Somali Agricultural Revolution( 900-1600s) ?

[Idilinaa]

I have been looking at various historical trends and linkages and came across. The Arab Agricultural Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Agricultural_Revolution which took places through the entirety of the medieval period.

Which made me think that Somalia might have been connected to this development because there is ample references in the historical sources that suggest the Somali Peninsula underwent similar transformation during the same period. I shared an extensive list of information on the medieval period agricultural productivity, sciences and diverse crop usages , comparing it to the lack of agricultural development with the neighboring Christian Amhara/or Abyssinia:

Let me paint this one last picture a little bit more showing Muslims agricultural productivity and sciences:

What we can gleam from this summary:

He prefaces this by saying the fruits they cultivated was also typical lowland plants: Sugar in particular is also one of the culinary prohibitions of Christians

This can be further be seen in the description of Zayla and North West Somaliland: Zeyla in particular is described as a city of ''abundance'' by the portuguese

The wide variety of crops and plant use is not suprising because Zayla students in particular were known to study botanical sciences . Their interest in plants and agriculture might be a clue to why Khat and Coffee was prominent and widely cultivated and how medicinal herbs and development of other plants were mentioned in being among the exports in one of the Muslim provinces like BalI

One example:

Contrast this to Christian Ethiopians where there was virtually no development in agriculture or agricultural science or animal husbandry. There is an Ethiopian qoute from a peasant farmer at the end of it sums it all up.

''Yet, because of the above reasons no science of agriculutre or animal husbandry developed in Ethiopia. Agricultural technology, in particular remained unchanged for millennia''

I also mentioned that the Northern Coast between Zayla and Berbera who are otherwise described as barren coastal plains (Aka Guban) was cultivated as well, based on Chinese and Portuguese sources which indicates agricultural technological usage to circumvent lack of rainfall.

If you look at the descriptions Chinese gave to the Northern Somali coast, like the ones i have shown. It doesn't sound like the environment was that much different during the middle ages from how it is in 1800-present

Yet they were still cultivating millet, wheat etc:

''The Land is poor, yet produces millet''

'' The fields are barren, except only for crops of wheat''

''For years on end, there can be no rain''

The Portuguese makes no mention of the land or soil quality of Zayla unlike the Chinese but they do nonetheless confirm that they were cultivating grains extensively and even sesame they make oils from which they also exported

''Much grain grows here''

They also describe the berbera sheep which is interesting the blackheaded sheep's distinctness caught their eye i guess.

And the grain storage is a system is to preserve grain during periods of poor rain and harvest, it's more of a work around and adaptation to semi-desert or semi-arid landscape.

Similarly there are also vaulted cisterns and long aqueducts observed near Zayla and Berbera

Just to add to this thread , Zeila and its nearby Island Sa'ad Din have been mentioned by 19th century observers that visited them to have vaulted cisterns and several tanks and a system of cannals/water courses.

It may actually support and explain the early references to water being transported from Zayla to Aden and later Barbars(Somalis) from them settling and building the first cisterns.

I was a bit skeptical first when i first read this: But it could be true.

And also there was a pretty sizable agricultural settlements near a river source(Biyo Gure) a small distance from Berbera , that later combined with trading.

The complete picture is painted by the informations hared by @Emir of Zayla where he qouted a European source that describes the northern-western Somali landscape (Country of Adel):

Related information about water management systems in the Somali Peninsula written by Europeans:

“One of the rivers named the Hawash (Awash perhaps), flows down from the Abyssinian mountains, and receiving from other rivers, takes a circuit before it enters the kingdom of Adel. This river is very broad and deep, and runs through the country of Adel, before the inhabitants divide it into much a multitude of canals, it is then exhausted before it reaches the sea. This renders the country rich in grain, fruit, and other provisions, that part of it is conveyed (exported) into the neighboring kingdoms. In particular, they have plenty of wheat, barley, and millet, and a variety of cows, sheep, and more.” — source: A New System of Geography: Or, a General Description of the World, pg 338

This agricultural transformation is more obvious today in Southern Somalia as the systems, cisterns, c dams and dykes that were built survive and some are still being used.

Through hydraulic engineering it constructed many of the limestone and cisterns of the state that remain in use til today.
such as systems of dykes and dams on the shabelle river, large homes and stone fortifications along with the creation of large stone wells, many of which were still in use well into the 20th century.
A system of irrigation ditches known locally as Kelliyo fed directly from the Shabelle and Jubba Rivers into the plantations where sorghum, maize, beans, grain and cotton were grown during the gu (Spring in Somali) and xagaa (Summer in Somali) seasons of the Somali Calendar. This irrigation system was supported by numerous dikes and dams. To determine the average size of a farm, a land measurement system was also invented with moos, taraab and guldeed being the terms used.

