Zeila (historical region) explained

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] [6]}

Geography

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.^{[7] [8] [9] [10]} According to Ibn Battuta, a journey through the whole of Zeila and the Mogadishu region would take eight weeks to complete.^[11]

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.^[12]

Ethiopian scholar Taddesse Tamrat noted that according to the Arab historian Al-Maqrizi, Jabarta was considered part of the region of Zeila.^{[13] [14]}

History

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.^{[15] [16] [17]} 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.^[18]

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.^[19] 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.^[20]

The fifteenth century empress Eleni of Ethiopia was styled as "queen of Zeila" due to her Muslim upbringing and connection to the Hadiya Sultanate.^[21] The leaders of Adal were also often referred to as Zeila kings in texts most notably Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi conqueror of Abyssinia.^{[22] [23]}

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.^[24] 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.^[25] However during this period, British government official James Henson noted that Berbera was ruled by the local merchant Sharmake Ali Saleh^[26]

Inhabitants

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.^{[27] [28]} According to British explorer Richard Burton, al-Maqrizi mentions the "Kingdom of Zayla" using the Harari moniker.^[29]

With the spread of Islam into Africa in the seventh century, the Somali language, especially certain northern dialects were influenced immensely by Arabic^[30] as well as the Harari language with traditional titles such as Garad, Malaq, and Aw adopted by various Somali clans.^{[31] [32]} The Zeila region itself positioned at the crossroads of two continents has often been included under the sphere of the South Semitic languages.^{[33] [34]}

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.^[35]

Notes and References

1. Book: Østebø . Terje . Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia The Bale Insurgency, 1963–1970 . October 2020 . Cambridge University Press . 52 . 978-1-108-83968-6 .
2. Book: Levtzion . Nehemia . The History of Islam in Africa . 31 March 2000 . Ohio University Press . 228 . 978-0-8214-4461-0 .
3. Alpers . Edward . 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) . 1997 . 17 . 2 . 71 .
4. Book: Adal . Encyclopedia Aethiopica .
5. Book: Trimingham . J. Spencer . Islam in Ethiopia . 13 September 2013 . Taylor & Francis . 978-1-136-97029-0 .
6. Book: Kluijver . Robert . The State in Somalia : between self-governance and international order . Paris Institute of Political Studies . 81 .
7. Book: Pierrepont . Zacharie . The Abyssinian connection? Abyssinian-related scholars in the Yemeni and Medieval Red Sea environment (6th–9th/12th-15th centuries) . Marseille Université .
8. Book: Mukhtar . Mohamed . Historical Dictionary of Somalia . 25 February 2003 . Scarecrow Press . 268 . 978-0-8108-6604-1 .
9. Book: Erlikh . Ḥagai . The Cross and the River Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile . 2002 . L. Rienner . 39 . 978-1-55587-970-9 .
10. Book: Meri . Josef . Medieval Islamic Civilization An Encyclopedia . 31 October 2005 . Taylor & Francis . 12 . 978-1-135-45596-5 .
11. Book: Burton . Richard . First Footsteps in East Africa . April 2011 . B & R Samizdat Express .
12. Book: Trimingham . J. Spencer . Islam in Ethiopia . 13 September 2013 . Taylor & Francis . 978-1-136-97029-0 .
13. Book: Tamrat, Taddesse . Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 . 1972 . Clarendon Press . 978-0-19-821671-1 . 124 . en.
14. Book: ʼAli), Maqrīzī (Aḥmad ibn . Macrizi Historia regum Islamiticorum in Abyssinia. Interpretatus est et vna cum Abulfedae descriptione regionum nigritarum e codd. Biblioth. Leidensis Arabice edidit Fridericus Theodorus Rinck ... . 1790 . apud Sam. et Joh. Luchtmans . 11 . ar.
15. Book: Ogilby . John . AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA. . 620 .
16. Book: Cerulli . Enrico . Islam yesterday and today . 344 .
17. Book: Brill . E. J. . E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936. A – Bābā Beg · Volume 1 . Brill . 126 .
18. Book: Hirsch . Bertrand . The port of Zeyla and its hinterland in the Middle Ages . French Center for Ethiopian Studies .
19. Book: 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 . 232 .
20. Book: Waines . David. Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Muslim Societies . BRILL . 144 .
21. Book: Braukämper . Ulrich . Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia Collected Essays . Lit . 61 .
22. Book: The Portuguese expedition to Abyssinia in 1541–1543 as narrated by Castanhoso . 79 .
23. Book: S.C. . Munro-Hay . Ethiopia, the unknown land : a cultural and historical guide . I.B. Tauris . 28 .
24. Book: Mitchell, Samuel Augustus . 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 . 1842 . David M. Jewett . en.
25. Book: Mitchell, Samuel Augustus . 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 . 1842 . David M. Jewett . 563 . en.
26. Web site: 2019-10-08 . 'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [138] (247/496) ]. 2024-02-20 . Qatar Digital Library . English.
27. Book: Fage . John . Cambridge History of Africa . Cambridge University Press . 139 .
28. Book: Lewis, I.M. . Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho . International African Institute . 1955 . 140.
29. Book: Burton . Richard . The Memorial Edition of the Works of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton . Tylston and Edwards . 31 .
30. Encyclopedia: Somalia: a country study . . Washington, D.C. . 1993 . Metz . Helen Chapin . Helen Chapin Metz . 4th . 97–98 . 0-8444-0775-5 . 27642849.
31. Book: Banti . Giorgio . Loanwords from Arabic and other Semitic Languages in Northern Somali . Oriental University of Naples . 7.
32. Book: Central Intelligence Agency, (gov) . INTELLIGENCE HANDBOOK FOR SPECIAL OPERATIONS SOMALI REPUBLIC . 23 February 2007 . Central Intelligence Agency (gov) . CIA-RDP80-01444R000100060001-2 . 4–5 . en.
33. Book: Banti . Giorgio . Loanwords from Arabic and other Semitic Languages in Northern Somali . Oriental University of Naples . 7.
34. Book: Lipiński, Edward . Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar . 2001 . Peeters Publishers . 978-90-429-0815-4 . en.
35. Rayne. Henry. QUEEN ARAWEILO. Blackwood's Magazine. October 1938. 238. 568–578. 20 June 2017. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20010627221704/http://www.anaserve.com/~mbali/letter20.htm. 27 June 2001.