CULTURE Somalis' Sewn-boats

[Midas]

It's honestly crazy how much somalia has been written out off the martine history of the Indian ocean except for the occasion mention. When we've been involved in it for at least 3 millenia. But it's okay because when Somalia starts doing real archeology in the future one of the biggest fields will be martime archeology. Considering all trade going from the Mediterranean to the Indian ocean or vice versa has to pass through the somali coast and our waters were always rough. There are probably countless shipwrecks from the last 3 millenia underneath somalias 3 thosuands km of sea coast.

 

[Shimbiris]

Another French find most likely from the 19th to early 20th century.

(1914) Warsangeli sailor Mohamed Musa fastens the sail

Mistakenly labelled as an "Arab" Dhow during the 1960s

A nice example of a smaller fishing Dhow recovered by the Horn Heritage folks and shared by Sada Mire:

A Somali Sambuk off the coast of Aden in 1959:

source

 

[Shimbiris]

Now for some interesting Early Modern sources

First is this very interesting source from the early 1800s that speaks of Reer Woqooyi such as those in Berbera practicing a form of protectionism where they did not allow non-Somali sailors such as Arabs to export goods but instead only allowed those goods to be shipped by Somalis themselves to places like Yemen:

Berbera held an annual fair during the cool rain-free months between October and April. This long drawn out market handled immense quantities of coffee, gum Arabic, myrrh and other commodities. These goods in the early nineteenth century were almost exclusively handled by Somalis who, Salt says, had "a kind of navigation act by which they exclude the Arab vessels from their ports and bring the produce of their country either to Aden or Mocha in their own dows."38

source

Then there is this riveting information that says Somalis were engaged in the pearling and fishing of the Indian Ocean for centuries whilst lauding their swimming and diving skills:

source

I've actually encountered examples of their diving skills before. There'd be depictions of wealthy European yuppies throwing Somali fishermen coins and the Somalis would be dive deep into the sea and retrieve them. I remember one pretty cool looking one but sadly can't find it. Found this, however:

source

Moving on from that, we have this text on the Majeerteen sailing fleet during the mid to late 1800s:

Much of this trade was in the hands of EIC and South Asian merchants, but much was also undertaken by Majerteen merchants. By the mid-nineteenth century, local merchants owned some forty large merchant sailboats between them, each capable of carrying one hundred tons or more. The boats were spread across owners in Majerteenia’s eight principal ports, five ports in addition to the historical ports of the Periplus at Bandar Cassim, Alula and Ras Hafun. In monetary terms, British officials at the time estimated that Majerteenia’s trade with Aden amounted to between 250,000 and 500,000 British Rupees per year by the 1870s, or about £25,000–50,000 sterling (about £30–60 million today) and between three and five per cent of Aden’s total imports, including from mainland Britain.1

source

And on the subject of the Majeerteen, it seems that contrary to what some sources I shared earlier in this thread claimed, they were an adventurous lot who sailed to places beyond a Arabia a good chunk before the mid 1800s. Apparently they were forming colonies on the Eritrean coast as early as the 1700s:

This event produced an open rupture ; and, as the Nayib at Arkeeko had it in his power to starve Massowa, the Jidda soldiers had given up the contest, and returned home, leaving a few slaves only in attendance upon the Aga.

I soon afterwards went on shore, where I found two of the Dumhoeta Chiefs, Hamooda and Undodo, younger brothers of Alli Govéta, with a number of their followers, waiting to receive me. I also found a party of Somauli traders, who, under the direction of Yunus's brother, had established a small factory at this place for the purpose of carrying on an intercourse with the natives; an instance of enterprise strongly marking the superiority of the Somauli over all other African tribes on the coast. The chief exports consist of slaves, horses, cattle, goats, and ghee, of which latter very considerable quantities are always to be procured in the neighbourhood. On mentioning to the chiefs, that my intention in visiting them was to confirm that friendship which I had entered into with Alli Govéta, they expressed themselves highly gratified, and declared, that what their brother had sworn to should be upheld by the whole of their tribes.

source

An Italian source describing the same:

Genealogy of one of the Majerteen tribes in Eritrea:

Mohammed Saleh Ahmed [Mahammed Abubakr] Yusuf Guled Yahya Ibrahim Daud Hasan Habib Ard El Nabi Warwaqsame Majeerteen
​

It's very interesting how he writes "an instance of enterprise strongly marking the superiority of the Somauli over all other African tribes on the coast". It reminds me of this seemingly Early Modern German source a Somali shared—sadly without an exact dating—saying pretty much the same thing:




Also reminds me of Speke saying "The Nakhoda (captain), as is often the case in these primitive countries, kept no regular sailors, but trusted to finding men desirous of going to their country, who would work his vessel for him—all Somali being by nature sailors" not too long after this and Richard Pankhurst saying "The Somali people, notably those of the Gulf of Aden Coast, have a well-established tradition of sea-faring and travel to foreign lands" as I shared earlier in this thread.

