“The Periplus records the names of ports, gives advice on how to comport oneself with local leaders, and describes the goods for trade.The Africans were tall and described as “red men” who fish, hunt, and herd cattle, sheep, and goats. These Azanians were most probably Cushitic speakers who had migrated into eastern Africa from Ethiopia, and were not the darker-complexioned inhabitants described by Muslim traders on the East African coast several centuries later. They had valuable items to trade — ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoiseshell, spices, particularly cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), the most profitable spice in the trade, and perfumes (frankincense, myrrh, and ambergris) — that were exchanged for iron, wheat, cloth, and porcelains.”
Collins, Robert O., and James McDonald Burns. A History of Sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007.
“It is significant that the [Periplus of the Erythraean Sea] author remarks only on [the Azanian’s] stature. He seems, therefore, to assume that they were Caucasians, for, to a Greek of his day, Negroes would have been strange beings whose characteristics would certainly have been noted. In this assumption, of course, he was right, since, as noted above, the archeological evidence demonstrates indisputably the complete absence of Negroes in this part of Africa for centuries to come. The Cushitic peoples, however, are noted for their tall stature. The inhabitants can therefore have been no other than Megalithic Cushites who had descended the few miles from the Kenya highlands to the coast and there turned to maritime pursuits. This is attested by the numerous megalithic remains, including stone phalli, which still dot the Azanian coast.”
Murdock, George Peter. Africa: Its Peoples and Their Culture History. New York: McGraw-Hill Book, 1959.
