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Book Of The Zanj
The ''Book of the Zanj'' (or ''Kitāb al-Zunūj'') is an Arabic history of the Zanj (Zenj, Zengi) who live in East Africa from their origins down to the turn of the 20th century. There are two manuscripts of the ''Book'', the more recent one offering an expanded text. The older one, labelled K or C, was produced shortly after 1888. In 1923, it was in the possession of the ''qāḍī'' of Kismayo, when a copy was procured by Enrico Cerulli. The younger one, labelled L or W, was made after 1902 in Witu for Alice Werner. It was acquired by Cerulli in 1926. Both manuscripts have been translated into English.In . The authors of both versions of the ''Book'' are unknown. The text is written in Arabic of low quality and the authors' first language was certainly Swahili. There are numerous Swahilisms in the text and one quatrain in Swahili. Both authors wrote in Bājūn and were sympathetic to the rulers of Pate and of Siyu, but opposed to the Mazrūʿī ''liwali''s of Mombasa. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston, 2011. Having emerged in the 1st century, it is named after the Arabs, Arab people; the term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula, as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece. Since the 7th century, Arabic has been characterized by diglossia, with an opposition between a standard Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige language—i.e., Literary Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Classical Arabic—and diverse vernacular varieties, which serve as First language, mother tongues. Colloquial dialects vary significantly from MSA, impeding mutual intelligibility. MSA is only acquired through formal education and is not spoken natively. It is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the Muhammad in Islam, main and final Islamic prophet.Peters, F. E. 2009. "Allāh." In , edited by J. L. Esposito. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . (See alsoquick reference) "[T]he Muslims' understanding of Allāh is based...on the Qurʿān's public witness. Allāh is Unique, the Creator, Sovereign, and Judge of mankind. It is Allāh who directs the universe through his direct action on nature and who has guided human history through his prophets, Abraham, with whom he made his covenant, Moses/Moosa, Jesus/Eesa, and Muḥammad, through all of whom he founded his chosen communities, the 'Peoples of the Book.'" It is the Major religious groups, world's second-largest religion behind Christianity, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Year Of The Elephant
The ʿām al-fīl ( ar, عام الفيل, Year of the Elephant) is the name in Islamic history for the year approximately equating to 570–571 CE. According to Islamic resources, it was in this year that Muhammad was born.Hajjah Adil, Amina, "''Prophet Muhammad''", ISCA, Jun 1, 2002, The name is derived from an event said to have occurred at Mecca: Abraha, the Abyssinian, Christian ruler of Aksum marched upon the Ka‘bah in Mecca with a large army, which included war elephants, intending to demolish it. However, the lead elephant, known as 'Mahmud' ( ar, مَـحْـمُـوْد, consonant letters: m-ħ-m-w-d), is said to have stopped at the boundary around Mecca, and refused to enter. It has been theorized that an epidemic, perhaps caused by smallpox, or an outbreak of the plague of Justinian, could have caused such a failed invasion of Mecca. The year came to be known as the Year of the Elephant, beginning a trend for reckoning the years in the Arabian Peninsula. This reck ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Himyar
The Himyarite Kingdom ( ar, مملكة حِمْيَر, Mamlakat Ḥimyar, he, ממלכת חִמְיָר), or Himyar ( ar, حِمْيَر, ''Ḥimyar'', / 𐩹𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬) ( fl. 110 BCE–520s CE), historically referred to as the Homerite Kingdom by the Greeks and the Romans (its subjects being called Homeritae), was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to classical sources, their capital was the ancient city of Zafar, relatively near the modern-day city of Sana'a. Himyarite power eventually shifted to Sana'a as the population increased in the fifth century. After the establishment of their kingdom, it was ruled by kings from dhū-Raydān tribe. The kingdom was named Raydān.Jérémie Schiettecatte. Himyar. Roger S. Bagnall; Kai Brodersen; Craige B. Champion; Andrew Erskine; Sabine R. Hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabaeans
The Sabaeans or Sabeans (Sabaean language, Sabaean:, ; ar, ٱلسَّبَئِيُّوْن, ''as-Sabaʾiyyūn''; he, סְבָאִים, Səḇāʾīm) were an ancient group of South Arabians. They spoke the Sabaean language, one of the Old South Arabian languages.Stuart Munro-Hay, ''Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity'', 1991. They founded the kingdom of Sabaʾ ( ar, سَبَأ, links=no) in modern-day Yemen,Quran 27:6-93 Quran 34:15-18 which was believed to be the biblical land of Sheba and "the oldest and most important of the South Arabian kingdoms". The exact date of the foundation of Sabaʾ is a point of disagreement among scholars. Kenneth Kitchen dates the kingdom to between 1200 BCE and 275 CE, with its capital at Marib, Maʾrib, in what is now Yemen.Kenneth A. Kitchen ''The World of "Ancient Arabia" Series''. Documentation for Ancient Arabia. Part I. Chronological Framework and Historical Sources p.110 On the other hand, Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curse Of Ham
