The Sultanate of Dahlak was a small
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
kingdom covering the
Dahlak Archipelago and parts of the
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
coast in what is now
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
. First attested in 1093, it quickly profited from its location between
Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
and
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
as well as
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. After the mid 13th century Dahlak lost its trade monopoly and subsequently started to decline. Both the Ethiopian empire and Yemen tried to enforce their authority over the sultanate. It was eventually annexed by the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
in 1557, who made it part of their
Abyssinian province.
History
Origins and early history
After the
Umayyads Umayyads may refer to:
*Umayyad dynasty, a Muslim ruling family of the Caliphate (661–750) and in Spain (756–1031)
*Umayyad Caliphate (661–750)
:*Emirate of Córdoba (756–929)
:*Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خ ...
seized
Dahlak in 702, they made it a prison and place of forced exile, as did the early
Abbasids
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
who succeeded them. By the 9th century the Dahlak islands had come under the rule of the king of
Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
. Around 900 he concluded a treaty of friendship with the
Ziyadid sultan of
Zabid
Zabid ( ar, زَبِيد) (also spelled Zabīd, Zabeed and Zebid) is a town with an urban population of around 52,590 people on Yemen's western coastal plain. It is one of the oldest towns in Yemen, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since ...
in
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, and by the mid 10th century it is recorded that Dahlak was forced to pay tribute to
Sultan Ishaq ibn Ibrahim. A century later, Dahlak was involved in a power struggle between the Ziyadids and the
Najahids
Najahid dynasty ( ar, بنو نجاح; Banū Najāḥ) was a slave dynasty of Abyssinian origin founded in Zabid in the Tihama (lowlands) region of Yemen around 1050 AD.
They faced hostilities from the Highlands dynasties of the time, chiefly ...
, as the latter had fled to there in 1061. Battles were fought until 1086, when the Najahids managed to restore their rule in Zabid.
The first sultan who is attestable is
Sultan Mubarak, whose funerary stele states died in 1093. His dynasty apparently lasted until 1230/1249. It was during this period, the 11th–mid 13th century, that the Sultanate enjoyed its greatest prosperity. This prosperity was mostly based on the monopoly of the external trade of the Ethiopian interior, but also involvement in the transit trade between
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It was also through Dahlak that Ethiopia maintained diplomatic relations with Yemen. In the mid 13th century, however, the
Zagwe kings began to make use of a new trading route in the south, with the port town
Zeila
Zeila ( so, Saylac, ar, زيلع, Zayla), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland.
In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila (or Hawilah) with the Bibli ...
as its final destination. Thus Dahlak lost its trading monopoly. Around the same time,
Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Mūsā ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī ( ar, علي بن موسى المغربي بن سعيد) (1213–1286), also known as Ibn Saʿīd al-Andalusī, was an Arab geographer, historian, poet, and the most important collector o ...
records that the Dahlak sultans struggled to stay independent from the
Rasulid
The Rasulids ( ar, بنو رسول, Banū Rasūl) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty who ruled Yemen from 1229 to 1454.
History
Origin of the Rasulids
The Rasulids took their name from al-Amin's nickname "Rasul". The Zaidi Shi'i Imams of Yemen were ...
s.
From the 12th century the sultans of Dahlak controlled the important trading town of
Massawa
Massawa ( ; ti, ምጽዋዕ, məṣṣəwaʿ; gez, ምጽዋ; ar, مصوع; it, Massaua; pt, Maçuá) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak ...
on the African
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
coast, which was governed by a deputy titled the ''Nai'b''. Other coastal settlements on the African continent might have been controlled by the Dahlak sultans as well, at least temporarily. To the Ethiopians, the sultan of Dahlak was known as ''Seyuma Bahr'' ("Prefect of the Sea"), in contrast to the ''Bahr Negash'' ("Lord of the Sea") of
Medri Bahri
Medri Bahri ( ti, ምድሪ ባሕሪ, English: Land of the Sea Kingdom), also known as Mereb Melash, was an Eritrean kingdom emerged in 1137 until conquest by the Ethiopian Empire in 1879. It was situated in modern-day Eritrea, and was ruled by ...
.
