ARAM, 8 (1996), 189-199 EXTERNAL TRADE EXTERNAL TRADE OF BILAD AL-SHAM IN THE EARLY ABBASID PERIOD NICOLA A. ZIADEH INTRODUCTORY REMARKS The Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean are two water bodies which, from time immemorial, experienced exchange of trade along their coasts. Appar- ently from very early times some trade had trickled from the one sea to the other; these commercial relations grew with time. There is, however, a land bridge which separated them: Bilad al-Sham and a strip of land in Egypt made direct sea – passage between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean impossi- ble. It is obvious that crossing this short distance in Egypt should prove to be the easier of the two land blocks. But the Red Sea is a treacherous water body. In the first place it abounds in coral-rief barriers, especially along the Arabian coasts. Secondly pirates find in it prosperous nests, when the grip of the state in Egypt loosens; this is, to my mind, is one reason why land routes from Yaman to the Hijaz prospered late in the fifth and sixth century A.D., when Byzantine authority in Egypt slackened; pirates infested the Red Sea. Thirdly there are many periods in the year when strong winds blow from both Egypt and the Peninsula southwards and collect strength at Bab al-Mandab bottle – neck, which thwarts the vessels of ancient times; they will have to spend lengths of time waiting at Aden or along the Horn of Africa.1 Bilad al-Sham – Iraq barrier, on the other hand, although much longer and more difficult to trespass, provides merchants with numerous towns and mar- kets along the road where goods could be exchanged, and profits realised. Be- sides, once merchants arrive at the southern reaches of the Land of the Two Rivers they have a choice of either going south to the Arab-Persian Gulf (to the Indian Ocean) or continuing their land journey over a track almost 11,000 k/ms long, to China, with points of contact with merchants coming from the northern lands carrying their goods – furs, hides, wax etc – for sale. Thus they could augment their own loads of merchandise. 1 I heard the following story told in Jordan. A friend of Amir (later King) Abdullah of Jordan paid him a visit one day, and after a while he took leave from the Amir, because as he said he was expecting a sailing vessel with his cargo to arrive at Aqaba. The Amir told him that the boat could not arrive before three weeks. However he insisted on leaving, went to Aqaba to find a cable waiting for him saying that the vessel is delayed for three weeks because of the strong winds blowing from the north. The friend was surprised, but then he was reminded that the Amir was a Hijazi and knew the nature of the winds of the Red Sea. 190 N.A. ZIADEH This is not the place to tell the story of the various attacks carried by the ancient empires from the East to occupy Bilad al-Sham for various purposes such as securing raw materials and the control of trade routes which traverse this land bridge; suffice it here to mention that the rulers of Ancient Persia deemed it worth while their effort to construct a royal road from Sardis (in Asia Minor) to Susa (in south – west Iran) to facilitate the movements of both armies and caravans. But this trans-Asian route could suffer set-backs when wars and troubles ensued between people or states along it. Thus we find that a parallel sea-route seems to have developed, which was rather active in the fifth and sixth centu- ries A.D. with Ceylon (Sri Lanka) as its focal point; and this route, which ex- panded eastwards with time became a very important one in days to come, so as to reach modern Indonesia and Southern China Sea. In the first two centuries of the Christian Era the long land route, which came to be known, some time in the nineteenth century, as the Silk Route, car- ried voluminous trade because rather amicable relations did, more or less, pre- vail along it among the empires which sat across it. They were the Late Ming Dynasty of China (A.D. 25-220); the Kushan Empire of North India and Af- ghanistan (c.A.D. 40-220); the Parthian Empire which ruled Iran, Iraq and their neighbours (c.250 B.C.