Yakut Khan, whose real name was Siddi Qasim Khan and also known as Sidi Yaqub, was an Indian of the Siddi ethnicity (also referred to Sheedi or Habshi)[1]. The Siddi ethnic group is a social grouping for the identifiable descendants of East Africans that migrated to India during the second millennium of our era. They …
It can be seen that many countries on the globe look smaller or bigger. This is because the earth is not a complete sphere. Also, most digital maps are made in two dimensions so there will always be a risk of distortion while projecting the valuable geographical information. All projections are always a balance of …
Africa and India have had a long history and relationship together in areas like trade, religion, music, arts, and architecture, dating far back as the 1st century, but their historical link is rarely discussed.
When his nephew Emperor of the Ming dynasty Zhu Yunwen started eliminating rivals and demoting his uncles, Zhu Di, was “forced”, provided wonderful pretext, to rebel and depose his nephew and become the emperor himself. To add legitimacy to his rule, he did something very unusual and had one his best fleet admirals sail to the East Coast of Africa to get Giraffes. These were labelled the first re-appearance of one of the 4 benevolent animals in Chinese mythology, the Qilin. Where did they go to? What was the role of the Sultanate of Mogadishu, present-day Somalia, in the medieval world?
The Abbasid Caliphate came after the Umayyad caliphate, in 750 CE, lasted 5 centuries and was one of the largest Empires in the world at its peak.
Ruins of Gedi Although certain African kingdoms like Axum, north of the Swahili city states, already had evidence of trading relationships with the Eastern Roman Empire, North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, India and Sri Lanka during 100 AD through to 900 AD, other African port cities would later develop evidence of trading with India, Sri …
THE GEDI RUINS – RuNNing Water in the 14th Century – Gedi, Kenya Read More »
It’s the first half of the sixth century, the beginning of the middle ages, the time when the silk trade was growing between the Byzantine Empire and China, the time when the Anno Domini system was created which the Gregorian calendar is based upon, the time when the first reference in history to the use …
Cosmas Indicopleustes,From A Simple Merchant To An Intellectual Voyager Read More »
Imagine that you are living in North West Africa and it’s now the 14th century. Like many others, you have an inner desire to travel and explore the world around you. You want to explore the rest of your continent and you also want to go to the far East and find out what’s there …
