The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: Islamic Ethiopia

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary (Author of Such Books as "Destiny Delivered" and "Kabul East and West"

"I remember my trip to Gandar quite well, stopping in the area to meet with an old friend of mine who had persued his life in the path of being an Imam. He showed me quite a few sites that dated back to the 5th and 6th centuries of the Christian Era and even ones built much more recently such as the Kassa Monument which I was not surprised to have been the only one who agreed that the construction was a bit of an local eye sore. Still, we had quite the time. I remember in one instance where I was personally almost crushed to death by a piece of falling masonry.

You see, my friend and I were invited to the local village on the outskirts of Gandar because one of the members of the village had heard of my writings and really wished to show me the history his people had, had in Al-Habashah. They were Christians. Well, Orthodox Christians to be precise. To be even more precise, they were members of the Selasse (Trinity) Orthodox Church. Selasse Orthodox Christians are a distinct minority in Al-Habashah, their lineage largely tracing back fairly cohesively to the missionaries that sailed down the Nile in the 4th Century. Unfortunately, while being recieved well initially fragmented accounts (and not the quite made up "Official History" written several centuries later) have recorded instances of at least one of the Negus or King of the Axumite Kingdom of having been ill disposed to the Christians, laying claims that they planned to overthrow his or his dynasty's rule. Which would fairly cripple the sporadic and ill recorded growth of Selasse Christians in the region, eventually at some point the few Christian communities would construct Cross Shaped Monasteries that doubled as fortresses lending protection to local communities for ages. The one I had visited though had been declared off limits by the government some decades prior in attempts to assimilate the Christisn population (according to the local Islamic policy of Tewahado or Unity) and whoever had been sent to dismantle the structure had done a fairly sloppy job.

Poking around the structure had caused a section of it to collapse and nearly ended my promising writing career then and there, but lucky for the reader that was not so. Unfortunately this incident quickly saw my friend and I to seek our own homes as many of the residents were unhappy with the destruction we had inadvertently caused. Which was in the long run saddening as I was unable to really learn of the history of the local Christians for many years and by no means from the people of that village. Only a handful of years ago the entire population had been picked up and dispersed to the winds and amongst the ocean of the Faithful to Allah that Al-Habashah is a bastion of..."

 

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary

The Golden Age Slips to Dark

...and as previously discussed in this chapter, it would be the peripheral location of the Aksumite Empire would be its downfall which for much of its nature brought it protection from the sophisticated empires of Egypt, Rome, and Iran; and wealth as a middleman for goods for the former two lands from the last group. Since the time of the 1st Century the Aksumite Empire had managed to form itself into this periphery between the Mediterranean and Middle Worlds to the North and the East African World to the south. Filling the full extremity of this region it had primarily prospered on exporting wheat and barley and of course taking advantage of wealth that passed through its land on trade routes to the Roman Empire. Spending its wealth on large, gaudy obelisks and keeping the barbarians from within the Highland from coming down to their lands. Their King of Kings, the Negus Nega

As one can imagine, especially a student of history, this could only last for so long.

Records on these events are scarce, but as in other parts of the world the minting of coinage is a tell tale to the prosperity of kingdoms and states. It proclaimed to the world "Look At Us! Our King's Face Is On Our Money! We Can Really Afford To Uphold The Pompousness Of Our King As Well As Anyone Else!" This practice first started around 270 CE during the reign of King Endubis. The last King to mint coinage was in 610 under King Ashama. The same King who would provide shelter to the first Muslims when they were still persecuted by the Meccans. While Islamic sources proclaim the generosity of King Ashama, even the Prophet Muhammad blessing his people, this very pagan King was most likely more interested in angering the Meccan aligned traders who we will get to in just a few moments. Now, despite Ashama being the last King to mint coinage, surviving plaques and foreign accounts still account for Axumite Kings well after this point. For an additional four hundred years.

This tells us that by this point the Axumite Kingdom was not feeling so high and mighty of itself. What could be the cause of this? Their were as a matter of fact several causes. The first two would primarily be what appeared to be an extreme period of drought and starvation that would plague the region for the next few centuries caused by an ecological shift or even exhaustion as well as the fact that the business of trade had been pulled out from the hands of the Axumites. By Arab traders no less who sailed the seas of the Silk Road Ocean Routes as traders and pirates, rather effectivly it seems cutting out the Axumite Traders from their butter as their bread refused to grow. Sources also indicate a deal of unfair hands by the not-so-neighborly superpower, The Sassanid Empire, which in its political war with the Byzantines seems to have extended this to economic as well as it pushed the Axumites out from Yemen and encouraged attacks on Axumite Shipping both by Arabs as well as their Assyrian Merchant class-which some scholars think may have attributed to the local dislike for Christians in particular as records show of the Axumite Kings attacking local Christian communities.

Cut off politically from its erst well ally the Byzantines and from the trade routes which quickly directed into Arab ports the Axumite Kingdom so crammed into the periphery was soon left alone and could do nothing to pull itself up as its horizons and borders were pressured from all sides.

Of course what follows economic shambles is social and political shambles as well! Evidence indicates that for the next three centuries the Axumite dominion was occupied with revolts among st their population as well as civil wars. Ontop of which invasion from the interior. As has been mentioned their is only so long any state can withstand such a state and it seems that sometime in the beginning of the 10th Century it seems to have fallen under the combined weight of the Rabbinic Tribes around Lake Tana which founded the Gondar Kingdom and the Agew Tribes that founded the Zagew Dynasty. Of course they were already being chipped away on the coast as the Barboi city-states along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden coast declared hostility and independence. Split by these tensions the Axumite Empire shattered finally and the Habesha peoples split into feuding clans and polities. Thus beginning the Habesha Dark Age.

The scenes of this time period were increased warring and fracturing as the Zagew, Gondar, Arabs, Barboi, Habesha, and most likely other peoples who were shattered and scattered during this time period but left very little records. This age is commonly referred as "The Age of Princes" as rival warlords and regents set up their own mini-dominions and constantly fought each other as much as the Rabbinic Tribes and the Zagwe. It seems during this time as well that the native language of Early Ge'ez was also destroyed, the last hold outs of the language ironically being the Selasse Christians.

If anything good occurred during this period it seems that from an ethnic period it actually lowered a sense of ethnic segregation amongst many of the peoples and instead political allegiance was the dominant form of association (given that blood lineages were commonly involved this is not surprising) but, over the course of the next three centuries of violence another allegiance soon gripped the people: Religion. The pagan Kings of Axum were for sometime the obstacles to expansion of the Abraham religions, which they practiced whole heartily or half heartily, but, with their destruction it appears that this was not the case. Of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Christianity was the least disposed to find success given that the Byzantines had long been cut off from access to the region and the divided nature of the region's few Christians prevented any sort of insurgence. The Jewish faith was hampered in an quite opposite manner, in that it was too involved in the region-especially as fanatical Jews pushed bloody campaigns at pacification of the pagan populations. Therefore, by process of elimination their was only one Monotheistic religion in position to take advantage of the spiritual crisis faced by the worn town region.

Given you are reading this book I will assume you are smart enough to figure out which one it was and therefore I do not think I have to tell you which that was.

 

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary

The Golden Age Slips to Dark

...now as I know some of my readers may be asking at this point, "Why did it take so long for Islam to spread into the hinterland and the highlands of Al-Habesha when contact with Muslims started so early?". The answer for that is that while indeed, the sudden outburst of Islam in the 7th Century CE/1st Century AH saw what was a rapid conversion of the coastal peoples of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the Islamic faith as well as the Arabization of many of the coastal city-states, these converts waged war against the Aksumite remnants and the various tribes and warlords that sprang up across the region. The Habeshah peoples had very, very little reason to convert to the faith of the rebellious and often raiding coastal peoples. Though, as time wore on and as did the increasing fragmentation of power within the region we see the first trickle of conversions.

The first of which being the Afar peoples of the Awash region. The conversion of course at first being slanted toward the people inhabiting the various coastal city-states as we see progressively in the first few centuries of the infiltration of Arab loan words into the local populations alongside settlement of Arabs. In particular in Zelia we see the first instance of the use of Sultan. From there we can trace the spread of Islam into Somalia and the nomadic Afar tribes making up this extremely harsh region. Though, the Afar are able to unite under an Adal Sultanate during the Dark Age of Al-Habesha their population size and political divisions does not allow them to really become much of a threat. The legacy of the Adal Sultanate is much like its economic legacy of acting as middlemen for goods that traveled the oceanic Silk Road routes. It would be from Afar traders that Islam would begin to penetrate the highlands of Al-Habesha.