-A.D.226). They all encouraged trade although occasional wars were never ruled out.2 The situation deteriorated when fighting broke out occasionally between the Parthians and the Romans along the Euphrates in the second and third centu- ries, yet trade was carried on via Palmyra until its destruction at the hands of Aurelian in A.D.273. With the Arabs emerging from the Peninsula and after their vast conquests a new situation came into existence. Though the conquests themselves disrupted trade routes for some times, eventually the lands between Central Asia and the Mediterranean were now under one ruler. The accession of the Abbasids to power in A.D.750 coincided, in its early period, say till circa 930, with a pe- riod of stability under the Tang Dynasty in China (A.D.618-906) a situation which was encouraging for traders to pursue their activities in, more or less, a usual way. EXPLOSION OF POPULATION During the period under review the area under Abbasid rule, whether real as at the beginning, or ephemeral as it developed after the first decades of the 2 V.E. Smith, Oxford History of India, (ed. P. Spears), (Oxford, 1958), 146-156; Lucy Boulnois, The Silk Road, (trans. from French by Demis Chamberlain), (New York, 1996), 60-73; Simkin, The Traditional Trade of Asia, (Oxford, 1968), 28-35, 38-48, 85f. EXTERNAL TRADE 191 tenth century, witnessed two developments which enhanced trade and com- merce. The first was a population explosion and the second was creation of numerous petty-states; some were practically independent, while others recog- nized a nomminal authority of the “Caliph”. The population explosion as such resulted from the movements of numerous nomadic tribes, both Arabs and others, into the newly created state. Tribes of smaller numbers moved from their arid areas seeking fortunes, or at least bet- ter living conditions, under the wings of the new rulers. Besides, numbers of Turks, in particular, sought service at the new courts, even before al-Mutasim (A.D.833-842) recruited Turks for the caliphal army and had them transferred to his new capital at Samarra. Other junior potentates followed suite. This was the beginning of the sweep of the Turks (Mongols) into the area some time later.2a Within the area itself one may consider the moves of Banu Aqil and Banu Kilab within Bilad al-Sham and the Peninsula, and the migration of the Kurds from the Zagros Mountains and Asia Minor south and south west as falling within this category. The second factor which caused this explosion is the numerous slaves that arrived from practically every corner of the earth – they were black, white and yellow. They were imported in large numbers to do various jobs in the great palaces. The Zanj who worked in the fertile parts of al-Sawad in southern Iraq (whether they were slaves or paid laborers)5 were so numerous that when they revolted it took the Abbasid caliphate fourteen years (869-883) to bring them to submission; any way after destroying the productive lands and the canals in the region. The preempted area was occupied by people coming from numer- ous places, far and near. The other development was the creation of new cities, and the repair of delapidated older ones, as camp towns and centres for administration. Then such towns served, when time came, as capitals of the newly created states and princedoms. The Abbasid Caliphal domain came to be studdied with fairly large and prosperous cities such as Nisapur, Ferghanah, Samarqand, Bukhara, Herat, Ray, Basra, Kufa and Damascus – let alone Baghdad itself. Each of those, and many others, became, at one time or another, a capital, a trade center or a place of learning. And most of them had their mosques, palaces, schools, qaysariyyas, and caravansaries. Most of such building were monu- 2a See David Morgan, The Mongols, (Oxford, 1986), passim. 3 Hugh Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphate, (London and New York, 1986), 285-308. 4 M.A. Shaban, Islamic History, A New Interpretation 2 A.D.750-1055 (A.H.132-448), (Cam- bridge, 1976), 100-102; Kennedy, 250-266. 5 Ibn Khurdadhbah, al-Masalik, 92; A.Metz, The Renaissance of Islam, 354-6, (Ar. transla- tion), vol. II 158-159, 372. 192 N.A. ZIADEH ments of art and architecture. Capitals, contained besides armies, numerous government officials and retainers. Such cities demanded supplies of different nature, and large quantities thereof. When soldiery is considered their needs go beyond those of the ordinary citizens; their attire, equipment and arms; their horses and the saddles for the animals, are only simple examples. Town people and courts and courtiers are prone to consume luxury goods, which merchants were prepared to supply. The wheel of commerce and trade turned heavily in order to meet the demand. COMMODOTIES The one single commodity which was most often sought was silk. Silk ma- terial first arrived in Iraq and Bilad al-Sham in the second century A.D. The cloth, which came from China was dyed in Syrian, and especially Lebanese cities, in various shades of purple and soon caught the imagination of people of authority or wealth.