Mogadishu currency was an old

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order ...

age system minted by the medieval

Sultanate of Mogadishu The Sultanate of Mogadishu ( so, Saldanadda Muqdisho, ar, سلطنة مقديشو) (fl.9th- 13th centuries), also known as the Kingdom of Magadazo, was a medieval Somali sultanate centered in southern Somalia. It rose as one of the pre-eminent po ...

Overview

In order to facilitate regional trade, the Mogadishu Sultanate began minting its own coins, a move which had the effect of centralizing its commercial hegemony. The currency bears the names of 23 successive Sultans of Mogadishu. Some coins also adopted the style of the extant

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...

and Ottoman currencies. For trade, the

Ajuran Empire The Ajuran Sultanate ( so, Saldanadda Ajuuraan, ar, سلطنة الأجورانية), also natively referred-to as Ajuuraan, and often simply Ajuran, was a Somali Empire in the Middle Ages in the Horn of Africa that dominated the trade in th ...

minted its own Ajuran currency. It also utilized the Mogadishan currency originally minted by the

, which later became incorporated into the

during the 13th century. Mogadishan coins were in widespread circulation. Pieces have been found as far away as the present-day

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

, where a coin bearing the name of a 15th-century Somali Sultan Ali b. Yusuf of Mogadishu was excavated. Over the course of three archaeological expeditions in Warsheikh between 1920 and 1921,

Enrico Cerulli Enrico Cerulli (15 February 1898 - 19 September 1988) was an Italian scholar of Somali and Ethiopian studies, a governor and a diplomat. Biography Cerulli was born in Naples, Italy in 1898. He wrote his doctoral thesis at the University of Nap ...

also uncovered coins from the medieval Sultans of Mogadishu. They were deposited in the Scuola Orientale of the University of Rome, but were later lost in World War II. According to Cerulli, similar coins were found in the village of Mos (Moos), located about 14 km to Warsheikh's northwest. Freeman-Grenville (1963) also record another discovery of ancient coins in the latter town. During excavation in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in 1971, a copper piece was discovered baring the name of Sultan of Mogadishu Ali ibn Yusuf. Bronze coins belonging to the Sultans of Mogadishu have also been found at Belid near

Salalah Salalah ( ar, صَلَالَة, Ṣalālah) is the capital and largest city of the southern Omani governorate of Dhofar. Its population in 2009 was about 197,169. Salalah is the third-largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest city ...

Dhofar The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah G ...

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References

*Julfar, an Arabian Port. Its Settlement and Far Eastern Ceramic Trade from the 14th to the 18th Centuries. by John Hansman, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland - 1985 Numismatics Economic history of Somalia Ajuran Sultanate Currencies of Somalia Economy of Mogadishu

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See also

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References