During the Age of the Ajuuraans, the sultanates and republics of Merca, Mogadishu, Barawa, Hobyo and their respective ports flourished and had a lucrative foreign commerce with ships sailing to Arabia, India, Venetia,[5]Persia, Egypt, Portugal and as far away as China.

In the 16th century, Duarte Barbosa noted that many ships from the Kingdom of Cambaya in India sailed to Mogadishu with fabric and spices, for which they in return received gold, wax and ivory. Mogadishu, the center of a thriving weaving industry known as toob benadir (specialized for the markets in Egypt and Syria[11]), together with Merca and Barawa also served as transit stops for Swahili merchants from Mombasa and Malindi and for the gold trade from Kilwa.[12] Trade with the Hormuz went both ways, and Jewish merchants brought their Indian textile and fruit to the Somali coast in exchange for grain and wood.[13] Trading relations were established with Malacca in the 15th century,[14] with cloth, ambergris and porcelain being the main commodities exchanged.[15] Giraffes, zebras and incense were exported to the Ming Empire of China, which established Somali merchants as leaders in the commerce between the Asia and Africa,[16] and in the process influenced the Chinese language with the Somali language and vice versa. Hindu merchants from Surat and Southeast African merchants from Pate, seeking to bypass both the Portuguese blockade and Omani meddling, used the Somali ports of Merca and Barawa (which were out of the two powers' jurisdiction) to conduct their trade in safety and without interference.[17]

During the same period, Somali merchants sailed to Cairo, Damascus, Mocha, Mombasa, Aden, Madagascar, Hyderabad and the islands of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, establishing Somali communities along the way. These travels produced several important individuals such as the Muslim scholars Uthman bin Ali Zayla'i in Egypt, Abd al-Aziz of Mogadishu in the Maldives, as well as the explorer Sa'id of Mogadishu, the latter of whom traveled across the Muslim world and visited China and India in the 14th century.

also there were several somali kingdoms thus creating friendly competition and more ships in an effort to capture more trade. they didnt fight each other but they were conpeting for power and influence

KidStranglehold:

I don't get it...? Why didn't the people of the Swahili coast build a navy like the Ethiopians/Somalis. Or is it because they just relied on those two people for protection? I mean the Swahili coast was rich, they should have protected it better.

ethiopians didnt have a navy. from what i understand arabs were in the area for slave trade

while the somalis invested in the area cause they lived there, the arabs were there to make a quick buck before returning

After the Roman conquest of the Nabataean Empire and the Roman naval presence at Aden to curb piracy, Arab and Somali merchants barred Indian merchants from trading in the free port cities of the Arabian peninsula[6] because of the nearby Roman presence. However, they continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from any Roman threat or spies. The reason for barring Indian ships from entering the wealthy Arabian port cities was to protect and hide the exploitative trade practices of the Somali and Arab merchants in the extremely lucrative ancient Red Sea-Mediterranean Sea commerce.[7] The Indian merchants for centuries brought large quantities of cinnamon from Ceylon and the Far East to Somalia and Arabia. This is said to have been the best kept secret of the Arab and Somali merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world. The Romans and Greeks believed the source of cinnamon to have been the Somali peninsula but in reality, the highly valued product was brought to Somalia by way of Indian ships.[8] Through Somali and Arab traders, Indian/Chinese cinnamon was also exported for far higher prices to North Africa, the Near East and Europe, which made the cinnamon trade a very profitable revenue generator, especially for the Somali merchants through whose hands large quantities were shipped across ancient sea and land routes.

Somali sailors were aware of the region's monsoons, and used them to link themselves with the port cities of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Another navigational technique was denning the islands of the Indian Ocean to navigate through the ancient trade routes.[9]

KidStranglehold:

Yeah it was a four way conflict. You should also note that the Ajuuraan empire freed the Swahili coast from the Portuguese.

yeah the somalis helped arabs and blacks who got taken over by the portugese


the somalis and a few turks freed them, but several years later the portugese took it back

but they never messed with somalis cause of what we did to them before

KidStranglehold:

Just read. I just wanted to hear your take. Because this Somali poster posted me some interesting stuff about Somali seafaring.

somalis are a seafaring people

our entire country is a big coast. we have alot of food from different places


the capital mogadishu is persian for seat of the shah

KidStranglehold:

I heard of that which is why the Americas was discovered(by accident).

thats true cause europeans couldnt go by land cause it was controlled by the turks


the first time europeans tried to come to east africa is when the ethiopians called for back up agaisnt the somalis. the arabs and turks and somalis defeated the portugese and ethiopians

it was a somali man who killed vasco degamas son, that somali man is called ahmed gurey he destroyed all of ethiopia and made the rest muslim

KidStranglehold:

Good post and interesting.

