Gendebelo

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Gendebelo
Gendebelo
Interactive map of Gendebelo
LocationEthiopia
Coordinates 12°37′00″N37°40′00″E / 12.61667°N 37.66667°E / 12.61667; 37.66667
TypeCity
Site notes
Discovered2009
ArchaeologistsFrançois-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar
Bertrand Hirsch

Gendebelo (also called Gende Belo and Nora) was an ancient Muslim trading city in Ifat (present-day central Ethiopia). [1] Its location was discovered in 2009 by a team of French archaeologists. [2]

Contents

History

Gendebelo was a medieval Muslim trading center thought to be lost. [2] It was believed to situated about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Ankober. [3] 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. [3] It was governed by the Walasma dynasty. [4]

In the sixteenth century the city is referenced in the work Futuh al-Habasha by Adalite author Sihab ad-Din Ahmad during Adal's invasion of Abyssinia. [5]

Discovery

In 2009, French archaeologists François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar and Bertrand Hirsch [6] discovered the site as a medieval city now known as Nora, which has been abandoned for years except for the mosque. [7]

An old Ajami manuscript helped the archaeologists determine the city's location. [7] [6] 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. [7] [6] 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." [7] [6]

References

  1. ↑ Lindahl, Bernhard. Local History of Ethiopia (PDF). Nordic Africa Institute. p. 1.
  2. 1 2 "Lost city, Gendebelo, found in Ethiopia". topix. 8 August 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.[ dead link ]
  3. 1 2 Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands, Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century. The Red Sea Press. p. 115. ISBN   9780932415196 . Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  4. ↑ Chekroun, Amélie (2023). In Search of Gendabelo, the Ethiopian "Market of the World"of the 15th and 16th Centuries. Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée. pp. 179–204. doi:10.4000/remmm.19577.
  5. ↑ Faqih, Arab (2003). The Conquest of Abyssinia: 16th Century. Tsehai Publishers & Distributors. p. 37. ISBN   978-0-9723172-6-9.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Ethiopia – Quest For a Lost Muslim City". Daily Trust. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Lost city, Gendebelo, found in Ethiopia". 7 August 2009. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
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