Zeila (historical region)

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]

This article is about the ancient region in the Horn of Africa. For the town, see Zeila.
Map of Zeila region circa 1744 alternatively known as Kingdom of Adal, bordering Oromo (Galla) to its immediate west and Mogadishu in the south

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.[6][7][8][9] Ibn Battuta stated a journey through the whole of Zeila and 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

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 it denoted its successor state the Adal Sultanate as well as Adal region.[12][13][14] In this period the attribution "al-Zaylai" frequently signified an individual from this region however it was not consistently made clear if it referred to the city of Zeila on the coast or 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]

References
  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.
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