Zeila (historical region)

Historic state in Horn of Africa

This article is about the ancient region in the Horn of Africa. For the town, see Zeila.

Zeila also known as Zaila or Zayla was a historical Muslim region in the Horn of Africa.[1][2][3][4] The region was named after the port city of Zeila in modern day Somalia.[5]

## Geography[edit]

Map of Zeila region circa 1744 alternatively known as Kingdom of Adal, bordering Oromo (Galla) to its immediate west and Mogadishu in the south

In the medieval Arab world the Muslim inhabited domains in the Horn of Africa were often referred to as Zeila to differentiate them from the Christian territories designated Habasha.[6][7][8][9] According to Ibn Battuta, a journey through the whole of Zeila and the Mogadishu region would take eight weeks to complete.[10]

Fourteenth century Arab historian Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari recounted on the usage of the term and its origin being the city of Zeila, a vital port in the region.[11]

> this is the region which is called in Egypt and Syria the land of Zaila. This however is only one of their coastal towns and one of their islands, whose name has been extended to the whole

> — Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari, Masālik al-abṣār fī Mamālik al-amṣār

## History[edit]

The term Zeila in the thirteenth century was often interchangeable with the Ifat Sultanate which ruled over the entire region and later in the fourteenth century onwards used to denote its successor state the Adal Sultanate as well as Adal region.[12][13][14] Throughout this period the attribution "al-Zaylai" frequently signified an individual from this region however it was not made consistently clear whether it referred to the denizens of city specifically or the Muslims further inland.[15]

In the fourteenth century Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi mentions the inhabitants of Zeila country were fond of the narcotic khat leaf grown in the region.[16] One of the earliest accounts of coffee in text is by the sixteenth century Islamic scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami who writes about its development from a tree in the Zeila region.[17]

The fifteenth century empress Eleni of Ethiopia was styled as "queen of Zeila" due to her Muslim upbringing and connection to the Hadiya Sultanate.[18] The leaders of Adal were also often referred to as Zeila kings in texts most notably Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi conqueror of Abyssinia.[19][20]

The seventeenth century saw the decline of Adal, described as being divided into smaller separate states due to the “long and bloody” wars waged on Abyssinia.[21] According to American geographer Samuel Augustus Mitchell, the neighbouring port of Berbera in the Somali country and its respective provinces were flourishing in trade stretching through depths of Ethiopia from the Emirate of Harar whose leader rules over the Somalis.[22]However during this period, British government official James Henson noted that Berbera was ruled by the local merchant Sharmake Ali Saleh[23]

## Inhabitants[edit]

Coastline of Zeila (c. 19th century) its strategic location and proximity to the Red Sea was of great importance to the rulers of the region.

According to John Fage and I.M. Lewis, the main inhabitants of Zeila were ancestral to the Somali tribes who historically resided in the region.[24][25] Ibn Fadlallah Al Umari’s account of Ifat states that the people of Zeila spoke a distinct language possibly of Semitic origin. He refers to this language as (Zayla’i) in his account.[26] According to British explorer Richard Burton, al-Maqrizi mentions the "Kingdom of Zayla" using the Harari moniker.[27]

With the spread of Islam into Africa in the seventh century, the Somali language, especially certain northern dialects were influenced immensely by Arabic[28] as well as the Harari language with traditional titles such as Garad, Malaq, and Aw adopted by various Somali clans.[29][30] The Zeila region itself positioned at the crossroads of two continents has often been included under the sphere of the South Semitic languages.[31][32]

