SOCIETY AND TECHNOLOGY IN ETHIOPIA 1500-1800

[Idilinaa]

Coupled with the medieval sources by both internal (Tarikh Al Walashma ) and external (Al-Maqrizi) that states the population and sultans originate/connected with Jabarta region and Zayla which is northern Somalia and its for this precise reason that Oxford archeological studies says that the Showa region became dominated by a Somali-speaking entity, because it is a reflected in the cultural change that took place:

The Camel is central to the the the proliferation of Muslim polities/provinces and also the main advantage Somalis had as the core Muslim group in the region which was not only our inhabited geography which featured plains and plateus that facilitated in smooth movement of goods, people and ideas and a coastline that allowed for over sea trade to red sea/indian ocean networks, but also more importantly the use of camel to transportion/distribution of goods into different region and provinces and this camel use is what later led to formation of towns and cities and economic growth.

This also reflected in Medieval Archeology with caravan stations seen across

The Archaeology of the medieval trade networks in Western Somaliland

This network allowed and boosted the emergence of powerful state structures in the region, visible in the building of caravan stations and fortresses and the development of urban centres along the trade routes.

These Qalcadda, a caravanserai or caravan station. Qalcadda is exceptional for many reasons. It is the only caravanserai a plan and design similar to those from the Middle East having found so far in Subsaharan Africa, but it is also a clear example of the close cultural and economic relationships between Somaliland, Arabia and the Middle East during the Middle Ages.

Their avoidance of the use of camel hindered them in many respects in my opinion because throughout the North Africa, Near East and Arabia with the introduction of the camel they abandoned the ox and donkey cart which became a more effecient way for transport and even in central asia such as the Bactarian camel breed to be more suited to a colder climate. Early on people throughout the region understood the economic importance of the camel as a vehicle for economic development

Lack of it led to limiting transportation efficiency, reducing access to distant markets, increasing isolation from broader trade networks, and restricting their economic adaptability for the Highlands.

A short article i read a while back on why camel was pereffered over the wheel:

The Best Invention Since The Wheel​

The Best Invention Since The Wheel

www.notechmagazine.com

“Between the third and seventh centuries AD, the civilizations of the Near East and North Africa gave up wheeled vehicular transportation and adopted a more efficient and speedier way of moving goods and people: They replaced the wagon and cart with the camel. This deliberate rejection of the wheel in the very region of its invention lasted for more than one thousand years. It came to an end only when major European powers, advancing their imperialistic schemes for the Near East, reintroduced the wheel.”

“The camel as a pack animal was favored over wheeled transportation for reasons that become obvious when the camel is compared with the typical ox-drawn vehicle. The camel can carry more, move faster, and travel farther, on less food and water, than an ox. Pack animals need neither roads nor bridges, they can traverse rough ground and ford rivers and streams, and their full strength is devoted to carrying a load and not wasted on dragging a wagon’s deadweight. Once the camel and ox are compared, one wonders why the wheel was ever adopted in that region in the first place.”

 

[Midas]

It is incredible strange how they always apply the label ethiopian muslims. Or say islamic states in ethiopia. When ethiopia wouldn't exist for several centuries and these states came from and extended to modern day somalia. I don't think there is a bigger example of racist western colonial historiography in africa
Also I'd don't know if you've read rhe nugal stone towns article. But the author mentioned the likely ethnogensis of the modern somali clans although I still think the progenitor weren't arabs although arab merchants definitely played a role
@Idilinaa @The alchemist

 

[Idilinaa]

It is incredible strange how they always apply the label ethiopian muslims. Or say islamic states in ethiopia. When ethiopia wouldn't exist for several centuries and these states came from and extended to modern day somalia. I don't think there is a bigger example of racist western colonial historiography in africa
Also I'd don't know if you've read rhe nugal stone towns article. But the author mentioned the likely ethnogensis of the modern somali clans although I still think the progenitor weren't arabs although arab merchants definitely played a role
@Idilinaa @The alchemist

Calling them ''Ethiopian'' is presentalism and they use it losely to specify in what modern location it existed in and other western writers have called them out on this lose usage so that it doesn't become to anachronistic, so they are slowly beginning to correct themselves on that.

On Said Shidads study on Nugal town ruins i agree with this part he makes:

But I dont agree with him on certain particulars, for instance i don't think Makzumi origins was connected with Awfat/Walashma or Zayla but probably was probably connected to the upper highlands and Eritrean coast before it was replaced/conquered by the Walashma tied to the older Awdal state and Awfat formed out of that branch as a province

Also on the part of where he ties Jabarti with Darood, i am not so sure about that either. Jabarti according Al-Maqrizi was what they called the burning low lands of northern and western Somalia and it was more like a nationality or a nisba than a clan/lineage identity.