The first seriously Islamic Warlord being a well known figure of the 10th Century, Imran ibn Melek Seged, a Amhara warlord who was the first to seriously challenge the rule of the Zagwe and form the nucleus of future Islamic empires. Imran hailed from the Lakomelza region, a region.sandwiched between the Afar tribal grounds and the Gondar Kingdom and aligned Jewish warlords. Known for his image curiosity and a sense of Justice he was first converted to the Islamic faith after a Afar trader was asked to comment on a local trial involving the fate of orphans from an local episode of fratercide. Quoting from the hadiths of the Quran, which called for the care of the orphans, Imran was intrigued and soon converted-quickly followed by his people. At first, only a nuisance to the Gondar's allies amongst the Amhara, Imran quite quickly and alarmingly began a two decade long period of conquest and arrangement that saw the creation of a size able bloc of Amhara people...noticeably as well many, but not all, of the local tribes (if not their leaders) were making public conversions to Islam. Alarmed, the Gondar Kingdom dispatched an army to put down Imran but was defeated at every turn by Imran and his allies. It is said from this the seeds of a Religio-Cultural identity for the Amhara first began to form. Still, while the Gondar Kingdom was unsuccessful in defeating Imran, Imran was likely unable to press forward with any attempt to conquer Gondar given the devastation of the conflicts in Lakomelza. Perhaps it was a mistake on the Gondarians part but eventually they used for peace and left Imran to his own, which was well and good as Imran would continue to spend the last years of his reign fighting Agwe tribes but, before his death, which legends say was a result of exhaustion from constant war and that he died standing up in a pious refusal to bow to the Unfaithful, Imran was declared Sultan.

He was declared Sultan of the Lakomelza Sultanate. He was declared Sultan not by himself, but by his own people when he asked of them how he should rule. Legend says that the people of all the Habesha were present that day in his capital of Wasil, and they, the people, declared with an joyous shout that he would be Sultan to guide and guard them in the name of Righteous Allah. Though apparently a construct of years after the death of Imran the symbolic importance of it would have profound effects in times to come.

 

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary

The Golden Age Slips to Dark

...which leads me to the conclusion that one really has to give credit to the Aksumite Kings, despite losing much of the trade access by land and by sea due to the movement of nomadic tribes they still managed to hold together. If it had not been for the advent of Islam the Aksumite Kingdom may have been able persist quite possibly for several centuries more, maybe even into the modern times if their rulers showed the same tenacity and will to hang on by their nails that many of the Aksumite Kings of the Decline had shown. While Habeshaen scholars and talking heads do love to bash the Arabs for contributing to the downfall of Aksum and half a dozen other historical slights, the truth is the avalanche of movement of people as a result of Islamic Arab expansion allowed for the spread of Islam into Al-Habesha and saw the formation of even greater dynasties.

As has been discussed elsewhere the rise of Islam saw a domino effect throughout much of the world and in Al-Habesha it happened to spell the doom of the Aksumite Kingdom-three centuries before it would collapse. The rapid expansion of Islam across the shores of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden resulted in the establishment of several Arab or Arabized political entities along the coastline from the Gulf of Suez to Berbera. For the Beja and Saho Northern Cushite speaking peoples this saw a general push southward as the inhabitants of these bleak and infertile lands sought safety and booty. Which lead them into a collision course with the Aksumite Kingdom who would gradually fail to repel the nomadic pastoralists from their borders which lead to loss of economy and loss of loyalty amongst the local tribal groups which lead to the Aksumites eventually abandoning the city of their namesake and pushing their people southward into the Central Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands and on a grade A collision course with the Falasha Jews and the Agwe tribes. The general reaction of the latter two was a series of endemic wars but, also of inter marriage, which eventually resulted in the destruction of the Aksumite lineage and the Age of Princes sometime around 970CE.

From here things would explode as all bets were off and no large Imperial entity existed in the region and for the next three centuries it was every tribe and small kingdom for itself. The ancestors of the Amhara-Tigray people fragmented and from the south east of the Great Rift the Afar and other East Cushite speaking groups pushed with war and trade. It would be the trade that would be the most important of these which introduced Islam which around the time of the collapse of the Aksumites lead to the bare foundation of the Lakomelza Sultanate. True to the times the Lakomelza Sultanate formed thanks to the personage of Imran ibn Melek Seged who fought off the prime kingdoms of the Falasha and Agwe peoples of the time frame.

Noticeably the Lakomelza Sultanate is not famed for its military conquests, indeed after Imran the territory of the Sultanate remained relatively constant for only a century before its collapse half a century after that. What the Lakomelza Sultanate is prized for is not its military conquests or monuments but that it acted as a cultural blender. It was through the hands and mouths of the Lakomelza Sultans and Ulema that Islam was translated and formed for the appeal to the wider population of Al-Habesha. The people of the region were majorly overtime converted to Islam, learned Arabic, and fitted it all into a context that would make it highly appealing in the oncoming centuries of religious conversion to follow. Noticeably incorporating many elements of the Pagan Habeshan religion as well as popular culture that was widespread across all of Al-Habesha or what would become Al-Habesha. Former gods and spirits such as Wad and Lok were incorporated as Angels, Islamic prescriptions for Magical plagues were formed, and the searing 'Chief's Eye' was declared a manifestation of a ruler's masculinity and divine favor. The Sultans and several tribal chiefs had already established their own historical family legacy by making claims they were the descendants of the Prophet, despite probably never meeting an actual Arabian in their lives. Lakomelzan missionaries, notably Amharaic speaking, were at the forefront of spreading Islam well beyond the frontier of the Lakomelza Sultanate and many are regarded as Islamic Saints amongst the populations they preached to even today.

By the time the Lakomelza Sultanate was conquered, ironically by another Islamic Sultanate, in 1130 the Empire of Islam it had founded stretched well across the Central Plateau and Highlands and formed the basis for the next great Al-Habesha Kingdoms.
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And some OTL maps

 

[Malta]

"Ethiopia is the despair of the compulsive classifier"
-Abraham Demoz

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary

In the Beginning...


Developments around 2000BC would see the first introduction of the Cushite speaking peoples into the region.

*The North Cushite speaking peoples such as the Blemmyes and Beja would move into the Red Sea lowlands as primarily nomads of the relatively infertile region.

*Central Cushite speaking peoples would largely form the Agew tribes across the North-Western Plateau Highlands where they practiced forms of plow cultivation.

*The East Cushite speaking peoples went south of the Great Rift where over two dozen historically recorded tribes would practice the Gada system of hereditary government.

Semitic influences would begin around 1000BC but even today how exactly they came into the region are rather on the obscure side. It is known that the Semetic wave of this period split into one group which headed into the Northern Plateau and another which traveled into the Central Platesu.

Lastly the Omotic speaking people of this time frame in very diverse and numerous tribes traveled into the South-West where they practiced how cultivation.

Ah, but nothing remains in a vacuum and over the course of the next millennium these peoples would be subject to internal changes as well as external pressures.

Of these Semites and Eastern Cushites divided linguisticly around such centers as Yeha, Matara, and Haoulti where among the the Semites, Tigrean and Ge'ez developed through one another.

Southern Ethino Semites such as the Gurage peoples developed into a central belt of linguistic tribes which would be the Amharic, Gafat, Argobba, and Harari.

The Easterna Cushites would split into the Afar, Saho, and Somali peoples abandoning the Gada system of governance and moved eastward along the coastline of the Red Sea and Arabian Sea.

As mentioned the external influences on Al-Habesha's linguistic and ethnic makeup were not resisted or entirely welcomed, but absorbed and shaped to the tune of the local peoples making it unique and apart of their customs with surprising ease.

Nilo Saharans from the north such as the Breta, Gumuz, Ari, Majo, and Baskeb brought with them influences on agriculture and pastoralism. From the West the Sudanic people would be few but likewise would add their own agricultural and pastoral tricks into the regional pot. From the East the Semitic people arrived in four distinct waves:

1- South Arabs speaking Proto-Ge'ez were the first to arrive sometime during the First Millennium BC.
2-Around the beginning of the First Millennium CE the Hebraic culture spread into the region founding the beginning of the Beta Israel and Falasha.
3-Toward the middle of the First Millennium Syrianic Missionaries of the Christian brought their faith, though rejected by the Kings of Aksum would found isolated Christian communities.
4-Around the end of the First Millennium CE Arab Traders would settle along the Red Sea and Somali Coast, eventually bringing Islam from the south to Lakomelza and spreading it the Amhara speaking peoples.

There were other more minor influences until the arrival of Turks and Europeans such as the influence of Greek in the Aksumite court conveyed by Ptolemaic Kings when they ruled Egypt.

Now as one can see quite clearly, Al-Habashah is a immensely diverse place! Peoples of diverse backgrounds have moved into the region as late at the 19th Century through conquest or often enough marriage sparking new groups of people. To try to classify the region based on traditional methods such as ethnicity, language, religion, region, and so forth would be a convoluted matter. Anthropologist Donald Levine[1] would classify the people of Al-Habashah into nine distinct categories:

Red Sea Lowlanders[3]: Beja, Beni, North Cushite Bedawie, Tigre speaking Beni Amer and Bet Mala. Largely nomadic in their lifestyles these peoples practice a unique regional form of hereditary serfdom.

Agew: Central Cushitic. Falasha. Once a large and monolithic group they have overtime dwindled to a few enclaves in the Amhara-Tigrean region. Includes Kimant and Awi, largely practice traditional religions and plow cultivation.

Amhara-Tigrean: Bearers of Aksum and Islam in Al-Habashah. Practice both plow cultivation and cattle raising.

Eastern Rift[2]: Afar, Saho, Somali, Hararai, and Argobba. Live in largely decentralized tribal political units. The first three participate in nomadic pastoralism throughout the desert lowlands while the last two practice agricultural and trade.

