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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Calhoun, Institutional Archive of the Naval Postgraduate School Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Theses and Dissertations Thesis Collection 2008-06 Beleaguered Muslim fortresses and Ethiopian imperial expansion from the 13th to the 16th century Owens, Travis J. Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School http://hdl.handle.net/10945/4031 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS BELEAGUERED MUSLIM FORTRESSES AND ETHIOPIAN IMPERIAL EXPANSION FROM THE 13TH TO THE 16TH CENTURY by Travis J. Owens June 2008 Thesis Co-Advisors: Letitia Lawson Abbas Kadhim Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED June 2008 Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Beleaguered Muslim Fortresses and Ethiopian Imperial 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Expansion from the 13th to the 16th Century 6. AUTHOR(S) Travis J. Owens 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Naval Postgraduate School REPORT NUMBER Monterey, CA 93943-5000 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING N/A AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) J.S. Trimingham has famously described Ethiopia as a “beleaguered fortress in the midst of a sea of Islam,” implying Christians in Ethiopia have consistently been besieged by Muslims, not vice versa. This thesis challenges this common conception by demonstrating that throughout Ethiopia’s medieval period (1270-1555), the time of greatest conflict between the Ethiopian Empire and its Muslim neighbors, Muslim forces did not besiege the Ethiopian Empire. On the contrary, the Ethiopians militarily subjugated their neighboring Muslim sultanates, most prominently Ifat and Adal, and politically divided the sultanates’ ruling families to keep them weak. These tactics, designed to wrest control of trade from the sultanates, were resoundingly successful until Muslims unified around military/religious leaders, primary among them being Imam Gran, who in 1531 conquered the Ethiopian Empire. Though Imperial forces reversed the conquest by 1543, a historical focus on this event still feeds the misperception that Ethiopia’s history is that of a Christian kingdom ensconced in a fortress to protect itself from a beleaguering “Muslim menace.” This thesis concludes to the contrary that the Ethiopian Empire waded aggressively and purposefully into the sea of Islam to beleaguer its many Muslim neighbors. 14. SUBJECT TERMS Adal, Ahmed, Amhara, Amlak, Christian, Dahlak Islands, Dengel, Ethiopia, 15. NUMBER OF expansion, fortress, Ifat, Gran, Imam, Islam, Mahfuz, Maryam, medieval, Missawa Muslim, Sabradin, PAGES Seyon, sultanate, Sultan Muhammad, Shawa, Tigrai, trade, Trimingham, Zeila 63 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY 19. SECURITY 20. LIMITATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT REPORT PAGE ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239-18 i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited BELEAGUERED MUSLIM FORTRESSES AND ETHIOPIAN IMPERIAL EXPANSION FROM THE 13TH TO THE 16TH CENTURY Travis J. Owens Lieutenant Commander, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, United States Navy B.S., University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 1993 J.D., University of Cincinnati College of Law, 1997 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN SECURITY STUDIES (MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH ASIA AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA) from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL June 2008 Author: Travis J. Owens Approved by: Letitia Lawson Thesis Co-Advisor Abbas Kadhim Thesis Co-Advisor Harold Trinkunas Chairman, Department of National Security Affairs iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK iv ABSTRACT J.S. Trimingham has famously described Ethiopia as a “beleaguered fortress in the midst of a sea of Islam,” implying Christians in Ethiopia have consistently been besieged by Muslims, not vice versa. This thesis challenges this common conception by demonstrating that throughout Ethiopia’s medieval period (1270-1555), the time of greatest conflict between the Ethiopian Empire and its Muslim neighbors, Muslim forces did not besiege the Ethiopian Empire. On the contrary, the Ethiopians militarily subjugated their neighboring Muslim sultanates, most prominently Ifat and Adal, and politically divided the sultanates’ ruling families to keep them weak. These tactics, designed to wrest control of trade from the sultanates, were resoundingly successful until Muslims unified around military/religious leaders, primary among them being Imam Gran, who in 1531 conquered the Ethiopian Empire. Though Imperial forces reversed the conquest by 1543, a historical focus on this event still feeds the misperception that Ethiopia’s history is that of a Christian kingdom ensconced in a fortress to protect itself from a beleaguering “Muslim menace.” This thesis concludes to the contrary that the Ethiopian Empire waded aggressively and purposefully into the sea of Islam to beleaguer its many Muslim neighbors. v THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vi TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 A. LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................2 B. METHODS AND SOURCES..........................................................................5 C. OUTLINE OF THE THESIS..........................................................................5 II. ETHIOPIAN RELIGION, GEOGRAPHY AND TRADE ROUTES ON THE EVE OF THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD........................................................................7 A. ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY’S ARRIVAL IN ETHIOPIA ....................7 B. GEOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAMIC SULTANATES AND CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS ...........................................................................11 C. THE MAJOR TRADE ROUTES.................................................................13 III. ETHIOPIAN EXPANSION OVER MUSLIM TERRITORY AND TRADE ROUTES (1270-1550) ................................................................................................17 A. THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE AND THE SULTANATE OF IFAT...........17 B. THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE, THE SULTANATE OF ADAL, AND THE MUSLIM PORTS.................................................................................23 C. EMPRESS HELENA, SULTAN MUHAMMAD AND ACCOMMODATION ...................................................................................25 D. THE SULTANATE OF ADAL AND AMIR MAHFUZ.............................27 E. THE EMPIRE DEFEATS AMIR MAHFUZ OF ADAL............................29 F. THE RISE OF IMAM GRAN OF ADAL ....................................................31 G. IMAM GRAN CONQUERS THE ETHIOPIAN EMPIRE .......................34 H. THE EMPIRE DEFEATS IMAM GRAN....................................................35 IV. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................39 LIST OF REFERENCES......................................................................................................43 INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST .........................................................................................49 vii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Contraction and Growth of Ethiopia in History.................................................9 Figure 2. Christian Territories in the Ethiopian Highlands up to the Medieval Period ..10 Figure 3. Muslim Areas in Early Medieval Ethiopia ......................................................11 Figure 4. The Ethiopian Empire at the Time of Emperor Amda Seyon (1314-1344).....12 Figure 5. Trade Routes in Medieval Ethiopia (1332-1527) ............................................14 ix THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In Ethiopia, a little boy was recently born. Crushing poverty or disease will unfairly demand that the boy’s parents give him up for adoption. Within a year, he will be in my house, his new home. My little lost boy inspired me to explore Ethiopia’s history. His Ethiopian parents have no idea a caring, intelligent professor, Letitia Lawson, has worked tirelessly to ensure their son’s Daddy knows something of the Horn of Africa’s history.

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