Zeila (historical region)

This article is about the ancient region in the Horn of Africa. For the town, see Zeila.

Zeila, also known as Zaila or Zayla, was a historical Muslim region in the Horn of Africa.^[1][2][3][4] The region was named after the port city of Zeila in modern-day Somalia.^[5][6]

Geography

Map of Zeila region circa 1744 alternatively known as Kingdom of Adal, bordering Oromo (Galla) to its immediate west and Mogadishu in the south

In the medieval Arab world the Muslim inhabited domains in the Horn of Africa were often referred to as Zeila to differentiate them from the Christian territories designated Habasha.^{[7][8][9][10]} According to Ibn Battuta, a journey through the whole of Zeila and the Mogadishu region would take eight weeks to complete.^[11]

Fourteenth century Arab historian Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari recounted on the usage of the term and its origin being the city of Zeila, a vital port in the region.^[12]

this is the region which is called in Egypt and Syria the land of Zaila. This however is only one of their coastal towns and one of their islands, whose name has been extended to the whole

— Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari, Masālik al-abṣār fī Mamālik al-amṣār

The Muslim inhabited territories during this period spanned from the commercial port city of Zeila to a place further inland called Walalah.^[13] Ethiopian scholar Taddesse Tamrat noted that according to the Arab historian Al-Maqrizi, Jabarta was also considered part of the region of Zeila.^[14][15]

History

The term Zeila in the thirteenth century was often interchangeable with the Ifat Sultanate which ruled over the entire region and later in the fourteenth century onwards used to denote its successor state the Adal Sultanate as well as Adal region.^[16][17][18] Throughout this period the attribution "al-Zaylai" frequently signified an individual from this region however it was not made consistently clear whether it referred to the denizens of city specifically or the Muslims further inland.^[19]

In the fourteenth century Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi mentions the inhabitants of Zeila country were fond of the narcotic khat leaf grown in the region.^[20] One of the earliest accounts of coffee in text is by the sixteenth century Islamic scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami who writes about its development from a tree in the Zeila region.^[21]

The fifteenth-century empress Eleni of Ethiopia was styled as "queen of Zeila" due to her Muslim upbringing and connection to the Hadiya Sultanate.^[22] The leaders of Adal were also often referred to as Zeila kings in texts most notably Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi conqueror of Abyssinia.^[23][24]

The seventeenth century saw the decline of Adal, described as being divided into smaller separate states due to the “long and bloody” wars waged on Abyssinia.^[25] According to Samuel Augustus Mitchell, the neighbouring port of Berbera was flourishing in trade stretching through depths of Ethiopia from the Emirate of Harar whose Sultan ruled over the Somalis.^[26] However during this period, British government official James Henson noted that Berbera was controlled by the local merchant Sharmake Ali Saleh.^[27]

Inhabitants

Coastline of Zeila (c. 19th century) its strategic location and proximity to the Red Sea was of great importance to the rulers of the region.

According to John Fage and I.M. Lewis, the main inhabitants of Zeila were ancestral to the Somali tribes who historically resided in the region.^[28][29] According to British explorer Richard Burton, al-Maqrizi mentions the "Kingdom of Zayla" using the Harari moniker.^[30] The Somalis were among the earliest converts to the Islamic religion. Often presented as evidence for this conversion is the Masjid al-Qiblatayn built in Zeila during the first Migration to Abyssinia.^[31][32]

With the spread of Islam into Africa in the seventh century, the Somali language, especially certain northern dialects were influenced immensely by Arabic^[33] as well as the Harari language with traditional titles such as Garad, Malaq, and Aw adopted by various Somali clans.^[34][35] The Zeila region itself positioned at the crossroads of two continents has often been included under the sphere of the South Semitic languages.^[36][37]

In the nineteenth century the inhabitants of Zeila narrated to one British commissioner that the ruined town of Amud (in the Zeila region) was built by the ancient Harla people. The British commissioner attested to the similarities between the ruins of Amud and that of the walled city of Harar.^[38]