Galla: Widely dispersed Gallinya speaking people. Despite largely intelligible language they are tribal distinct from one another in all aspects.

Lacustrine: Live along the chain of Great Rift lakes, practice the Gada system of self government.

Omotic: these people inhabit the small region of the Omo river and practice agriculture.

Sudanic: Nilo-Saharan people who practice sedentary forms of agriculture and cattle raising on the western border regions.

Caste: Untouchables in Pan-Habashah society, sharing traits of their local tribal affiliation they are regarded poorly for reasons based on their status as former slaves or social occupations.

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[1]- OTL Person whose book on "Greater Ethiopia" I got all this information from.
[2]- Referred to as "Core Islamic" in Levine's original classification.
[3]- Reffered to as "North Eritrean" in Levine's original classification.
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Levine, Donald N. Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society.

Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1974.

 

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary

Adhan From Every Mountaintop.

Arabic in Al-Habashah from the 7th to 15th Centuries

The early introduction of Arabic into Al-Habashah was actually rather fortunate for Islam and its rulers in the region and would provide a starting basis for a linguistic unity of the native Semetic, Cushite, Agwe, and other speakers that populated the region.

Initially during the Aksumite period the Kingdom had been rather united under a uniform use of what is now Reffered to as Old Ge'ez, a language composite developed from cross-Arabian influences as early as the First Millenium BC. With this language so prosperously used by scholars and bureaucrats of the central administration in Acum they were the first to knit together an empire of various linguistic groups. Unfortunately, as time went on and the Aksumite Empire became increasingly unstable the use of Old Ge'ez formally and practically fell out of use even by the descendents of the Aksumites the Tigraeans. Thus one of the pillars to the unity of Aksumite Kingdom eroded and allowed for its former subject peoples to drift apart. The only surviving texts of Old Ge'ez would be in the bibles and monasteries of the Selasse Christians who had adopted the language in hopes of codifying their minority beliefs. The only significant concentration of the Selasse Christians during this time frame was around Lake Tana which at this point was in the Falasha Kingdom of Gondar.

The use of Arabic was first introduced through the religious text of the Qu'ran, the developing Shafi'i school of Islamic Law making it mandatory that all Qu'rans be read and written only in the native language of the Prophet. This allowed for the Ulema to not only exercise a scholarly amount of control over religious issues first among the Adal Sultanates and the Lakomelza Sultanate but among the various tribes that adopted Islam. This further allowed members of the Ulema to be incorporated or at least control aspects of the administrative structure of these early Islamic states and tribes as the commonality of the language became practicality for the different speaking language groups that were incorporated into the states. Fairly soon this would develop into an economic aspect as well as traders quickly adopted the use of Arabic for use of communicating. This was a issue through this period that created tension between the developing Merchant class and the Ulema over the right of how and who could use the language of Arabic. Eventually this would bring in the concern of the rulers of these Islamic states as increasing concerns over access to the far and wide stretching Islamic Markets became state priorities. This would highlight a need to establish a secular language that would unite the Habesha peoples as Old Ge'ez once did.

Notedly of the native languages, Amhara was well in place to absorb numerous loan words from Arabic. The language is noted by Linguistic Professors as being something of a composite language, its structure composed of elements of Semetic, Cushite, and other languages. To this Arabic was added, most popularly religious related words but also titles and names. We see the popular use of Sultan as expressing the title of a ruler but we do not see the title of Emir being used at all. The Asmera Sultanate, which would incorporate much of Northern Al-Habashah, would make use of using a dual title for its ruler. Making use of the common Sultan title but also the locally distinct title of Bahr Negus, or King of the Sea- a hold over from the Aksumite Kingdom. In the following centuries as the rulers of Al-Habashah brought themselves back from a movement toward total arabization we would see the resumption of Aksumite titles such as "Negus" or King and "Ras" or Duke.

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As quoted by American scholar Richard Shoreman, "Abyssinia during the introduction of Islam was much like the Wild West. It drew to it every sort of glory seeker and exile from across the Islamic World. Traders and Ghazis from the east, and Sufi Wanderers and Mu'tazilite Scholars from the North. Who or what could unite such a pot of uncountably diverse peoples? Only a power as great as or even greater then the Axsumite Kingdom. Abyssinia needed an empire and a Emperor."

 

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary

Adhan From Every Mountaintop.

As we have discussed prior to 1270 in what is considered the Dark Ages of Al-Habesha we see the development of several Islamic states that progressively spread the Islamic faith deeper and deeper into the Ethiopian Highlands as a mixed result of conquest and missionary work. Note: The following list does not include various tribes and and small states that while having Islamic members or leaders did not formally become Islamic States or Sultanates.

Adal Sultanates [886-1303:Established during the 9th century along the Arabian Sea and Red Sea centered on the port of Zelia. In truth the Adal Sultanate is a term for the development of Islam amongst the Somali and Afar peoples who inhabited both the coast and interior of the Rift Lowlands. During its timeframe it was largely a loosely based confederation of tribes and city-states such as Shewa, Berbera, Harar and Ifat with the Sultan acting most of the time as an elected, nominal head of state. From the 9th Century onward the main contributions of the Adal Sultanates was a middleman for economic trade on the Indian Ocean and spreading Islam into the Ethiopian Highlands through traders.

Lakomelza Sultanate [960-1111]: Established by Imran ibn Melek Seged during the late 10th century this was the first Islamic state within the Ethiopian Highlands and the first Amaharic speaking Islamic State. Centered north-west of Desse this state was primarily know for being a blender and transforming the Islamic religion from an Arab one into one for the Habeshans of the Ethiopia. plateau. Beginning the transformation of Al-Habeshan culture into an Islamic one it sent forth many missionaries into other parts of the plateau and consequently laid down the foundations for conversion of many of the other Sultanates in the region and the eventual Al-Habashah Empire.

Ajuuraan Emirate [1255-1460]: Established by Ajuran Gareen of the Gareen family after seceding from the Adal Sultanates. The Ajuuraan State represents a period of both a shift of Islam down the coast of East Africa but also the spread of the Somali ethnic group throughout the Horn of Africa. Was a major trade and cultural center for the region.

Roha Sultanate [1081-1270*]: Established in the 11th century initially as the first Agwe Islamic State before is gradually faced an ethnic and linguistic cultural shift and became largely Amaharic speaking. Founded by Muhammad ibn Abu-Aziz, one of the members of the Royal Zagwe Dynasty whose branch had converted to Islam and gradually converted those within his fiefs to their faith. Exsisting within the Zagwe Dynasty the descendants of Muhammad ibn Abu-Aziz eventually revolted during a period of civil war within the Dynasty caused by their tend act to follow a succession practice of passing inheritance to their brothers. Eventually absorbing the Lakomelza Sultanate, which caused it to become Amaharic speaking, and battling with both the Falasha and the Asmera Sultanate for control over the Al-Habashah Highlands.

Asmera Sultanate [1159-1270*]: Established in the 12th century as the first Islamic State amongst the Tigraean peoples. Eventually converting and conquering the Tigrayana hills. The Sultnatae reached its peak in 1255 under Al-Assad ibn Umar who lead the Sultanate into increasing clashes with the Falasha and the Roha Sultanate. Eventually after one battle against the Rohani the Sultan Abu-Aziz ibn Bassem was killed in battle with Al-Assad throwing the Roha Sultanate into disarray. Eventually a meeting of the noblemen went to Al-Assad and offered him the marriage of the Sultan's sister, Hawa. He accepted and the two Sultanates allied together and not only invaded the Falasha Gondar Kingdom but utterly crushed it and annexed it completely extending the control of the two Sultanates to Lake Tana and the Blue Nile river. The consequences of this would greatly affect the history of Al-Habashah. The most immediate of which occurred in 1270 with the birth of Al-Kaleem Faysal ibn Al-Assad. The Asmera and Roha Sultanate agreed to form under one house and declare Al-Kaleem Faysal as Negusa Nagast, King of Kings of Al-Habashah, Emperor of Abyssinia.

*For sometime after 1270 the Asmera and Roha Sultanates continued to exist as separate administrative and political entities despite that Al-Kaleem Faysal and his descendants continued to hold title of Sultans of both. Eventually the two were merged together formally in the 15th Century.

 

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary

Adhan From Every Mountaintop.

Let us look around the world a tad at this time frame of 1270.

In North Africa outside of Tunis, King Louis IX of France was laying siege to Tunis on his way to making a bid for reining Christianity to North Africa. Tabriz is established as the capital of the Mongolian Ilkhanate. The Livonian Order suffers a defeat by the Lithuanians. The Koreans revolt against the Mongolian Puppets. Works on Optics are translated from Arabic into Latin and distributed throughout European Academic Circles. And finally Al-Kaleem Faysal is declared Emperor of Al-Habashah.

