Swahili Coastal Ports

Transcription

1 Swahili Coastal Ports 2000 years ago Africa s east coast was peopled by Bantu farmers, cattle herdsmen and fishermen. Small settlements were scattered along these coastal regions. Fishing boats were constructed and commercial ventures took place up and down the coast. Greek and Roman merchants named this region Azania. Bantu settlements existed from the Kenyan island of Lamu in the north to the Rufiji estuary which is located near to Dar es Salam in Tanzania to the south. Ivory, rhino horn and tortoise shell were traded. From the beginning of the 8 th Century AD due to the emergence of Islam as a powerful religion and force, greater connections were made with the Islamic heartland in Arabia. Some Arabic merchants married into ruling families in the region and there took place a fusion of African and Arabic culture giving rise to Swahili culture. By 1000 years AD Swahili communities existed along the East African coastal strip from Mogadishu in the north down south to Mozambique and northern Madagascar. In some of these commercial settlements they had their own personalized copper and silver currency. Gold was exported in large quantities. Some of the northern towns also traded in slaves, many of whom ended up in southern Iraq working in the slat mines there. As the gold trade expanded in the 12 th Century so did Arab immigration. Some of the cities were ruled by powerful Muslims. Firm trade links were also established with India and China. The 15 th Century saw the arrival of Portuguese traders who had a tendency to attack and ransack many of the coastal cities and ports. Their ultimate aim was to seize control of the lucrative gold trade. From the 15 th century until the 1690 s the Portuguese controlled this coastline. This control ended when an Arab army from the Oman defeated the Portuguese who were then forced to leave the area. Ruins of 50 towns and cities still exist on this coastline which ran from Somalia in the north all the way south to Mozambique. These towns and cities thrived from the 9 th Century to the 16 th Century. Their decline coincides with the arrival of Portuguese ships. These towns and cities were connected to an array of Indian Ocean trade routes. The port of Kilwa on the Tanzanian coast during the 14 th Century was seen as a place of great beauty. The city itself was very well designed and constructed. Today this major port is just a small village. Other ports along the coast were Sinna, Zanzibar, Lamu, Mombasa, Gedi and Mogadishu. A lot of these ports had opulent

2 mosques built some of which were built in the first Millennium AD. The mosque at Lamu for instance was said to have been constructed in 699 years AD. Today empty mosques can still be found all along this coast. There are at least 20 of them still left marking out a period of time when this coastline was bustling. Also the remains of a number of palaces can be found. The mosque built at Kilwa dates back to the 10 th or 11 th Century at about the same time as the Norman invasion of England in Kilwa Kisiwana, a small island off Tanzania itself, was one of the most important trading areas along the East African coast from the 11 th Century till 16 th Century AD. Its earliest occupation was around 800 years AD. The Great Mosque and market complex was built under the leadership of Ali al-hasan ( ) and trade connections over the centuries were formed with Southern Africa and the Near and Far East were created. Kilwa was a major port during this period, trading in gold, ivory, iron and coconuts as far south as Mivene Mutake which lies south of the Zambezi River, and importing cloth and jewelry from India and porcelain from China. Kilwa Kisiwana also minted its own specialized gold coins. These were the first gold coins minted in Africa south of the Sahara since the decline of Aksum. In the early 15 th Century the advent of Black Death weakened international trade links as thousands of people died from the onslaught of this plague. The city s architecture impressed visitors. Pedro Cabral describes seeing houses built of coral and the palace at Kilwa had 100 rooms and was built in a Middle East design. Some academics believe that Swahili culture came out of Kilwa society. The port cities all had examples of proven building and architectural skills. During the 13 th Century Zanzibar was an important port for the export of ivory. Five thousand elephants were slaughtered annually to supply the ivory trade which also produced between 10,000 to 25,000 tons of elephant meat each year. Many different types of merchant boats visited the Zanzibar port at this time and at Gedi, a port close to the Kenyan coast, ruins exist which date back to the 14 th and 15 th Century. Archaeologists examining these ruins have found houses whose interiors were equipped with inside toilets and plumbing. The ruined palace in Gedi had a piped water system and water taps inside the toilets. The city itself was laid out in a grid system, similar to major cities in the USA such as New York.

