival of the Seljuqs. The Guardians of Fire were using a golden cauldron of fire upon a red background, with a scimitar and bow and arrow beneath it.

The man leading the Guardians of Fire in the 1340s was a native from Kerman named Parbod. He has gradually risen up the ranks and command structure of his organization and with the previous commander Mehrbad dead, Parbod decided that the moment has come to spark the flames of open rebellion. After all, he realized that the time to rise from the shadows into the open has come. Khan Taraqay has set campaign eastwards with almost all of his force, and the other warlords, fearing Taraqay may rob them of their autonomy were willing to do little to support him.

The festival of Sadeh is a mid-winter festival in Zoroastrianism tied to lighting of fire. This festival was the opportunity to announce the beginning of the revolt​

In 1341, two days before the feat of Sadeh, the mid-winter festival of Zoroastrianism, which is connected symbolically with lighting the fire to scare of the winter, Parbod and his twenty companions enter the city of Kerman to “light the flames of this land bring about the flame of hope to the land of Persia”. There, in Kerman, thus Parbod declared his rebellion and called for all Persians to flock to his banner.

Unsurprisingly, information was already given to some in the city guard who were known to be trusted, and those were the one present at the ceremony who swore their oath to Parbod, while those deemed as unlikely to be won over were already locked up in the city dungeon.

In spring, on the festival of Khordad Sal (3), Parbod enters the city of Yazd, leading already a host of five thousand men. Taraqay, amidst a field campaign in Khorasan has to return, and deal with this revolt, before it comes out of control.

The Qartids have followed the retreating force of Taraqay, looting Semnan, while Taraqay retreated to Rayy to regroup his forces, leaving his troops in the city and taking command of fresh Rajji (4) troops. He set march upon Ispahan, which he hoped to use as his base from where he would crush this revolting pretender.

He was surprised on march, as Parbod and his men have set up a trap, and once having finished that days march and setting up camp, the exhausted men were assaulted by a surprise attack, resulting in severe casualties for the Ilkhanate troops. Taraqay then sought to Hamadan and Maragheh.

After the victory at Ispahan, Parbod turned southwards to the province of Pars, the ancient heartland of the Achaemenid Dynasty. This province had been held by the Qashqai´s a Turkic nomadic clan, which had arrived already during the conquests of the Seljuqs. Twice, the Qashqais had defeated his forces, ultimately, however, Parbod prevailed. After defeating the Qashqai forces a second time, the Qashqai bey surrendered and swore fealty to Parbod, lying down in prostration. The Qashqai nomads were sent to guard the passes of Zagros and defend the southwest borders of the domains of Parbod, who turned northwards, back to the cities beneath the Elborz

Mazandaran, the Garden of Iran
Squeezed between the Caspian Sea and the Elborz Mountains, this narrow strip of land full of lush vegetation has always been a bastion of the Zoroastrian religion. Even under the Ilkhanate, it has never been fully subdued, as the local marzpans had surrendered to the Ilkhans.

Tabarestan is covered in lush vegetation​

The Bavandids ruling over Taberestan were also patiently waiting for Taraqay to make some major mistakes. Marzpan Rostam VI. , spahbed of the north, has been waiting for the right moment to cross the Elborz passes himself and proclaim himself Shah of Persia. The defeat at Ispahan was just the time. Rostam had Zanjan, Qazvin, Rayy and Goman (5) besieged. Each of the cities, especially Rayy, had a large garrison, and their inhabitants, while not very fond of the Ilkhans, weren’t sympathetic to the cause of Rostam either. Eventually, all but Rayy surrendered.

A Clash of Shahs
However the siege of Rayy had to be interrupted, as Rostam VI. saw the armies of Parbod approach from the south. He sent his nephew, Piroz, to bring him the offer of becoming his darigbed, practically equivalent to the Rhomaic kouroplates and the Frankish majordomo, and Parbod´s heir the title of the Spahbed of the South (6). Such an offer can be described as a generous attempt to unite the two forces. However, Parbod did not agree to this offer and called Rostam to acknowledge him as the shah, and offering the Bavandids the same titles they intended to offer him.

Adarbaigan
The Ilkhans had fled to the plains of Maragheh and Urmia, the region of their capital. These regions had already had a Turkic majority by the year 1300, and has thus become the last vestige of the Ilkhanate, as all of their fiefdoms and bannermen have broken away. Nevertheless, the Ilkhanids continued to field a formidable cavalry force, and are determined to regain their lost territories.

Armenia
In the Armenian Highlands, we can see the various petty lords come together and choose the new Armenian king, Sempad of Taron, marking the rise of the Taronid dynasty in Armenia. The Armenians nobles recognized the need to act united in face of serious threats, yet they wanted to keep a say in the royal decisions. It was the Declaration of Van that established a form of constitutional monarchy, defining the prerogatives of the king, while also declaring the rights and privileges of the nobles and bishops.

Pastoral Tribes of the Zagros Mountains

A political map of mid-14th century Iranian plateau. Note that Syria and Qatriye is not updated​

The Lurish tribes living in the Zagros mountains retreated to their own isolation in the mountains, seeking to be out of the way during the havock brought to the Iranian Plateau in this period. This attitude of waiting the storm out has not unheard of . While much of the country was suffering in wars, the Lurish tribes spread northwest and southeast along the Zagros mountains, repopulating abandoned valley and herding goats, sheep, horses and cattle.

Some scholars claim that Lurish culture best reflects the nomadic traditions of the ancient Iranian tribes, with a high authority of the tribal chieftains. Typical Lurish products remain wool, cloth and weaven carpets, which was the traditional domain of the women, while the men were busy herding the flock in the mountainous terrain.

As the authority of the Ilkhans was collapsing, bands of Lurish bandits frequently attacked and robbed caravans crossing the Zagros Mountains. However, gradually loot was scarcer, as fewer merchants would dare to cross the perilous passes, and soon the Lurs decided that robbing caravans was not the way to go, as caravans would stop passing through their territory, going rather through Urmia or Georgia. This has also made a contribution to the decline in Mesopotamia.

Later, the Lurish chiefs offered safe passage through the Zagros in exchange for tolls, with companies of Lurish men accompanying the caravans across the mountains. This sort of protection racket enacted upon the Silk Road was something that was a thorn in the eye of the merchantsin both Persia and Mesopotamia – however with Persia proper in a state of civil war, it was left solely on the beys in Mesopotamia to deal with this issue.

Mesopotamia
The 14th-century Mesopotamia was very different from the land it was a few centuries earlier. The proportion of urban dwellers had shrunken considerably, and the overwhelming majority of Mesopotamians were living in the countryside.

The decline of urban culture meant firstly the shrinking of the Jewish population in Nehardea. Some Jews have bought land in the vicinity of the Euphrates River and became petty landowners, while others moved out of Mesopotamia altogether.

The Gnostic Mandean community living in small towns and villages of Maisan and Characene have retreated to the safety of the marshlands and to the more inaccessible parts of the country.

Northern Mesopotamia had come to be ruled by the Jalayrid Dynasty, sitting at Karka d Beth Slokh (7), while central Mesopotamia remained as a church land since the Donations of Toghrul, as the demesne of the Catholicos of Qtespon. Southern Mesopotamia was in the hands of the Qepasian dynasty, ruled by the heirs of a certain Cephas of Kaskar, of Assyrian origin.

The Jalayrid dynasty were outraged as trade was declining. Not that they as a Turkic dynasty were specifically concerned by the worries and complaints of the townsfolk. However, what they understood was that trade and manufacturing went hand in hand. And that meant more taxes. The Jalayrids sent numerous punitive expeditions against the Lurs, however most of them ended in defeat, as the Lurish tribesmen were in home territory, and were able to use ambush tactics.



The Turkish beys of Anatolia
In the central Anatalian Plateau, we can see the rise of the Eretnids, a dynasty of Uyghur Turkic origin that seized power to the east of the Halys River (8), while its western banks were domains to the Salghurid dynasty (9)

The Eretnids were quick to embrace the Paulician faith, and have declared it to be their religion of choice. Embracing Paulicianism was an attempt to win over an important part of their Armenian subjects. The Eretnids were rather fast in assimilating into the culture of their subjects, with a lasting legacy of bringing the elite cavalry traditions to that part of the world.

The Salghurid dynasty had established their capital in Ikonium, they named Konya. The steppe environment of Central Anatolia has allowed the Turkic peoples to retain their traditional way of life, making assimilation not happen, unlike in the Eretnid state. Within the Salghurid beylik, it were rather the Armenians who assimilate into the Turkic society, not the other way round, as was the case in the Eretnid lands.

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1. Apart from the name, this man is not based on any historical figure.
2. Ghazni
3. March 26th. This festival is known to commemorate the birthday of prophet Zoroaster
4. In the previous Iranian update, we have learnt that a separate Rajji identity has developed in the cities along the Silk Road – mostly Christians speaking a dialect of Persian with strong Turkic, Khorasani, and Aramaic influences.
5. The city of Qom, as it was known in Old Persian
6. Kirkuk
7. The title of the Spahbed may be equated to the magister militum in the Roman Empire. In the late Sassanid empire, there were four Spahbeds, each responsible for a different cardinal direction. The Bavandid dynasty in Tabarestan has been passing down the title of the Spahbed for generations, even when there was now Shahanshah
8. The Kizilirmak
9. The Karamanids. The word Karamanid dodid not sound propoer to me, but I have found that they were from the Salghur clan of the Oghuz Turks.

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Transformation of the Persian Culture
Centuries of foreign have markedly shaped the Persian culture and what it means to be Persian. Firstly, a sharp divide could have been found between the “High” and “Low” layers of Persian culture. The “High” Persian culture had been that of the royal court and was emulated in the palaces and homesteads of the major noblemen. The “Low” Persian culture was that of the ordinary Persian commoner.

High Persian Culture
The Seljuks, and after them the Ilkhans were fascinated by the culture of the Persian nobility, and have found many of the customs and the courtly etiquette useful or entertaining, while other practices were not understood and continued under the rule of foreign dynasties.

Prostration, a gesture of submission, was deeply ingrained part of Persian culture
An example could be found in the practice of proskynesis or prostration. This gesture of submission has had a long tradition in the Iranian Plateau, and court etiquette demanded subjects to acknowledge the majesty of the shah by performing this gesture. The Ilkhans and the Seljuk dynasty before them have found this gesture useful in solidifying their political control while at the same time paying respect to the established cultural traditions. However, the conquerors faced very much the same problem as had Alexander when conquering Persia: his own people were unwilling to perform such acts of “hitting their forehead to the ground” as they considered themselves free men, and not subjects. The Turkic and Naimanic peoples were rather used to the zolgokh gesture, when two men touch each others elbows as a sign of greeting. This showed somewhat egalitarian nature of the steppe peoples; now demanding them admit their subservience in a profound manner did create opposition. This tensions has resulted in a slightly modified of the proskynesis was allowed for higher-ranking officials in the form of bowing, with the head going down to the level of the waist.

The holding of lavish feast, combined with drinking large quantities of wine (called Mey or Badeh) was certainly a custom the Naimans and the Turks did enjoy, as these peoples were particularly fond of drinking. Courtly etiquette demanded that should one not be able to contain his drink within himself, he must not release the contents of stomach out in front of anyone else.

Kumys, the traditional drink of the steppe nomads
This custom used to play an important social function, as the Persians believed that the courtiers, once drunk, would speak the truth and not withhold any secrets between each other. Thus, it ought to be a mechanism of preventing plots to become a major threat to the stability of the empire. The Ilkhans thus continued this tradition, though the tables at these feasts featured also airag,(1), a fermented dairy drink produced of mare´s or donkey milk. Further additions included the consumption distilled alcohol, as well as other additions of the steppe cuisine , mainly in form of various meat dishes, to the table. Unlike the Persians, the Turks and Naimans have drunk well over their share, and thus the Persians and Assyrians have taken advantage of this fact and used these hangovers to further their own goals.

Many homes in Maragheh remained yurts.
While the Ilkhans did appreciate the Persian sense of opulence and lavishness, they would not spend time in the palaces permanently. They feared that it was connected to a certain decadence, and have usually spent half of their year in Maragheh, the famous tent-city of the Ilkhans on the plains to the east of Lake Urmia – with its first permanent building being the Nestorian Cathedral. However, by the early 14th century, the tent-city has become a real city built of stone and bricks, and the Ilkhans have moved to a rather Spartan palace- should one describe it as such. Even there, however Persian-influenced aesthetics did make it inside – with the walls and floor being decorated with carpets and rugs.

Mosaics were not commonly used during the Ilkhanid period, though one did occasionally find them in Ispahan during the Seljuk period. Persian gardens were however commonly found in residence of all noble houses, even despite a dramatic disrepair of the irrigation system. These lush green spots of vegetation in an otherwise arid landscape were places where one felt more pleasant in the shadow of the trees, while also displaying little streams of water. Moreover, the gardens were a display of the power of the powerful in shaping the environment.

The Dome of Soltaniye- an example of late medieval Persian architecture
Traditional Iranian architecture, with frequent use of domes and pillars, remains a thing, as well as geometric city planning, using both circular and square layouts. Wind towers were added to buildings to create air conditioning- this being a Persian invention.

Persian intellectual life during the Medieval Period
All previous dynasties, including the Seljuks but with the notable exception of the Ilkhans, during the Medieval period had patronized Persian scholars. Most notable institutions include the Academy of Gundeshapur or Beth Lapat, which had a mixed Syriac-Persian environment, and scholars of both languages were active at the institution. Further Syriac universities could have been found in Nisibis, Niniveh and Kashkar, as well as in Qtespon. True, since the Seljuk conquest of the region, many treatises were damaged and the institutions were now a shadow of their former selves, not producing but rather passing down previous intellectual achievements. Since the Seljuks invasions, the universities have built an underground safe, where a copy of each treatise was left for safe-keeping in case of any plunder. These underground libraries certainly did save some of the works from destruction during the looting caused by advancing Naiman troops.