In ways an eventful year, certainly not the most eventful in terms of global impact, but sometimes history has its off years. Though for Habashah the impact would be quite important in years to come. By uniting the Asmera and Roha Sultanates the first Al-Habashah Sultanate had been created. While more interesting developments would take time to happen the more immediate was the marshaling of manpower between the Tigraeans, Zagwe, and Ahmaric speaking peoples under one administration. Uniting the people under the house of Islam! By the end of his reign Faysal would push his territory into the region of the Falasha and take the region of Lake Tana for his Sultanate-from there he would establish a power basin that would serve Habashah rulers for centuries! Taking torch to the local settlements of the region he would establish his own, distinctly Islamic, city of Gondar on the north side of the Lake as a new administrative and royal capital. Decidingly pushing Habashaean interest into the region by force. A stream of nobles, slaves, laborers, craftsmen and more were funneled into the plain around Lake Tana, converting, pushing, or marginalizing the Falasha influentials to the point that within a few decades the ethno-linguistic make up of the area was unrecognizable.

With the Falasha broken, Faysal and his grandson would be able to roll up all of the northern Plateau into a united Islamic Sultanate. With the Northern Plateau rolled up his grandson in particular would look eastward to the Adal Sultsnates sitting along the Gulf of Arabia across the Great Rift Valley with keen interest. Habashah was sparsely known in the Islamic World sue to its geographic isolation. Negus Hafiz Ahmed would change all of that.

 

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary

Adhan From Every Mountaintop.

Through the remainder of his reign Al-Kaleem Faysal would spend much of his time working on two major projects that would see his dynasty through the following centuries.

Negus Al-Kaleem Faysal Habashah. Otherwise known as Emperor of Ethiopia.
The first of which was his capital of Gondar on Lake Tana. As I had already mentioned, the locals around Gondar were evicted and from across the newly minted Al-Habashah Sultanate the peoples from the Amhara-Tigrean founders who were the majority upper classes to the Red Sea peoples and trickling Eastern Rift peoples. In Gondar, Negus Al-Kaleem Faysal sought to bring together the many pieces of greater Habashah into one place, much as old Axum had been the center for the Axumite Kingdom. In this he undertook to build a city which encapsulated many of the influences from the Roha and Asmera Sultanates that compromised Al-Habashah Sultanate. Where Agew met Tigrean, and Ahmeran could meet Afar. On Lake Tana’s many islands he would establish the first monuments to his people’s legacy.


Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile river which flows northward to join the White Nile as the source of the Nile river. It could be said that from Al-Habashah’s capital, life flowed outward into the world. Which is fitting in another aspect as the area is also part of the Habashah highlands, known as the Roof of Africa. With a solid core region under his belt Al-Kaleem Faysal could begin to cement the power of his dynasty as well as look outward across his realm and much further afield. The conflicts he waged before his passing were in much a part to consolidate his dynasty as they were to consolidate Habashah. His collective raids and border conflicts against the Afar tribes, and east of the Great Rift would begin a general change in the makeup of the Feudal and Tribal structures of the many tribes and polities within Habashah as he sought to weld the two together.


This would come to pass in his son’s reign as Negus Hafiz Al-Kaleem, and his son’s reign Negus Ahmed Hafiz. In 1290 Negus Hafiz Al-Kaleem faced several revolts against his power following the death of his father as forces within the Asmera and Roha Sultanate sought to regain their importance and independence. Negus Hafiz would travel from one end of his Sultanate preventing the breakup of his father’s kingdom. As result of this Negus Hafiz would begin to break-up the traditional holdings of many nobles and communal tribal lands, preventing them from amassing large lands through intermarriage. He would also be a patron for urban development of Gondar as he favored the city dwellers who would typically support his reign and would provide a wealthy lifeline out of Habashah through trade.


It is said as Negus Hafiz traveled his land he took great notice of the drought and famines that would plague the sultanate as a result of war and natural development. Indeed, in some ways this was the root of some of the revolts against his rule and why serfs and hard hit tribal groups would rebel against his rule. Perplexed and perhaps desiring to help the people he commissioned the greatest scholars in Habashah to go out across the land and fix the reasons why drought and famine were occurring. His quest to these learned men came back to him with unexpected results.

Over the course of many years the scholars instead of not just fixing the problem also compiled knowledge about why it occurred. They studied the geography and nature of the land itself, observing not just how drought or crop failures could happen in one village but why it occurred. Some may say they practiced the scientific method before it was invented, but they observed, wrote down their knowledge and would pass it down to be enacted by the royal family and eventually nobles and as literacy spread the common people themselves. Negus Hafiz would plant the seeds of future innovations for the sultanate.


With his death and the rise of his son, Negus Ahmed Hafiz, in 1330 the Habashah Sultanate would once more expand outwards. At this time frame, Al-Habashah Sultanate was becoming a major regional power for sure but it was still very much isolated from the outside world. This would be a trend to continue over the next few centuries but one which would in some ways help it greatly. One of the ways was in the wake of the bubonic plague arriving in the Adal Sultanates around Negus Ahmed’s ascension. The Plague, carried by ships across the oceanic routes of the silk road hit the Adal Sultanates but fortunately did not spread very far into Al-Habashah itself, though it would hit around the Red Sea lowlands it was largely self-contained.

With the Adal Sultanates weakened, Negus Hafiz struck out from the highlands and descended on the Adal Sultanates, overrunning them and gaining for Habashah. First capturing their inland territories and sweeping out, crushing the Adal Sultanates against the sea itself. With this victory gained the Habashah Sultanate gained a large amount of coastal territory, as well as unruly Somalis to deal with. The best boon at the time for Negus Ahmed was gaining the varied skill labor from the coastal cities which the Negus promptly “imported” to Gondar to add to the growing hinterland urban center. Habashah would continue to export wheat and barley, as well as local metals across both sides of the Mediterranean and Indian periphery.


However, perhaps the most unsuspected boon for Habashah would be in a little under a century with the arrival of Zheng He and the Ming Treasure Fleets.

 

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia
By Taym Ansary

Stretching Outward

The 15th Century onward was a time frame when distances were traveled and new horizons were plunged into with wild abandon by many different peoples. As it was a time of transition from the Medieval world to the Modern world for many nations.

The first of which being the Ming Dynasty. Fresh from their victorious campaigns to free themselves from the rule of the Mongols the new Chinese dynasty that inherited the Middle Kingdom wished for its strength and power to be known throughout the world, to do this it sought out to bring forth an expansive hegemonic system where nations to the north, south, east, and west would kowtow and recognize their ancient, but newly inspired greatness. One of the forms this would take would be the famous Treasure Fleet expeditions across the western Pacific and Indian Oceans. Hundreds of ships filled with diplomats, soldiers, artisans, merchants, goods, and weapons became part of these Treasure Fleets, none more magnificent than the treasure ships themselves which dwarfed any other ocean going ship in the world.

The Seven Voyages of the Ming Treasure Fleet from 1405 to 1433 did not travel any new routes, unlike the European explorers who would be filling the seas in a few decades, they sailed on pre-existing trade routes that had been known for thousands of years. In fact, in a few places the Ming found communities of overseas Chinese who had long since immigrated and grown up. Admiral Zheng He, a Hui Muslim, was the leader of most of the voyages and sailing from China across the Indian Ocean he was a force to be reckoned with. As his voyages exchanged pleasantries they also exchanged swords and gunfire, more than once helping to topple a less-than-cooperative regime or putting pirates to flight.

It would be the Fifth Voyage that would reach the coasts of Al-Habashah in 1417. By this point in time Habashah had slowly proceeded to grow out of its shell, pushing their boundaries across the Arabian Sea they had brought into line the last of the Somali city-states along the Somalian coastline, even installing a friendly regime in Mogadishu on the southern shore by forcing the Ajuuran Emirate into a protectorate state. Still, the Al-Habashah state was young and while bold in their land campaigns were rather timid when it came to affairs across the seas. Perhaps colored by their highland roost in Gondar or wary of the Mamluks who lurked on the upper reaches of the Red Sea who had begun to steadily probe (aka raid) Habashab shipping at the time. Habashah was not the first state to be awed by power from across the sea and nor would it be the last.

There is indication that by the time Zheng He set out on the Fifth Expedition that he was aware of Habashah and its position across the Arabian Sea. So far their expeditions had gone no further than the southern tip of India, but it is unlikely that he would not have heard from merchant-princes and Kings of state about Habashah on the coast of a distant land which controlled most of the trading cities around the Horn of Africa. Perhaps the Yongle Emperor himself had ordered Zheng He to visit the Sultanate itself, a grand land power as Habashah was reputed. Whatever the foreknowledge, Zheng He arrived in Aden and from there his fleet traveled to Zelia. Perhaps it was fate that Negus Zara Youssha was away from Gondar at the time and was able to greet Zheng He, but to say the least Zara Youssha was impressed.

From the porcelain to the silks Zara Youssha was well received by Zheng He, and likewise the Chinese admiral seemed to also take a liking to Zara Youssha himself. The two men are said to have been almost inseparable throughout their time together, be it seeing the fleet or overland to Gondar. With no small amount of envy though Zara Youssha was impressed with the fleet and weaponry wielded by the Chinese. Gunpowder weapons were known of and a few examples had made their way to Habashah but never in such fine condition or power displayed by the Ming. It was said Zara Youssha promised Zheng He anything in the world for the weapons but Zheng He refused. Instead he followed Zara Youssha on a trip to Mecca, in the Chinese ships and was able to provide aid against several pirates who terrorized the region. For Zara Youssha this was a coup as he had been allowed to fly his own standard on Zheng He’s ships and so word would spread of Habashah’s involvement with the massive ships and powerful weapons.