The curse of Ham is described in the Book of Genesis as imposed by the patriarch Noah upon Ham's son Canaan. It occurs in the context of Noah's drunkenness and is provoked by a shameful act perpetrated by Noah's son Ham, who "saw the nakedness of his father". The exact nature of Ham's transgression and the reason Noah cursed Canaan when Ham had sinned have been debated for over 2,000 years. The story's original purpose may have been to justify the biblical subjection of the Canaanites to the Israelites,. but in later centuries, the narrative was interpreted by some Christians, Muslims and Jews as an explanation for black skin, as well as a justification for slavery of black people. Similarly, some in the Latter Day Saint movement used the curse of Ham to prevent the ordination of black men to its priesthood.. Nevertheless, most Christians, Muslims, and Jews now disagree with such interpretations, because in the biblical text, Ham himself is not cursed, and race or skin color i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oral Tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985), reported statements from present generation which "specifies that the message must be oral statements spoken, sung or called out on musical instruments only"; "There must be transmission by word of mouth over at least a generation". He points out, "Our definition is a working definition for the use of historians. Sociologists, linguists or scholars of the verbal arts propose their own, which in, e.g., sociology, stresses common knowledge. In linguistics, features that distinguish the language from common dialogue (linguists), and in the verbal arts features of form and content that define art (folklorists)."Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: "Methodology and African Prehistory", 1990, ''UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a Gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kawkab Al-durriya Li-akhbār Ifrīqiya
The ''Kawkab al-durriya li-akhbār Ifrīqiya'' is an Arabic chronicle of the stretch of the east African coast known as Zanj. It was written in 1913 by Fāḍil bin ʿUmar al-Bawrī. The title of the ''Kawkab'', which translates 'The Lustrous Star of Information about Africa', was inspired by the poem ''al-Kawākib al-durriya fi madḥ Khayr al-Bariyya'' ('the sparkling stars in praise of the best of mankind') by the 13th-century Egyptian poet al-Būṣiri. The language of the work is Arabic of a very low quality. The writing in general is poor and may represent only a first draft, which the author's death prevented him from editing. The last sentence suggests a second volume that may never have been written. The author of the ''Kawkab'' was Shaykh Fāḍil bin ʿUmar al-Bawrī. He was a Swahili, an ethnic Bājūn and native speaker of Swahili. The name Bawrī indicates that he belonged to the clan of that name from Pate Island. He probably belonged to the ''WaUngwana'', the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantu Expansion
The Bantu expansion is a hypothesis about the history of the major series of migrations of the original Proto-Bantu-speaking group, which spread from an original nucleus around Central Africa across much of sub-Saharan Africa. In the process, the Proto-Bantu-speaking settlers displaced or absorbed pre-existing hunter-gatherer and pastoralist groups that they encountered. The primary evidence for this expansion is linguistic – a great many of the languages which are spoken across Sub-Equatorial Africa are remarkably similar to each other, suggesting the common cultural origin of their original speakers. The linguistic core of the Bantu languages, which comprise a branch of the Atlantic-Congo language family, was located in the southern regions of Cameroon. However, attempts to trace the exact route of the expansion, to correlate it with archaeological evidence and genetic evidence, have not been conclusive; thus although the expansion is widely accepted as having taken place, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neville Chittick
Dr. Neville H. Chittick (September 18, 1924 – July 27, 1984) was a British scholar and Archaeology, archaeologist. He specialized in the historic cultures of Northeast Africa, and also devoted various works to the Swahili Coast. Biography Chittick was born in 1924. In a professional capacity, he initially worked with Max Mallowan as general field assistant in Nimrud in 1951 and later in Sudan as the Director of Antiquities.Ogot, 2003. (p. 308). He later lived in Tanganyika Territory, Tanganyika, serving as the colonial territory's first Conservator of Antiquities. In 1961, Chittick was appointed the first Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa in Nairobi. He worked in that position until 1983. After a long career in archaeology, Chittick died in 1984. He is buried in the Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge, Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground. Expeditions Chittick's expeditions and residence on the Swahili Coast produced a body of research into the pre-c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scramble For Africa
The Scramble for Africa, also called the Partition of Africa, or Conquest of Africa, was the invasion, annexation, division, and colonisation of Africa, colonization of most of Africa by seven Western Europe, Western European powers during a short period known as New Imperialism (between 1881 and 1914). The 10 percent of Africa that was under formal European control in 1870 increased to almost 90 percent by 1914, with only Liberia and Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopia remaining independent. The Berlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonization and trade in Africa, is usually accepted as the beginning. In the last quarter of the 19th century, there were considerable political rivalries within the empires of the European continent, leading to the African continent being partitioned without wars between European nations. The later years of the 19th century saw a transition from "Informal empire, informal imperialism" – military influence and economic dominance – to di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirazi Era
The "Shirazi era" refers to a mythic origin in the history of Southeast Africa (and especially Tanzania), between the 13th century and 15th century. Many Swahili in the central coastal region claim that their towns were founded by Persians from the Shiraz region in the 13th century. Once accepted as fact, modern research has disproved a Shirazi origin for the Swahili towns, instead emphasizing various social factors that induced claiming this identity. History The most likely origin for the stories about the Shirazi is from Muslim inhabitants of the Lamu Archipelago who moved south in the 10th and 11th centuries. They brought with them a coinage tradition and localized form of Islam. These Africans migrants seem to have developed a concept of Shirazi origin as they moved further southwards, near Malindi and Mombasa, along the Mrima coast. The longstanding trade connections with the Persian Gulf gave credence to these myths. In addition, because most Muslim societies are patrilinea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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