As for Persian centres of intellectual tradition, these can be located in Ispahan, Rayy, Herat and Jaguda, though the latter is perceived as not being truly part of greater Persia. Medieval Persian science is known for its developments of medicine, astronomy (including a major calendar reform), resulting in further advancements in trigonometry. Due to the arid nature of the country, there is great potential for night sky observation, which has been taken advantage of in more constructive ways than mere astrology.

The arid climate of Iran allows clear night skies
Development in khemy (2) also followed, and according to Persian scholar Zana of Spahan (in the 12th century)(3) all substances could be divided into three categories: “Spirits” that vapourise, “Metals” and Stones which can be only reduced to powder. Based on previous Aristotelian four-element theory, he added three new elements, mercury, sulphur and salt.

Persian philosophy is characterised by further elaborations based on previous Aristotelian and Platonic thought. Early medieval Persian philosophic thought built upon earlier Gnostic traditions, with some greater philosophers being of Manichean, other of Zoroastrian religious upbringing.

The chaos and destruction brought upon by the Naimans has resulted in a wholly new period in Persian thought. The illuminationist school of Persian philosophy, deeply influenced also by Manichean cosmology and existent dualism within the Iranian tradition. The soul is associated with the light, as are the angels and God, while the body is associated with the darkness. The goal for life is to become enlightened and achieve wisdom, with perhaps a concept similar to nirvana being borrowed from the Indian Subcontinent.

Low Persian Culture and Persian Identity
The notion of a Persian identity has come to be very much connected to the Zoroastrian religion, and the narrative, especially pronounced by the Guardians of Fire could be summarized briefly as follows: “Only a follower of the Zoroastrian religion is a true Persian. The Turkic invaders by definition cannot be Persian, nor are the Syriacs Persians”. Persian identity could have thus been found in the middle ground between two polar opposites – on one end were the Turkic and Naimanic steppe nomads, conquerors, who were viewed as the enemy from outside, destroying and burning down the heritage of Iran. On the other end of the spectrum was the urbanized Syriac merchant, leading his caravan full of riches running the empire for the ignorant khan. Or as another stereotype would put it, a Syriac monk with a walking stick on one hand and a Bible in the other, ready to disconnect the Persians from their tradition. The Syriacs proselytizing among the Persians were perceived as a direct threat to the very defining aspect of the Persian identity- Zoroastrianism. It is also for this very reason, why the Christian inhabitants of Rajj and other cities along the Silk Road were not perceived as true Persians – for having converted to Christianity. Moreover, those cities were places of great ethnic diversity, and during the 13th and 14th centuries, the mix of Persians, Assyrians, Khorasanis and Turks resulted in a highly divergent idiom of Persian, full of borrowings from all these languages to develop in the area. The Rajji language was the everyday language of this diverse urban population.

Zoroastrian religion plays a crucial role in Persian identity
Zoroastrian religion has become a key component of “Persianness” largely as it was now the force which stood for the ordinary Persians – they now lacked a numerous or influential nobility which was perceived as theirs, as the Ilkhans divided their empire into appanages and fiefs, which they handed over to Turkic and Luri clans, and Armenian nobles – notable exceptions were the Qartids in the east and the Bavandids on the Caspian coast. As written further above, the cities were not really Persian, rather featuring a multi-ethnic mix, so Persian identity remains connected to the Persian country-side and closely linked to the Zoroastrian religion.

Persian Mysticism
Apart from the “correct” or “priestly” attitude towards religion, medieval Persia was characterised also by a very rich mystical tradition. Persian mysticism focuses on letting the followers walk their own, individual paths to Ahura Mazda, and on understanding the “inner meaning” or “true message” of Prophet Zoroaster. The liturgical orthopraxy of the Zoroastrian priests was dropped in the practice of these tightly-knit communities. As general rule of thumb, in times of great havoc, people generally prefer to stick together with the ones they know, while becoming more and more suspicious to outsiders.

Persian mysticism generally built upon previous mystical traditions within the Zoroastrian religion, as well as Gnostic practices and local philosophical traditions. Various different mystical schools, known locally as brotherhoods (baradari) appeared, some focusing primarily on the concept of love, others on the concept of pleasure, yet others on the art of distinction. Some of these connect to the supernatural through various rituals , involving dance, music or transic chanting.

Many Persian philosophers and scholars were known to be members of these mystical brotherhoods, which were also places of social equality, highly standing in contrasted to the formal and deeply hierarchic Persian society. The very existence of these brotherhoods became a thorn in the eyes of Zoroastrian clerics, labelling these “secrets sects” as being secret followers of Manicheism.

Nestorian Patriarchs and bishops have numerously warned and discouraged “fellow Christians from joining secret sects, claiming to have the recipe to human pleasure. The best recipe for human life comes from the Creator of Man, who left us instructions in the Holy Bible. Anyone else who shall claim otherwise is a false prophet, a wolf in sheep´s clothing and we, as humble shepherds of the flock of Christ warn you not to attend their rituals full of lust and gluttony” as said by the words of Addai, archbishop of Rayy.

1. Known as Kumis in many Turkic languages
2. While maintaining a medieval sound, alchemy is a word derived from Arabic, so putting away the al- article leaves us the word “khemy”.
3. Based on Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan

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This was all for the culture window. Please ask more about culutral developments have I missed something.

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Unification of Persia
Thus, we have to rival claimants to the crown of Persia: Rostam VI. Bavandid, controlling Mazandaran and the cities along the Silk Road and Parbod, leading the insurgents controlling Karmania in the south. The two men could not be more different: Rostam can claim descent by a bloodline lasting for centuries, tracing his descent to the noble houses of the Sassanid Empire. He is a skilled ruler, well-educated in diplomacy and courtly manners.

Parbod, on the other hand has made it up the ladder of the ranks of the secret organization called the Guardians of Fire. He was of humble birth, and has risen up due to his strategic talent and organization skills. Motivated by religious zeal and ardent nationalist fervour, it is easy to imagine that a Persia ruled by Parbod would become a Persia that would be fervent in terms of religion, a Persia that would rather close itself to the outside world.

The two leaders refuse to make concessions to one another, and each claims to be the rightful Shah of Persia himself, making the other the ultimate rival. Rostam has survived three attempts of assassination plotted by the Guardians of Fire. This was not to be tolerated. Parbod was to be removed, as well as his closest counsellors. After that, the remaining insurgents will be quick to flock to his banner, and stop posing trouble, as he would have fulfilled all the goals of the insurgency anyway.

The small party sent out by Rostam to murder Parbod has failed as well, mainly due to the secretive and suspicious nature of the Guardians of Fire. Rostam in times of need, sought alliance with the Pattokh, ruling in Herat, and the Lurish tribesmen in the Zagros. Even the Taraqay, the Ilkhan considered Rostam to be less of a threat than Parbod, and thus did not attack the Bavandid realm from the west.

14th century Persian warrior
The encounter between the two rival forces happened near Dizijan (1). The battle of Dizijan resulted in roughly five thousand dead on both sides, with the Bavandid cataphracts annihilating much of Parbod´s light infantry, before being effectively countered by the pikemen. While Bavandid forces were better armed, Parbod ´s troops were composed largely of poorly-armed, but more mobile skirmishers. Some of these skirmishers have attacked the position of Rostam himself, who was severely injured in the battle. His regalia were seized by Parbod, who continued his march northwards. There, however he found himself facing a determined enemy, barricaded in the cities of Rayy, Zanjan, Qazvin and Goman. The city watches and the militias were composed to a great extent of Christian Rajjis, determined to defend their homes from the fire-worshipping zealots.

Parbod suffered a defeat outside the city of Rayy, where his forces met with the Qartid army, before being attacked by the city watch from behind. Parbod and his most loyal followers managed to escape, and in the autumn of 1347 he returns to Sepahan, which is declared as his capital. Regrouping his forces, in the springtime he makes peace with the Lurish clans and attacks the Bavandids from the west, conquering Zanjan and Qazvin. The third battle of the Persian civil war takes place outside of Karaj (2). In this battle, the Bavandid forces are ultimately defeated, being sandwiched from three sides by the armies commanded by Parbod. Following this victory, the city of Rayy is besieged, with many inhabitants fleeing eastwards on the road to Semnan and to the Qartid domains once they saw Parbod´s forces approaching.

After two weeks, the archbishop of Rajj along with the city prefect agreed to surrender the city, open the gates and put ten wagons full of treasures in front of the gates as loot, as to prevent full looting and destruction of the city. While such measures did help prevent major damages, chroniclers still did report some minor incidents.

The fall of Rajj meant a factual unification of the Persian heartland, with Parbod becoming Shah. Continuing with the march eastwards, Parbod seized the city of Semnan from the Qartids, thus establishing the Dasht-e-Kevir Desert as a frontier between his realm and the Qartids.

Persian Nation-Building
Parbod has reigned over a unified Persia for ten years, until his death in 1358. He sought to reign peacefully until the next generation of recruits would grow up, to launch further campaigns to push the borders further in all directions. Before that, he however sought to build an effective body of bureaucracy and administration.

Until now, the only functioning organization with a hierarchical command structure was the secret military organization of the Guardians of Fire, whose members and commanders have been left in charge of entire cities and provinces (3). Loyalty of these brothers-in-arms was not in question, yet Parbod realized it is not possible to run the entire state like a secret liberation army, realizing that with time these commanders would become selfish satraps answerable to nobody.

Parbod thus, listening to his darigbed or chancellor Behnam devised a complex system of state bureaucracy, having inspectors at every level, so as to prevent fraud and personal enrichment. Records of every action were to be kept under surveillance. Government officials were to be appointed based on merit and competence, not heritage, in an atmosphere of constant competition and rivalry.

The provinces themselves were put under the authority of individual Marzpans , who were to collect taxes and use them within their own marzpanate, while providing levies if called upon. Of course, the actions of the marzpans were also reported and double-checked, and numerous had their hands cut off for stealing gold from the coffers.

This system made the administration more flexible, as the bureaucrats were not merely carrying out orders, but were encouraged to act independently to achieve the common goal. Once the state administration was in place, Parbod set out on his campaign of “purifying Persia”.

The Faravahar is the most common symbol of Zoroastrianism

The “Purifying” was carried out mostly by fire (4) and Parbod sought to purify Persia of intruders. First of all, many new atashkadas or fire temples were built, while numerous Manichean and Nestorian sites were desecrated, demolished or repurposed as fire temples.

Individuals were encouraged to convert to Zoroastrianism by putting on the symbolic belt at a fire temples. For some men, allowed polygamy was another incentive. New converts were encouraged by reduced taxes and social promotion, while in minor cities, pogroms against Manicheans and Christians were carried out.

The Nestorian monasteries of the Order of Mar Addai, which were already fortified multifunctional complexes composed of inns, hospitals, libraries as well as churches. During the chaotic years of the fall of the Ilkhanate, a new calling for Nestorian monks of the Order of Mar Addai has been authorized: the Companions of Mar Qardakh. These were to be “men of able body and physical strength, ready to give their last to protect the sheep of the Lord´s flock”. Mar Qardakh was 4th century Nestorian martyr, originally a Sassanid military noble, who converted to Christianity and once persecuted, he and a group of followers were able to repulse numerous waves of persecutors. Thus, the Companions of Mar Qardakh had effectively become a military order, sworn to protect Nestorian congregations should need be, wherever they are.

The Companions of Mar Qardakh no less that twelve years since their establishment were able to be a force to be reckoned with, turning many of the monasteries into heavily fortified refuges for Christians from the greater area. Within the first year of Parbod´s campaign, out of thirty targeted monasteries, twenty-four were able to stand firm and repulse the attackers.

Many of the Companions were of Rajji descent, while a significant proportion were of Turkic descent, while ethnic Assyrians were negligible. Parbod did not expect such a heavy resistance from Christians and feared an open rebellion from the Order of Mar Addai. The Christians however would not compare their chances to the might of the Persian state, and were exhausted, rather than planning any insurgency

The Campaigns of Behruz I. Parbodid
Behruz I. succeeded his uncle Parbod as the Shah of Persia. Unlike his father, who was driven by religious and nationalist zeal and grew to become more and more paranoid as time went on, Behruz was a more moderate ruler, seeking prosperity. In his first year, he issued orders to rebuild the irrigation canals across the entire realm, and to build new ones. These instructions were to be carried out, while he set on a series of campaign against his neighbours.

Late medieval Persian archer
His first campaign was directed against the mercantile state of Ormuz. This campaign was a relatively short one, and resulted in a quick victory, seizing Ormusian possessions on the Persian mainland. Behruz did not, however, attempt to lay siege upon the island-city of Ormus, as he lacked a capable fleet.

The second campaign of Behruz was directed eastwards, against the Qartid-controlled Khorasan. The Qartids have lost a war to Parbod a decade ago and had to abandon Semnan and the surrounding oases. Khorasan and Qohestan on the other hand, were much more populous regions, populated by Christian and Manichean Khorasanis, who had thus their distinct religious and linguistic identity.

Horse archers formed a large portion of Qartid forces
The Qartid forces consisted largely of traditional heavy cavalry – the cataphracts, and Naiman introduced elite light cavalry skirmishers. The infantry units of the Qartids comprised of both Hillman clans as well as city patrols, usually pikemen. Behruz´s forces consisted of a much larger share of infantry compared to the Qartids, with both heavy and light infantry formations, as well as cavalry. The encounter at Beihagh (5) was won by Persians, as they managed to make more effective use of their infantry, after the Qartid pikemen countered their cavalry forces.