I also feel that it might have been an agricultural revolution that started in the North West and expanded to other parts of Somalia.

 

[Idilinaa]

I mentioned coffee discovery and use being perhaps one of the most significant things that came out of this revolution. Which not only became a cultural main stay drink in the general region but also a cash crop generating wealth for Somalis, Oromos and Yemenis.

There are other things to mention, some folks tend to mention Mogadishu as a place for clothing or textile manufacturing because how its mentioned to export it by Ibn Batuta in the 13th century, but it also seems this linked to the development in the interior because we have direct mention by the Portuguese on the Muslim province of Bale's listing its exports to the their neighboring Christian's and it describes textile manufacturing along with it.

''divers medical herbs and roots, and cloth of silk and of another finer and more lustrous and fairer than silk and this is a certain tree called Arid with white leaves like pomegranate and bears a fruit the size of fist of the finest wool, and of it they make clothes for their king and their lords''

It describes the extent of technological development in the use of plants and agriculture as well as manufacturing. Even production of medicinal herbs and certain roots.

Muslim Bali was a settlement founded by a Somali Shaykh from Marka with a group of migrants based on an arabic document.
It is located most probably near one of the tributaries of Webi Shabelle . In Futuh they say is on the northern side of ''Wabi''(The River)

 

[The Oponian Guild]

The Somali peninsula in those days must’ve been more arable, horses were the prized possessions of Somali nomads in medieval times going off what the sources say, there were settled clans of Somalis who practiced agriculture and dwelt in cities but climate change and the medieval warm period must’ve made this mode of life very difficult in the northern Somali lands, hence why people revert to pastoralism and fodder for horses becomes scarce, with camels taking precedent as they are the more important livestock.

 

[The Oponian Guild]

I mentioned coffee discovery and use being perhaps one of the most significant things that came out of this revolution. Which not only became a cultural main stay drink in the general region but also a cash crop generating wealth for Somalis, Oromos and Yemenis.

There are other things to mention, some folks tend to mention Mogadishu as a place for clothing or textile manufacturing because how its mentioned to export it by Ibn Batuta in the 13th century, but it also seems this linked to the development in the interior because we have direct mention by the Portuguese on the Muslim province of Bale's listing its exports to the their neighboring Christian's and it describes textile manufacturing along with it.

''divers medical herbs and roots, and cloth of silk and of another finer and more lustrous and fairer than silk and this is a certain tree called Arid with white leaves like pomegranate and bears a fruit the size of fist of the finest wool, and of it they make clothes for their king and their lords''

It describes the extent of technological development in the use of plants and agriculture as well as manufacturing. Even production of medicinal herbs and certain roots.

Muslim Bali was a settlement founded by a Somali Shaykh from Marka with a group of migrants based on an arabic document.
It is located most probably near one of the tributaries of Webi Shabelle . In Futuh they say is on the northern side of ''Wabi''(The River)

A lot of people don’t seem to know that coffee was first consumed as a beverage in the horn, there’s a reference to coffee being consumed in the court of Sabr Ad Din ll Yemenis take the wrap as being the first to consume it when that can’t be possibly true, and habash try to insert themselves in through it being cultivated in modern day Ethiopia although they had nothing to do with the process.

 

[Idilinaa]

The Somali peninsula in those days must’ve been more arable, horses were the prized possessions of Somali nomads in medieval times going off what the sources say, there were settled clans of Somalis who practiced agriculture and dwelt in cities but climate change and the medieval warm period must’ve made this mode of life very difficult in the northern Somali lands, hence why people revert to pastoralism and fodder for horses becomes scarce, with camels taking precedent as they are the more important livestock.

Horses were still kept in decent numbers after the medieval period , usually there are two breeds concentrated in Nugaal and Galbeed which is where they are breed and kept.
They are sometimes described as mules in sources due to their short and compact size, and on top of breeding native ones , Somalis would import Arabian horses. So it might reflect more horse imports during that time.

As far as climate change goes, i am uncertain if it played a major role because the northern and southern coastal plains are described the same throughout.

The question becomes if the interior went through a climate change. Professor Said Shidaad posted a study on the drivers of drought in Somalia
Understanding the Drivers of Drought in Somalia: Environmental Degradation as a Drought Determinant

This is further attested by an important Awdali (Somali state) document regarding earlier decades of the sixteenth century. According to the document, there were large herds of elephants and antelopes in today’s arid lowlands in the west of Harar uplands where forests were also prevalent.56 Additionally, besides the surviving Hawash River, the study names at least five other rivers in the area between Harar and Shawa plateau.57 All these living elements have gone by the nineteenth century or before

He related some information from surviving medieval chronicles that interior might have gone through climate change.