Did Somalis trade as far to China?

yeah its in the article

In ancient times, the Kingdom of Punt, which is believed by several Egyptologists to have been situated in the area of modern-day Somalia, had a steady trade link with the Ancient Egyptians and exported precious natural resources such as myrrh, frankincense and gum. This trade network continued all the way into the classical era. The city states of Mossylon, Malao, Mundus and Tabae in Somalia engaged in a lucrative trade network connecting Somali merchants with Phoenicia, Ptolemic Egypt, Greece, Parthian Persia, Saba, Nabataea and the Roman Empire. Somali sailors used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the beden to transport their cargo.

Maritime history of Somalia refers to the seafaring tradition of the Somali people.[1] It includes various stages of Somali navigational technology, shipbuilding and design, as well as the history of the Somali port cities. It also covers the historical sea routes taken by Somali sailors which sustained the commercial enterprises of the historical Somali kingdoms and empires, in addition to the contemporary maritime culture of Somalia.

In antiquity, the ancestors of the Somali people were an important link in the Horn of Africa connecting the region's commerce with the rest of the ancient world. Somali sailors and merchants were the main suppliers of frankincense, myrrh and spices, items which were considered valuable luxuries by the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans and Babylonians.[2][3] During the classical era, several ancient city-states such as Opone, Mosylon and Malao (ancient) that competed with the Sabaeans, Parthians and Axumites for the wealthy Indo-Greco-Roman trade also flourished in Somalia.[4] In the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade including the Ajuuraan State, the latter of which maintained profitable maritime contacts with Arabia, India, Venetia,[5]Persia, Egypt, Portugal and as far away as China. This tradition of seaborne trade was maintained in the early modern period by later Somali states such as the Gobroon Dynasty.

KidStranglehold:

No I am not using Somali achievements as part of some Afrocentric agenda. I just need to know Somalis part in the Indian Ocean trade. I'm already discussing this with another Somali on another site. Just wanted to hear your take.

Well the ottoman empire controlled all the arab countries thus stoping europeans from trading with india
somalis had a unique advantage as we were not part of the ottoman empire and we are muslims


we played a great role in taking advantage of our location

34 years to late

Stranglehold: I need some answer. On another forum, I and others are discussing the Indian Ocean trade and the influences Africans had on it.

You claim SOmalis dominated the trade and built the biggest ships. Can you post some sources and add additional informations? Thanks.

i cant let u use somalis achievements as part of a hidden afrocentric agenda

i have spoken

sambos994: It looks like baby aliens are going to crawl out their heads.

hater. Their is a reason why people say somalis are regal looking

sambos994: So why are you comparing arabs to Africans?

cause arab is a culture and african is a continent

anyone can be african

sambos994: Lol, noble indeed

yes, a square forehead is very noble looking

sambos994: It's like when Somalis talk they spew crap out of their mouth without doing some research. We have the highest amount of remittances in Africa. Or at least one of the highest

of all the africans somalis keep their culture the most

even after 9/11 arabs were changing their name but somalis were rocking their headscarf and had ' i love somalia' bumper stickers

Mrs.Chima:


YET Somalis are leaving Somalia in droves

wrong again somalis have been returning to somalia by the thousands




http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/jan/11/mogadishu-manhattan-somalis-return-progress

The sound of bullets that was once so common in the Somali capital of Mogadishu has been replaced by the noise of construction. New buildings and business are emerging from the carnage and lawlessness that pervaded the east African country for more than two decades.

Mursal Mak, a British-Somali property developer, left Somalia in 1987 and returned in 2009. For him, it has never been a better time to do business there. "I have seen a lot of changes from 2011 to now," he says. "Mogadishu is growing very fast. I was at the airport today for an hour and I saw six airlines, all of them commercial. There is also a traffic jam in the streets now; we can drive out late at night."

With so many people from the diaspora coming back, demand for properties and accommodation far exceeds supply, tripling rental prices in the prime areas of the city. "Retail estate is booming in Mogadishu," says Mak. "This evening I had a meeting with a client and he said: 'Mogadishu is becoming like Manhattan or central London; you are talking incredible prices when it comes to property.'

"When I came here in 2009, I leased a property with a value of over $600,000 (£370,000) for $300 a month, but now the property is being rented for $4,500 a month."