Following the victory at Beihagh, the Persians besieged and conquered Nishapur, before moving towards Mashhad, where they won a lesser skirmish outside the city gates. The Persian campaign against the Qartids ended in an overall victory, with almost all their lands eventually being added to the Persian state, with two exceptions- one being the mountainous Ghor region (6) which came to be ruled by the Buddhist Second Dynasty of Ghur and the second the area surrounding Faryab, which was added to Sughd.

After returning from the victorious eastern campaign, Behruz returns to Sepahan, where he left an astonishing architectural legacy, in the forms of palaces, new fire temples and generally the size of city increased threefold during Behruz´s reign.

Behruz´s Reforms in Religion
The reign of Behruz also saw a reorganization of the Zoroastrian religion. The ancient fire temples of Adur Farnbag in coastal Persia and Adur Burzen-Mihr in Khorasan were rebuilt into impressive religious complexes, while the site of Adur Gushnasp, historically located to the southeast of Lake Urmia lay in Turkoman lands.

The third Great Fire had been described as the Fire of the Stallion, and was connected to the warrior class. Behruz decided that the new fire temple built in Sepahan (the name of which means literally “gathering of the army” ) should symbolically replace it.

Behruz also gathered the Zoroastrian clerics from within his borders and abroad – this being chiefly from Mazandaran, to make clarification in religious doctrine. The Council of Sepahan condemned the beliefs of Zurvanism, which had been particularly prevalent during the Sassanid era, especially in the western parts of the realm as heretical and declared “good thoughts, good words, good deeds” to be the creed and motto of every believer.

The second issue to be dealt with were the mystical “brotherhoods” or schools operating across Persia. Truly enough, the Guardians of Fire who had sparked the rebellion against the Ilkhanate belonged to one such mystical brotherhood. The clergy however were worried, for these brotherhoods not only discarded their authority, but had turned the message of Zoroaster upside down and back to front.

Religion in Iran. What can be seen are inroads of Zoroastrianism into Khorasan, while Media is thoroughly Nestorian
A territorially organized religious hierarchy was established, similar to the organization of the Christian churches. The highest rank is the Mobadan Mobad (Priest of Priests) seated at Sepahan. Below the Mobadan Mobad were high-ranking clerics called Mobads, in charge of a city and its surroundings, on par with a Christian bishop. Each individual temple had its own priest called Herbad , who was a respected figure in the village, also taking the role of a judge and arbiter.

The Fall of the Ilkhans and the Rise of the Turkomans

A linguistic map of Iran
The defeated Ilkhan Taraqay was left with only Atropatene or Adarbaigan as his last provinces together with Aghbania. After dying under suspicious circumstances in 1351, he left a handful of rather weak claimants to succession. The rump Ilkhanate was abolished in 1353 when Qara Yusif (“Black Joseph”), a chief of one of the Turkoman clans deposed the Ilkhans and established their own rule, with their capital in Tabriz. This formation entered the history books under the name of Qara Qoyunlu, or Black Sheep Turkomans. The tribal confederation of – that it was – no more has soon accepted the Christian Lorestani people living in the Zagros Mountains, anxious of a subsequent Persian campaign to subdue them.

The banner of the Qara Qoyunlu, art by Xumarov on DeviantArt
The Jalayrid dynasty of Upper Mesopotamia was also challenged by the Qara Qoyunlu. Unfortunately for the Jalayrids, by the late 14th century they had grown comfortable and decadent, and when an aging, but experienced Qara Yusuf called the Lurish tribes for help to conquer Upper Mesopotamia, leaving command in the hands of his son Adbeșan (7). The Lurish mountaineers were more than happy to retaliate for the Jalayrid punitive raids of their villages and valleys; the Jalayrids surrendered to the Turkoman prince swiftly after being defeated near Shahrezor.

The northernmost domains of the Jalayrids were not seized however, by Adbeșan, for they were already in the hands of another Turkoman confederation – the White Sheep Turkomans. The Aq Qoyunlu, as they were know in their native language, rose to power in eastern Anatolia, breaking free from the Eretnids and subsequently seized the regions of Mardin, TurAbdin and Nisibis, and finally taking over the Euphrates Valley in Syria.

The emblem of the Aq Qoyunlu

The Qepasian dynasty ruling from Kaskar over southern Mesopotamia was rather hasty in acknowledging the suzerainty of the Qara Qoyunlu Turkomans, while the Patriarchal State of Qtespon had to give the north-eastern parts of their domains, reaching almost to the city gates, to the Turkomans. The resulting empire was thus spanning from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, controlling all passes through the Zagros, and able to effectively tax all trade along the Silk Road.

Devastation of Armenia
The Taronid Kingdom of Armenia found itself placed between the two Turkoman tribal confederations of Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu. Unfortunately for the Armenians, they failed to make peace with the Turkic hordes, and in the 1380s, the Armenian Kingdom was attacked Turkoman horseman, looting burning and pillaging, laying waste to many castles, churches and towns. The southern parts of the Armenian kingdom, in the region of Vaspurakan, were directly annexed by Qara Qoyunlu, as well as the city of Nakhichevan, while the region of Artsakh, Syunik and Ararat and Vanand (8). It is presumed that between one fifth and one quarter of Armenians died during this campaign of destruction carried out by the Turkoman tribes. Chroniclers also reported that the raiding armies returned home with a great loot, so large that they, even with the stolen cattle and horses were unable to carry it back, and on the way back they had raided surrounding villages for captives to help them take the loot home.

The bulk of the Armenian army had been defeated at the Battle of Khoy by the more mobile Turkoman horse archers. After that, Armenian resistance relied primarily on the mountainous terrain, with many hiding behind the walls of great castles and cities such as Van or Khlat, or retreating to the inaccessible mountainous regions.

After three years of looting, the Turkomans left Armenia, mainly because there was nothing else left to loot. Northern Armenia, Syunik and Artsakh have managed to escape the worst and in 1358 the existence of the Taronid Kingdom of Armenia ended, when King Grigor pledged fealty to the king of Georgia, thus establishing the Dual Kingdom of Georgia-Armenia with its capital at Tbilisi.

Conquest of Media
Towards the end of the 14th century, after the death of Behruz and ascension Manuchir I. Parbodid another major war in western Persia broke out. Adbeșan now in his early fifties invades Media, seizing Zanjan and Qazvin, stopping just outside Goman. Further Turkoman attacks conquered the cities of Rayy, Saveh (9) and Goman. However, subsequent attacks of Manuchir have repulsed the Turkoman forces from the three mentioned cities, and many Christians left along the retreating Turkoman army.

A political map of Iran in the late 14th century, with Qara Qoyunlu shown in orange and Parbodid Persia in blue
Interestingly, during the war against Persia, the Turkomans were aided by the Companions of Mar Qardakh , who in return were granted the city of Qazvin and surroundings as their new headquarters.

A map of political systems in Iran. This new golden colour represents Iranian bureaucracy
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1. A village outside Qom.
2. In Alborz province, to the west of Tehran.
3. Is it just me, or are we beginning to feel a slight touch of some totalitarian single-party dictatorship?
4. Melisandra approves, for the night is dark and full of terrors
5. Sabzevar, Razavi Khorasan Province.
6. Cognate with Slavic “Gora/hora” meaning mountain, located in central Afghanistan
7. My experiment with an Azerbaijani variant of Assyrian name Abdišo
8. Kars Province of Turkey
9. In Markazi Province

 

[Tomislav Addai]

A careful reader has already discovered the fates of Mesopotamia during both the early and late 14th century. The collapse of the Ilkhanate left Mesopotamia divided into three entities – Upper Mesopotamia or historical Assyria, later known as Gozarto (1) which came under ruleof the Jalayrids, then the central region surrounding the city of Qtespon ruled as a temporal holding directly by the Catholicos of the Church of the East. Finally, Lower Mesopotamia, historical Babylonia, which later came to be known as Sawat, came under the rule of the native Assyrian Qepasian dynasty.

Both the Jalayrid and Qepasian dynasties ultimately fell to the sway of the Turkoman Qara Qoyunlu confederation. Even the Catholicos himself became a de facto tributary or vassal of the Turkomans.

Nahraya (2) in the late 14th century was a rather sparsely populated region. Waves of Naiman invasions, Black Death and subsequently Turkoman attacks have reduced the population of Nahraya significantly, incomparably to the densely populated cradle of civilization.

Upper Mesopotamia, is a rural country, populated by three peoples. The largest group, roughly two-thirds of the population are ethnic Assyrians. Many of them are farmers, living in villages along the major rivers: Tigris, and the two Zab rivers. Assyrians can also be found in the cities of the country – Karka d´Beth Slokh(3), Ninweh(4), Arbela (5) and Tagrith (6), working as artisans and craftsmen, but also merchants. Assyrians are also known as “masters of the pen” – relating to their high share among the medics, lawyers and scholars in the region, while the title of the “masters of the sword” is referring to elite members of other ethnic groups.

The citadel of Arbela, one of the chief cities of Upper Mesopotamia

The second prominent ethnic group found in Upper Mesopotamia are the Turkomans, who can be found predominantly in foothills of the Zagros mountains, chiefly in the vicinity of Karka d Beth Slokh, known to them as Kärkuek. They were predominantly herders of mutton and horse, and being excellent horsemen. Written Turkoman from the Ilkhanate period has been found using the Uyghur script, however, apparently it has fallen into disuse, and by the late 14th century it was dropped in favour of Syriac script.

The walls of the citadel of Karka
In the mountain valleys and villages dwelt the Iranian –speaking Lurish and Kurdish hillmen, also having a shepherding lifestyle. These mountain tribes provided fierce infantry warriors.

Lower Mesopotamia under the administration of the Qepasian dynasty is currently experiencing renewed population growth, as they have commenced a massive repair of the irrigation canals, which had previously fallen into disrepair. The result was a doubling or even tripling of the arable land, resulting in both food surpluses and population growth. There are two major cities in Lower Mesopotamia: Kashkar on the Tigris, which was also the seat of the Qepasian dynasty, and Prath d´Maishan being the major port of Lower Mesopotamia.

Historical buildings in Prath d´Maishan
Aramaic remains the prevalent language, with the Sawatian form being rich in Persian and partly also Arabic loanwords. Apart from Christians, there remains a Gnostic Mandean community in the marshlands of the Lower Tigris, and a growing Msadeqi Mazouni community. The Mazounis could be found chiefly in towns like Kashkar but more importantly Prath d´Maishan, living in separate neighbourhoods and making their living as merchants.

Assyrian science continues to flourish at academies in Qtespon, Niniveh, Nisibis, Kashkar and Gundeshapur. Traditional sciences, such as astronomy and astrology continue their development, as well as mathematics and geometry. Apparently, Assyrian astronomers in the 14th century were able to further developments in optics, until Gabriel BetSargis came up with a shimshamarkatic (heliocentric) model, claiming that it is perhaps the planets including the Earth orbiting the sun. This theory came to be opposed by a numerous community of court astrologers, many having links to Gnostic and Manichean sects. Ultimately, it was the Nestorian Church that further sponsored the study of astronomy and defended Gabriel Bet Sargis from attacks by infuriated astrologers.

After the bleak experience of the Black Death, Assyrian scholars came to focus more on free will, and fatalism was discarded as a way of seeking excuses. Once reading a philosophic essay by Syriac philosophers, at times one feels like reading the Gospels – for the simple fact that they are full of thought experiments, parables and concrete illustrations, preferring to use concepts familiar from daily life to abstract theories. Assyrian scholars have argued that the world has been created, likening it to a house. A simple theory of evolution has also been proposed, extendable to animals, plants but also rocks. They all appear to be specifically adapted to their environments.



State of the Nestorian Church in the 14th Century
The Church of the East in the 14th century is having to deal with a number of issues. Firstly, they have lost jurisdiction over China, as the Nestorian Christians there are placed under the authority of a Most Holy Church of the Luminous Religion, with the argument being that China is an empire and ancient civilization on par with Rome or Persia, and as Christianity in the Mediterranean, within the borders of the Roman Empire came organized under five Patriarchates so should Christians in China. Furthermore, the argument went, that the Christians of Persia ought to have come under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Antioch, but as they were subject of the Sassanid Shahanshah, a separate Patriarchate was established. And of course, the cultural differences between Mesopotamia and China were more pronounced than between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean.

A map of Nestorian metropolitan provinces in western Asia
Of course, the Patriarch feared, that other parts of the world would be eager to pursue national reša d´šaith, or as the Greeks would say, autocephaly (7). Possible candidates for such moves could be some bold Khans in Sughd or some Raja in the south of India. Fortunately, it turns out, that both of these rulers came to benefit from the foreign contacts brought in by the mere existence of Assyrian monasteries.

The practice of the “Persian Marriages”, previously causing a challenge in dealing with, was largely dealt with a Deus ex Machina, being the inquisitions of Parbod in Persia. Unsurprisingly, those Christians who still had concubines, were quick to accept conversion to Zoroastrianism. It has become generally known that more often the village priest or the castle chaplain would turn a blind eye, especially if the culprit was of high social standing, while monks of Mar Addai would be rigorous in their pursuit of canon law.

The Holy Order of Mar Addai
Another major issue that the Church of the East is going to have to tackle is the rising power and influence of the Holy Order of Mar Addai. Originally, it was established as a tool for evangelization along the Silk Road. Unlike monasticism of the Desert Fathers in Egypt, Syria or even Rhomania, Nestorian monks were not hermits hard-to-reach in inaccessible locations, but are dedicated to a life of service. In contrast to Catholic Europe, the Nestorian monks are not divided into dozens of monastic orders, but rather there exists solely on order of Nestorian monks, and Nestorian monasteries function as polyfunctional centres, with a church, an inn, a library and hospital being the most basic ones.

