Shirazis of the Comoros

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The Shirazis of the Comoros, 138,000 people with Iranian heritage, are one of the largest ethnic group inhabiting the archipelago nation of Comoros near the east African coast and they represent 17% of the total population of the Comoros. [1] [2] Their origins are linked to Shiraz and the southwestern coastal region of Persia (now Iran). 89,000 people or 11% of the population from the Comoros have Southeast Asian ancestry. The Shirazi people are notable for helping establish Sunni Islam in Comoros, and the wealth they accumulated from trading commodities and slaves. [3] [4] [5]

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Genetics in Comoros

Msaidie et al. (2010) analyzed the uniparental DNA variation on three Bantu-speaking islands of the Comoros archipelago, collecting blood samples from 577 unrelated Comorian men and women (Grand Comore: 170 men, 67 women; Anjouan: 104 men, 69 women; Moheli: 107 men, 60 women). [6] Oral traditions and historical records indicate that the Comoros islands had a presence of merchants from Shiraz in Iran and that Shirazi princes colonized these islands. [7]

Msadie et al. found that the most common paternal haplogroups among the sampled Comorians are E1b1a1-M2 (41%) and E2-M90 (14%). These Y-DNA clades are frequent among other Bantu-speaking populations on the east African mainland, which points to shared origins. The remaining Comorians primarily carry the haplogroups E1b1b-V22, E1b1b-M123, F*(xF2, GHIJK), G2a, I, J1, J2, L1, Q1a3, R1*, R1a*, R1a1 and R2 (29.7%). Of these latter clades, the particular haplotypes that are found in Comoros were observed to be most closely related to those in South Iran. This suggests that these northern lineages were brought by early Shirazi merchants from Persia between 1200-1300 CE, as they established local trading posts on the Comoros islands. Around 6% of the Comorians also bear the O1 haplogroup, which indicates a minor Southeast Asian influence. [6]

Maternally, the Comorians primarily belong to the L0, L1, L2 and L3′4(xMN) haplogroups (84.7%). These mtDNA clades are also common among other mainland Bantu populations and at roughly similar proportions. The rest of the Comorian population almost exclusively carries mitochondrial haplogroups associated with Southeast Asia (15.3%), with the B4a1a1-PM, F3b and M7c1c clades (10.6%) and the M(xD, E, M1, M2, M7) paragroup (4%) most frequent. Since no mtDNA haplogroups linked with the Middle East were observed, the gene flow from this region appears to have occurred through male-dominated trade and religious proselytisation. [6]

According to Msaidie et al., admixture analysis of the maternal and paternal contributions in the Comoros sample indicates that the Comorian population was formed through tripartite gene flow over the last 2,000 years between Bantu populations in sub-Saharan coastal East Africa, settlers from Iran, and migrants from Southeast Asia. Consequently, most of the Comorian islanders' gene pool is estimated to have derived from Africa (72%), with significant contributions from Western Asia (17%) and Southeast Asia (11%). Overall, the Comorian Shirazi were found to be genetically similar to the Lemba, a Bantu-speaking population inhabiting southeast Africa. Since the Lemba have Semitic cultural traditions and Bantu, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian associated paternal lineages have also been detected among them, the scientists suggest that they and the Comorians may have evolved through parallel demographic processes. [6]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Tanzania Ethnic Groups, East Africa Living Encyclopedia, accessed 28 June 2010
  2. ↑ Ari Nave (2010). Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates (eds.). Encyclopedia of Africa. Oxford University Press. pp. 187–188. ISBN   978-0-19-533770-9.
  3. ↑ Ari Nave (2010). Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates (eds.). Encyclopedia of Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 379. ISBN   978-0-19-533770-9. Most scholars, however, believe that the Shirazi actually began their settlement of the East African coast in the twelfth century and that they originated in Somalia. Shirazi established themselves on the following islands: Lamu Kenya, Pemba Zanzibar, Mafia and Kilqa Kiswani all in Tanzania and Comoros. (...) Known for their mercantile skills, the Shirazi asserted themselves as ruling elites as early as the twelfth century on the islands that were their base. Trade in gold, ivory and slaves brought prosperity to the Shirazi
  4. ↑ August H. Nimtz (1980). Islam and Politics in East Africa. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 3–11, 30–33, 39–47. ISBN   978-0-8166-0963-5., Quote: "The Shirazi were classified as native, that is, Africans, and this they were of low status. Prior to the colonial era, the Shirazi and Arabs saw themselves, for the most part, as one community. (...) Unlike the previous periods in which African captives were usually taken to Persian Gulf areas to work primarily as domestic laborers, by the nineteenth century, most slaves were being utilized on the vast clove and plantations on the East African coast and offshore islands. (...) Arab rule, from this period until its demise at the hands of the European powers, became virtually synonymous with slavery and slave ownership." (...) "Though Shirazi ownership of slaves was never as extensive as the Arabs, slaves were a major source of their wealth"
  5. ↑ Per O. Hernæs, Tore Iversen (2002). Slavery Across Time and Space: Studies in Slavery in Medieval Europe and Africa. University of Virginia. p. 23. ISBN   8277650418 . Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Msaidie, Said; et al. (2011). "Genetic diversity on the Comoros Islands shows early seafaring as major determinant of human biocultural evolution in the Western Indian Ocean" (PDF). European Journal of Human Genetics. 19 (1): 89–94. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2010.128. PMC   3039498 . PMID   20700146. We reveal the Comoros population to be a genetic mosaic, the result of tripartite gene flow from the North, the East and the West. Admixture analysis of the maternal and paternal contributions indicates the gene pool to be predominately African (72%), with significant contributions from Western Asia (17%) and Southeast Asia (11%). Our study therefore provides the first unequivocal evidence that the Middle Eastern trade routes that developed along the East African coast, during the last 2 000 years, have left a genetic trace. (...) This concords withhistorical data which attests to the presence of traders from Shiraz in Iran on the Comoros, and also the Comorian's own oral traditions which recount that Shirazi princes came in ships and established colonies on the islands. On the island of Anjouan the term "Shirazi" is used to refer to someone of Middle Eastern appearance. There is historical evidence that 1 000 YBP Persian traders played an important role in trade along the East coast, and we therefore predict that an Iranian genetic signal will be detected among Swahili speakers at former Middle Eastern trading centres on the sub-Saharan East coast, such as the islands of Zanzibar and Kilwa off the coast of Tanzania. (...)
  7. ↑ Msaidie, Said; et al. (2011). "Genetic diversity on the Comoros Islands shows early seafaring as major determinant of human biocultural evolution in the Western Indian Ocean" (PDF). European Journal of Human Genetics. 19 (1): 89–94. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2010.128. PMC   3039498 . PMID   20700146. This concords with historical data which attests to the presence of traders from Shiraz in Iran on the Comoros, and also the Comorian's own oral traditions which recount that Shirazi princes came in ships and established colonies on the islands.
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