Although people are snapping up land and some have grand ambitions to develop, in many cases the land is unregistered or ownership cannot be proven. There have been cases of fraud and land being sold to multiple people. "Either you buy on trust, or from owners you knew before the war. But most people are willing to take a risk and buy on a discounted price of 50% because ownership cannot be proven," Mak says.

Mogadishu businessman Bashir Osman, owner of the Peace hotel, has bought a chunk of land in Jazira beach with the intention of building the first tourist resort in Mogadishu. Osman's hotel was one of the few operating in Somalia during the conflict; it was mostly occupied by people working in the humanitarian sector. To him, the idea of opening a tourist resort isn't so far-fetched; he has experience of hosting thrill-chasing foreigners, some of whom just turned up at the airport with no plans or onward arrangements.

"I picked up my first tourist in 2010," says Osman. "He was a Canadian man and had problems getting a visa. When he told the immigration authority he was a tourist, they told him he was either mad or a spy and tried to put him back on the plane. At that time it was still too dangerous to go outside and sightsee, so he mostly stayed inside the compound, but we made sure he had a good time. Now, when people come to Mogadishu and say they are tourists, the only question they [immigration] ask is how long do you want to stay?

"Last year, we had about 20 tourists. I took them to the old parts of the city, different beaches, Bakara market, historical places, and showed them the life of a Somali family. They were very interested."

Omar Osman is another Somali who chose to come back, after living in the US for more than 20 years. "Like everybody else [who came back], I felt there was an opportunity to make a difference. I grew up in Saudi Arabia. Initially, it was very tough for me here; I came in early 2012, before the new government, so we still could hear guns and shooting at that point, but so far things are good."

Osman and his business partner have set up a commercial bank, First Somali Bank. "We have a bank structure in place, it's operational for people to deposit and withdraw their money but we cannot provide loans and credit," he says. "We are waiting for the government to introduce laws and regulations before we can do that. Our goal is to function as a regular bank and to finance projects."

With funding from their bank, Osman and his partner have started an internet company, Somalia Wireless, to meet the growing demand for connectivity from the private sector. "When we first arrived in Mogadishu, internet penetration was less than 1%," says Osman. "Now we have coverage throughout the city, with the exception of some areas where connection is still patchy, but we are working on that. The hardest part of setting up the company was logistics. We had to ship huge equipment and get in engineers from Germany to set up. In the absence of proper governance, there are pros and cons: anybody can set up a business here but I think eventually the government will introduce regulations.

"We are trying to advocate the setting up of business to be as smooth as possible, because, ultimately, the growth of business will translate into job creation and prevent youngsters from being idle and walking into terrorism. Investing and making money is not the goal. The goal is to create jobs, do something to benefit the masses and make life better for every Somali.

"All of us who were in the diaspora are supporting families one way or another here in Somalia. If we can bring some of that support locally and get them to do something for themselves, to earn a proper living, there is nothing better than that."

Adamskuty: best looking apes in what way?? Who gave u that title,u mal-nourished gaytoad as for me u guys are the most weird looking apes in this world,and pls that rectangular fore-head isn't noble

the best looking people are found in nigeria,here u will find different people of different features,looks and shape, (and for ur info. My slave there's nothing like a particular nigerian look ). what a bless land,filled with natural resources,wonders of the world (oooh mehn i'm so proud) u.

N.b somalis were slaves,it was stated in the history book,u stubborn he-goat,the arabs,indians bought y'all and when u guys were later freed in india,they married those free slaves from somalia and that's why we got dark skin indians today because of that union................

u got issues. somalis were not slaves those dark skin indians are all of sri lanka, maldives, banglledesh


their was no one in somalia who was stronger than us except ethiopia at times, thats why the ottoman empire and arabs sent soldiers to somalia after the ethiopians called the portugese to help them


the somalis won. so their is no historic basis for anyone ever enslaving us. if anything it was horners who controlled yemen for several hundred years

*Kails*:


whaddup?

correction tho,

the sentinelese were never enslaved. in fact to this day NOT ONE PERSON has entered their territory and survived.

they have been living in that region for over 60,000 years long before the aryans.

https://www.nairaland.com/1245099/sentinelese-people-india

k, but tell this fool that just cause their was slavery in somalia doesnt mean its somalis

he is very ill informed, how are arabs gonna help somalis fight against ethiopians and portugese and run to somalia away from arabia when they are persecuted and then enslave somalis



he cant even get basic history, it was ethiopia that controlled yemen not the other way around

Adamskuty: The mor0n is busy represnting GB,forgetting somali totally,lmaooo! He doesn't want to be associated with anything somali

somali11 lord (adams) :-farah what is ur nationality?