But i however believe it was most likely due to collapse of the state who managed things and plague. Arabic sources mention the region suffering plagues.

A lot of people don’t seem to know that coffee was first consumed as a beverage in the horn, there’s a reference to coffee being consumed in the court of Sabr Ad Din ll Yemenis take the wrap as being the first to consume it when that can’t be possibly true, and habash try to insert themselves in through it being cultivated in modern day Ethiopia although they had nothing to do with the process.

Even before that there was a Somali guy that shared a source where medieval yemenis specify it a lot saying it is from Bar Sa'ad Din , even calling it Zayla plant. I went back to look at the social media discussion but i can't find it anymore, he deactivated.

And in the 19th century it was agro-pastoral Somali tribes like Bartirre, Abaskul, Geri etc cultivating it near Harar and the name for it ''Bun'' is a Somali one and oromo's cut into it when they migrated east during their expansion.

And in connection to this we have mentions of Somalis exporting it to the city of Mocha in the 1700s.

A scarce plan of the coffee-trading port of Mocha​

. Outside the walls are the European, Jewish and Somali quarters. Somali merchants brought vast amounts of coffee beans across the Red Sea from Ethiopia to sell.

It's pretty obvious that Somalis were experimenting with wide range of plant uses and coffee was one of the byproducts of that. And from that Zayla Botanist Scholar example, they formed an expertise around it.

The problem lies with the presentalism of mentioning the modern state of Ethiopia and the misuse of Al-Habash which was regional name that was generalized. And also not understanding that it was Somalis supplying most of the coffee beans in the Yemeni port of Mocha.

 

[Idilinaa]

Some information on the medieval farming calendar of Somalis.

Modern revisionists in service of ''Ethiopianist'' interpretation of regional history cannot pull the whole ethio semetic spewel or some unknown other group when in relates to the farming in medieval times(obviously we don't substratum in our language that indicate past ethnic plurality).

But also because we have confirmation by Al-Umari in the 13th cetury about the language being Somali but also their farming tracking conventions being Somali.

Al-Umari says al-Habasha as a region has 100 different languages but Awfat/Awdal and other Muslim provinces/kingdoms spoke one language he calls ''Zayla'i language'' (When Medieval arab authors use al-Habash they are not referring to the modern ethiopian supra-ethnicity, but as a generalized region)

From the words Al Umari mentioned we already know he was talking about Somali being spoken in Zeila. By the way Al Umari said the people of Xabasha have over 100 languages but the reason he group them together was because he thought they were the same race.

He specifically calls the language spoke in Zayla the Zayla’i language(لغة الزيالعة)

https://www.somalispot.com/threads/al-umari-confirms-that-the-language-of-zayla-was-somali.161268/

He then describes the language through their use of farming calendar:
AL UMARI's ACCOUNT OF AWFAT/ADAL's LANGUAGE

@HabarSteven12 @Banadiri Warrior
Al Umari’s account of Ifat mentions spoke the Somali language which he refers to Zayla’i in his account.[22] He also states that in the land of

The terms Karan and Bil are stil used in their original form even after 700 years. The exact Same definition is given for the term ‘Karan’ in Cabdulla Cumar Mansuur’s dictionary of the Somali Language.

Not only are those the Somali specific names for seasons that have stayed consistent for 700 years.

They are also different from the seasonal names used in Harari(who are Gurage in reality) and even ethio semetic speakers use. List by Wolf Leslau. ''seasons are Ethiopic''

 

[Idilinaa]

Examples of agricultural technology Somalis , many of them Mechanical devices appear to be similar to the ones used in Egypt/North Africa.

An Irrigation device used for farming

Shadoof, an irrigation device dating back to the Ancient Egyptians;


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1970s Somalia

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19th century Egypt

Mechanical water lifting deviced used for farms and wells

The Saqiyah, a mechanical water lifting device used for farms, wells and bathhouses was invented in the Kingdom of Kush and spread around the Middle East and Northeast Africa. It was found to be used in Mogadishu/Benadir and its use probably also extended to the Shebelle and Jubba rivers.View attachment 321031
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Mechanical oil pressing device , used to process sesame

Other interesting historic technology involving the camel was the sesame oil press;

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I am expanding the thread from its original premise, here is a Traditional Weighing scale;

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In the medieval sources on Awfat/Awdal suggests that they used a mechanical grain mills

Christian depiction of Awfat population being pastoral camel herders alongside agricultural use like utilizing mills to farm plants and this xenophobic fiction is attributed to the Sultan imbued with cultural stereotypes:

How this depiction separates it from nearby Muslims like Aggrobba:

I'm sharing this to set the context for this one last part because it relates to transportation technology and economic growth that came with it. At the center of it was the introduction of the ''Camel Caravan''

 

[Idilinaa]

@Emir of Zayla @Midas @The Oponian Guild @Zak12

'The next city is Barbora, situated at the bottom of a bay, on an island of it's own name. It has been along a kind of rival in commerce with Zeila and is less resorted to by merchants. The inland, which is almost contiguous to the continent, is very fertile, and produces plenty of corn, fruit, and cattle, great part of which is exported into other countries. The other parts of the Kingdom of Adel being generally flat , and with very few hills, they have seldom any rains but that defect is abundantly supplied by many rivers that run through it.

''One of the rivers named the Hawash (Awash perhaps), flows down from the Abyssinian mountains, and receiving from other rivers, takes a circuit before it enters the kingdom of Adel. This river is very broad and deep, and runs through the country of Adel, before the inhabitants divide it into much a multitude of canals, it is then exhausted before it reaches the sea. This renders the country rich in grain, fruit, and other provisions, that part of it is conveyed (exported) into the neighboring kingdoms. In particular, they have plenty of wheat, barley, and millet, and a variety of cows, sheep, and more.” — source: A New System of Geography: Or, a General Description of the World, pg 338''

This European description from the 1700s is similar to Al-Umari's description about an extensive cultivated land using rivers

I was watching a video sharing a brief history on Arizona and it described how the natives cultivated the desert, it sounded a lot like the English source describing western and northern Somali inhabited lands, extending the river water through systems of cannals that stretch and travel many miles in across different territories.

It probably was similar to this

 

[Idilinaa]

Some information on medieval Somali banana and sugar cane cultivation along the shabelle river behind Mogadishu, they call ''Mogadishu nile''. and it's usage in local cuisine
Credit goes to @Hornaristocrat on X/twitter

Quoting from الضوء اللامع لأهل القرن التاسع written by al-Sakhawi in 902AH/1497AD "..they have many Banana trees, and there are several types of them, including one type whose Banana is an arm’s length, they make molasses from it that lasts for more than a year, and they also make sweets from it.."

Quoting from كتاب الجغرافيا written by أبو الحسن على بن موسى بن سعيد المغربي Written in 685AH/1286AD Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribi mentions that sugar and bananas are cultivated along the Mogadishu Nile, similar to the agricultural practices in Egypt. Additionally, like India, the region also produces lentils and coconuts.

Here it is said that the crop was introduced from Mogadishu into Yemen.

Quoting from the بغية الفلاحين في الأشجار المثمرة والرياحين written in the 9th Islamic century

: "..my father may God have mercy on him said: and there is a type of it [bananas] called al-maqdasi we were told by some who saw a tree of it in some of our gardens in Taizz during the time of our father.."

Here the Rasulid Sultan al-Afdal al-Abbas (1363–1377) quotes this part from his grandfather Sultan al-Mu'ayyad Da'ud (1296–1322) who wrote this information in his book in 701AH/1301AD, al-Mu'ayyad's book is named ارتفاع الدولة المؤيدية

Al-Afdal also gives more specifications on these Bananas, like how they are cultivated as well as their original name, as many of you may know the Somali for Bananas (muus) is an Arabic loanword, but here al-Afdal indicates that its ancient Somali name was 'Akhtah' :

"..in my father's handwriting.. he said: The Abyssinians call this Abyssinian banana Akhtah. If they want to multiply it and plant it, they take a plantation of it that has grown to the length of two cubits, and they and would dig its root and take it out, then they would split it [in half] with a knife and take out from each half the pulp that is in it because they say that if they left it, it would prevent the [plant?] that would come out, then they would expose it to the sun for four days until it dries up and shrinks, and after that they would bury each half by itself in a nearby hole the size of a hand span [and] they would sprinkle three or four handfuls of dirt and sheep or cow dung [on it].."

Molasses is a thick, sweet syrup made from sugarcane or sugar beet, basically a thick syrup which lasts very long.

It is also interesting to note that Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi (d. 1311AD) states that the sugarcane and other crops exported from Mogadishu are superior to those found anywhere else in the Sudan (Africa)

 

[Idilinaa]

Examples of agricultural technology Somalis , many of them Mechanical devices appear to be similar to the ones used in Egypt/North Africa.

This source further confirms what i said here

Quoting from كتاب الجغرافيا written by أبو الحسن على بن موسى بن سعيد المغربي Written in 685AH/1286AD Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribi mentions that sugar and bananas are cultivated along the Mogadishu Nile, similar to the agricultural practices in Egypt. Additionally, like India, the region also produces lentils and coconuts.

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