Zheng He departed on good terms, receiving many gifts from Habashah as well as ambassadors. The Chinese community in Zelia takes 1417 and the Fifth Voyage as the founding of their community in Habashah but it would not really be so until Zheng He’s Sixth Voyage in 1421.

On Zheng He’s return Zara Youssha would once more petition Zheng He for weapons and the secrets of them but officially it is said Zheng He refused him. However, it is after this point that the gunpowder industry in Habashah would take off. Many different versions of how Zara Youssha obtained the gunpowder and knowledge exist. One where Zheng He did secretly give it to Zara Youssha in a secret message, another Habashab sailors recovered it from a Ming ship that had sunk. Another is the tale of a Chinese alchemist who fell in love with a local woman and gave up the secrets. Regardless, their use would soon help change the face of warfare and the social structures within Habashah as the warlord and feudal derived armies that had supported the Habashah Sultanate gave way to a more egalitarian form of army organization.

In this way Al-Habashah would become the second “Gunpowder Empire” after the Ottomans who had already been making use of gunpowder weapons for a few decades, and before the Safavids and Mughals who would pick it up after the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. For the Habashab army and military the changes were not immediate of course. It would also take time, until after 1514 for the Habashabs to develop the sort of “new model” army that revolutionized warfare on three continents. Following their acquisition of primitive muskets and large cannon the Habashabs expanded locally for the most part, incorporating several protectorates to the west among the Nilotic tribes. They would sweep south of the Great Rift Valley and blunt the raids by the Oromo people of the south. On the seas the Habashabs were beginning to get a taste for the waters as they fought the Mamluks in the Red Sea, many expected some sort of showdown between the Sultanates but that was interrupted by the arrival of two newcomers, the Ottomans and Portuguese.

 

[Malta]

The Abridged History of Al-Habashah: From Axum to Abyssinia

By Taym Ansary

Visitors from the West

Fortunately, for the Portuguese their arrival in the Indian Ocean coincided with a nebulous time for the Habashabs and the Al-Habashah as a whole. The issue was succession, as the elderly Negus Umar Muhammed had come to the throne late in life, succeeding his own brother, and had begun to suffer from maladies due to his advanced age. Primarily memory loss and dementia. Subtle at first it became more and more apparent as he demanded orders that had already been given and replaced court officials with ones he had already removed or were dead. In one fit of dementia induced rage he lashed out at everyone around him with a whip forcing out the royal court.

Succession soon became an issue as his sons sought to replace their father and at the same time out do each other. This lead to small civil conflicts and politicking that saw Habashah draw inward on itself. It was during this time that the Portuguese entered the Indian Ocean with remarkable speed and vigor in 1497. Vasco de Gama’s voyage not only found a stable route to the lucrative spice markets but quickly established trading ties that the Portuguese used to hook themselves into the region.

In short order between 1497 and 1506 the Portuguese has established an overseas empire of forts and tributary states from East Africa to India. Always playing on the animosity between local rulers and meting out bloodshed to any Muslims they found (spilling the bitter legacy of the wars between Christians and Muslims of the Mediterranean World into the Indian Ocean).

Mired in their internal struggles the Habashabs were slow to respond to the Portuguese threat. The Portuguese had begun to raid up the Coast of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian sub-continent. Their brutal attacks on Muslim traders brought them more and more attention. Despite this as a practical there was little the Habashabs could do to stop the Portuguese. Their navy was not as prized as the armies of the sultanate, it was maintained to protect shipping in the Red Sea, blunt any attempts by the Mamluks to take control, and project their power into southern Arabia. It could not chase the Portuguese across the Indian Ocean. Negus Jamal ud-Din Umar came to the throne in 1504 and even despite being an improvement on his father the Habashabs did not face the Portuguese until they attacked.

In their investigations about the Powers-That-Be along the Indian Ocean, mostly from Malindi allies, the Portuguese had become aware of the Habashabs. They did know within al-Habashah existed Christian minorities and that their armies were known for their size and ferocity. Perhaps, the Portuguese thought they would eventually liberate these Christian cousins, but for now at least the Portuguese decided to stick to their naval strength.

The Portuguese having captured Ormuz under Alfonso de Albuquerque in 1506 next looked to gaining a stronghold at the mouth of the Red Sea. The plan was to gain control of strategic locations throughout the Indian Ocean by which the Portuguese could completely control the spice trade. By capturing Ormuz they planned to prevent the route from the Persian Gulf, capturing the Moluccas they controlled trade with China, and finally by capturing territory around the Red Sea’s straits they could control the spice trade to Egypt. However, time was of the essence for them as it became clear not just Muslim but other European powers were moving against them. The Venetian Republic, once having the monopoly on the spice trade for Europe was finding itself undercut by the Portuguese, their actions sending prices skyrocketing. They sought out the aid of the Mamluks of Egypt and the Habashabs to curtail the Portuguese. The Mamluks aware that the Portuguese were also undercutting their role in the spice trade, and the Venetian willingness to supply the land-oriented Mamluks with shipwrights, saw them agree to help end the Portuguese threat. It was the Habashabs that were still unconvinced. Still recovering from the misrule of his father and the conflict with his brothers; as well as seeing the Mamluks as a greater threat Negus Jamal ud-Din initially rebuffed the Mamluks and Venetian ambassadors asking for their support.

At least, until the Portuguese attacked.

Keeping with their policy of obtaining defendable strongholds that they could use as strategic chokepoints the Portuguese initially identified the sparsely populated Socotra Islands at the tip of the Horn of Africa as the perfect staging ground for controlling the Red Sea trade routes. The island despite being mostly Christian was also nominally under Habashab rule, receiving tribute from the islanders. Thus, when the Portuguese sent a small fleet to occupy the islands in 1506 Jamal ud-Din was convinced to act against them.

The Battle of Soq was a victory and defeat for Habashah. Their fleet, despite being larger was decimated by the Portuguese ships-which were mostly larger than the majority dhows and the cannons equipped to the Habashab fleet were few and small. Despite this the Portuguese suffered enough casualties that forced them to withdraw from the islands, more so because it became apparent that the islands of Socotra were poor for agriculture and could not support Portuguese ambitions. The battle was also a wakeup call for the Habashabs, where before their strong army had been able to defeat mostly any foe now a strong navy was needed if they were to maintain their interests in the world. Jamal ud-Din immediately began a campaign to revamp his navy for the next fight against the Portuguese.

The efforts of the Habashabs notably brought in a new influx of Somali leaders into the Habashab government, mostly as the admirals and sailors of the new navy as Jamal ud-Din turned to the ocean-adjacent born Somalis for their experience. The Somali leaders were also useful as spies and innovators, as Jamal ud-Din put out a bounty for whatever shipwright could successfully re-create the ship designs of the Portuguese. Portuguese ships becoming more common in the ports across the Indian Ocean were carefully studied, but the Habashabs were years away from building a ship on full part with the Portuguese, the logistics would develop but only with time.

The next step for the Anti-Portuguese alliance was to go on the offensive, to clear out Portuguese forts and factories in the Indian Ocean. In this effort, the Habashabs and Mamluks were joined by the Zamorin of Calicut and the Gujarat Sultanate (India’s growing naval power). In 1508 the Alliance worked to attack Portuguese forts in Ormuz and Kerman, removing the Portuguese control from the Persian Gulf. Next, they went on the offensive against Portuguese territory in India where the main Portuguese armada in the Indian Ocean was stationed.

The campaign to rid the Portuguese from India was a failure. The ships of the alliance again were fairly smaller than the Portuguese despite being more numerous, and were still underequipped by Portuguese standards of naval armament. Further, the alliance had no single command leading to the Portuguese being able to split the alliance’s order of battle. The Habashab ships though did do better than during the Battle of Soq, now manned by Somali sailors and with proper Habashab cannonry they were able to surprise the Portuguese. The Portuguese were stopped from expanding their influence into Gujarat waters but they had yet to be kicked out of India by the time both sides had to retire for monsoon season. The Alliance did also manage to grant a resumption of the Islamic spice trade until the Portuguese once again counterattacked in 1511 raiding up and down the African and Arabian coasts.

Habashah fought in Aden, Kerman, and Mogadishu. The first two as part of the Anti-Portuguese alliance to prevent the Portuguese from regaining their stranglehold on the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. The last was much more personal for the Habashabs as the Portuguese encouraged rebellion in the southern Somali cities. This was a direct attack on the rule of the Negus that Jamal ud-Din would not allow to stand. The Habashab army managed to incur hundreds of Portuguese casualties as the Portuguese soldiers that landed in Mogadishu underestimated the strength of the Habashabs. Fighting the Portuguese and the Ottomans would also provide a powerful catalyst for the transformation of the Habashab army, by this point a mostly feudal entity into a modern fighting force worthy of a gunpowder empire.

 

[Malta]

A quick step back into a previous chapter.