In the nineteenth-century the inhabitants of Zeila narrated to one British commissioner that the ruined town of Amud (in the Zeila region) was built by the ancient Harla people. The British commissioner attested to the similarities between the ruins of Amud and that of the walled city of Harar.[33]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Østebø, Terje. Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia The Bale Insurgency, 1963–1970. Cambridge University Press. p. 52.
2. ^ Levtzion, Nehemia. The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press. p. 228.
3. ^ Alpers, Edward (1997). "The African Diaspora in the Northwestern Indian Ocean: Reconsideration of an Old Problem, New Directions for Research". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (CSSAAME). 17 (2): 71.
4. ^ Adal. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
5. ^ Trimingham, J. Spencer. Islam in Ethiopia. Taylor & Francis.
6. ^ Pierrepont, Zacharie. The Abyssinian connection? Abyssinian-related scholars in the Yemeni and Medieval Red Sea environment (6th–9th/12th-15th centuries). Marseille Université.
7. ^ Mukhtar, Mohamed. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Scarecrow Press. p. 268.
8. ^ Erlikh, Ḥagai. The Cross and the River Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile. L. Rienner. p. 39.
9. ^ Meri, Josef. Medieval Islamic Civilization An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 12.
10. ^ Burton, Richard. First Footsteps in East Africa. B & R Samizdat Express.
11. ^ Trimingham, J. Spencer. Islam in Ethiopia. Taylor & Francis.
12. ^ Ogilby, John. AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA. p. 620.
13. ^ Cerulli, Enrico. Islam yesterday and today. p. 344.
14. ^ Brill, E. J. E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936. A – Bābā Beg · Volume 1. Brill. p. 126.
15. ^ Hirsch, Bertrand. The port of Zeyla and its hinterland in the Middle Ages. French Center for Ethiopian Studies.
16. ^ Radt, Charlotte. Contribution à l'histoire ethnobotanique d'une plante stimulante : le Kat. Le Kat au Yemen (Note Préliminaire). Journal d'agriculture traditionnelle et de botanique appliquée. p. 232.
17. ^ Waines, David. Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Muslim Societies. BRILL. p. 144.
18. ^ Braukämper, Ulrich. Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia Collected Essays. Lit. p. 61.
19. ^ The Portuguese expedition to Abyssinia in 1541–1543 as narrated by Castanhoso (PDF). p. 79.
20. ^ S.C., Munro-Hay. Ethiopia, the unknown land : a cultural and historical guide. I.B. Tauris. p. 28.
21. ^ Mitchell, Samuel Augustus (1842). A General View of the World: Comprising a Physical, Political, and Statistical Account of Its Grand Divisions ... with Their Empires, Kingdoms, Republics, Principalities, &c: Exhibiting the History of Geographical Science and the Progress of Discovery to the Present Time. Illustrated by Upwards of Nine Hundred Engravings. David M. Jewett.
22. ^ Mitchell, Samuel Augustus (1842). A General View of the World: Comprising a Physical, Political, and Statistical Account of Its Grand Divisions ... with Their Empires, Kingdoms, Republics, Principalities, &c: Exhibiting the History of Geographical Science and the Progress of Discovery to the Present Time. Illustrated by Upwards of Nine Hundred Engravings. David M. Jewett. p. 563.
23. ^ "'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [138] (247/496)". Qatar Digital Library. 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
24. ^ Fage, John. Cambridge History of Africa (PDF). Cambridge University Press. p. 139.
25. ^ Lewis, I.M. (1955). Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho. International African Institute. p. 140.
26. ^ Fage, John. Cambridge History of Africa (PDF). Cambridge University Press. p. 139.
27. ^ Burton, Richard. The Memorial Edition of the Works of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton. Tylston and Edwards. p. 31.
28. ^ Metz, Helen Chapin, ed. (1993). Somalia: a country study (4th ed.). Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 97–98. ISBN 0-8444-0775-5. OCLC 27642849.
29. ^ Banti, Giorgio. Loanwords from Arabic and other Semitic Languages in Northern Somali (PDF). Oriental University of Naples. p. 7.
30. ^ Central Intelligence Agency, (gov) (23 February 2007). INTELLIGENCE HANDBOOK FOR SPECIAL OPERATIONS SOMALI REPUBLIC (PDF) (CIA-RDP80-01444R000100060001-2 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency (gov). pp. 4–5.
31. ^ Banti, Giorgio. Loanwords from Arabic and other Semitic Languages in Northern Somali (PDF). Oriental University of Naples. p. 7.
32. ^ Lipiński, Edward (2001). Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-90-429-0815-4.
33. ^ Rayne, Henry (October 1938). "QUEEN ARAWEILO". Blackwood's Magazine. 238: 568–578. Archived from the original on 27 June 2001. Retrieved 20 June 2017.`{{cite journal}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)