Moonlight in a Jar: An Al-Andalus Timeline
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Planet of Hats
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I appreciate that.
Specifically my condition is diabetes, so it's going to be with me for the rest of my life. Obviously it's a manageable condition in today's age of insulin and metformin, of course. But it's going to require me to change a lot of things about how I live. I'll eventually be right as rain, I'm sure.
ACT VIII Part XX: The Settling of the Southern Gharb al-Aqsa
Planet of Hats
Donor
Excerpt: The Complete History of Andalusia, the Maghreb and Ifriqiya - Gharsiya al-Mahzuzi, Falconbird Press, AD 1980
There was more than politics behind the wave of overseas settlement that accompanied - and, truthfully, preceed - the Asmarid takeover of Al-Andalus. The most important driving factor was rooted in demographics.
A consequence of the Great Plague centuries prior was a transfer of land and wealth into the hands of native Andalusis. By the 1450s, however, population figures in Iberia and the Maghreb had largely recovered, placing the region in the position of a labour surplus and a shortage in available land. Over the generations, land purchased by Andalusi commoners during the Plague was gradually divided up through inheritance, leaving many farmers to either settle for smaller plots of land, continue to cohabitate with family or drag out inheritance disputes before Sharia courts.
It is these disputes over land which drove many Muslims to seek new fortunes in the Gharb al-Aqsa in the mid-1400s. As with the settlement of the Atlas Ocean islands, settlers tended to be drawn from the ranks of those looking for new opportunities for land. Particularly enterprising sons might sell off their share of inherited land to their siblings and use that money to purchase passage to one of the western settlements, where large tracts of virgin land could be had at a far lower price.
Large-scale movement of Andalusis and Berbers across the Atlas really began in the 1430s, but picked up under the Asmarids, who saw an opportunity to encourage the development of a farm economy overseas. A limiting factor on Andalusian and Maghrebi prosperity has always been that the regions are somewhat arid in comparison to the more temperate regions of Europe, particularly France and Germany. The Gharb al-Aqsa presented hajib Al-Nasr with the prospect of what he saw as largely unpeopled lands - in fact areas in which much of the local population had been killed off by both disease and clashes with kishafa operating out of cash crop-farming makzans. Converting these lands could go a long way towards feeding a growing empire, as well as spreading Islam across the world.
While many initial settlers came from the ranks of inland Sanhaja experiencing economic deprivation due to the movement of the Sudani trade to the ocean, Andalusi settlers and Sudani slaves soon came to be well-represented, and settlement began in a number of important regions, largely in the southern Gharb al-Aqsa.
Marayu being amply discussed elsewhere, below are a few additional key areas of Asmarid settlement.
TIRUNAH
The Wadi al-Tirunah had been known to explorers since at least the 1380s, but an early makzan set up there was destroyed following a conflict with the local Tairuna people. Another makzan was established some years later and met with more success, but the area was considered somewhat obscure until some time before the Asmarid takeover. By about 1435 to 1440, that changed when the merchantman Abd al-Qadir ibn Rashid al-Qurtubi returned from the area with a cargo of gold and emerald goods. Ibn Rashid and a small group of kishafa claimed to have traveled down the Wadi al-Tirunah and heard stories of an Emerald City (the so-called Madinat al-Zamard) and of a tribe whose king was born with golden skin.
By the time these rumours began to spread, epidemic diseases had taken their toll on the patchwork of indigenous peoples of the long, deep Tirunah Valley and its associated highlands, and the makzan itself had become little more than a landing point for kishafa seeking the Golden King or the Emerald City. The first true settler city established in the area was at al-Malibu,[1] founded in 1446 by an expedition led by Walid ibn Gharsiya al-Mahdhawi. The son of a wealthy sugar baron in the Mufajias, Al-Mahdhawi found the region largely depopulated, with native Zenu villages already lost to the elements. Much of the population had already been wiped out by disease, and Al-Mahdhawi faced no resistance in importing families from the Mufajias and western Andalusia, along with a large number of slaves from the lower Sudan.
Bands of kishafa would soon push down the Tirunah in search of the untold riches they thought they'd find. Disease had been slower to spread into the highlands and deeper reaches of the river, however. While avaricious kishafa soon encountered the emerald mines controlled by the Muzo people, they faced a cold welcome. Notably, the Berber Ziri ibn Ibrahim al-Masmudi and a large band of kishafa was wiped out in 1456 after succumbing to a Muzo ambush.