Havoc and Rebirth


The death of Negus Ahmed Hafiz, if you read William Kramer's 1910 book, "The History of Abyssinia", would say his death lead to the destruction of the First "Moslem Kalifate" Dynasty. This would continue to be parroted by other Western Abyssianists as they sought to classify and divide the history of the Habashah Empire. Much like has been treated with the so called Byzantine Empire western historians sought to differentiate the rulers of Habashah into distinct familial lineages. Unlike the Romans though Kramer went with the Egyptian dynastic numerical system for the Habashah. For him and for many Western Historians today the death of Negus Ahmed Hafiz and his successor, Negus Mohammed Abdulrahman is seen as the gap between two separate dynasties despite the fact that Negus Mohammed was the son of Ahmed's sister, Yasmina, and the warlord Abdulrahman Umar.


Kramer fails to take into account the Habashab viewpoint. Negus Mohammed did not see himself as part of a "Second Dynasty" but of an unbroken line of rulers with the blood of the Prophet, Negus al-Kaleem , and King Solomon in his blood. This continues into today as the Imperial family consider themselves "Unbroken" despite claims of historians.


The transition from Negus Ahmed to Muhammad though would be full of havoc however but also great change. It was under his grandson's rule that the capital would be moved from Gondar to the fortified city close to the Great Rift Valley, Barara where the capital of Habashah has remained ever since. This was both political and practical as the havoc that had spread across the Muslim world finally came to shore in Habashah, though the Habashabs could be considered lucky that their havoc did not rise on horses like the Mongols and the Habashabs were able to recover fairly quickly to meet the arrival of the Ming and late the Portuguese.


The branch of Islam in Habashah is often cited as "Imranid", named after the founder of the Lakomelza Sultanate the first official Islamic state within Habashah, despite not being a religious teacher he encouraged the religious policy of incorporation of pagan beliefs. Considered to be a branch under Sunni Islam it is most popular in East Africa and exclaves around the Indian Ocean.


Havoc though brings change and also Rebirth. For the greater Muslim world the "Rebirth" of the "Havoc" of the Mongols was the Gunpowder Empires as new Turkic statelets forged great powers and inspired great cultural change. However for Habashah this Rebirth was more religious. In the wake of the Mongols a new religious movement had grown in the Muslim world, this was the "Sufis". Mystics that sought greater devotion to Allah through a myriad of mystical beliefs they inspired small religious movements and warrior brotherhoods that would lay the foundations for the Ottomans and Safavids. From Persia the first Sufis arrived to Habashah, of many notable beliefs and stripes the most famous which would come to dominate Habashah would come under Farouk ad-Din Shirazi who himself was a member of the Mewlewi Order, otherwise known as the Whirling Dervishes.


Farouk came to Habashah well over sixty years after the death of the Whirling Dervishes's founder, the poet Rumi. Here he traveled Habashah as a mystic and beggar, quoting Rumi's poems and founding in his wake founded craftsmen-merchant-knightly guilds called, futuwwa. While connecting the economies of different towns the men who formed the militant branches became Ghazis, attacking brigands sparking tales of chivalry and knightly valor. The practices of the Mewlewi would blend with the many native traditions of Habashah, different tribal dances coming together and blending. This Sufism in particular became very popular with the militant Oromo people. Mewlewi and Imranid Islam would gradually merge overtime until the Imranid form had totally subsumed the teachings of the Mewlewis, becoming mainstream and leaving the Mewlewis as the more ascetic members of the order.


The Mewlewi connection would prove to a bridge later in relation to the Ottomans but would also lay foundation for the Habashah Emperors who would seek to claim the title of Caliph.

 

[Malta]

Thanks to ETA50M for the praise and for the inspiration for this update.

Visitors from the West: A New Order

As previously discussed in “Havoc and Rebirth” the Imranid branch of Islam most common in Habashah would absorb the teachings of the Persian Mewlewi (Mevlevi in Persia) Sufis, leading to a society wide development throughout the country. Especially in urban centers and then later rural villages these lead to the forming of communal guilds based on different occupations and class status known as Futuwwa. These guilds were split into different lodges which had their own order masters and were in many cases a way for men to come together in comradery and fraternity. Gunpowder guilds would form in many urban cities leading to the development of Habashah’s weaponry. Bakers guilds would help form cohesive supply chains with suppliers in the surrounding rural countryside especially in times of famine these links would prove beneficial to all.

Also, in the urban centers and countryside military orders would be founded. These orders, which we can refer to as simply the Mewlewi Orders, were varied in their nature some in the countryside were composed of the fathers and sons of the local noble classes and their retainers. Those in the urban centers composed of members of the nobility but also merchant, bureaucratic and other upper-class positions. Together they formed the basis of what could be compared to the knightly orders of their European counterparts, but more on a local scale where in particular they fought brigands and foreign invaders. Inspiring classical tales among the poets of the country they grew in fame and adoration and by the 16th century was beginning to grow into a new level of development.

It would be in the urban centers of the Somali Coast where in particular the Mewlewi Orders would first be formed and were at their strongest by the arrival of the Portuguese into the Indian Ocean. Further, it was Guleed Ali, a Somali who was the Order Master (himself a wealthy merchant) of the local Mewlewi Order of Mogadishu that opposed the Portuguese. In his early 50s by the arrival of the Portuguese in 1512 he was a well respected man not just in his Order but also throughout the city, it was even said that Negus Jamal ud-Din looked to him for advice. He was also extremely charitable, donating with his brothers in the Order food to make sure the poor and homeless within the city. The Order of Mogadishu had come to take over a large part of the city guard, only contingents sent by the Emperor to protect the city were not either members of the Order or lead by their members.

First, his forces lead a successful defense against catspaws the Portuguese had bribed in Mogadishu to rebel, preventing the coup within the city from taking hold before the arrival of the main Portuguese force. He had the foresight to see that the rebellion was most likely part of a grander plot against the city, sending word to Imperial garrisons along the coastline for reinforcements and seeing to preparing fortifications for a siege. Days later the Portuguese ships were sighted along the shore, consisting of hundreds of Portuguese soldiers supported by Malindi auxiliaries. Guleed had prepared well for their arrival.

Not only had he drawn as much food as possible into the city from the countryside he had also made sure that the Portuguese could not approach the city’s port directly. As Portuguese cannons traded fire with Habashab equivalents set along towers and ramparts surrounding the port the first Portuguese ship that came too close fell afoul of sunken ships and obstacles that Guleed had prepared in the harbor. The wreckage forced one Portuguese ship to sink and two more to become targets for the Habashab gunners as they became stuck or tried to maneuver their way out of the area. Unable to land in the city itself, the Portuguese forces were forced to retreat and land further along the shore.

The Portuguese and their Malindi allies attempted to storm the city but were cut down by Habashab guns and by militia spearmen, and some even by members of the Order whose whirling swords defeated opponent after opponent. It would be the arrival of Imperial cavalry ridden on camels that broke the siege itself, the Portuguese and their allies boarding their ships and fleeing south as they hedged their bets.

For his role in the defense of the city, Guleed was knighted by Jamal ud-Din, but the Negus awarded the Order Master another honor. To take the fight to the Portuguese and their allies further south.

 

[Malta]

Visitors from the West: A New Order

Initial contact with the Ottomans was distant but cordially received on both sides. On a level both were the inheritors of ancient empires that had been friends and something close to allies. Both were in their own way upstarts in the scheme of history and both looked to expand and take up the mantle of Islam. Both exchanging ambassadors in 1499, one to Istanbul (a city on the rift between two seas) and Barara (a city on the rift between two tectonic plates). While neither had a common border, they did have common trade interests, especially concerning their position within the silk road. Before the initial Mamluk-Ottoman war the Ottomans had joined the Anti-Portuguese alliance effort by sending timber and craftsmen to help with establishing coastal forts along the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. The actions by the Ottomans in the following years have been considered by many to be in great question, especially if the true motives of the Ottomans were in fact to scout ahead for future territory.

Defeating the Iranian Safavids in 1513 lead to Ottoman control over the majority of Mesopotamia and would set the stage for the next plans for Ottoman expansion. In 1514 they invaded Mamluk territory in the Levant and the next year they followed up their successes with invasion of Egypt proper. To say Jamal ud-Din was surprised was an understatement, the speed that the Mamluks had been defeated caught the Negus flatfooted and in an unfavorable position to take advantage of the situation. With a good majority of Habashah’s forces preparing for the Great Rift campaign and the ouster of the Portuguese from the Swahili Coast to the south. Had it not been for the Portuguese threat the Habashabs would have been in an ideal position to seize Mecca for themselves and push up the Nile possibly as far as Luxor.

While these opportunities fell to the Ottomans the Negus was still able to salvage a measure of opportunity from the Mamluk’s defeat. Prior to the Ottomans, the borders between Habashab and Mamluk control had been moderated by buffer states and tribal confederations along their mutual borders along the Nile and South Arabia. Now, the Habashabs had no reason to not assert full control. In Southern Arabia, Arabia Felix, through negotiation and completion of a chain of forts from Aden to Sana’a the Negus secured the loyalty of the tribes from Al Quffundah to Al Mukalla. At the junction of the White and Blue Nile rivers the Habashabs consolidated their hold on the Nubian Kingdom of Soba, already pressed by an influx of Arab and Funj tribes from the north. Saving the kingdom, Habashab and Nubian forces would push north scattering the Arab tribes (and preventing the Arabization of that stretch of the Nile) and seized as far up the Nile as Aswan before they encountered Ottoman forces.