The introduction of the Companions of Mar Qardakh, the calling of warriors of faith has been rather controversial. Now that the Holy Order of Mar Addai has its own army, it has become one of the most powerful institutions in Asia, and, unsurprisingly, the thorn in the eyes of many local rulers.

Mar Behnam monastery in Upper Mesopotamia
The monasteries of the Order of Mar Addai were outside of the jurisdiction of the local bishops, though originally they were presumed to be in close cooperation. Rather, the abbots of the monasteries were overseen by the Visitor, which functioned practically like an inspector, and reported directly to the Patriarch. The resulting state of affairs meant that the Order of Mar Addai had established a parallel structure, answerable only to the Patriarch. In quite a few regions, there were more monastic clergy than regular parish priests, and written evidence suggests that tension between regular clergy and monks, first reported as early as the 13th century, has now become a serious issue.

The question may arise, why, if previously the Order had existed for centuries, has the problem risen in the 14th century. The question can be answered by the collapse of the continent-spanning Naiman Empire and its successor realms. Even the Naiman conquerors were impressed by the infrastructural network built by the Order of Mar Addai and ought to copy it with their own postal service. Subsequently, the monks noticed many other ways, how to make use of their network of monasteries. Once the empire crumbled, and again the Turkic khagans were busy raiding and waging war upon each other, should they not spend time hunting or building magnificent palaces, the Order of Mar Addai found itself again to be the sole organization capable of providing a handful of services.

Antique map depicting historical caravans along the Silk Road
Firstly, as Naiman troops stopped patrolling the Silk Road and safety on the roads decreased, a certain Brother Khnanisho, being the innkeeper came up with an idea. As the road is risky, what if, a merchant in Yumen came and deposited his money when his in Yumen in exchange of a certificate, and then once reaching Qtespon, presented the certificate, and his money would be paid to him there. This idea, together with a possibility to “pre-order” a bed at inns in further monasteries, has become a particularly innovative idea, such that it greatly increased the wealth of the Order, as many travellers and merchants who had deposited gold were robbed and killed by bandits.

By the mid-to-late 14th century, the Order has come to be wealthy enough to equip its own army. The Companions of Mar Qardakh have become a serious threat to Parbod in his persecution of Nestorians, and the authorization of them as another “calling” of Assyrian monks was frowned upon by secular rulers, and clergy alike.

Companions of Mar Qardakh have fortified inaccessible locations- here Alamut in the Alborz Mountains
It was no secret that the Order of Mar Addai remained a force of globalization across much of Asia during the late medieval period. Their network of libraries and schools meant that knowledge and education standardized across much of the continent. Relatively high fluctuation in the monasteries meant that monks from many different backgrounds came to interact with one another, and more often than not, this resulted in new inventions, as people brought up in a different culture looked at things differently and found a new way of using the same thing.

The courtyard of a Nestorian monastery
The dense network of monasteries also meant another thing for the Church of the East – which the doctrine and practice of Christianity standardized across the entire Asian continent – with China being the big exception. Distinctive, controversial and near-heretical tendencies were quickly registered and channelled to the topmost level, where they were dealt with and decided upon, and prior to causing a general uproar.

In a time when corruption in the Nestorian Church was increasing and it became a public secret that quite a few of the Patriarchs won their office not by consensus of the Holy Spirit but rather by bags of gold, it turned out to be the monastic wing of the Church which put an end to the bribing. In the late 14th century, indeed as many as five Patriarchal candidates were sent to monasteries at the edges of the known world to serve as scribes as penance for their attempted manipulation of the patriarchal election. Not by chance, it turns out, that three of those five were open critics of the Order of Mar Addai and their disproportionate influence within the church.

Council of Kashkar
By the year 1387 the Catholicos Shemon IV has called a Council of the entire church to Kashkar in lower Mesopotamia. Theological controversies were to be addressed, as well as continued issues related to practical issues of the faithful: a zero toleration of “Persian marriages”, and discouragement of joining mystical brotherhoods, which were esoterical, if not Gnostic in nature, and their spirituality was thus not compatible with the teaching of the Church.

The real issue, however was to find a solution to the dichotomy between parish clergy and monasteries. The metropolitan of Samarqand proposed a solution in putting the office of the Visitor under the authority of the local Archbishop, thus all monasteries within an ecclesiastical province would be answerable to the local archbishop. The metropolitan of Herat proposed simply to put all monasteries under the authority of the local bishops, with a vicar amongst the Abbots acting as an intermediary between the monasteries and the local bishop.

The Abbots and Visitors of the monasteries were not eager to agree to the arrangement, as it would disrupt he organizational autonomy. However, it has become clear that the need to reign them in was dramatically, as more of the Visitor had more power than the actual bishop.

Clergy of the Church of the East in typical vestments
While some high-ranking prelates in Qtespon argued for the defence of the autonomy of the monasteries, ultimately the proposal of the Metropolitan of Samarqand was the one that was implemented. Effectively a Metropolitan province, headed by an archbishop, had numerous suffragan bishoprics, and for most practical purposes, the monasteries formed another, territorially non-contiguous bishopric. Further, it has been decided each province of the Order of Mar Addai was to hand over one third of their presently held finances and transfer it to the Archbishoprics –and a quarter of all future incomes was to go to the Archbishops.

Previously, a high share of the funds collected by the Oder of Mar Addai had been going directly to the office of the Catholicos, who commences the building of the impressive Cathedral of Mar Addai in Qtespon. The Archbishops used the newly acquired funds largely to build an enlarge academies – most profound is the Academy of Samarqand in Sogdia. Continued support for academic establishments was described with formulations calling for khans and shahs to “grant freedom to those who are in the further pursuit of wisdom” and to such.
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1. OTL rendered in Arabic as Jazira
2. The Assyrian name of Mesopotamia
3. Kirkuk
4. Mosul, on the right bank of the Tigris
5. Erbil
6. Tikrit
7. A literal translation from Classical Syriac saying “head of self”. Hopefully it does make sense.

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Eastern Arabia in the 14th Century
Beth Qatriye
The coastal strip of Beth Qatriye – previously under some form of control by the Ilkhanate has reasserted its own independence during the latter half of the 14th century. Even under the Ilkhanate, the region has been chiefly controlled by local Qatriyan amirs. As it has always been, effective control over the region was largely in the major coastal towns, while in desert, the local Qatriyan clan of Bar Waqeili (1) reigned supreme.

The Bar Waqeili tribal confederation has thus reasserted their independence by the mid-fourteenth century, when the Ilkhans were busy fighting the Persian insurgents, and effectively stopped paying taxes.

Pearl hunting is an important part of daily life in Beth Qatriye
The primary economic activity, aside from piracy, was diving for pearls and growing wine in the more hospitable areas – the oases on the other hand were producing dates, while techniques of obtaining salt from the sea in the hot climate were also made of use.

Concerns over piracy have caused the city-state of Ormus to attack the region thrice. Initially, Ormusian punitive campaigns failed, as the Ormusi fleet and mercenary army were able to seize control over the coastal towns, such as Jubail, Awal and Qatif. However, once attempting to cement their control in the hinterlands, their patrols were repeatedly attacked by local skirmishers, and the cities were regained via attacks through secret tunnels. Ormusi commanders have also noted the fact that the Bar Waqeili clan has been constantly avoiding an “honest battle in the open”, rather relying on ambushes and minor skirmishes, before disappearing in the desert.

The third campaign against the Bar Waqeili saw the involvement of the fiercest tribes from the interior of the peninsula – the Banu Tamim and the Banu Amir from the region of Yamamah. These tribesmen were to provide an effective counter to the Bar Waqeili skrimishers. The results of the third campaign were a victory for Ormus. The ruling chieftain of the Bar Waqeili was executed and the region received a new ruler- Dadisho Bar Gibril, who was to administer the lands of Beth Qatriye as a vassal of Ormus.

While a number of Ormusi merchants and aristocrats have settled on the peninsula of Qatar, specifically on its eastern coast around the town of Murwab, most of the interior remains under the rule of the amirs of Beth Qatriye. The island of Awal, or Dilmun (2) has come under direct Ormusi supervision.

Religion in eastern Arabia
In regards to religion, the 14th century has seen a resurgence of Christianity in the region, and the previous trend of a rise of Msadeqiyya Manicheans has been reversed – this may have been caused by the wars, when property of Manicheans was targeted on purpose, and previous emigration of many of them to Ormus, while more and more Christian families arrived to the region from the arid interior of the Peninsula.

In the final decades of the 14th century, following the defeat of Ormus by Mazoun, the house of Bar Gibril declared their independence from Ormusi supervision and seized control over Murwab.

Kingdom of Ormus
The city of Ormus enjoyed a privileged position under the Ilkhanate as its main port in regards to its maritime trade. Its geographic position has naturally predestined it to become a major naval power controlling the trade with Indian Subcontinent and across the Persian Gulf.

A late medieval depiction of the city of Ormus
The city of Ormus had not been conquered by the Naimans, and many people fleeing the brutality of the Naimans had found shelter under in the domains ruled by Ormus. Many philosophers and educated people moved to Ormus, as well as wealthy merchants and skilled commanders.

During the rule of the Ilkhanate, as has been mentioned, Ormus was the main port of the Ilkhanate, through which they traded with India and China. As such, the demographics of the city have changed significantly, as many Persians from the mainland have come to live within the city itself, fleeing devastation of the continent. Others have poured to the city to seek opportunities in prosperity caused by trade.

By the beginning of the 14th century, Ormus has become an increasingly diverse and multicultural society – with Ormusi Aramaic, Baloch and Persian languages being the most common languages spoken in the streets of the city, with Gujarati and Konkani, as well as other western Indian languages being also heard occasionally. Religiously, Msadeqiyya remains the plurality religion, but Nestorianism, Zoroastrianism, Mandeism, Judaism and also Indian religions – such as Jainism and Hinduism are also present, with their own places of worship. Furthermore, there exists also a visible minority of persons of Bantu ancestry, who have reached the area via slave trade. Most of them remain in the lowest strata of Ormusi society – as oarsmen in their fleets or house servants.

Baloch people have become a significant proportion of the population – while a significant amount live as servants, still others have come to the city as mercenaries.

The map above depicts the rise of monarchical regimes in Eastern Arabia, which until then had a rich republican tradition
The political establishment of Ormus has also changed significantly. Originally, Ormus was a plutocratic republic. The political life of the Ormusi republic has come to be filled with political intrigue and more often than not, political opponents were taken care of through either poison or some dagger in the dark. After a series of defeats in wars, largely due to incompetent leadership, a certain Salghur, commander of the city watch has had enough. With the support of the Baloch soldiers and mercenaries under his command, Salghur in 1375 performed a coup.

Salghur established a monarchic regime and concentrated all decisive authority into his hands, seeking effective administration. The wealthiest merchants had had their private residences and palaces raided by patrols, and a half of their wealth was confiscated by the state.

The Nestorian monk Mar Sabrisho of Arbela has given us a first-hand account: “The city of Ormus is located on an island off the coast of Persia. Its wealth is beyond imagination and the merchants of Ormus have gathered all gems and spices from all corners of the world. Avarice and greed, are however not the only form of vice present in the city. The second most profound vice is lust, and lawful marriage and fidelity is an exception in the adulterous culture of the city.” He went on to say, that Ormus has had two bishops deposed in the early 14th century for their moral failings.

Belly dancing is one of the common sights found at Ormus
The wealthiest merchants were known to have large shapastana (3) with dozens, sometimes even hundreds of concubines, and many citizens had at least two or three wives. Carnal pleasures were thus commonly found in Ormus

Ormus has also become a place of luxury, attracting magnificent painters, sculptors and artists of all kinds.

Unfortunately for Ormus, after the death of Salghur, the royals were concerned less and less with practical issues, and devoted themselves to wine, poetry, comedies, and women. One of the princes had boasted that each night, he had ridden one girl of virginity. The continued decay and lack of morale have subscribed themselves to the colossal defeat of Ormusi forces in the war against Mazoun. Unfortunately for the Ormusi, their vassals in Beth Qatriye seized the opportunity to rid themselves of “the decadent drunkards and adulterers”.

Kingdom of Mazoun
The most outspoken rival of Ormus was located to its southeast. Mazoun has been ruled by a relatively stable regime of the Dapirs since the late twelfth century. In contrast to Ormus, it has not been as wealthy as its rival, and its inhabitants had experienced also modest periods, not only times of abundance. The resulting effects were that Mazoun was able to economize its resources in a much more practical way than its rival. Furthermore, Mazoun was able to attract much more scholars and inventors, making it the local centre of innovation.

Geographically Mazoun consists of two distinct areas. The Hajjar Mountains cut the realm in half, being a barrier between the cosmopolitan, sea-ward looking Riviera stretching from Sur in the south across Mascat to roughly Sohar in the west. This region was by far more populous, and lived by commerce. In this region, the most important thing is wealth, and successful merchants are held in high respect, as are successful pirate captains The hinterland region, known as Azd, is characterized by a much more conservative society, with Msadeqiyya clerics playing a pivotal role in the life of the society. Unsurprisingly, this region is in fact the seat of the highest-ranking Msadeqiyya cleric,who resides in Bahla. In Azd, honour plays a crucial role, and disputes among the clans are settled by the clergy. Should they fail to do so, a wave of vendettas is likely to ignite and last a couple of decades. The tribes of Azd have a reputation of being particularly fierce warriors, and together with numerous regiments of Baloch mercenaries form the bulk of Mazouni army.

