Gendebelo

Last updated

Gendebelo
LocationEthiopia
TypeCity
Site notes
Discovered2009
ArchaeologistsFrançois-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar
Bertrand Hirsch

Gendebelo (also called Gende Belo) was an ancient Muslim trading city in Ethiopia. Its location was discovered in 2009 by a team of French archaeologists. [1]

Contents

History

Gendebelo was a medieval Muslim trading center thought to be lost. [1] It was believed to situated about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Ankobar. [2] Gendebelo was "a great mercantile city", where camel caravans brought all kinds of spices except ginger (which was grown locally) from the port of Zeila. [2] Although Ethiopia is known as the second oldest Christian country in the world, about half of its population is Muslim. [1] Gendebelo was a place of peaceful trade between the Christian and Muslim cultures. [3]

Discovery

In 2009, French archaeologists François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar and Bertrand Hirsch [4] discovered the site as a medieval city now known as Nora, which has been abandoned for years except for the mosque. [3]

An old Ajami manuscript helped the archaeologists determine the city's location. [3] [4] Italian scholar and Ethiopia expert Enrico Cerulli had found the manuscript in the Muslim city of Harar in 1936, where it was being used to wrap sugar. [3] [4] The archaeologists also used the writings of Alessandro Zorzi, a 16th-century Venetian explorer who had found the ruins of Gendebelo in the desert and referred to it as "the place where mules are to be unloaded and camels take over." [3] [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Lost city, Gendebelo, found in Ethiopia". topix. 8 August 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.[ dead link ]
  2. 1 2 Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands, Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century. p. 115. ISBN   9780932415196 . Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lost city, Gendebelo, found in Ethiopia". 7 August 2009. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Ethiopia – Quest For a Lost Muslim City". Daily Trust. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.