The dispersal of Darood had more to do with expansion of trade and tracing a trade route leading west. Much like how Hawiye followed trade leading up and down the Shabelle river thats why you find them on both ends of the river.

Although Arab merchants etc introduced is Islam in the early beginnings, it is believed that the urban & state catalysts and bulk of the conversions were done by local sheikhs/state actors and not Arabs, you can see it in how Islam synchronized with native beliefs creating a Somali specific ''Saint culture'' and the lack of arabization.

You can even picture how these developments took shape by comparing the islamic revival movements of the 1800s a century & half after the collapse , to the medieval documented history of saints:
THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN SOMALIA

The modern history of Somalia began in the 18th century, about two centuries after the collapse of the sultanates and before the European scramble for Africa. This period is characterized by the ascendency of segmented sultanates, city-states, and the revival of Sufi orders

Most of the Islamic education centers were located in settlements on agricultural areas and/or around water wells and many of these were later transformed into villages, towns and cities. In this way, the Sufi orders transformed pastoral society to settled communities engaged in agriculture and or/trade.

 

[Midas]

Calling them ''Ethiopian'' is presentalism and they use it losely to specify in what modern location it existed in and other western writers have called them out on this lose usage so that it doesn't become to anachronistic, so they are slowly beginning to correct themselves on that.

On Said Shidads study on Nugal town ruins i agree with this part he makes:

But I dont agree with him on certain particulars, for instance i don't think Makzumi origins was connected with Awfat/Walashma or Zayla but probably was probably connected to the upper highlands and Eritrean coast before it was replaced/conquered by the Walashma tied to the older Awdal state and Awfat formed out of that branch as a province

Also on the part of where he ties Jabarti with Darood, i am not so sure about that either. Jabarti according Al-Maqrizi was what they called the burning low lands of northern and western Somalia and it was more like a nationality or a nisba than a clan/lineage identity.

The dispersal of Darood had more to do with expansion of trade and tracing a trade route leading west. Much like how Hawiye followed trade leading up and down the Shabelle river thats why you find them on both ends of the river.

Although Arab merchants etc introduced is Islam in the early beginnings, it is believed that the urban & state catalysts and bulk of the conversions were done by local sheikhs/state actors and not Arabs, you can see it in how Islam synchronized with native beliefs creating a Somali specific ''Saint culture'' and the lack of arabization.

You can even picture how these developments took shape by comparing the islamic revival movements of the 1800s a century & half after the collapse , to the medieval documented history of saints:
THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN SOMALIA

Do you think somalis were also involved in the early period of islamization on the swahili coast. Since I can't remebr ehre I read it but they talked about finding camels bones in some of the abonded swahili towns they excavated. On top of the fact that the town names like sofala and Gedi are of somali origin

 

[Emir of Zayla]

Do you think somalis were also involved in the early period of islamization on the swahili coast. Since I can't remebr ehre I read it but they talked about finding camels bones in some of the abonded swahili towns they excavated. On top of the fact that the town names like sofala and Gedi are of somali origin

Somali merchants spread Islam throughout the East African coast all the way to Madagascar.

 

[Midas]

Somali merchants spread Islam throughout the East African coast all the way to Madagascar.
View attachment 340092

Wait did we also have a role in its spread to southeast asia . Also Where can I read this. When the oxford or cambdridge handbook of islam in east africa is finally written then we're going to see this Info spread

 

[Idilinaa]

Do you think somalis were also involved in the early period of islamization on the swahili coast. Since I can't remebr ehre I read it but they talked about finding camels bones in some of the abonded swahili towns they excavated. On top of the fact that the town names like sofala and Gedi are of somali origin

I don't know about the southern swahili coast but i know for certain that Somalis were involved with the islamization of the Northern towns, particularly Pate and Lamu. You see this also in Swahili origin tradition that links it partly to the Katwa(also to Segeju & Mijekenda) which is their name for Somali in the early beginnings. So it's not all that suprising that you see Somali influence in northern swahili dialects and camel bones being pre-dominate dating from 850-1000 AD.

Katwa is also described on the coast settled in villages and inside the walled towns grouped into Qabilas by the portuguese between 1600s-1700s where they even formed part of the political class under the sultan of pate but most of those were more recent moving away from Oromo's and seperate from the earlier ones who were gradually absorbed.