The desert area of Azd is known for its independent-minded tribes
The Mazouni army consisted thus of well-equipped cavalry forces, drawn from the Azdi hinterland and Baloch mercenary troops. The infantry of Mazoun consisted again of largely Baloch mercenaries, but also from recruits from the Mazouni Riviera. Mazouni infantry in the 14th century was equipped with most up-to-date weaponry. Crossbows are gradually phased out in favour of harquebuses, some of the most primitive gunpowder weapons. Mazouni infantry formations had these harquebusiers shielded by halberdmen and pikemen, to provide them safety until they load their weapons.

The depiction of the arbuebus
Mazounis waged a series of wars against Ormus and Hadhramawt to restore their control over the disputed borderlands, known as tip of Magan. For Ormus the area was strategically important, as it secured Ormusi monopoly over control of the entry towards the Persian Gulf.

Despite a better material background, the Ormusians were not able to win decisively, as Mazouni forces were both better organized and better equipped, but also due to the fact that Mazoun was able to commit more resources to the army.

While the Ormusians were able to win in the first war, when they have managed to seize control of the entire Mazouni coast, reducing Mazoun to the tramontane are in the hinterland, known as Azd, around the oases of Nizwa and Bahla. For a few years, thus Ormus was able to monopolize the entire trade with India. The next war however, saw a decisive counterattack, with Ormus losing the entire Mazouni coast except the port of Sohar.

The capture of Sohar by Mazounis in the third war has proven to be decisive in their campaigns against Ormus – the city was a key to Ormusi control over the Arabian coast. Its seizure resulted in a rapid collapse of Ormusi control in Magan. The result was the end of Ormusi control over their possessions on the Peninsula.

Mazounis and Ormusians also competed across the entire sea of Mazoun over access to trade emporia and markets. Subsequently, Mazounis seized the region of Hadhramawt and Dhofar, midway along the southern Arabian coast on the way to Himyar. Both regions were famous particularly for their trade in frankincense, and entering the trade with this luxurious commodity was certainly something that the Dapirs were deeply interested in.

The port of Salalah does offer some interesting opportunities, but it appears that there is still one piece of rock that the Mazounis are extremely interested in. Located off the tip of Hafuf, the island of Suqutra has until now been a possession of Himyarites (who were, unsuccessfully, seeking to force their own form of Christianity on the island´s nominally Nestorian populace). According to the Dapirs of Mazoun, Suqutra is extremely valuable as a resupplying station for any ship sailing from Aden to the Konkani or Malabar coasts of India.

A war against Himyar in the final years of the 14th century over Suqutra was declared. While the Himyarites were able loot and gain control over Hadhramawt and Dhofar, the naval superiority of Mazoun meant firstly that a successful disembarkment on the island was realized, much to the pleasure of the islanders, and secondly, that experienced Mazouni pirates were able to raid the ports of the Himyarites – most notably destroying the fleet stationed in the port of Aden during a surprise attack. Several amphibious attacks on coastal cities launched by the Mazounis were successful, and the Hiyarties were defeated.

Green: the domain controlled by Mazoun at the end of 14th century. Red: the independent Beth Qatriye. The purple domains of Ormus are barely visible
Thus, at the end of the 14th century, Mazoun gains two important border regions: the peninsular region of Magan in the west, which the Dapirs heavily fortify, as they anticipate a possible Ormusi attempt for reconquest, and then Hadhramawt and Dhofar in the south, which provides southern promontory of Mazouni power. Mazoun is a naval power to be reckoned with, commanding the southern coast of Arabia, seeking to dominate the trade in the Indian Ocean Basin.

Culture of Mazoun
The culture of Mazoun is something that requires some further detail, for it is relatively distinct. The Mazouni language was originally a South Arabian one, on the far end of the dialect continuum, related to Mehri and Dhofari on the southern coast of Arabia. Throughout the centuries, however, Mazouni has diverged substantially from its ancestral form, mainly due to heavy interaction with Iranian and Indian linguistic zones. What however should be noted, are relatively few, if any influences from Aramaic or Syriac, caused by the fact that Nestorianism failed to take root in the area, and Persian had remained the prestige language in Mazoun.

Above: the linguistic map of the region
The three languages that had a profound influence on Mazouni are Persian, Baloch and Gujarati. Persian linguistic influences have been present in the area since the time of the Sassanids, and much of the vocabulary in the domains of governance, infrastructure and abstract concepts, the terminology in religion and philosophy has its origin in classical Persian (or partially late classical Parthian). Economic and trade concepts were borrowed from Ormus from the local idioms of Aramaic and Persian, which coexist in the city. Parts of the military terminology on the other hand have come from the Baloch language. Gujarati (and to a lesser extent Konkani and Malabar languages) on the western coast of India have given the Mazouni language many terms in describing exotic animals and plants, as well as spices.

Mazouni language is written in the Mazouni script, originally derived from Nestorian or Syriac script. Written documents from the 14th century show us largely practical documents of merchants speaking of regular transactions and ship diaries. Other types of documents show us legal decisions and the “Chronicle of the Realm” an official chronicle with a prescribed set of issues which are considered noteworthy. It has proven to be an extremely valuable source to historians. From the Chronicle of the Realm we precisely know how many ships departed from the ports of Mazoun every season for their merchant adventures.

Fishing provides a large part of the Mazouni diet
Mazouni thought and ethics has been deeply influenced by both Persian and Indian intellectual life. In contrast to Ormus, gluttony has seldom been an issue for Mazounis. In the coastal regions, the diet was mostly pescetarian, with many fruits and vegetables and spices always on the table, unlike meat. Different thinkers in Mazoun took different attitudes to the perception of time – the conservative position of the religious establishment was that time was linear; however philosophers living in the cosmopolitan coastal regions, often coming in contact with India on their journeys come to think of time as cyclical (this attitude may have been strengthened by the experience of the monsoon phenomenom).

In contrast to the intricacy of the etiquette of Ormus, corrupted by the lavishness, but also inspired by neighbouring Persian etiquette, Mazounis are known to openly despise people who speak a lot and say nothing, calling them “venomous snakes”, and should one feel openly any hostility toward another and seeks vengeance, poisoning is out of question. Rather, it has become customary to challenge the offender to a duel – often through sticking a dagger, along with the explanation of the offence to into the doors of one´s rival.

Straight talk and honesty is a virtue often accompanying Mazouni merchants, and breaking a given promise is something that is known to destroy one´s reputation overnight. Mazounis seldom to gestures of prostration or any other gesture of submission – the only such gesture qualifying as such can be described followingly: one hand on the waist, the second straight and a very slight bowing of the torso. The notion of personal space is rather larger in comparison to neighbouring cultures – roughly to half an arm´s length, something which could be explained by the importance of private property.

Regarding some practical philosophy, the life motto of most of the Mazounis appears to be “work hard, plan carefully, live modestly, and you will make a fortune” (4). Unlike in Ormus, Mazounis generally see no sense in displaying their status or fortunes publically through luxurious garments or magnificent palaces. While knowing how to enjoy life, and take some earthly pleasures, Mazounis could be considered to be rather disciplined, and contrast themselves to the citizens of Ormus.

1. OTL: Banu Uqayl
2. Bahrain
3. Original Persian word for Harem, meaning “night station”
4. Protestant work ethic, anyone?

 

[Tomislav Addai]

As has been demanded, we will focus our attention now to the hegemonic power of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Rhomaic Empire has lost large parts of inner Anatolia to the Ilkhanate during the past century, but Rhomanian domination has prevailed across most of the Haemic Peninsula and the coastal and northwestern regions of Anatolia. Further dominions of the Rhomanians include Cyprus, Cilicia and the Syrian coast, as well as Apulia on the “heel” of the Italian “boot”. The only part of the Libyan continent, as it was then known in Rhomania was the region of Cyrenaica.

Late Medieval Rhomania saw an increased urbanization (1). The cities of Constantinople, Thessaloniki, Adrianople, Smyrna, Trebizond, Tarsus and Antioch are important cities of commerce and manufacturing. The imperial administration was often concerned with the need of supplying the large urban populations with agricultural products from the hinterland. For Constantinople and Adrianople, this was from the densely populated province of Thrace, producing grain, olives, while the shepherds of the Rhodopes supplied cheese and meat. Thessaloniki was supported by the rural regions of upper Macedonia and Thessaly. Smyrna and Tarsus have large hinterland regions; the growth of Trebizond on the other hand was limited by its lack of an agricultural hinterland, and the diet in the Pontic cities was often composed on fish and sea fruits as well as cheese and typical mountain produce, while baked products were rare. Historically, grain had been imported from Taurica (2) and gradually the trade routes reopen.

The early 14th century saw a renaissance in culture – art and philosophy in the Empire. The largest universities were present in Constantinople and Antioch, while other provincial capitals had their own schools, though their reputation was not as highly regarded as the two aforementioned, and were more concerned with training of professionals for specific tasks needed in the daily life of almost every village – such as medicine, law and theology. These subjects were studied more deeply, following an introduction into the seven liberal arts (music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, grammar, logic and rhetoric) .These schools were thus training persons highly demanded in everyday life. However, the universities of Constantinople and Antioch were concerned with a more complex pursuit of wisdom, and philosophers concerned with all disciplines could be found in the universities of Constantinople and Antioch.

A reconstruction of the Magnaura Hall, housing the university of Constantinople
Aristotle and Plato remain highly respected and often citied philosophers- and the Academy in Athens is reopened (Athens no longer remains a chief city, but is rather a humble provincial town, renown largely to the educated for its past significance, but not for its present fame).

The work of Demetrios Allatios Human Societies and their Structure has become a classic work of contemporary Rhomaic philosophy. Allatios grounds his ideas in Aristolte, Plato and the Bible. With his premises being the original inequality of human beings and virtue, and evaluating different goods and virtues, he comes to a following conclusion:

“As we know, in the past every city ruled itself and was submitted to no other than themselves. Thus, the citizens of Athens ruled themselves, while they neighbours the Thebans did not at all subject themselves to the laws of the Athenians, and so did Corinth, Sparta and each and every of them. In the present we see societies of different size be found in the oecumene: we see the city, we find the kingdom and the empire. Which, however suits best human nature?

Firstly we take a look at the city. A city is however small and cannot obtain all it needs within its limits. It is not sufficient – say a great fire comes or some sort of natural destruction – who will come to the aid of the citizens? Another city? Why should they? When looking at ancient history, we see a great many of wars, between neighbouring cities, with people of same language fighting their follow neighbours. (…)

Secondly, looking at the kingdom, found among the Franks. The kingdom is larger than the city and usually its people are all of the same tribe. The king cannot listen to the concerns of all of his subjects- only his noblemen, who reside in castles in different parts of the realm. The kings themselves, and their nobles are concerned with virtue, mainly though through glory through war (perhaps due to their barbaric roots), which however leads to wars. (…)

Lastly, there is the Empire. The Empire is not just a big kingdom, but has the noble goal of uniting all humans (…).Some say, that is not freedom a virtue? Freedom to choose which way to govern the city? (…)” The argument goes that freedom to make bad decisions will be ultimately destructive. Ultimately Demetrios asks that what is better- one legionary or an entire legion, composed of many legionaries. He then asks, what is better, the squabbling and scheming pantheon of gods, with Zeus, and Poseidon and Hades, with none of them all-powerful, or an all-powerful God of the Testaments?

Thus his conclusion goes to say that the universal empire led by a virtuous emperor on the throne is the best political establishment. The emperor however, is needed to be able to receive the concerns of his subjects and listen to his counsellors. Furthermore, the emperor ought to allow all peoples regardless of their origin to submit to the Emperor and become integrated into the Rhomaic civilization.

The resulting mind-set in the Rhomaic Empire is that : (a) ideally the entire globe should come under the rule of one emperor, who would establish a lasting peace – the “peace of the Naimans” was a cited example, though it failed for two reasons – the brutality of its conquests, and secondly for the disunity of the khans and (b) societies are graded and systematically categorized according to their level of sophistication (3) – with hunter-gatherer clans ranking ultimately lowest and the “Four Grand Civilizations” – the Rhomanians, Chinese, Persians and Indians are ranked highest, with everyone else ranking in between. Gradually, philosophers in Constantinople and Antioch argue specifically on the categorization of that tribe or that principality into a given category.

Regarding the Senate of the Rhomaic Empire, we have the four primary political factions: the Faction of Reconquest focusing on a strong military and territorial expansion, then Faction of the Market aiming for a strong navy and new trade opportunities. The Faction of the Knights, seeking to strengthen the position of the land-owners and aiming to transform the country into a feudal one appears to be losing ground given the developments in increasing urbanization. The Faction of the Purple, backing Imperial attempts to centralize the Empire can thus be found in a somewhat direct opposition in relation to the Faction of the Knights. One of the primary powers of the Senate was, together with the Patriarch of Constantinople, to be the kingmaker in event of a succession crisis.

It was primarily the Faction of the Market that has been a decisive force in the early 14th century Rhomania, and the empire has become a thalassocracy controlling the Eastern Mediterranean. Large forests were planted across various hilly regions of the empire, as building material for future fleets It was the Faction of the Market that has directed the Rhomanian fleet and army against Sicily in the 1320s, seizing Calabria and the eastern shore of Sicily (subsequently the western part of the island became part of Afirka.

In a few years, the Rhomaic Empire entered into another conflict, this time with the two merchant republics of Ragusa and Venice over control of the )Adriatic trade routes. Venice moreover was very active in the eastern Mediterranean and has set up colonies of Italian merchants on many of the Aegean islands. Venetian merchants were also active in Taurida but very importantly, Venice was engaged in high-intensity trade with Kemet, which was the only contender of the Rhomaic Empire for the control of the Eastern Mediterranean

The city of Ragusa was one of the targets of the second campaign of emperor John Palaiologos
The war against these two Italian states occurred primarily on sea, where the imperial fleet proved its numerical superiority. A blockade of the city of Ragusa both from land and fro mesa was established, before the princes surrendered and Ragusa accepted Rhomaic suzerainty, while maintaining their republican institutions. Venice was not attacked directly – the Venetians were able to rebuke the Rhomanians in Istria and ultimately a peace was established, resulting in Venetians paying tribute to the Empire.