By 1457, hearing tell of Al-Mahdhawi's failure to remit tribute owned to Isbili, the Asmarids forcibly recalled and executed him before replacing him with a loyal man. A second town, Madinat al-Kanza, was founded in 1459 around a mountainous harbour.[2] The city was settled by military veterans and set up as a military port in the region, one of the key strong points cementing Asmarid control of the region. Several military vessels would typically be stationed there, a testament to the value of trade down the Tirunah.
The Tirunah Valley had another key strategic importance: It was the key land and river route by which Andalusi and Berber explorers could transit the Andes and reach Iskantinsuyu and the remnants of the fallen Chimu Empire. A handful of explorers had made the trip, but access to the Kawkah River via the Tirunah allowed explorers to follow a land route. It's little surprise that Altal[3] became a town of great importance, serving as a stopover and trading post in the Kawkah, a resting area for mountain-crossing caravans and a trading post for those Andeans eager to sell their wares.
That said, no major thrust across the Andes followed: The steady rise of Iskantinsuyu and their willingness to trade with the Muslim visitors, as well as their high level of state organization and still-formidable military, made them a tough challenge even for the bravest of kishafa. The boundary of the Andes and the sheer distance from resupply made an Asmarid campaign over the mountains untenable, even with sea access in play. This distance, and the unwillingness of the Asmarids to throw endless dinars into a grueling mountain campaign on another continent, ultimately contributed to Iskantinsuyu's long-term survival and the unique status of the Andean region as a unique cultural zone.
One of the most remarkable surviving buildings in the Tirunah area dates from this period. The Alcazar of Malibu is the oldest structure still extant there, built from the golden limestone in the area and improved on over the years. The quality of the local limestone resulted in many early buildings being built with it, their golden-yellow hue giving the city the nickname of the Golden Port.
THE MOONLIT LAND - ARD'UN MUQMARA AND THE WADI AL-HILAL
The Wadi al-Hilal[4] is first named in 1392, when the Berber explorer Yuften ibn Badis al-Anfi and his saqin crew sailed into the Hilal estuary under a crescent moon - giving the river its namesake. Ibn Badis romantically named the region the Moonlit Land, but a makzan set up in 1414 lasted scarcely a year before being destroyed in conflicts with the indigenous Charrua people.
In the 1430s, another effort was made to set up a permanent makzan in the region, this time led by a group of kishafa from Sijilmasa. Funded by the pre-imperial Asmarids, these settlers came with firearms and horses, proving more than a match for indigenous opposition. This makzan eventually evolved into the modern city of Rataam.[5]
Settlers found the land around Rataam to be ideal for farming, not only of cash crops but of staples that could be exported back to Andalusia and the Maghreb. The region rapidly evolved into a major settler colony, defended by a handful of ships. After several clashes with the locals, the Asmarids stationed a permanent jund in the area in 1457, dispatching Andalusi veterans to establish a fort northwest of Rataam at Madinat Maeqil.[6] The Qasbah of Maeqil is in disrepair today, but is recognized as a key heritage site: It served as the headquarters for military units there to protect settler farmers from the depredations of the locals.
The ensuing years saw a number of settlements begin to crop up in the region as Andalusi and Berber farmers came to see the Moonlit Land as an ideal location for farming. With a relatively forgiving climate and generally consistent year-round rainfall, the region was seen as reliable, despite high humidity and winds - a more welcome environment than the tropical heat of Marayu and Tirunah. The region steadily grew into an agricultural colony, mainly populated by Andalusis. Settlers tended to be younger sons seeking greater prosperity, illegitimate children in search of prosperity, fortune seekers, and in some cases Sudani farmers looking for an area of the world where rainfall was more steady.
AL-AZANIYAH
The settlement of Al-Azaniyah[7], while not technically part of the Gharb al-Aqsa, comes from roughly the same time period as the Asmarid takeover and is therefore to be considered alongside the greater settlement wave. It is unusual in that it occurred almost by accident.
Little thought was given to permanently settling the area beyond Marsa ar-Raha, the makzan set up to service ships circling Sudan en route to Mecca on the hajj. The makzan had gradually grown into a small town, with farms in the area providing both staples and cash crops and businesses producing religious goods for pilgrims. However, disputes with the local Khoikhoi were not infrequent. Smallpox ravaged the local population, and military clashes resulted in moves on both sides: Many Khoikhoi tribes began to migrate out of the area, while the makzan sought to bolster its defenses by bringing in kishafa.