The short skirmish between the two forces was conducted around the area of modern day Wadi Ammar, scout forces between both sides clashed along the Nile and surrounding desert. Camel and horse mounted scouts fought with one another thinking the other was apart of the last Mamluk hold outs in the area. It was only after the prisoners taken on both sides began to talk that each side realized their error. A truce was settled between the two forces and prisoners exchanged. Both sides would meet in Cairo and declare again a truce toward one another, confirmation of the gains made by each side (the Ottomans cared much more that they had gained Mecca than a stretch of the Nile) and a commitment to end the Portuguese threat once more.

With a possible threat to the north at least contained, the Habashabs could focus their full attention on campaigns to the south. The Habashabs struck south in two prongs, one along the coast and another further inland. The Habashabs had long held their border south along the tip of Lake Turkana, preferring to keep their borders here static as they dealt with tribes of the invading Oromo after their defeat years before. Now though they desired to capture the highlands to the south, it would open trade with the Great Lakes region and if need be allowed the Habashabs to strike from the interior against the Portuguese on the coast if they ever returned in force. The Habashabs used force and negotiation to make their way south and east, following the Great Rift Valley, encountering different tribes of the largely semi-pastoralist Turkana, Samburu and Kikuyu people. Largely through the establishment of a series of forts close to strategic water wells. This would mark the beginning of a policy of southward expansion that over centuries would take the Habashabs as far south as Lake Malawi.

Lead by Guleed Ali, the main Habashab push to crush the Portuguese presence along the eastern coast of Africa would set off nigh ten thousand soldiers at various parts of the campaign itself, as well as fifty ships ranging from light galleys and brigs to the first of the Habashab carracks that would be a match for even the Portuguese vessels of the same make. Setting sail from Mogadishu the army of Habashah set sail for Malindi the site of the main Portuguese customs house and a small fort. Going first by sea the Habashabs landed their forces to the north and south of the city before converging on it, surrounding it by land and sea. While sieging the city they also looked across the Swahili Coast to other friends and enemies. The city of Mombasa was quick to offer aid to the Habashabs, already having been a victim of their raids more than once and pointed the Habashabs to Kilwa Kisawani which was still in the thrall of a Portuguese fort in the city.

As what happened in Malindi the Habashabs repeated their actions in Kilwa, surrounding the city and defeating the Portuguese, massacring the Europeans as they did and so they moved further south over the following months defeating Portuguese forts and installing puppet governors of their choosing, for the most part their actions would dethrone the Arab merchant classes that had held sway from even before the advent of Islam. The island of Mozambique, the city of Sofala, the Comoros islands, and event on Madagascar. And in each case, they repeated the actions of the Portuguese, setting up their own forts and trading customs influencing the city-states from the guns of forts that many had been Portuguese a year ago.

These efforts would undo almost twenty years of conquests by the Portuguese and in an act would help strangle the Portuguese and their hold on India. The Portuguese responses were by no means meek, as they fought to undo the efforts of the Habashabs.

 

[Malta]

The Name of a Nation

Aksum, Abyssinia, Habashah, Habesha. There are a recorded twelve different pronunciations and spellings for the nation and all are considered accurate.

All point to different times and different views of the great nation. In truth all are related. The root of it all is a denotation for the Kingdom of Aksum as Habashat in Ge'ez before the language went extinct by the rise of Arabic, but the Habesha Arabic would save this taking many loan words. Habashah is a rendition of Arabic of the original Habashat, and likewise Abyssinia is also likewise derived from the Latinized form of the name. Throwing further confusion into the mix is the common practice of scholars, in particular western scholars, as referring to the ruling dynasty and people as Habashabs, not unlike Ottoman or Mughal. Thus in many instances Al-Habashah and Al-Habesha can be considered interchangeable especially as pronunciation differences arise from the many different language groups within Habashah itself!

The people of Habashah, refer to themselves as Habesha as a people, though even that can be broken down into various sub groups (Habesha Somali, Habesha Tigraen, Habesha Arab, Habesha European, and so forth) it still represents the evolution of centuries as what once used to refer to a highland tribe became a nation of millions by the 21st century.

 

[Malta]

Visitors from the West: A New Order

For the Portuguese the Habashab campaign to push them from the Swahili Coaat had made a dent in Portugal's trade with India, but it had not ended it. Portugal's fleet running the yearly India Run could still make the outer loop journey which took them, if timed right, past the southern tip of Madagascar and around the eastern coast up toward the southern tip of India. This route while helpful in passing the seasonal monsoons was still costly and by no means a perfect art of navigation. This route was longer and ran through the empty expanses of the Indian Ocean which was a Herculean task that left sailors and their ships on their last legs- scurvy, diseased and the forced scuttling of damaged ships was a guarantee with every voyage.


Portuguese outposts in Mozambique, Madagascar and at Malindi while a navigational gauntlet through the reefs and shoals of the Mozambique Channel did allow the Portuguese to supplement their trade goods with gold, ivory, slaves and other goods but also allow ships and their crews to rest and repair. The Habashabs forced the logistics of the India Run as Far East as they could and to the breaking point. Even with new supply outposts established on the scattered Mauritius Islands and Cape Hope the Portuguese found themselves harassed by Swahili and Somali pirates. These opportunists set up temporary camps around the southern coast of Madagascar and pounced on Portuguese ships. Even on the coast of India Anti-Portuguese states such as Gujrarat harassed the Portuguese, reclaiming Diu with Habashab guns.


Prior to Habashab attacks the percent rate of returning ships to Lisbon had been 90%, that had been reduced to 50%.


Portugal's initial response was to spend much of 1517-1518 launching reprisal fleets to raid the Swahili Coast but these raids only caused Habashah to tighten their grip building more forts and pressing the Swahili city-states into a subservient relationship. It was a war of distance and attrition, both of which Habashah had to their advantage. Indecision and fear reigned in Lisbon, with merchants and nobles losing investments calling for re-orientation toward West Africa and the Americas. Perhaps fortunately for the Portuguese an attempt to sue for peace with the Habashabs was well received.


With the Swahili Coast secured Negus Jamal ud-Din turned his attentions back toward the recent gains around the Great Lakes and the nebulous border with the Ottomans. There were after all other opportunities, trade across the Sahel and securing the Persian Gulf. The Habashabs had secured the Arabian Sea and the Mozambique Channel for themselves-the government was not interested in invading Portuguese India or rounding the cape. So the two sides agreed to peace, the Portuguese warned against attacking Muslim ships and interfering with local affairs. The Portuguese for the time were still banned from Habashab ports and the Portuguese for their part were grateful for the deal. By no means did it prevent future hostilities or even current ones but it allowed each state to give each other a wide berth for a time.


The Portuguese would still have to contend with the alliance of opposing states in India but even that was coming loose. Domestic and foreign squabbles would see them busy from uniting against Portugal.


In ways it was perhaps fate that Habashah and Portugal faced one another. Both were states that existed on the periphery, Portugal on Europe's and Habashah on the Mediterranean and Indian. Both innovated to force their way out of their respective peripheral areas. However, in the end the Habashah-Portugal War would in the long term be an extreme strategic blunder for the Portuguese. As the Portuguese soon noted that ships designed fairly similar to their carrack ships and caravels became a more and more common sight across the Indian Ocean. While Jamal ud-Din had expressed his disinterest with the sea, there were still plenty of Habesha, Swahili, Somali, and Arab merchants and sailors who did and appreciated the large cargo sizes of the carrack or maneuverability of the caravel designs. Even the cannons and guns manufactured in Germany found their way to the artillery workshops. Thousands of men stirred up by the naval war, now over, looked to follow the Portuguese example. Encouraged no less than by Guleed Ali, the next century would see Habesha making their mark from India to the Philippines and everything in between.

 

[Malta]

High Seas – Habesha Traders and Pirates

The end of the Habashab-Portuguese War of 1506-1518 would have unforeseen consequences for not just the Portuguese but much of the Indian Ocean following the defeat of the Europeans. After several years of capturing and copying Portuguese ship designs from the coasts of Africa to India the shipwrights of the Habashah Empire had created fairly accurate copies of the Portuguese carracks and caravels. Initially these efforts were subsidized by Emperor Jamal ud-Din, but these efforts became increasingly expensive leading the imperial court to look at different avenues especially as the interests of the royal court turned back inland. To create fast cash for the Imperial treasury and cast off maintenance expenses the Habashabs decided to sell off a portion of the ships created for the royal navy, and to lease a patent for them to shipwrights in various ports. Though, the government did retain the armaments (also copied from German designs found on Portuguese ships) the plethora of cannon workshops that sprouted up during the war lead to private interests being able to re-arm the ships they had bought.

The trade routes of the Indian Ocean were, unlike their Portuguese counterparts, not a mystery to the captains and merchants of Habashah. Habesha, Somali, Arab and other merchants had been trading across the ocean for centuries. Habesha traders had even established loose dynasties over smaller islands such as the Maldives and Andaman Islands.