3 Links are also thought to exist between East Africa and the Maldive Islands. During the 4 th Century and 5 th Century AD extensive migrations are thought to have occurred from the Maldives to East Africa. These migrations may also have played a role in the spread of crops such as the banana and the coconut as well as the cowry shell which was used as a form of currency in Africa and for the purchase of slaves. In the 9 th Century the Maldives was a major producer of cowrie shells and these shells were exchanged for goods in ports such as Mogadishu, Lamu, Malindi, Mombassa and Kilwa. Massive profits came about through this trade in cowrie shells. 12,000 lb weight of cowrie shells would buy between 5000 to 6000 slaves. There were also musical links between Africa and the Maldive Islands. Bodu Beni was introduced into the islands by African slaves in the 12 th century. Bodu beni is played with three drums accompanied by a small bell and an onugadu or a piece of bamboo which had horizontal lines cut into it which created a scraped sound. There were three drummers, a lead singer, a chorus of fifteen singing and dancing and producing frantic movement and trance like states. The songs were sung in Dioehi, Arabic and other East African languages. It is also thought that shipwrecked maldive sailors may have helped to influence the construction of the East African mtepe and especially the mtepe with a square rig sail. International links with the East African coast go back before the birth of Christ. It is believed that Indonesian sailors had reached the shores of East Africa between 200 years BC and 100 years BC and established some form of trading link. Also the Maanyan people of Borneo in the centuries preceding Christ s birth had formed and created trading routes between the 2 continents. In the ancient Greek travel guide book The Periplus mention is made of Indonesian boats, dugout canoes and rafts. Even today Indonesian influences can be found in East Africa. For instance, flat bar zithers which are musical instruments local to this seaboard, coconut graters, lobster pots and a method of catching turtles using sucking lampreys. Possibly foodstuffs which originated in Indonesia, were bought to East Africa before spreading across the African continent. Also one is seeing a world which is mobile, in contact with one another and sharing one s expertise. Thinking back to the UK, ports such as Bristol and Liverpool did not really come into being until the trans-atlantic slave trade while the East African coast had been a hub of commercial activity for many thousands of years.

4 Trade routes existed linking southern Somalia, southern Africa and Mozambique to the lake regions of Uganda and Zambia. These trade routes then went west to Lake Chad and the Cameroons and the spread of new plants could have coincided with the Bantu population explosion and subsequent Bantu migrations which last for 2000 years until around 300 years BC. The wealth of the Sudan Kingdom came through revenues generated by trade and the East African coast for 2000 years was subjected to contact with a wide range of different cultural influences. The Greek, Romans and Egyptians called this part of the African coast Azania. Axes, hatchets, awls, glass, wine and wheat were among the number of products imported while exports consisted of products such as ivory, rhino horn, tortoise shell and coconut oil. Elephant tusks were shipped out of the port of Sofala to the Oman, then sent on to India and China. This was a major trade route at the time. Coins from Persia, Rome, Greece, Arabia, India and China have been found along the East African coast which indicates that there was regular contact between Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Arabic cultures as well as with India and China. Contact was made with the interior of Africa. Viable trade routes were established. Products such as copper, gold and ivory moved along these routes towards the coastal ports. Between the 10 th and 14 th Century Kilwa, Mafia, Zanzibar and Pemba on the Tanzanian coast, Mombasa, Malindi and Pate situated on the Kenyan coast and Kismayu, Brava and Mogadishu in Somalia saw sustained economic growth and expansion. Apart from the port of Mogadishu where Arabic was the dominant language, the majority of the population in the other ports spoke Bantu. Out of these ports Kilwa and Mombasa were the largest. The majority Bantu speaking population over a period of time developed a comprehensive series of trade regulations and structures. Migrants from other countries settled along the coast creating an early example of multiculturalism. Trade was carried out with boats of varying sizes. There were small sailing boats under 30 ft in size crewed by a crew of 4 or 5 people. These small boats transported small quantities of ivory, gold dust, millet, coconuts, turtle shell, wild animal skin, iron, copper bar, fibre for rope and fruit and vegetables. Gold, iron and ivory came from the south around the southern port of Sofala. Probably the source of these materials was Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Katanga. The second type of craft were Arab dhows which measured between 60 ft and 70 ft and even larger dhows made their way to the East African coast from India and Persia. Lastly there were a few convoys which arrived from China in 1417, 1418, 1431 and These Chinese vessels were extremely large and hundreds