It was shortly after the death of Sultan Mubarak that the Dahlak sultanate began to mint coins, which were used to pay for imported goods such as Egyptian textiles and
storax balsam
Storax ( la, storax; el, στύραξ, ''stúrax''), often commercially sold as styrax, is a natural resin isolated from the wounded bark of ''Liquidambar orientalis'' Mill. (Asia Minor) and ''Liquidambar styraciflua'' L. (Central America) (Ham ...
.
The Muslims of Dahlak were probably not successful in
proselytizing
Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries.
Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invol ...
northern Abyssinia. The
Ethiopian Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...
had been well-established for centuries. Muslims were tolerated only as traders.
Demise
By the 15th century, the economy of the sultanate was not only in decline, but it was also forced to pay tribute to the
emperors of Ethiopia
This article lists the emperors of Ethiopia, from the founding of the Zagwe dynasty in the 9th/10th century until 1974, when the last emperor from the Solomonic dynasty was deposed.
Kings of Aksum and Dʿmt are listed separately due to numerous ...
. In 1464–1465, Massawa and the Dahlak archipelago were pillaged by emperor
Zara Yaqob
Zara Yaqob ( Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Kwestantinos I (Ge'ez: ቈስታንቲኖስ, "Constantine"). He is known for t ...
. By 1513 Dahlak had become a vassal of the
Tahirids
The Tahirid dynasty ( fa, طاهریان, Tâheriyân, ) was a culturally Arabized Sunni Muslim dynasty of Persian dehqan origin, that ruled as governors of Khorasan from 821 to 873 as well as serving as military and security commanders in Ab ...
. In 1517 and 1520 it came into conflict with the
Portuguese empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
, resulting in much destruction. By 1526 the Dahalik sultan, Ahmad, had been degraded to a tributary. There was a short revival of the sultanate during the
Abyssinian-Adal war, where the
sultanate of Adal
The Adal Sultanate, or the Adal Empire or the ʿAdal or the Bar Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate, ''Adal ''Sultanate'') () was a medieval Sunni Muslim Empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din II ...
waged a temporarily successful
jihad
Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
against the
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...
. Sultan Ahmad joined Adal and was rewarded with the port town of
Arkiko
Arkiko ( ar, حرقيقو, Afar and Saho: ''Hirg-Higo'', alternately Archigo, Arqiqo, Ercoco, Hirgigo, Hargigo or Harkiko) is a town in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea. Situated on the Red Sea, it lies on the mainland across from the city ...
, which before the war had belonged to Medri Bahri. However, in 1541, one year after the death of sultan Ahmad, the Portuguese returned and destroyed Dahlak yet again. Sixteen years later, the islands were occupied by the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, who made them part of the
Habesh Eyalet
, common_name = Habesh Eyalet
, subdivision = Eyalet
, nation = the Ottoman Empire
, year_start = 1554
, year_end = 1872
, life_span =
, date_start = ...
. Under the rule of the Ottomans, the Dahlak islands lost their significance.
Dahlak Kebir
Dahlak Kebir
Dahlak Kebir ( ar, دهلك كبير, it, Grande Dahlac) is the largest island of the Dahlak Archipelago. Situated in the Red Sea off of the coast of Eritrea, it was formerly called ''Dahlak Deset''.
Overview
Dahlak Kebir has a population of ...
, a site on the same-named Dahlak Kebir Island, contains material dating to the era of the sultanate. Nearly 300 tombstones have been discovered. They attest the presence of a cosmopolitan population originating from all over the Islamic world. Several, now deteriorating,
qubba
A ''qubba'' ( ar, قُبَّة, translit=qubba(t), pl. ''qubāb''), also transliterated as ḳubba, kubbet and koubba, is a cupola or domed structure, typically a tomb or shrine in Islamic architecture. In many regions, such as North Africa, the ...
s have been noted. The settlement itself consisted of well-built stone houses made of
coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...
. The site also contains several settlement mounds. The medieval population used sophisticated
cisterns
A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...
to ensure a continuous supply of
freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
.
Notes
References
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{{Medieval Horn of Africa
Former sultanates in the medieval Horn of Africa
11th-century establishments in Africa
History of Eritrea
Former monarchies