Persian Gulf Seafaring and East Africa: Ninth-Twelfth Centuries

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Boston University African Studies Center and Board of Trustees, Boston University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to African Historical Studies. Historians still know little beyond the occasional references by the Arab and Persian geographers about the medieval commercial relations between the Persian Gulfl and East Africa. Until now questions relating to the extent of the trade and its importance for the commercial centers of Siraf, Kish (Qays, Qais, Kais), and Hurmuz (Ormuz, Hormuz) have remained unanswered.2The problems of the social and political complexions of these Persian Gulf emporia, the "stone-cities" of East Africa and their populations, the migratory patterns of the Indian Ocean peoples, and the "Shirazi Movement" to the East African littoral are indeed complex.3 Nevertheless, a clearer understanding of some of the more basic problems is now possible due to the recent archaeological investigations at Siraf, Kilwa, and the Lamu Archipelago4 and the research of Iranian historians on the Persian Gulf, its trade, geography, and history.5 A review of the evidence so far compiled is now in order.

Maritime Community Settlement History in Pangani Bay, Tanga Coastal Region, Tanzania

“…Another work is that of Pollard (2007: 407) which argues for the continuities of using sheltered estuary and creek harbours for both fishing and entrepôt from 6 th to 14 th centuries AD by Zanjian and Swahili communities. Other studies including that of Fleisher and LaViolette (1999) (Chaudhuri 1985;Ricks 1970;Rothman 2002;Sutton 1973). Of these studies, glass beads and foreign ceramics are used as material data for tracing the history of maritime trade economy.…”

Kilwa Kisiwani: The Rise of an East African City-State

“…It seems more likely that Ali lost a political power struggle in his homeland (Reusch I961,. A more recent view points to a growing commercial competition between Persian Gulf states as a precipitating factor for the Shirazi migration (Ricks 1970). These hypotheses notwithstanding, one must agree with Professor Martin (196k) that there are a good many historical tangles still to be unraveled concerning southern Persia.…”

Do Acordo Geral De Paz (1992) Às Eleições Gerais Em 1994: O Processo De Paz Conduzido Em Moçambique

“…Belonging to the largest empire of the time and without subjecting the local population, Arabs and Persians quickly settled along the Mozambican coast from the eighth century and established a lucrative trade with African peoples, notably based on local gold mining (Ricks 1970). This commercial dynamic was maintained in the following centuries and reached its apex between the 10th and 11th centuries, with intense trade between Africans, Persians, Arabs and Indonesians.…”