It's amazing how little most Somalis today know about all this given that to the Europeans of the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s it was common knowledge. And from some of their accounts as above it really does seem like we were THE East-African ethnic group par excellence in regards to sailing. Very dominant in this respect among the native peoples of western shores of the Indian Ocean from what I've seen.

@Midas @Khaem @TheLand @The alchemist @Step a side

 

[Laser]

Now for some interesting Early Modern sources

First is this very interesting source from the early 1800s that speaks of Reer Woqooyi such as those in Berbera practicing a form of protectionism where they did not allow non-Somali sailors such as Arabs to export goods but instead only allowed those goods to be shipped by Somalis themselves to places like Yemen:


source

Then there is this riveting information that says Somalis were engaged in the pearling and fishing of the Indian Ocean for centuries whilst lauding their swimming and diving skills:

source

I've actually encountered examples of their diving skills before. There'd be depictions of wealthy European yuppies throwing Somali fishermen coins and the Somalis would be dive deep into the sea and retrieve them. I remember one pretty cool looking one but sadly can't find it. Found this, however:

source

Moving on from that, we have this text on the Majeerteen sailing fleet during the mid to late 1800s:



source

And on the subject of the Majeerteen, it seems that contrary to what some sources I shared earlier in this thread claimed, they were an adventurous lot who sailed to places beyond a Arabia a good chunk before the mid 1800s. Apparently they were forming colonies on the Eritrean coast as early as the 1700s:



source

An Italian source describing the same:

Genealogy of one of the Majerteen tribes in Eritrea:

Mohammed Saleh Ahmed [Mahammed Abubakr] Yusuf Guled Yahya Ibrahim Daud Hasan Habib Ard El Nabi Warwaqsame Majeerteen
​

It's very interesting how he writes "an instance of enterprise strongly marking the superiority of the Somauli over all other African tribes on the coast". It reminds me of this seemingly Early Modern German source a Somali shared—sadly without an exact dating—saying pretty much the same thing:




Also reminds me of Speke saying "The Nakhoda (captain), as is often the case in these primitive countries, kept no regular sailors, but trusted to finding men desirous of going to their country, who would work his vessel for him—all Somali being by nature sailors" not too long after this and Richard Pankhurst saying "The Somali people, notably those of the Gulf of Aden Coast, have a well-established tradition of sea-faring and travel to foreign lands" as I shared earlier in this thread.

It's amazing how little most Somalis today know about all this given that to the Europeans of the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s it was common knowledge. And from some of their accounts as above it really does seem like we were THE East-African ethnic group par excellence in regards to sailing. Very dominant in this respect among the native peoples of western shores of the Indian Ocean from what I've seen.

@Midas @Khaem @TheLand @The alchemist @Step a side

The book Somali chronicles is using is this one:

Das Ausland
Wochenschrift für Länder- u. Völkerkunde
1844

 

[Shangani]

I wish I had a picture of my great grandfathers boat

 

[Barkhadle1520]

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I love what they did with the miniature somali boats models and the garessa exposition

When I first saw this I imagined that in the future we could build a maritime museum thats esentially just a big rectangular building, and in the middle there is a big center piece which would be a big dhow boat hanging from the ceiling, so big you couldnt possibly miss it, and the boat would be tilted so that its tip would be at around a meter from head level

The idea came to my head when I saw cadaans doing this for their aviation or archeology museums

and the ceiling itself would have these small boats suspended to add additional decoration higher up

an then on the walls there would be all these different somali ships miniature models with little boards explaining each or showing the original picture or illustration

With additional sections showcasing life-size recreations like that egyptian wall painting of puntites on rafts or even a life size recreation of that picture where you see somalis building the ship

And imagine if the entire room would have dark lighting with spotlights on the boats and vitrines, I visited tons of museums and that ambiance is the thing I love the most about them

And the entrance of the museum could have recreations of famous Somali lighthouses on display