Farah: i'm a briton

somali11lord (adams) :- woooah! But i thought u are from somalia

farah:- God forbid (getting angry) i'm not from somalia,i'm a briton,i got a british passport,england is my home,my land .. I've never been to somali before and i'm not interested in ever steping my feet in that hellfire filled with demons




no hope for somalia ad somalis at all ,,what a shame

mo farah went somalia several months ago and met the somali president and has been lobbyin british banks to allow somalis to send remittance back


somalis are not like negroids who forget about their homeland

Adamskuty: MY SOMALI SLAVE I GOT AN ANNOUCEMENT FOR YOU. A FELLOW SOMALI REPRESENTING GREAT BRITAIN IN THE IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN MOSCOW JUST WON THE 10,000 METRE RACE..

HE'S REPRESENTING GB because UR DEAD NATION DON'T PARTICIPATE IN ANYTHING MEANINGFUL TO DO OTHER THAN BEING PIRATES

well i'm wondering why u didn't talk about him or is it because he's black like charcoal... Hhahahahah! Fvvcking charcants the darkest being in the whole world is found in ur zoo

the dicitionary is so rrrrrrriiiiight



LET'S WELCOME MOHAMMED FARAH

am not into sports, nor do i know every single somali person in the world

hi kails. look at this idiot sayin somalis were arab slaves and sent to india lmao

dude the slaves who are black in india look bantu and when somalis go to india they mix easier in india than the sentinelese people who were brought as slaves

Mrs.Chima:
Yet Somalia is suffering from severe droughts, famine, and civil unrest.

W a y to go Somalia.

their is no famine or drought that was last year and it affected kenya somalia and ethiopia

Adamskuty: sharraaaap u bedwetting piglet,was islam ur religion before the arabs invaded ur land?? No! The arabs brought islam to u people,not until they had fought u and forcefully made u accept it,many of y'all were captured as slaves and sold even before the coming of islam when the arabs worship idiols,u guys were sold to far away india ,that's the reason for the presence of some dark skin indians,those are descendants of the somali slaves that were later release and who mated with their indian masters,u retar...ded. Pig.


U know nothing,i'm teaching u.here's the link.

http://www.discovery.com/somali-slaves-in-india/history-struggle-and-freedom/005431/9541/php?/

u are seriously misinformed. their is no arab invasion of somalia. arabs have never been more than 0.5 percent of somalis


even today their are less than 30,000 somalis. before islam came somalis were part of ethiopia like all the other cushitic people and we controlled horn of africa and yemen.


go read a book. the somalis becoming muslims helped arabs as it made ethiopia weaker and allowed arabs to come to africa and take the side of somalis and thats why ethiopia has a somali state inside of ethiopia and 50 percent of ethiopia is muslim and only 40 percent is christian


ur a very dumb person for not knowing basic facts

Adamskuty: THE EAST AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE

The indian ocean streches between the east Coast of africa and the west coast of india. It was once part of the route for a slave trade known as 'oriental' or eastern slave trade. From the century enslaved africans were taken to the middle east,North africa and india. This eastern slave trade was different to the slave trade across the atlantic ocean (the trans-atlantic slave trade) from africa to the america and the carribean. In the trans-atlantic slave trade the demand was for labourers to work on the plantations and in mines and mostly men were captured to supply the demand. In the eastern trade,the demand was for domestic servants,and mostly women were captured to supply the trade. This painting shows an indian woman in a chinese style room. The woman's pale skin shows that she's high class and her servant who's playing a flute also points to this. Sprawled on the floor beside the woman is a young african pageboy,presumably a slave bought from east africa to india.

The end of the eastern slave trade began when the british ended slavery in india in1843 throughout much of the area,though, slavery remained legal until a country came under european rule ( for example egypt in 1882) or until the country tried to join the league of nations after the first world war (for example saudia arabia)



slaves taken to the middle east and north africa were not just from africa, until about 1500, slaves were also bought from northern europe ,but as this suppy route dried up the numbers bought from africa increased. In the eastern slave trade,enslaved africans were taken from east coast of africa ( the modern countries of kenya,tanzania,mozambique and the island of madagascar) they also came from the savannah aread (which includes countries such as mali,niger,chad and sudan) and the horn of africa (which covers djibouti,somalia and ethiopia) slaves were sold to merchants from north africa and the middle east.