References

1. Østebø, Terje (October 2020). Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia The Bale Insurgency, 1963–1970. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-108-83968-6.
2. Levtzion, Nehemia (31 March 2000). The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-8214-4461-0.
3. Alpers, Edward (1997). "The African Diaspora in the Northwestern Indian Ocean: Reconsideration of an Old Problem, New Directions for Research". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 17 (2): 71. doi:10.1215/1089201X-17-2-62.
4. Adal. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
5. Trimingham, J. Spencer (13 September 2013). Islam in Ethiopia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-136-97029-0.
6. Kluijver, Robert. The State in Somalia : between self-governance and international order. Paris Institute of Political Studies. p. 81.
7. Pierrepont, Zacharie (July 2023). "The Abyssinian connection? Abyssinian-related scholars in the Yemeni and Medieval Red Sea environment (6th–9th/12th-15th centuries)". Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée (153). Marseille Université: 153–178. doi:10.4000/remmm.19536.
8. Mukhtar, Mohamed (25 February 2003). Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Scarecrow Press. p. 268. ISBN 978-0-8108-6604-1.
9. Erlikh, Ḥagai (2002). The Cross and the River Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile. L. Rienner. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-55587-970-9.
10. Meri, Josef (31 October 2005). Medieval Islamic Civilization An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-135-45596-5.
11. Burton, Richard (April 2011). First Footsteps in East Africa. B & R Samizdat Express.
12. Trimingham, J. Spencer (13 September 2013). Islam in Ethiopia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-136-97029-0.
13. Syed, Muzaffar Husain; Akhtar, Syed Saud; Usmani, B. D. (2011-09-14). Concise History of Islam. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. p. 164. ISBN 978-93-82573-47-0.
14. Tamrat, Taddesse (1972). Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527. Clarendon Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-19-821671-1.
15. ʼAli), Maqrīzī (Aḥmad ibn (1790). Macrizi Historia regum Islamiticorum in Abyssinia. Interpretatus est et vna cum Abulfedae descriptione regionum nigritarum e codd. Biblioth. Leidensis Arabice edidit Fridericus Theodorus Rinck ... (in Arabic). apud Sam. et Joh. Luchtmans. p. 11.
16. Ogilby, John (7 October 1670). AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA. p. 620.
17. Cerulli, Enrico. Islam yesterday and today. p. 344.
18. Brill, E. J. (1993). E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936. A – Bābā Beg · Volume 1. Brill. p. 126. ISBN 978-90-04-09787-2.
19. Hirsch, Bertrand (2011). Fauvelle-Aymar, François-Xavier; Hirsch, Bertrand (eds.). The port of Zeyla and its hinterland in the Middle Ages. French Center for Ethiopian Studies. doi:10.4000/books.cfee.698. ISBN 978-2-7018-0299-2.
20. Radt, Charlotte (1969). "Contribution à l'histoire ethnobotanique d'une plante stimulante : le Kat. Le Kat au Yemen (Note Préliminaire)". Journal d'Agriculture Tropicale et de Botanique Appliquée. 16 (2). Journal d'agriculture traditionnelle et de botanique appliquée: 232. doi:10.3406/jatba.1969.3026.
21. Waines, David (November 2010). Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Muslim Societies. BRILL. p. 144. ISBN 978-90-04-21662-4.
22. Braukämper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia Collected Essays. Lit. p. 61. ISBN 978-3-8258-5671-7.
23. The Portuguese expedition to Abyssinia in 1541–1543 as narrated by Castanhoso (PDF). p. 79.
24. S.C., Munro-Hay (2002). Ethiopia, the unknown land : a cultural and historical guide. I.B. Tauris. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-86064-744-4.
25. Mitchell, Samuel Augustus (1842). A General View of the World: Comprising a Physical, Political, and Statistical Account of Its Grand Divisions ... with Their Empires, Kingdoms, Republics, Principalities, &c: Exhibiting the History of Geographical Science and the Progress of Discovery to the Present Time. Illustrated by Upwards of Nine Hundred Engravings. David M. Jewett.
26. Mitchell, Samuel Augustus (1842). A General View of the World: Comprising a Physical, Political, and Statistical Account of Its Grand Divisions ... with Their Empires, Kingdoms, Republics, Principalities, &c: Exhibiting the History of Geographical Science and the Progress of Discovery to the Present Time. Illustrated by Upwards of Nine Hundred Engravings. David M. Jewett. p. 563.
27. "'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [138] (247/496)". Qatar Digital Library. 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
28. Fage, John. Cambridge History of Africa (PDF). Cambridge University Press. p. 139.
29. Lewis, I.M. (1955). Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho. International African Institute. p. 140.
30. Burton, Richard (1894). The Memorial Edition of the Works of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton. Tylston and Edwards. p. 31.
31. Ylönen, Aleksi (2024-01-25). The Horn Engaging the Gulf: Economic Diplomacy and Statecraft in Regional Relations. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-7556-3515-3.
32. Martin, E.G. (1974). "Mahdism and Holy Wars in Ethiopia Before 1600". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies. 4: 106–117. ISSN 0308-8421. JSTOR 41223140.
33. Metz, Helen Chapin, ed. (1993). Somalia: a country study (4th ed.). Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 97–98. ISBN 0-8444-0775-5. OCLC 27642849.
34. Banti, Giorgio. Loanwords from Arabic and other Semitic Languages in Northern Somali (PDF). Oriental University of Naples. p. 7.
35. Central Intelligence Agency, (gov) (23 February 2007). INTELLIGENCE HANDBOOK FOR SPECIAL OPERATIONS SOMALI REPUBLIC (PDF) (CIA-RDP80-01444R000100060001-2 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency (gov). pp. 4–5.
36. Banti, Giorgio. Loanwords from Arabic and other Semitic Languages in Northern Somali (PDF). Oriental University of Naples. p. 7.
37. Lipiński, Edward (2001). Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-90-429-0815-4.
38. Rayne, Henry (October 1938). "QUEEN ARAWEILO". Blackwood's Magazine. 238: 568–578. Archived from the original on 27 June 2001. Retrieved 20 June 2017.