Postby James Dahl » Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:40 pm
Axum wasn't a centralized empire, but a mass of tributary kingdoms, each of which was ruled by a prince (Ras). The first mentions of a Prince of Zeila for instance are in the 600s.
Himyar is recorded to have started founding colonies in East Africa in around 500 B.C., and later writings discuss the location of Himyar's colonies as being opposite Aden and Muza, which corresponds to where I drew them on the map. Also, of the Yemeni kingdoms, Himyar was unique in that it was Jewish, as were the Ibro.
However that leaves the colonies on the tip of the Horn of Africa, as discussed in Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. The Periplus states that the tip colonies are not Azanian, but part of the "Berber coast".
That got me thinking. There are actually two groups of people called "Jaberti". One group is in Eritrea, the other is in Hadramaut.
Now Himyar and Saba both had port cities, and BOTH of them had colonies in the Horn. Hadramaut is just as old as Himyar and Saba, and just as large and powerful, and just as mercantile, AND had extensive links to the incense trade, all of which were factors in Saba and Himyar founding colonies in the horn.
Also, Darood leaders through history have had a connection with Hadhramaut. Kenadiid found enough support there to conquer Hobyo in the 1870s, and they have always strongly identified with the region.