In 1458, roughly 250 Sanhaja arrived under Ghanim ibn Ziri, who had led much of his tribe on the hajj. Ghanim and his people, most of them arriving with their horses, were hired by the makzan to provide protection from the local tribes, and they did so with exceptional zeal and vigor. Their presence proved decisive enough that, eventually, Ghanim simply assumed power in the makzan and set to work trying to drive the Khoikhoi out of the region.
The local customs proved more than suited to the Sanhaja way of life. Bringing their cattle with them, Ghanim and his people established a zone of control up to the Azanian plateau, soon crossing into the mountains to explore the great inland escarpment defining the region. Settlers to the area would steadily increase over the years, many of them Berber pilgrims on the hajj, establishing Al-Azaniyah as a mainly Berber enclave in the southernmost Sudan.[8]
[1] From a regional word for "chief." This is where Cartagena is.
[2] Santa Marta.
[3] Al-Tal, or "The Mound" - near Popayan and its abandoned pre-Columbian pyramid.
[4] The Rio de la Plata
[5] Montevideo, but located slightly more westerly to be more centred on Montevideo Bay. The name of the city comes from an indigenous Charruan word for "Why?" and is basically the first word said to the city's founders by a couple of indigenous people they asked the name of the place. "Why do you sound so funny?"
[6] "Bastion City" - a walled settlement about 30 km northwest of Montevideo, at Veinticinco de Agusto.
[7] South Africa.
[8] Yes, I am back. My health is the best it's been in awhile and I have more energy than I've had in years. Time to push back into Moonlight.
There was more than politics behind the wave of overseas settlement that accompanied - and, truthfully, preceed - the Asmarid takeover of Al-Andalus. The most important driving factor was rooted in demographics.
A consequence of the Great Plague centuries prior was a transfer of land and wealth into the hands of native Andalusis. By the 1450s, however, population figures in Iberia and the Maghreb had largely recovered, placing the region in the position of a labour surplus and a shortage in available land. Over the generations, land purchased by Andalusi commoners during the Plague was gradually divided up through inheritance, leaving many farmers to either settle for smaller plots of land, continue to cohabitate with family or drag out inheritance disputes before Sharia courts.
It is these disputes over land which drove many Muslims to seek new fortunes in the Gharb al-Aqsa in the mid-1400s. As with the settlement of the Atlas Ocean islands, settlers tended to be drawn from the ranks of those looking for new opportunities for land. Particularly enterprising sons might sell off their share of inherited land to their siblings and use that money to purchase passage to one of the western settlements, where large tracts of virgin land could be had at a far lower price.
Large-scale movement of Andalusis and Berbers across the Atlas really began in the 1430s, but picked up under the Asmarids, who saw an opportunity to encourage the development of a farm economy overseas. A limiting factor on Andalusian and Maghrebi prosperity has always been that the regions are somewhat arid in comparison to the more temperate regions of Europe, particularly France and Germany. The Gharb al-Aqsa presented hajib Al-Nasr with the prospect of what he saw as largely unpeopled lands - in fact areas in which much of the local population had been killed off by both disease and clashes with kishafa operating out of cash crop-farming makzans. Converting these lands could go a long way towards feeding a growing empire, as well as spreading Islam across the world.
While many initial settlers came from the ranks of inland Sanhaja experiencing economic deprivation due to the movement of the Sudani trade to the ocean, Andalusi settlers and Sudani slaves soon came to be well-represented, and settlement began in a number of important regions, largely in the southern Gharb al-Aqsa.
Marayu being amply discussed elsewhere, below are a few additional key areas of Asmarid settlement.
TIRUNAH
The Wadi al-Tirunah had been known to explorers since at least the 1380s, but an early makzan set up there was destroyed following a conflict with the local Tairuna people. Another makzan was established some years later and met with more success, but the area was considered somewhat obscure until some time before the Asmarid takeover. By about 1435 to 1440, that changed when the merchantman Abd al-Qadir ibn Rashid al-Qurtubi returned from the area with a cargo of gold and emerald goods. Ibn Rashid and a small group of kishafa claimed to have traveled down the Wadi al-Tirunah and heard stories of an Emerald City (the so-called Madinat al-Zamard) and of a tribe whose king was born with golden skin.
