Books about Somalis, 1500 to 1884: the Futuh, Portuguese, Ottoman and European travellers

What these books are

Three kinds of writing describe Somalis between 1500 and 1884.

An Arabic chronicle from the inside. The Futuh al-Habasha ("Conquest of Abyssinia") was written by Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Qadir, known as Arab Faqih, about the campaigns of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim from 1529 to 1543 (Futuh al-Habasha, Wikipedia). It was translated into French by René Basset in 1897 and into English by Paul Lester Stenhouse, with notes by Richard Pankhurst, in 2003 (Tsehai Publishers). It names many Somali groups who fought in the Imam's army. The wars themselves are on Imam Ahmad and Adal, 1527 to 1543.

Portuguese and Ottoman accounts from the sea. After Vasco da Gama passed Mogadishu in 1499, Portuguese writers recorded the coast's cities, their trade and the Portuguese attacks on Brava, Zeila and Berbera. The Ottoman admiral Seydi Ali Reis wrote of sailing the same waters in the 1550s.

European travellers from the 1840s. British, French and German travellers wrote longer accounts of the north and the Banaadir coast. Richard Burton's First Footsteps in East Africa (1856) covers his journey of 1854 to 1855 from Zeila to Harar and his camp at Berbera, which was attacked in April 1855 (First Footsteps, Internet Archive). The Spectator reviewed it on 2 August 1856 (Spectator Archive).

How historians use them

Historians read these books alongside Somali oral history, poetry and genealogies, which cover the same centuries from the inside. The travellers often depended on interpreters, and they wrote for European readers, so their descriptions reflect their own aims and assumptions as well as what they saw.

The books, oldest first

Roteiro da primeira viagem de Vasco da Gama (1497-1499)

Alvaro Velho (attributed) · Portuguese

Vasco da Gama's fleet passing Mogadishu in 1499 and bombarding it.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Livro de Duarte Barbosa (c. 1516)

Duarte Barbosa · Portuguese

Describes Zeila, Berbera, Mogadishu and Brava, their trade and rulers.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Lendas da India (c. 1550s)

Gaspar Correia · Portuguese

Portuguese voyages along the East African and Somali coast.

Where to read: Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Decadas da Asia (1552-1563)

Joao de Barros · Portuguese

Portuguese attacks on Brava (1506), Zeila (1517) and the Somali coast.

Where to read: Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Mir'at ul-Memalik (Mirror of Countries) (1557)

Seydi Ali Reis · Ottoman Turkish

Ottoman admiral's account of sailing the Indian Ocean, including the Somali coast.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Read free on HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Futuh al-Habasha (The Conquest of Abyssinia) (c. 1559)

Shihab al-Din Ahmad bin Abd al-Qader (Arab Faqih) · Arabic

Eyewitness history of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim's wars of 1529-1543, naming many Somali clans who fought.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Dos feitos de D. Christovam da Gama (1564)

Miguel de Castanhoso · Portuguese

The Portuguese expedition of 1541-1543 against Imam Ahmad, seen from the Ethiopian side.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Memoir on the Western or Edoor Tribes inhabiting the Somali coast (1848)

Charles Cruttenden · English

Indian Navy officer's survey of the northern coast, clans and trade.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Documents sur l'histoire, la geographie et le commerce de l'Afrique orientale (1856)

Charles Guillain · French

French naval survey of 1846-1848 of Mogadishu, Marka, Brava and the Banaadir coast.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Read free on HathiTrust · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

First Footsteps in East Africa, or an Exploration of Harar (1856)

Richard Francis Burton · English

Journey of 1854-1855 from Zeila to Harar and Berbera; Somali poetry, clans and customs.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Read free on HathiTrust · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile (1864)

John Hanning Speke · English

Speke's 1854-1855 travels in the Warsangeli and Dhulbahante country.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Read free on HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Baron Carl Claus von der Decken's Reisen in Ost-Afrika (1869-1879)

Carl Claus von der Decken (ed. Otto Kersten) · German

The 1865 Juba river expedition in which von der Decken was killed near Baardheere.

Where to read: Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

La vallee du Darror (1882)

Georges Revoil · French

Travels in Majeerteen country (Bari) in 1878-1881.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Related pages

• Books about Somalis before 1500
• Books about Somalis, 1884 to 1960
• Books about Somalis: every era