There are no records for the numbers of enslaved africans sold before the 17th century from the savannah area of africa (which include countries such as mali,niger chad and sudan) and horn of africa (which include countries such as djibouti,somalia and ethiopia) . It's estimated that in the 17th century about 10,000 slaves per year were sold to north africa and middle east,including yemen,iraq, and down to india,the numbers of enslaved africans sold to these areas increased in the late 18th century. This was because french merchants bought slaves from east africa for the growing sugar plantation on the french owned islands in the indian ocean. Brazilian merchants also begam buying slaves from the same areas for the sugar plantations in brazil.after 1800,then trade to the persian gulf and india increased rapidly. By the early 19th century about 30,000 people were being sold into slavery from the eastern areas of africa, they were being bought and sold through the main centre of the trade on the island of zancibar (off the east coast of africa,of which is now the country of tanzania).

It has been estimated that over the twelve centuries from 750 to the 20th century (slavery continued in this area well into the 20th century and beyond) almost 12,000,000 enslaved africans were traded to the middle east,north africa and india. The eastern slave trade,over a much longer period,took from africa about the same number of people as the trans-atlantic slave trade took in 300 years


http://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/routes/places-involved/east-indies/east-african-slave-trade/

what an a slowpoke, somalis or anyone who is muslim was never a slave, even the bantus who converted to islam were set free


how can somalis be slaves when arabs and turks came to somalia to help fight against the portugese and ethiopians in the 1500's


go read, it was arabs who brought bantus from zanzibar and shiped them to india, somalis had sultans who had allainces with arabs

Adamskuty: she wasn't refering to me u useless bastaaard with mighty fore-head . Well! It isn't news that y'all charchants were enslaved by the arabs,indians,egyptians ad brazilian.


Lastly i use that word for every female,u wretched charcoal toad with bunk teeth,next time u wanna quote me,call me master b4 saying anything

somalis were not slaves, it was actually bantus who were not muslim who were enslaved and those who converted were set free.

and our foreheads look very noble last i checked we are the best lookin people in africca

Semira22:

What conjuctures!

In which history book did you derive this your baseless statement that Oromo women were enslaved? I 'll like to see it.

Right from time immemorial, ethiopia has been your masters, how many wars have we fought and defeated you Somalis? Not even Al-shabab can withstand the might of out galant military. Lol.

Stop pulling baseless lies from thin air just to massage you ego.lmao

In addition to Bantu plantation slaves, Somalis sometimes enslaved peoples of Oromo pastoral background that were captured during wars and raids on Oromo settlements.[4][3] However, there were marked differences in terms of the perception, capture, treatment and duties of the Oromo pastoral slaves versus the Bantu plantation slaves.[4]

On an individual basis, Oromo subjects were not viewed as racially jareer by their Somali captors.[4] The Oromo captives also mostly consisted of young children and women, both of whom were taken into the families of their abductors; men were usually killed during the raids. Oromo boys and girls were adopted by their Somali patrons as their own children. Prized for their beauty and viewed as legitimate sexual partners, many Oromo women became either wives or concubines of their Somali captors, while others became domestic servants.[3][19] In some cases, entire Oromo clans were assimilated on a client basis into the Somali clan system.

Adamskuty: calm ur nerves madam,and type according to facts, actually the number one scamming nation in the world is U.S.A, then RUSSIA AND CHINA, GHANA IS NUMBER ONE IN AFRICA THEN NIGERIA,HMMM? So next time do alittle research before posting trash,swrry

what a bitcccch, ethiopian girl got u on lock and got u saying swrrry

lmao


i now understand how these short ethiopians managed to enslave bantus

Semira22:

Why do you consider Oromos your cousins, we don't share border, we don't have any historical contact, the only thing we have in common is being a muslim. And we Ethiopian muslim ain't fanatics like you Somalis. But if you say afar, i can somehow agree with you, cuz you share border with them, and afars can be found in Somali, Djibouti and Eritrea.

well i know many oromo women were enslaved when we somalis allng withe the ottoman turks in 1500's defeated the ethiopians


but the oromo women were freed and married unlike the bantus


oromo speak a cushitic language while amahra and tigrey speak semetic language


only ethios i like are oromo and afar

infact my friend who is ethiopian reps oromia and oromia flag during cultural events at university

Semira22:

Yes, I'm Oromo. And off course we all consider ourselves Habesha. And yes, majority of Jimma people are predominantly Muslim, including me.

why u consider urself habesha, i consider oromos to be like cousins with somalis and afar people

Semira22:


Thanks for the post, it was detailing and insightful. I'm grateful.

I'm Oromo from Jima, The biggest city in the south west of the country, it's about 335km from the capital Addis abeba. Jimma is known for it's coffee production.

oromo, i like oromo. Do oromo consider themselves habesha? cause most of thr oromos ive met dont and are muslim