By the time these rumours began to spread, epidemic diseases had taken their toll on the patchwork of indigenous peoples of the long, deep Tirunah Valley and its associated highlands, and the makzan itself had become little more than a landing point for kishafa seeking the Golden King or the Emerald City. The first true settler city established in the area was at al-Malibu,[1] founded in 1446 by an expedition led by Walid ibn Gharsiya al-Mahdhawi. The son of a wealthy sugar baron in the Mufajias, Al-Mahdhawi found the region largely depopulated, with native Zenu villages already lost to the elements. Much of the population had already been wiped out by disease, and Al-Mahdhawi faced no resistance in importing families from the Mufajias and western Andalusia, along with a large number of slaves from the lower Sudan.
Bands of kishafa would soon push down the Tirunah in search of the untold riches they thought they'd find. Disease had been slower to spread into the highlands and deeper reaches of the river, however. While avaricious kishafa soon encountered the emerald mines controlled by the Muzo people, they faced a cold welcome. Notably, the Berber Ziri ibn Ibrahim al-Masmudi and a large band of kishafa was wiped out in 1456 after succumbing to a Muzo ambush.
By 1457, hearing tell of Al-Mahdhawi's failure to remit tribute owned to Isbili, the Asmarids forcibly recalled and executed him before replacing him with a loyal man. A second town, Madinat al-Kanza, was founded in 1459 around a mountainous harbour.[2] The city was settled by military veterans and set up as a military port in the region, one of the key strong points cementing Asmarid control of the region. Several military vessels would typically be stationed there, a testament to the value of trade down the Tirunah.
The Tirunah Valley had another key strategic importance: It was the key land and river route by which Andalusi and Berber explorers could transit the Andes and reach Iskantinsuyu and the remnants of the fallen Chimu Empire. A handful of explorers had made the trip, but access to the Kawkah River via the Tirunah allowed explorers to follow a land route. It's little surprise that Altal[3] became a town of great importance, serving as a stopover and trading post in the Kawkah, a resting area for mountain-crossing caravans and a trading post for those Andeans eager to sell their wares.
That said, no major thrust across the Andes followed: The steady rise of Iskantinsuyu and their willingness to trade with the Muslim visitors, as well as their high level of state organization and still-formidable military, made them a tough challenge even for the bravest of kishafa. The boundary of the Andes and the sheer distance from resupply made an Asmarid campaign over the mountains untenable, even with sea access in play. This distance, and the unwillingness of the Asmarids to throw endless dinars into a grueling mountain campaign on another continent, ultimately contributed to Iskantinsuyu's long-term survival and the unique status of the Andean region as a unique cultural zone.
One of the most remarkable surviving buildings in the Tirunah area dates from this period. The Alcazar of Malibu is the oldest structure still extant there, built from the golden limestone in the area and improved on over the years. The quality of the local limestone resulted in many early buildings being built with it, their golden-yellow hue giving the city the nickname of the Golden Port.
THE MOONLIT LAND - ARD'UN MUQMARA AND THE WADI AL-HILAL
The Wadi al-Hilal[4] is first named in 1392, when the Berber explorer Yuften ibn Badis al-Anfi and his saqin crew sailed into the Hilal estuary under a crescent moon - giving the river its namesake. Ibn Badis romantically named the region the Moonlit Land, but a makzan set up in 1414 lasted scarcely a year before being destroyed in conflicts with the indigenous Charrua people.
In the 1430s, another effort was made to set up a permanent makzan in the region, this time led by a group of kishafa from Sijilmasa. Funded by the pre-imperial Asmarids, these settlers came with firearms and horses, proving more than a match for indigenous opposition. This makzan eventually evolved into the modern city of Rataam.[5]
Settlers found the land around Rataam to be ideal for farming, not only of cash crops but of staples that could be exported back to Andalusia and the Maghreb. The region rapidly evolved into a major settler colony, defended by a handful of ships. After several clashes with the locals, the Asmarids stationed a permanent jund in the area in 1457, dispatching Andalusi veterans to establish a fort northwest of Rataam at Madinat Maeqil.[6] The Qasbah of Maeqil is in disrepair today, but is recognized as a key heritage site: It served as the headquarters for military units there to protect settler farmers from the depredations of the locals.