By the year 1340 the Salghurid dynasty of Konya has become a major target of the Rhomaic Empire. The then Emperor, John Palaiologos together with the Faction of Reconquest set out on a campaign to regain the region of central Anatolia. Among his best generals was a man of Armenian descent from Cilicia, known as Sarkis of Trazark. His role in designing the battle plan was crucial, and he is also known to have had a great support among his forces, which were composed of mostly Armenian and Syriac horsemen and archers, to a lesser also pikemen.

The Turkoman cavalry fielded by the Salghurids
After the victory of the Salghurids, the Emperor was concerned with attacking the Eretnids, to fully secure Anatolia once and for all. Sarkis was delegated to station the troops under his command at Tarsus, to consolidate his forces and was supposed to, according to the plan, attack the Eretnid forces to the south.

However, instead, Sarkis summoned the diocesan councils of both Cilicia and Syria and decided to act independently of the Emperor, as Sarkis was concerned by the fact that Antioch lacked an effective hinterland. Local levies and guardsmen were raised in both provinces, and Sarkis set march on the Malikate of Aram, governed by Qeryaq (4). The Malikate of Aram was one of the successor states of the Ilkhanate, spanning from the Syrian Desert to Gaza. In Syria, it turned out Sarkis achieved important victories, entering ultimately the cities Damascus and Zahle.

Before leaving Antioch, Sarkis has informed the imperial fleet of his ambitions and instructed them to set sail against Gaza. However, it turned out that Kemet took advantage of the opportunity and has marched its army across the Sinai, before Qeriaq pledged fealty to the Pharaoh.

Imperial fleets disembarked on the Galilean coast, in Acre, and Sidon, before learning that Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron were firmly in Kemetian hands. Ultimately it was the Emperor who ordered the imperial troops to stand down, as any form of military campaign against Kemet was against his interest.

Furthermore, it was decided that Sarkis of Trazark committed treason by acting against imperial orders and causing complete chaos from the strategic perspective (the campaign against the Eretnids did thus not begin). Sarkis refused to obey the authority of the Emperor, rather he raised his own banners and instigated a revolt. While the Greek heartland of the Empire supported the legitimate Emperor, a man named Constantine Vargas , commander of the troops stationed on the Pontic coast rallied to his cause.

The snow-covered peaks of the Taurus

Sarkis crossed the Taurus and established his camp at Konya, where he rallied a number of previously defeated Turkomans and Armenians under his banner, before marching to the northwest upon Constantinople. Meanwhile Constantine Vargas was moving westwards, seizing the Pontic Coast up to the river Saggarios (5). The host of Sarkis met with Imperial forces near Dorylaeum (6), where his superior tactical skills has given him victory, as well as his Turkoman cavalrymen. The defeated loyalist forces retreated to the city of Nikomedia (6) in Bithynia on coast of the Marble Sea.

The city offered heavy resistance, with many troops pulled from Thrace and Constantinople itself being sent there to halt the advance of the pretender. Sarkis made a decision to fake their retreat, and waited for the forces inside the city to march out, seeking to defeat them in open battle. Ultimately, his idea proved to be a success, especially as the forces of Constantine Vargas attacked the loyalist forces from the rear.

The seizure of Nikomedia gave Sarkis control over Bithynia and cleared the path to Constantinople, and with the help of the Pontic fleet Sarkis transferred his armies across the Bosporus at night, sending roughly one half to secure the Theodosian Walls, and the other part his troops was ready to besiege the City of the World.

However, bloodshed did not occur, as the previous Emperor was killed in a coup and the gates of the city were opened. Thus came to power Sarkis I. of the Cilician dynasty. Sarkis has diverted his attention to Syria and Cilicia – transferring his seat to Antioch in the winter and Trazark in Cilicia in summer. In Syria and among Armenians, he was a popular Emperor. On the other hand, his absence in Constantinople caused a public uproar.

A map of the Rhomaic Empire at the end of the reign of Sarkis the Cilician
The security of Syria remained a concern of Sarkis for the later part of his reign- campaigning against the Ak Koyunlu Turkomans over Berroia/ Aleppo and other cities in northern Syria, before it was agreed that the course of the Euphrates shall be the border between the two.

1. Contrary to what happened in OTL, which was caused partly by the fragmentation of Anatolia into numerous beyliks. In this timeline, the rural population of Anatolia has moved to a large number westwards into the major cities.
2. Crimea
3. This idea was originally found in the writing by @Basileus444 in The Age of Miracles Continues
4. A possible Turkoman variation of the name Quriaqos
5. Sakarya River, Turkey
6. Near Eskisehir , Turkey
7. Izmit

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Sarkis was a military commander driven by his sense of duty, with a strong sense of duty. He ordered several laws upholding moral order, such as banning of brothels and stupid comedies, but also one of their favourite past-times – the chariot races of the Hippodrome. He rarely visited Constantinople. If necessary, he favoured a villa in Skoutarion opposite the Bosporus on the Anatolian side. He felt uncomfortable in the large city, calling it a basket of poisonous snakes. True enough, many of its citizens were angered by his moralistic laws, and his absence from the city. He had an Armenian neighbourhood built in both Galata, north of the Golden Horn, with a cathedral church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator. The suburb of Galata had also a significant Latinate (read: Italian) and Jewish community in addition to its Rhomanian (Greek) plurality. Subsequently, the suburb of Skoutarion (Armenian: Skutor) across the Bosporus had also been enlarged and became a largely Armenian neighbourhood.

While residing in Syria, he left his younger brother Grigor in Skutor. His brother Grigor was a much more outgoing type of person, and made quite a number of influential friends among the important families of the city. By the time of Sarkis´death, in 1375 there were four contenders to the throne: Andronikos of the House Palaiologos, claiming succession from the deposed emperors of the Palaiologos dynasty, then Grigor, the brother of Sarkis, and his son Hagop. The fourth contender was Alexios of the Komnenian dynasty, controlling the Pontic coast.

The fact that Sarkis was rather unpopular has led some senators to claim him to be an usurper, and supported either the Palaiologid claimant, especially those in Macedonia and Morea, as well as some of those in Thrace; the Komnenian claimant had strong support in Anatolia, especially in Pontus and in Asiana. Hagop by this time was only a youngster on sixteen, little experienced in matters of state and military, relying on his court for advice. Grigor did manage to win over some of the important families of the empire, though by customs of succession his claim is considered invalid.

The Senate as a unified body had collapsed and a number of parallel Senates were established, supporting rival claimants. Most importantly, the Faction of the Market was rather keen on supporting the Komnenians, though a small section of them favoured Grigor. The Faction of the Knights, on the other hand, declared for Andronikos, while the Faction of Reconquest and Faction of the Purple ceased to exist as unified factions, and their members split according to personal sympathies. As mentioned, the provinces of Asiana and Pontus supported Alexios, Bithynia and Anatolikon declared for Grigor, Macedonia, Thrace, and Morea for Andronikos and Epirus and Dacia as well as Creta et Cyrenaica stayed neutral in the dispute, though the latter apparently sided tacitly with the Komnenians. Cilicia and Syria were under control of Hagop and his court. Grigor held the city of Constantinople, while Smyrna and Thessaloniki were under control of Alexios and Andronikos, respectively.

The first campaigns saw Grigor consolidate his positions in the vicinity of the capital, while Andronikos along with his son Manuel pushed across the region of ancient Troy, seizing control of the Hellespont strait. The Komnenians on the other hand seized the strategically town of Ankyra in north-central Anatolia.

A map of the civil war
In the second year of the conflict, Grigor attacked Andronikos´ forces in Thrace and pushed him westwards, while Alexios conquers Bithynia. In the south, Grigors bannermen in Anatolia are sandwiched between Syrian forces and Alexios´ loyalists. The disembarkment of Komnenian fleet in Athens opens another theatre in the struggle.

Andronikos Palaiologos, one of the claimants to the throne
Alexios´crossing of the Hellespont practically led to the elimination of Grigor as a contender, while the Epirus´ and Dalmatia´s alignment for Alexios have won him the war practically. By the end of 1378 it was clear that the Komnenian dynasty was to return to the Imperial throne, and Grigor and his remaining men fled on a ship to Georgia. The city of Constantinople opens its gates and crowns Alexios the Emperor. The Palaiologos, still controlling Macedonia and Thessaloniki, hastily seek reconciliation with the triumphant emperor – they are named as exarchs in Morea, parts of which they held at the time of their surrender.

Seizing the opportunity, Kemet takes over the region of Cyrenaica, in fact the sole possession of the Empire on the Libyan continent.

However, it turns out that one of the claimants to the throne remained undefeated. Hagop, reigning in Antioch advised by his courtiers, mainly by Hovhannes Mamonikian, his steward and the competent general Yousef Aun, Hagop was took a cautious stand in the war, and maintained control over Cyprus, Cilicia, Syria and Antioch. Maintaining amicable relations with both Italian states and Lebanon, Hagop hopes to preserve Syrian independence, while expanding slightly eastwards – primarily to gain control of Tadmur or Palmyra.

Alexios Megas Komnenos
With Alexios Megas Komnenos rising to the imperial palace begins what the historians would call as the “Komnenian Restoration”. The Empire enjoyed a period of relative peace, now after suffering another civil war, and there were few hawks in the Senate. Once again, it was primarily the Faction of the Market that had the upper hand, and the Empire experienced increased urbanisation and maritime trade. The city of Ragusa in Dalmatia, one of the more recent additions to the Empire has become the centre of Adriatic trade, much to the discontent of Venetians. In Italy, it were the cities of Tarent and Syracuse, that rose to importance as major outlets of Mediterranean trade between Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Komnenian Restoration saw a period of increased intellectual and cultural activity. Many new pieces of literature, both poetic, epic and factual, were written down, and academic institutions flourished. It was focus on the man, on the individual and earthly life. This philosophical current, known as Anthropism, for its focus on the Human, rooted back in the classical tradition of Aristotle. Anthropist writers were concerned in writing “in the language of the common man, and their works are very well testimony to the evolution of the various Hellenic dialects of the later 14th century: Pontic with its many Kartvelian influences, Cappadocian of Anatolia heavily influenced by Armenian and Oghuz Turkic, and the western dialects of Morea and Epirus. Most scholars, primarily those in Thessaloniki, Adrianople, Constantinople and Smyrna, however continued to use the slightly modified standard High Rhomaic.

The Anthropist art, often ready to depict the beauty of the human body, nevertheless produced a back-clash. It came from the monastic mystical tradition cultivated in Athos and many other monasteries across the Empire and was known as Hesychasm. Based around inner meditation, focusing on the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, sinner”) repeated as a mantra. These practices were often strange to an outsider, such as a group of monks from Calabria – one of the places where Latin and Greek cultures met.

The issue has come to cause a serious controversy within the Orthodox Church, and it appears that it drew the monastic clergy against some of the well-versed secular clergy, with most parish priests staying aside of the whole thing.

Monasteries in Rhomania
What originated as a dispute on the method of prayer became part of a wider cultural debate within the Rhomaic Empire. Some see the whole issue to be a conflict between Aristotelianist and Platonic worldviews, between the practical and the mystical. For others it came to be regarded as a conflict on the place of religion in Rhomaic society – although that never was the case. Others have been trying to find a connection with Gnostic movements. For quite a few others, they were a new generation of religious fanatics, ready to hit down on the high culture of the Komnenian Restoration.

The Hesychast supporters organized themselves into the Faction of the Seekers of Salvation, becoming one of the major factions of the Senate, becoming second only to the Faction of the Market. Unrest, caused by vigilante Hesychast sympathisers broke out in western Macedonia and mountainous Morea, as well as Lycia and Caria.

Skutor opposite Constantinople experienced riots against the local Armenian population. Emperor Alexios has had enough. He summoned the Patriarch of Constantinople and ordered him to sort out this trouble. Andronikos Palaiologos ruling Morea dealt harshly with the revolting fanatics.

Apparently, the House of Palaiologos, firmly entrenched in Morea were one of the strongest opponents of the Hesychast movement, and in terms of geopolitics they looked westwards, viewing opportunities and contacts in the Appenine Peninsula. They considered themselves as practical, military men, interested in collecting the taxes from the peasants, dressing the recruits in armour and perhaps counting the profits brought up by trade. Not by mumbling tantric verses. Rather often, they were waiting for the lengthy liturgies to end. Though full of deep symbolism, quite a few people were tired of the hour-lengthy liturgies, and would never imagine to go on meditating for some hour or two.

The issue of the Hesychast controversy has not been solved during the lifetime of Alexios Megas Komnenos. However, he was rather successful in repairing the damage caused by the civil war and by the final years of his reign, he did see the country prosper.

The interior of the Anatolian Plateau, particularly the region of Konya had significant Turkish and Armenian populations. Alexios sought to repopulate the land with more Greek subjects. Over time, however, it did turn out that Turkish had become the common tongue in this region, with many Greek and Armenian loanwords. The Anatolian Turkish were chiefly of Nestorian religion and used the Armenian script to write down their tongue. Subsequent Patriarchs have sent a number of Orthodox priests fluent in the Turkish tongue to convert the Turks and bring them to the fold of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The progress of this effort was rather slow, and any results were tentative at best.