5 arrived during these brief visits in the 15 th Century which ended abruptly when China decided to minimize its contact with the outside world who it saw as a corrupting influence. These merchant vessels bought with them cargoes of silk, spices, cotton cloth, swords, axes, knives, glassware, porcelain and coins. Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1955, speaking on the Tanganyika coast said, Never in my life have I seen so much broken china as I have seen in the past fortnight along the coast here and in the Kilwa Islands: literally fragments of Chinese porcelain by the shovelful. There are a number of references to the East African coast by writers such as Masudi, an early geographer, who in his book, Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems writes, The sea of the Zanji reaches down to the country of Sofala(this is one of the earliest mentions of the famous port located near modern day Beira) and of the Wak-Wak which produces gold in abundance and other marvels: it is there that the Zanji built their capital: then they elected a king whom they called Waklimi who has under him all the other Zanji kings and commands 300,000 men. Although constantly hunting and gathering ivory, the Zanji makes use of ivory for their domestic purposes. They wear iron instead of gold and silver. He goes on to say that they have no code of religion but believe in a supreme God. Periplus, in around 98 Years AD writes about inter-marriage in and around Sofala and about the flourishing gold trade which existed in the region. The people in the area had a rich and varied diet of millet, rice, meat and fish. Neville Chittick in his book Kilwa published in 1974 paints a vibrant and dynamic portrayal of this coastal port. He says that marine shell beads were produced locally and he thinks that these were probably used as a form of exchange for goods arriving from the interior of Africa. Good quality celadon in large quantities was imported from China until the 15 th Century. Much of the pottery found around Kilwa originates from China and Chinese products appear to be more prevalent then ones of Islamic origin. Chinese food bowls were the most common and these would be decorated with Buddhist symbols as well as floral patterns and lotus flowers which are another example of a Buddhist symbol.

6 Kilwa pottery made locally was produced on a slow wheel and fired in the open ground. This practice is still common today. A wooden disc is used to help shape the pot. In the 9 th and 10 th Century small amounts of Islamic pottery were imported. From an extremely early historical period ivory has been an important export from Kilwa. During the 14 th Century when Kilwa was at its most prosperous there was a rapid expansion of international trade. Probably, Kilwa exerted complete control over the regional gold trade as well as controlling the commercial ports further down the coast from Sofala as well as to the north. China at this time increased its exports of celadon to the East African coast as well as other types of Chinese ceramics. Also there was an increase in the import of glass beads. Chinese porcelain reached the heart of Zimbabwe. Linked to this economic boom was an expansion in the production of locally manufactured cloth. The trade in local cloth expanded but better quality cloth was imported from overseas though the travel writer Ibn Battuta writes about high quality cloth being manufactured in Mogadishu. Possibly this cloth was traded inland. Kilwa made aragorite beads and the stone masons of Kilwa were renowned for the high quality buildings that they erected. One house examined was found to have a sunken court yard faced by a long narrow ante room which led to the main room which had smaller bedrooms behind. The house was quiet, dark and cool and had a couple of toilets and a bidet. Portable stoves were used in the cooking of meals and small loaves were baked in ovens built into the floor. Some larger houses in Kilwa came with extra courtyards. The arrival of the Portuguese followed by other European traders ended the prosperity of these coastal ports and in the centuries following they were transformed into European colonies.

7 Classroom Activities for Swahili Coastal Ports 1. Draw a Time Line mapping out trade along the East African coast. 2. In small groups create a game based on the trading activities of Swahili coastal ports. 3. Write a short account of life as a stone mason, as a small sea trader, as a travel writer visiting this coast for the first time. 4. Discuss whether you think the arrival of Europeans had a positive or negative effect on the prosperity of the region. 5. If Africa had not been colonized how different do you think its history and that of Europe might have been. Take into account that European colonization and the tensions it created was one of the reasons for the First World War. 6. See whether class can create musical sound of Bodu Beni.