The ensuing years saw a number of settlements begin to crop up in the region as Andalusi and Berber farmers came to see the Moonlit Land as an ideal location for farming. With a relatively forgiving climate and generally consistent year-round rainfall, the region was seen as reliable, despite high humidity and winds - a more welcome environment than the tropical heat of Marayu and Tirunah. The region steadily grew into an agricultural colony, mainly populated by Andalusis. Settlers tended to be younger sons seeking greater prosperity, illegitimate children in search of prosperity, fortune seekers, and in some cases Sudani farmers looking for an area of the world where rainfall was more steady.
AL-AZANIYAH
The settlement of Al-Azaniyah[7], while not technically part of the Gharb al-Aqsa, comes from roughly the same time period as the Asmarid takeover and is therefore to be considered alongside the greater settlement wave. It is unusual in that it occurred almost by accident.
Little thought was given to permanently settling the area beyond Marsa ar-Raha, the makzan set up to service ships circling Sudan en route to Mecca on the hajj. The makzan had gradually grown into a small town, with farms in the area providing both staples and cash crops and businesses producing religious goods for pilgrims. However, disputes with the local Khoikhoi were not infrequent. Smallpox ravaged the local population, and military clashes resulted in moves on both sides: Many Khoikhoi tribes began to migrate out of the area, while the makzan sought to bolster its defenses by bringing in kishafa.
In 1458, roughly 250 Sanhaja arrived under Ghanim ibn Ziri, who had led much of his tribe on the hajj. Ghanim and his people, most of them arriving with their horses, were hired by the makzan to provide protection from the local tribes, and they did so with exceptional zeal and vigor. Their presence proved decisive enough that, eventually, Ghanim simply assumed power in the makzan and set to work trying to drive the Khoikhoi out of the region.
The local customs proved more than suited to the Sanhaja way of life. Bringing their cattle with them, Ghanim and his people established a zone of control up to the Azanian plateau, soon crossing into the mountains to explore the great inland escarpment defining the region. Settlers to the area would steadily increase over the years, many of them Berber pilgrims on the hajj, establishing Al-Azaniyah as a mainly Berber enclave in the southernmost Sudan.[8]
[1] From a regional word for "chief." This is where Cartagena is.
[2] Santa Marta.
[3] Al-Tal, or "The Mound" - near Popayan and its abandoned pre-Columbian pyramid.
[4] The Rio de la Plata
[5] Montevideo, but located slightly more westerly to be more centred on Montevideo Bay. The name of the city comes from an indigenous Charruan word for "Why?" and is basically the first word said to the city's founders by a couple of indigenous people they asked the name of the place. "Why do you sound so funny?"
[6] "Bastion City" - a walled settlement about 30 km northwest of Montevideo, at Veinticinco de Agusto.
[7] South Africa.
[8] Yes, I am back. My health is the best it's been in awhile and I have more energy than I've had in years. Time to push back into Moonlight.
It lives! After not reading for so long, I admit I've forgotten what many of the Arabic geographical and military terms refer to. Awesome update though.
Man, the Berbers (That's what the Sanhaja was right?) have gotten all the way down to South Africa? What a migration.
So an Andean state survives to modern times? Very cool. I hope we get an update about it sometime.
Man, the Berbers (That's what the Sanhaja was right?) have gotten all the way down to South Africa? What a migration.
So an Andean state survives to modern times? Very cool. I hope we get an update about it sometime.
I wonder if historiography down the line is going to see the story of Africa as a contest of Berber and Bantu. Both groups originated in the north and west, and are now colonizing the south from opposite ends. Between them is (again) grassland and desert, and (again) gold...
@Planet of Hats Great to see you back.
Will you post a map for this update?
It looks like the Atlas mountains will be less populated than OTL, since there are better oportunities in Algharb and southern Africa.
Will you post a map for this update?
It looks like the Atlas mountains will be less populated than OTL, since there are better oportunities in Algharb and southern Africa.
On the other hand, there's a good chance that the atlantic plains of morocco and the lowlands in general will have much higher population densities due to the relative lack of pastoralism compared to otl, so the maghreb as a whole could still support a much larger population than it did otl
Planet of Hats
Donor
This is the case. Again we go back to one of the key turning points of this TL: No Banu Hilal going west. This and the transition to maritime trade has allowed for the population of OTL Morocco to concentrate more in the Atlantic plains and the more fertile areas in the north and along the coasts, and it's kept a lot more arable land in play. Expect a more prosperous and fertile Maghreb ITTL.
Planet of Hats
Donor
Not entirely, but there are more pirates, and lots of trouble with the Genoese insisting they control the central Med. People take both routes.