The biggest threat lay however east of the Halys River. The domain of the Eretnids, originally a Turkic Uyghur dynasty lay in the border regions between Armenia and Anatolia. This region was a bastion of the heretical Paulician faith, and apparently the Eretnids were rather quick to find support from the heretical Armenians living in the region. The area was heavily fortified, with a dense network of inaccessible mountain fortresses in the mountainous terrain. The Emperor feared that the moment he attacks their domain, their forces would cross the Halys and seize Konya, and provoke a rebellion of the Anatolian Turks, while in the meantime the Hesychast movement would launch a rebellion of their own.

The Eretnids have come to rule over the upper Euhrates basin and the southern foothills of the Pontic Mountains, once again displacing the Aq Qoyunlu Turkoman rule from that region.

And then there was Syria. King Hagop Sarkisyan of the Trazarkian dynasty has been ruling the land to the south of the Taurus Mountains since the civil war. This included the regions of Cilicia and Cyprus, while maintaining a rather indirect hold over Lebanon as well. For the Rhomaic Empire, the existence of an independent Syria appears to be a threat, primarily because this Syria appears to be allying itself with Kemet, which in turn has taken advantage of the previous civil wars in the Rhomaic Empire and seized Cyrenaica.

Hagop Sarkisyan was thus ruling Syria as an Armenian king. The realm consisted of various religious and linguistic groups. There were the Antiochian Greeks, the Syriacs, the Armenians and the Arabs. The Greeks were Orthodox for the most part, the Armenians were followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church. As for the Syriac-speaking subjects of his, some were followers of the Syriac Jacobite Church, though some were also Nestorians. However, the plurality were followers of the Antiochian Orthodox Church. The Arabs too, appear to be half-to- half divided among Nestorian and Jacobite denominations.

The Cathedral of Saint George in Damascus, belonging to the Syriac Jacoite Church
Historically, it ought to have been the Syriac Jacobite Church, whose adherents made a plurality in the region and was a main driver of cultural autonomy in Syria, seeking to preserve the Aramophone Syrian population from cultural Hellenization. However, over the course of the centuries, its position has been continually undermined by both the Rhomaic Emperors from the west and the Turkic Nestorian conquerors from the east, each seeking to impose their own denomination of Christianity over Syria.

A map of the religion in Syria
Hagop saw little difference in the Orthodox and Jacobite interpretation of Christianity. He was told that the Jacobite was the same as his own Armenian understanding of Christology, but once again, it appears to be a subject of theoretical scholarly debate of a handful of theologians, not something that should have made any practical difference. It turns out that the differences between the Orthodox and the Jacobites have largely faded away by now, and Hagop was seeking for a way to unite the two churches of Syria…

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Kemet.
The dominions of the successors of Boutros the Builder saw even further territorial acquisitions. In the east, after Sarkis of Trazark has weakened Syria, king Shenouda of Kemet seized the opportunity and secured the Holy Land. True enough, the arid Siani Peninsula and the Wall of Boutros the builder did offer a strong defense, but the temptation of seizing control over the Holy Land and Jerusalem itself was once again too great. Apart from its strategic importance as a buffer state, it had a deep spiritual significance.

While Kashromi and Rakote remain important cities with populations of 50 000 and 35 000 people, the city of Tamiat has grown to an astonishing 70 000 people, more than doubling its population during the last century. The city´s strategic location, as its proximity to the Red Sea have caused it to become the major trade hub and stop on the way to Ethiopia and India.

Following Boutros´ project with building the Wall to keep foreign invaders at bay, merchants and engineers were beginning of thinking about ways how to connect the Mediterranean and Red Seas. It turned out that the easiest way was to dig again the Canal of the Pharaohs, which would connect the eastern courses of the Nile with the Bitter Lake and then the Red Sea.

The couse of the Canal of the Pharaohs
This ambitious project would require even more labour, and even more slaves were bought at the Kinari Coast to Kemet, where they were charged to the hard manual labour.

Since the time of Boutros, the society of Kemet underwent some transformation. While in Upper Egypt, it is predominantly the Church which remains the largest and most powerful institution, in Lower Egypt, the landed nobility has gradually come to overshadow the influence of both the bureaucrats and the Church, while a more commercial and independent-minded attitude in the cities has been growing. Native Coptic merchants are the ones who dominate the trade with India and the Nubian lands, while Greek and Armenian, as well as Italian merchants are only found trading in the Mediterranean. For Kemet it is important once again to have wood, as little if any forests grow in Kemet. Until now, wood was bought from Italian merchants and exchanged for incense and spices; once in possession of the Holy Land, special edicts of the king instructed thousands of trees to be planted, especially in the mountainous Judean Mountains and in Galilee. Should Kemet´s maritime adventure continue, it needs to have more than enough ships.

However, Shenouda seeking to turn the country into a mercantile and feudal realm appears to have upset a lot of representatives of the old order. By the middle of the 14th century a stern opposition of churchmen and bureaucrats has risen against him, and used the valley of the Nile in Upper Egypt as a bastion of their support. The king Shenoudas relation with Pope Peter V has always been rather bad, and it turns out that a conspiracy of high state officials and churchmen agreed in Kashromi to depose the man who had been seeking to undermine their authority.

Some of the mercenary troops in Kemet
The garrison of the barracks in Kashromi – Armenians, Berbers, Beja, Nubians and Arabs all joined this rebellion, and the entirety of Upper Egypt was thus under their firm control. However, a few squadrons of Armenian and Arab cavalry fled to Tamiat, where they informed the king of the revolt. The Arab commander Harith was immediately granted land and titles, as was the Armenian commander Hovhannes. The loyalist forces indeed consisted largely of the Bedouin tribes guarding the Sinai, as well as the largely Coptic, to a lesser extent Armenian force, as well as quickly hired Italian mercenaries, and a few Maronite from Lebanon. Moreover, a number of Palestinians, hastily called to arms was joining the king after landing at Tamiat. Apparently, in the western part of Lower Egypt, the coastal regions including the city of Alexandria supported the king, while the interior declared for the rebels.

The strategies of both opposing forces focused on a rapid takeover of the enemy´s bastion. Thus, unsurprisingly, the opposing forces met in battle halfway between Kashromi a and Tamiat.

While outnumbered, the loyalist forces relied on the highly mobile Arab cavalry and camelry, causing havock in the revolting troops. Many of the mercenary commanders, once the situation looked bleak, laid down weapons and refused to fight further, greatly diminishing the actual strength of the revolting forces. Subsequently, the Berber, Arab and Armenian commanders all joined the loyalist forces.

After the victory king Shenouda marched west and fully seized control of western Lower Egypt, before approaching the city of Kashromi. By this time, responsibility of the city´s defence was passed from hands to hands like a hot potato, and the conspirators were hasty to abandon the city, fleeing to Siout in Upper Egypt. There, finally a man Tadros named assumed firm leadership among the rebels. When Shenouda marched upon the city, it opened its gates and pledged loyalty.

Without much resistance, the royal troops marched upstream, finding only little resistance. Tadros saw that their cause was lost in Kemet. Nevertheless, continued the expedition upstream, gathering all who were sympathetic to his cause. Many bishops and abbots, who spoke up against Shenouda, rallied around him, fearful for the wrath of the king. By the time Tadros reached Shenouda, he had some fifteen thousand men behind him – of them merely four thousand were soldiers.

The First Cataract
Upon reaching the First Cataract, he declared that here is the end of their retreat, and heavily fortified the place. Nobatia was to become their refuge – a rather inhospitable land, with the desert on either side of the narrow fertile stretch of the Nile River.

As the loyalist forces were gradually marching upstream, they found the offices burnt down, apparently by the fleeing bureaucrats. The land offered little resistance, but the entire administrative infrastructure was destroyed. The further south they went, the more destruction they met. Entire villages lay deserted. The king understood the message. They were trying to tell him how important they were, how indispensable. What will you do without us?

King Shenouda hastily summoned the Patriarch and asked for explanation. A third of his kingdom lay in devastation by a retreating army of overlooked petty bureaucrats and priests who feared for the loss of their influence. The Pope appears to have had no involvement in all of this, though most probably did not actively seek to prevent it either. Nevertheless, the Church´s land was fully confiscated and distributed among the nobles. The corrupt bureaucracy was dismembered and declared as it partook in treason.

Tadros in Nobatia turned his eye southwards. The previously united kingdoms of Makouria and Alodia have since been split for half a century, during a crisis of dynastic succession, and the two rival kings would thus come to rule the two kingdoms of Alodia and Makouria, respectively. Alodia has allied itself with Ethiopia, while Makouria appears to have been largely devoid of allies.

However, Tadros decides not to waste his men on a risky adventure to attack Makuria. Rather, he builds up his position and waits. Upper Egypt is split among loyal noble families and the entire region ends up split between feudal domains. What happens is that tax revenues gradually fall, as the local barons largely keep their income. And of course, as one travelled up the Nile, royal control would get weaker. King Shenouda sees that the feudal lords are even less effective than the bureaucrats and churchmen he banished but he did not acknowledge his mistake.

Rather, he merely appointed his nephew Markos to Siout to bring the lords of Upper Egypt to reason and make them fulfil their duties. Markos did in fact manage to greatly change the situation, gradually consolidating his rule. He offered pardon to some of the former bureaucrats and restored the influence of the church.

After Shenouda died, it was Markos who managed to seize the throne with the help of his southern lords. Markos was quick to offer pardon to the bureaucrats and the Coptic Church and greatly compensated them. Indeed, he summoned Tadros back from Nobatia and named him his chief advisor.

In 1379, an excellent opportunity for Kemet presented itself. The Rhomaic Empire was fighting a four-sided civil war. Now was the time to strike and seize Cyrenaica, the western borderland of Kemet. While not Kemetic, but Greek in culture, the region has been Kemet´s western march since, well, the Ptolemaic period.

The incorporation of Cyrenaica into Kemet saw an increase of the Greek Orthodox population. The previous compromise, where Alexandria became the seat of the “Bishop of the Greeks in Brucheum and Canopus“ was no longer feasible. The Greek Patriarch of Alexandria, residening in exile in Cyrene, once again found himself within the domains of Kemet.

Political map of Kemet and its neighbours. Beige is Kemet. In Arabia, green is Shammar and orange is Yamama
Attitude towards the Greeks was highly unfavourable. Be they Cyrenaic or Alexandrian Greeks, they were viewed as agents of the Rhomaic Empire and a fifth column. Therefore the autonomy of the Greek Church of Alexandria was decided to be cracked upon. It was to be merged with the Coptic Church. The “Bishop of the Greeks in Brucheum and Canopus” was demoted to being a vicar bishop, responsible for the Greek churches in the city of Alexandria; Cyrenaica was made into one archbishopric and was allowed to use Greek as liturgical language (at least for the time being).

However, some of the Cyrenaic and Alexandrian Greeks, especially the clergy fled to Crete, where they set-up a church-in-exile, if that term exists.

In the Levant, however, things were not as easy. The majority of the people of Palestine were under the authority of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who declared his church to follow the principles of the Council of Chalcedon, though did not lean to neither Constantinople nor Rome in the latest schism. Rather, he claimed to continue to be in communion with both.

Religion in Kemet. You can clearly see the dominance of the Monophysite church in Egypt.
What was also understood was that enforcing the Monophysite Church in Palestine was unfeasible. Rather, Markos sought to have a nice proper buffer in Palestine, with revolt risk as low as possible. By royal decree, large parts of the country were declared to be royal forests, and cutting down wood was strictly prohibited. The establishment of royal forests meant that there was less agricultural land, and people were rather encouraged to settle in cities, where they were to work as artisans and merchants. Egyptians also promoted the spread of vineyards and olive orchards, more valued luxurious commodities, which were more desired on the Kemetic market than the standard staple crops.

The largest cities were without doubt Acre, followed by Gaza, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Tiberias and Nazareth. The Gersaumians(1), the descendants of Frankish Crusaders, who lived along the coast, had by now become a minority even in the coastal strip, as the Aramaic-speaking peasants flocked in great number to the coastal cities. The Gersaumians spoke a dialect, based upon the mixture of Lengadocian, Neustrian and various Italian dialects, with the local Palestinian Aramaic and Greek. In the cities, the Gersaumian language was indeed on the retreat, and Gersaumian communities continued to be located mainly along the Mediterranean coast and around Lake Galilee.

The linguistic expansion of Coptic. The retreat of a large number of Coptic bureaucrats and clergy into Nobatia have effectively Copticised it. In the vicinity of Alexandria, Coptic language also spread slightly, as it did in Jedda. In Palestine, the Latinate language is largely replaced by Aramaic once more.
Regarding the holy sites of Christianity, they were transferred by royal decree to a new Coptic bishop, and it was decreed that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was to be Coptic on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Orthodox on Mondays and Saturdays, Armenian on Tuesdays and Nestorian on Thursdays. This breakdown of the week, with fixed days when service was to be done in which denomination, was also extended to all Biblical sites, with later allowance of Wednesdays to be days of Syriac Jacobite liturgy.

What we can see over here is that Greek as the most common script gradually retreats in Palestine in favour of Aramaic
To be sure that everything went smoothly, king Markos appointed a Jewish family (2) in Jerusalem to be caretakers of this timetable and entrusted them the keys to the temple. Why a Jewish family, you may ask? Well, Markos did want that the timetable be respected, and giving it to the Coptic bishop may have led to sectarian tensions. Therefore he chose the Jews, as they were neutral in the disputes amongst Christians themselves, and were thus uninterested. The decision was also officially presented as symbolic, as Jesus and Peter and the Apostles were Jews themselves.