The end of the Habashab-Portugese war not only left many new ship designs in the hands of Habesha private interests it also had galvanized the Habesha, primarily Somali, who lives along the coastline. Adventurous captains and crews were able to make for themselves small fortunes by seizing Portuguese ships, now while the Portuguese were still fair game many also turned to local shipping very soon. Merchants who wanted to eliminate competition took advantage of the situation. Even religious aspects took over as young men of the Mewlewi Order, inspired by Guleed Ali, took to expanding the house of Islam into places where it had never been before. These included uninhabited islands such as the Commoros to pagan ports as far east as the east Indonesian islands. Habesha became synonymous with coin, made by trade or by gunfire became widespread as Habesha sailors made their impact across the Indian Ocean.

In India, raids increased on coastal villages and sometimes struck inland. On the island of Sri Lanka, the Habesha invaded the northern coast, taking over the Jaffna Kingdom and establishing an independent sultanate. In Southeast Asia many flocked to the busy port of Malacca owned by the Malacca Sultanate, using it an base to expand the Sultanate’s holdings on the island of Sumatra and establish their own independent polities in Java and Sumatra. These Habesha pirates were not afraid to take on fellow Muslims though, an alliance of Habesha warlords with support from the Malacca Sultanate would invade the young Brunei Sultanate, looting their capitol and creating independent polities in their territory. This eventually lead to the ruling dynasty to split, one half staying in Brunei and the other to flee to Mindanao and establish a separate kingdom there.

Eventually, as time would go on many of the descendants of these Habesha would assimilate into the local populations but there would still be small enclaves of ethnic Habesha (or new groups descended from a mix of them and the natives) who would become small but prolific minorities in the futures nation-states that would populate the Indian Ocean. Further, this advent also leads to the spread of the unique form of Islam native to Habashah, the Imranid branch, into Southeast Asia becoming a sizeable minority.

In particular, the overenthusiasm of the Habesha would lead to increasing tensions with the Safavid dynasty and the two powers would come to blows in good time. For the remainder of the early 16th Century the Habashah Empire turned its eyes not to the sea but to the land, the heart of Africa.

 

[Malta]

Here is a map of the Habshab state during the mid 16th century. As you can see we have Habashah proper directly ruled by the Emperor in Great Barara - including a small portion across the straits which is directly apart of Imperial rule. The Arab Vassalages are the oldest held by the Habashabs, but the southern and western vassalages are much more recent additions as a result of the Habashab-Portuguese War. Their holdings going north extends as far north as Aswan before it hits Ottoman Egypt. While the territory looks large on paper you should remember much of the territory consists of deserts and mountain ranges that have lead to the largest population centers being located on the coasts or in the northern provinces.

Due to the POD the Oromo Migration of the 16th century never manifested as a result much of the territory surrounding and to the west of Great Barara (Addis Ababa) remains Ahmara-Tigrayan speaking (the mix of Ahmara, Tigray, and splashed with Arabic as a result of the POD). Oromo is still spoken south of the Great Divide budding up against the Nilotic speaking peoples of western Kenya - with Somali of course dominating the east.

 

[Malta]

The Age of Gunpowder: The Fuse Is Lit

Habashah stands alongside the Ottoman Empire, the Safavids, and the Mughals as the four premier Islamic powers of the early modern period. All four would acquire gunpowder artillery and small arms using these to expand or enforce their territories as the feudal military organization gave way to a professional one. Not only achieving great technological progress which in some aspects could be referred to as Proto-Industrial they would complete great cultural achievements ushering in what could be considered a golden age for each of the four states.

Of the four, it was the Ottoman Turks and the Habashabs who were already established dynasties and empires prior to the the beginning of the Gunpowder Age while the Mughals and Safavids rose to power during the timeframe which runs roughly from the 16th to 18th centuries. The Habashabs transformed into a Gunpowder Empire in two stages during the 15th Century, the first stage being known as the “Portuguese Fuse” and the second stage known as the “Safavid Fuse”.

“Portuguese Fuse” is in reference to the early Habashab-Portuguese War of 1506 - 1518 where in response to Portuguese expansion in the Indian Ocean the two powers had come to blows. Primarily, the importance of this first stage in development was the transmission of technology from captured Portuguese ships, guns, and personnel. As the Gunpowder Guilds derived from the Mewlewi Orders greatly expanded Habashab artillery and naval technology and techniques over the course of the decade long war. Primarily these developments lent themselves to the Habashab navy rather than the army however and would spawn what would become an out of control epidemic of trade and piracy throughout the Indian Ocean - but this was something the Negus Jamal was content not to harness.

His eyes were focused inland.

With peace with the Portuguese established and the Mamlukes temporarily toppled by the Ottomans, Negus Jamal and his son, Prince or Lij Negash Jamal turned his eyes toward the southern and western borders of Habashah. Up until the Habashab-Safavid War they would expand their borders and establish various vassalages around the Great Lakes of Africa and into the Sahel. However, the process was slow and fraught with various difficulties for Jamal and his armies. For one, while they had begun to incorporate small arms and artillery cannons into the military this development was small and uneven as the Habashabs drew their men from the feudal and tribal levies. The quality and quantity of the men Jamal could draw up ranged across the spectrum of middling to worse and further to this his campaign seasons were cut short often due to feudal contracts mandating only short periods of service. Along with being at the whim of planting and grazing seasons where most of his levies would have to return home meant that he could not maintain a strong presence of Habashab troops in the regions for long and would have to resort to more dubious politicking

This would be the start of Jamal and Negash’s dissatisfaction with the state of the army, especially in comparison to what they had been told and seen of the Ottoman and even the Safavids. Though the issue had always been present in Habashab military history previous conquests had been slow and multi-generational and the expansion that the Negus and Lij hoped to achieve was too much for the Habashab military system. Another concern would grow from Guleed Ali who had so bravely lead the Habashab defeat of the Portuguese in Mogadishu and along the Swahili Coast. As a result of his fame and upswell of support he had established his own series of personal vassalages along the Swahili Coast after kicking out the Europeans. While de jure these vassalages owed allegiance to the Habashabs, in de facto they were more of a powerbase for Guleed and later his sons. Given the distance from the Habashab heartland of support any attempt to curb Guleed’s power would have been noticeable well before any attempt to strengthen Imperial control could get close to the Swahili Coast and Jamal knew it would likely lead to unrest against his rule.

Thus without a quick sword to strike, Jamal was forced to accept Guleed’s autonomy to the south.

The second stage of Habashab development, the “Safavid Fuse” would not arise until 1530 and the death of Jamal and the ascension of Negus Negash Jamal.

By 1530, tensions had been building between the Habashabs and the Safavids. As a result of the power vacuum left by the Portugese, Habesha piracy had skyrocketed leading to many attacks of Persian ships and coastal raids around the Persian Gulf leading to many losses for the Safavids. Part of these attacks did take on a religious conotation- as the Imranid Habesha were still considered a sub-section of Sunni Islam and were rivals to the Shia Safavids. The situation continued to deteriorate as the Muscat Emirate situated at the mouth of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula exploded into civil war.

Both the Habesha and the Persians had a long history of intervention in the Arabian Peninsula that stretched back into ancient history. Each one at various times maintained directly controlled territory, the Persians in the Bahrani Coast and the Habesha in Arabia Felix. The Muscat Emirate had been an vassal to the Safavids, but the civil war threatened to upend Persian control as one of the two rival emirs,, was supported by the Rais of Aden - Sa’ad ibn Malak - a direct vassal of the Negus. Unwilling to let their interests fall, Tahmsap I, Shah of Iran, declared his support for his emir and ordered an offensive against the Habashabs. The Persians, mainly with naval support of their vassal as the Safavids were not a naval power, crossed the Strait of Hormuz and began to attack the Habesha aligned pretender. Sa’ad seeing this rallied the Arab vassalages of the Hebesha and attempted to push the Safavids back into the sea but were defeated in a series of short battles thanks to the Persian artillery.

Retreating back to Aden, Sa’ad called upon Negus Negash to intervene and push back the Safavids who had followed the Habesha Arabs into the vassalages with Aden in the direct path of the Safavid army. Negash, eager to win for himself a military victory, called forth his vassals across Ahmara and Tigray and crossed the Red Sea to Aden. As much as he had seen earlier in Africa, the organization of Negash’s forces were all over the place with commands split between each of the more powerful Rais. When the Habesha attempted to stop the Safavids at the Battle of Mukala the Habashabs were defeated by the artillery and cavalry columns of the Persians. When the Habashabs attempted to form a wide line to surround the Safavids their opponents launched a series of lightning attacks with their cavalry and artillery units that caused the larger Habashab force to take heavy casualties and flee the field. Attempts to concentrate their own artillery and musket units were hampered by the unwieldy nature of flinging together various bands of untrained musketeers and hoping they would be able to coordinate their shooting into a coherent attack.

Negash was only able to score a victory against the Safavids when a sandstorm blew directly into the path of the Safavid advance scattering the army and fouling their horse and artillery that negated the Safavid advantage enough to allow his army to swarm the Persians. The victory may have checked the Safavids but it was not enough to win him the war. Knowing the Safavids would be able to advance again once they regrouped, Negash sued for peace. The Safavids preserved their hegemony over the Muscat Emirate and the Habashabs were forced to pay reparations to the Shah for damages from the war and Habesha piracy.

Defeated, Negash returned to Great Barara fuming over the loss but with the resolve that the next time the Habashabs fought they would not be the losers. Fortunately, after his return he was soon met by the Ottoman Ambassador who offered a way to reform their military for another fight with the Safavids.