Coins minted by the Sultanate of Mogadishu used in Ethiopia

[Maintainnnin]

I was reading a short paper going over the numismatic history of Ethiopia & Harar in particular when I came across a Portuguese reference that mentioned "the silver coins of the Moors" being used as a currency of exchange in the market town of the Solomonic Dynasty during the 1500's.

This peaked my interest because I know the Portuguese described Somalis as "Moors", for example they would say "Moors of Mogadishu" when describing who inhabited the city.


I got around to finding the original book & it makes it pretty clear that the Somali minted currency was an accepted currency of exchange, amongst other currencies in Ethiopia.


You can see the first highlighted sentence they described a Somali as a Moor; In this example a "Moor at Guardafui."

Book is titled: "An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia from early times to 1800"
Authored by: Richard Pankhurst, K.M. Panikkar

 

[Garaad diinle]

Interesting. The somali coast have always been trading with counties on the coast of the indian ocean, gulf of aden and the arabian gulf but it's seems that the somali coast became increasingly important after the advent of islam. As the book said the somali coast became the gate way to africa and matter of fact it still is, most of the trade to ethiopia comes through djibouti and not eritrea. It makes sense that a coin from mogadishu would be found in say the amhara region after all mogadishu was mentioned by name in one of the historical records of the solomanic dynasty.

 

[Hamzza]

Moors = Somalis Muslims

 

[Hamzza]

The title of your thread is misleading. We can't know for sure who minted these coins, whether it was Adal, Mogadishu or Even Swahili, as the Portuguese/Spanish called all the Muslims in the eastern world "Moors".

 

[Maintainnnin]

Moors = Somalis Muslims

In this context we can safely assume it is. This is written by the Portuguese who spent time in Ethiopia. When speaking of Somalis, the Portuguese term us as "Moors" like in this text below.

Source: - Leo Africanus(1494 to 1554), Robert Brown (editor), John Pory (translator)

The title of your thread is misleading. We can't know for sure who minted these coins, whether it was Adal, Mogadishu or Even Swahili, as the Portuguese/Spanish called all the Muslims in the eastern world "Moors".

During this period between the 13th & 17th century, the only polity in the Horn that minted currency was the Mogadishu & later Ajuraan Sultanate. Neither Ethiopia or the other Muslim sultanates in the Horn minted any currency during this period.

 

[Hamzza]

In this context we can safely assume it is. This is written by the Portuguese who spent time in Ethiopia. When speaking of Somalis, the Portuguese term us as "Moors" like in this text below.

All Horner Muslims were Moors according to the Portuguese. Even the Eritrean Muslims in Mossawa.

During this period between the 13th & 17th century, the only polity in the Horn that minted currency was the Mogadishu & later Ajuraan Sultanate. Neither Ethiopia or the other Muslim sultanates in the Horn minted any currency during this period.

The Moorish town of Kilwa was minting coins during these time(14th-17th century)

THE HISTORY AND COINAGE OF THE SULTANS OF KILWA on JSTOR

John Walker, THE HISTORY AND COINAGE OF THE SULTANS OF KILWA, The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, Fifth Series, Vol. 16, No. 61 (1936), pp. 43-81

www.jstor.org

The "Silver Coins of the Moors" could be from Kilwa if we are being honest.

 

[Maintainnnin]

All Horner Muslims were Moors according to the Portuguese. Even the Eritrean Muslims in Mossawa.
View attachment 267959

The Moorish town of Kilwa was minting coins during these time(14th-17th century)
The "Silver Coins of the Moors" could be from Kilwa if we are being honest.

It's possible, but I don't think the Ethiopians were even aware of the Swahili city states, where in turn they were very aware of Muqdisho & the aid it gave to the Ifat & Awdal Sultanates.

I believe Muqdisho was also the wealthiest city in East Africa during this period. It would be the most likely source of the silver coins used, but since we cannot definitively rule out other sources due to the general use of the term "Moor" I'll concede.