The city of Jerusalem itself was divided into four quarters: The Armenian Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, the Melkite Quarter and the Coptic Quarter (3). While Jewish presence at this time in Palestine is noticeable mainly in cities such Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and Hebron, where they make between a quarter and third of the population, there are few if any in the coastal cities or the countryside. This is in contrast with the Samaritans, who are endemic ethno-religious community in the vicinity of Mount Gerizim. Markos did not want trouble and confirmed the hereditary position of the Samaritan chieftain, clarified the boundaries of his domain, confirmed the freedom to practice the Samaritan religion in the area granted and fixed the tribute of the Samaritans (4).

During the 14th century, Kemetic control also extends into Hejaz. Previous arrangements of tributary allegiance were replaced by a more direct form of control. Still though, the importance of the local Arab tribes remains, in guarding the caravan routes from any incursion by the nomadic tribes of Yamanah and Najd.

Originally, Kemet sought to control the area as a means of securing the Red Sea, and by extension, Indian Ocean trade. For Kemet, of key importance were the cities along the coast on the plain of Tihamah – namely Yanbu and Jedda. These cities soon became cosmopolitan - with a large number of Arabic, Ethiopian and Tamil traders, as well as the Copts. It was nevertheless the Arabs from the hinterland that formed the bulk of the populations of these cities – although a mostly forming the lower classes of the cities´ population.

A map of major forms of society organization. Notice the large urbanization and feudalization in both Kemet itself and Palestine, and the retreat of theocratic and hierocratic areas.

Mecca continues to be a major cultural centre in the interior of Hejaz, as being the seat an archbishopric. However, by this time, it is already overshadowed by the coastal cities.

To mention briefly the interior regions of Arabia, two major tribal confederations appear: Yamama in the south and Shammar in the north. Due to constraints of the climate, inhabitants of these regions continue to live either as nomadic herdsmen or are settled in the oases.

1. A hypothetical evolution from Medieval French Jérusalemien
2. See the Muslim family that has the keys to Church of holy sepulchre in OTL
3. The Melkite Quarter is the Christian quarter of Old Town Jerusalem; the Coptic Quarter is OTL Muslim Quarter.
4. This included maintenance of roads, a fixed number of levies, maintenance of the royal forests , and also a number of barrels of wine.

 

[Tomislav Addai]

Today´s chapter will deal with the developments in Himyar, the Ethiopian Highlands and the Cushitic plain in the eastern parts of the Horn of Africa. The inclusion of the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula into this update can be justified due its commercial and cultural ties to the lands across the Straits.

A map of the Horn of Africa and surroundings around 1400 AD
Himyar has been experiencing periods of great prosperity due to the trade between Kemet and India. While Kemet has sought to seize control over the trade from the Himyarite middlemen, so far, the Himyarites were able to always defeat them, both on land and in the sea.

The city of Aden is a multicultural entrepot, where apart from Himyaritic and Coptic, Tamil and Malabar are frequently heard. Similar to the multicultural nature of the Malabar Coast, Aden has also Manichean, Waaqeffanna, Nestorian and Hindu temples, all coexisting in harmony. The ambition to take as much from the trade as possible has seen continued attempts to plant more and more trees – for now, wood for the Himyarite navy is taken predominantly from India, but also by felling forests in neighbouring regions of Africa.

Strategically, most important for Himyar is the securing of the Straits by challenging the Qafar kingdom. A series of wars has been fought between the two major contenders. While the Qafarese had the defenders´ advantage and the inhospitable terrain at their disposal, the Himyarites were also at home in the desert. However, it was continued support from Mazoun and Kemet that helped Qafar defend themselves rather successfully in the first war.

After the incorporation of Medri Bahri along the Red Sea, Abyssinia faces again the now weakened Kingdom of Qafar. It has been now Himyar´s turn to save their bitter rival from utter destruction.

The culture of the kingdom of Qafar is at this time largely associated with three vital animals, the donkey, the camel and the goat, exporting frankincense and drinking coffee. While having adopted the Christian religion, the language of the Qafarians is more similar to that of the other Cushitic peoples in the Horn of Africa. Qafar remains a largely rural country, with most of the population being herders rather than peasants.

The chief power in the region is however the empire of Abyssinia or Ethiopia, under the rule of the Solomonic dynasty. There are four major regions of the country, from north to south: Medri Bahri, Tigray, Amhara and Shewa. Medri Bahri has been only recently incorporated – its economy is directly linked to the Red Sea trade and has commercial ties to both Himyar and Kemet. Therefore, this region has been historically most open to cosmopolitan and outside influnces – and has been in particular receptive of the Coptic religious influence. The Tigray regions, further southwards are regions closely connected to the legacy of the empire of Axum, containing the city of Axum itself. The area is the region where the Semitic influence in the country is relatively high, and is also the area with a higher influence of the local Ethiopian Church headed by the Abunas.

The seat of political power has shifted however further southwards into the provinces of Amhara and Shewa. It was mainly the Amhara people who became the bearers of the Abyssinian identity, aqnd this language gradually became associated with the country as a whole, rather than the ancient liturgical tongue of Geez, which remained limited largely to the ecclesiastical use. The province of Shewa. The province of Shewa, populated largely by Gurage and Argobba peoples, as well as some incoming Amharas, is in its nature a feudal military march, considered by many to be the southern extremity of the civilized world. Nevertheless, it appears that this region was a strategically important region, lying on the the corridor of the Great Rift Valley, connecting the regions of Qafar with the Omotic valleys further south; however these regions are considered barbarian by many.

As for developments in the Ethiopian religion, we can witness a difference in practice and customs of the Coptic Orthodoxy, and a local reform movement, started by the Ewostatewos in the previous century, calling for the observance of the Sabbath and a few other customs, some most likely influenced by Judaism. Ethiopia itself had been home to a large Jewish Haymanot community, also known as Falashi or Beta Israel, for centuries. Due to a common Semitic background, and the fact that Judaism indeed had been the state religion of Axum prior to its conversion to Christianity, he also had called for a number of other Jewish-derived observances.

Image of an itinerant Ethiopian monk
The views of Ewostatenos had gained the support of a number of monastic communities, and many of his proposed were actually derived from the rural customs observed in the way the faith was practiced in the Amhara and Tigray regions. Judaic dietary laws of kashrut, such as prohibition of pork and male circumcision were also already practiced. Ewostatenos however ran into problems, as his views were in many points contrary to the official practice and doctrine of the Coptic Church, which officially was organizationally responsible for the regions of Ethiopian Highlands. Despite his exile to a remote monastery, the views of Ewastatenos and the real folk practice of the religion in Ethiopia itself meant that the difference of custom between the official and the folk practice of Christianity was not easily overcome and the gap between Coptic and Ethiopian versions of Christianity was growing wider.

It was however in 14th century that the Ethiopian Church would proclaim its independence from the Coptic Church – during the time when the power of the Coptic hierarchy in Egypt was broken. As for the church in Qafar, it had become part of the Himyarite Church. The headquarters of the tEthiopian Church are located in the historical capital of Axum, which becomes the seat of the Abunas or Patriarchs. The historical office of the Ichege, who had been the real person in charge of the church (as Abunas had been mostly of Coptic origin) remained in Debre Libanos, and it had become customary that the Ichege, who was the Abbot of Debre Libanos becomes the acting Abuna until the next one be elected.

The monastery of Debre Libanos, one of the centres of Ethiopian Christendom
The kingdom of Damot remains the dominant power of the southern slopes of the Ethiopian Highlands. It gradually expands eastwards, to include further peoples of the Gurage, the Sidamo and the Hadiya, though the kingdom is increasingly pressed from the north by Ethiopia, while in the east it finds it more and more difficult to defend itself from the incursions of the various clans of the Galla or Oromo peoples.

Eventually, the heart of the kingdom of Damot in the Welega area finds itself conquered by Ethiopia, which has also expanded towards Arsi. On the ruins of Damot, its former tributaries reassert their independence, among them the most prominent being the Lordship of Kaffa and Sidamo – the remaining smaller tribal polities and chiefdoms becoming tributary to one of these two polities or Ethiopia itself. Kaffa and Sidamo find themselves greatly exposed to the cultural attraction and sphere of Ethiopia.

Map of the languages in the area. Apart from a slight advancement of the Oromo people in expense of the Omotic languages, not much has changed

Further eastwards, we can witness two major peoples – the Galla and the Somali. The Oromo continue to live a largely pastoral lifestyle on the borderland between the Ethiopian and Cushitic cultural spheres. This is true especially for the Galla peoples of Borena and Barentu, while the Bale lordship is indeed taking up a greater level of cultural influence from the Somali regions proper

In the coastal regions of the Horn of Africa,it is the lordship of Banaadir which manages to win over its rival, the Boqordom of Rahanweyn, in the struggle for dominance. This unification of Banaadir and Rahanweyn results in the formation of a larger realm, whose main centres are located in the valleys of the Shebelle and Jubba rivers.

The valley of the Jubba river
Effective irrigation, water management, digging of wells and cisterns have resulted in great agricultural yields. The prevailing crops grown were sorghum and grain, and Lasting monuments to the Banaadir Boqordom are aqueducts, whitewashed coral cities as well as lighthouses. The Banaadir did participate in long-distance maritime trade, especially with India, from where they imported spices and cloth. Trade further southwards along the Kinara coast resulted in the import of gold, ivory and slaves.

Banaadir is known to have had a unique calendar, law system and have also developed their own martial art, known as istunka, which developed from a mock fighting between the various clans.

What has been evaded for now has been the development of the Waaqqefanna religion in the area. Much of its tenets are in fact centred on the sanctity of rain and nature. Its temples have been built around a sacred well, and there is a cultural taboo on cutting down certain trees. However, depictions of deities are non-existent, as Waaqefanna prohibits any idols whatsoever, very akin to other monotheistic religions of the Semitic peoples.

Lasting monuments are pillar tombs or obelisks, which are associated with the deceased ancestors of the clan chiefs as well as resting places of saints.

The interaction of Banaadir with the nomadic herdsman outside of their domain has actually not been rather violent. Due to the fact, that their neighbours were actually kinsmen, sharing the same culture and language, general conditions came to be agreed, mainly the use of the wells and water sources by the nomads in return for a tribute in form of the goat, cattle and camels to the local governor. This arrangement gradually comes to take the form of “lacagbodi” or water-money.

The specific xeer system of law as practiced in Banaadir was derived from older Cushitic customary law. As for general principle, most transgresses are corrected by material compensation, and the aim is to reach a consensus. As for general a testimony of two is taken for granted. The idea of material compensation – in the nomadic days being more often than not in the form of livestock, has come in the settled society to mean either yields or days of labour on the other´s fields.

In general, a man has never been seen as an individual in Banaadir or elsewhere in the Cushitic world. Rather, each person has always been regarded as part of a family group, which in turn is part of a clan. Therefore, any legal dispute has never been regarded as a dispute between two individuals, but always as a dispute between two clans.

The medieval city of Barawa
In Banaadir, it gradually becomes the jurists (the Odayal ) – many of whom had been previously tribal elders who become a respective class with high social prestige. A number of Odayal in the early 14th century have written down the customary principles of the xeer law, though as they say, that their composition is “merely the observation of the most widespread custom of law, as it is carried out in the Boqordom of Banaadir and as observance among the clans of Darod. In many places, the text speaks of differences of practice among the Cushitic people.

This specific class of jurists or Odayal has become one of the pillars of power of the Boqordom of Banaadir, from whom the general administration of the country is recruited. The clan chiefs, the islaan remain in charge of the local communities.

Apart from the judicial and traditional authorities, as well as the clergy, which maintains its authority, there appears another important class of the society, being the merchants engaged in long-distance trade. The country has long had a maritime tradition, and more and more people begin to find out that using their naval skills to exchange goods from one shore to another is an excellent way to make profit. The Banaadiri merchants on their journeys encountered a number of different religions, among them Msadeqi Manincheism, Nestorian Christianity and Hinduism. Communities of these respective religions have also established themselves in the city of Banaadir itself.

In the final part of the update, I shall take a look at the fate of the Nilotic peoples. For most of the time, we speak of pastoralist communities, whose culture resolves around herding cattle. The litotic peoples have been spread all across the upper Nile basin, from the marshes of the Sudd to Lake Ukerewe and from there to the south and east as far south as the Kilimanjaro.

In Nubia, it has been Nobatia which had come under severe cultural pressure from the Copts, to such an extent that the language has all but become assimilated, in the towns, though the villages largely maintained the ancient Noba language. Further upstream, evidence of the impact of the Black Death has shown a dramatic demographic decline in both Alodia and Makuria. While previously, the two were united, they had once more separated. Moreover, Alodia had been succumbing to pressure of the Shilluuk tribal confederacy from the south who had established their own domain on the borderlands ; while the Teqali have established their own state in the Nuba Hills. However, central authority had declined even in the rump states of formerly great Makuria and Alodia, where local chieftains and warlords reigned supreme.

In Nubia, we can see the decline of royal authority. In some places, it is changed for a more feudal type of spocial organization, in other places the resulting social formation is more of a clan-based nomadic system
Further westwards, in the uplands halfway to Lake Tchad, the Daju kingdom had been overrun by the Tunjur people. It is presumed that the Tunjur were a Berber dynasty and arrived from the north, though their origin is rather mysterious. What we do known is that the ruling elites were of a lighter skin complexion than their subjects and they engaged in trading with both the region around lake Tchad and Dongola. Towards the end of the 14th century, we do have records of the baptism of the Tunjuri king in Tamiat in Kemet, from where he proceeded to visit the city of Jerusalem, guided by a number of local Nubian monks.

Other Nilotic realms include the Kitara Empire, loicated in Uganda, which appears to had been founded already some time in the 10th century, and was feared by the inhabitants of the neighbouring tribes, due to their technological supremacy, their rulers had gained the reputation of gods. Legends claim that the Chwezi people, the founders of the Kitara empire had arrived in the area from the disinitegrating Empire of Axum.