Mogadishu and Brava in João de Barros's Décadas da Ásia, 1503–1510

In short

João de Barros wrote a history of the Portuguese in Asia, the Décadas da Ásia, published in parts from 1552 (Wikipedia). For the early history of the East African coast he says he drew on "a chronicle of the kings of Kilwa". This page quotes the Lisbon edition of 1777–1778: Década I, part 2 (archive.org) and Década II, part 1 (archive.org). Translations from the Portuguese are ours. For what other travellers saw in the same towns, see Mogadishu, Zeila, Berbera and Barawa, 1331–1586.

Barros's account of how Mogadishu and Brava began

In Década I, book VIII, chapter IV, Barros describes the coast he calls Zanguebar and the "land of Ajan" north of it (pp. 209–214):

• The first settlers. He writes that, according to the Kilwa chronicle, the first foreigners on this coast were Arabs exiled after the rise of Islam, whom he calls Emozaydij, followers of "a Moor called Zaide", whom he calls a grandson of Husayn son of ʿAli, and whose teachings other Muslims thought heretical. They "did not found notable towns" but lived where they could be safe.
• The seven brothers. Later, he writes, three ships came with many Arabs led by seven brothers from a people near "the city of Laçah" (al-Ahsa), about 40 leagues from Bahrain, who were fleeing persecution by its king. "The first town they made in this land of Ajan was the city of Magadaxo, and then Brava, which even today is governed by twelve heads in the manner of a republic, which descend from these brothers."
• Mogadishu's rise. Mogadishu "came to such power and state that it later made itself lady and head of all the Moors of this coast".
• The Badu. The earlier settlers would not submit to the newcomers, Barros writes, and moved inland, marrying among the local peoples. "These are those whom the Moors who live along the sea call Baduijs, a common name, as we here call country people Alarves."
• Pastoral land. Of the coast "from Magadaxo toward Cape Guardafui", he writes that it was poor in crops and lived mainly by raising livestock, with grain grown by hoe, and wild fruit, game and milk.

The editors of the history of Kilwa published from an Arabic manuscript in 1895 quote a similar tradition from a report by the British official Rigby, that Arabs of the "El-Harth tribe from the neighbourhood of Bahrein" founded "Magadosha and Brava" about AD 924 (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1895, p. 399). For what archaeology and Arabic sources say about early Mogadishu, see Early Mogadishu and the Benadir coast before 1300.

Mogadishu and the gold of Sofala

Barros writes that "the first nation of foreign people that by way of navigation had the trade of the mine of Sofala was this city of Magadaxo". He says they did not set out to find it: a Mogadishu ship was carried there by a storm and the currents. Even after they knew the region, he writes, they never dared to sail beyond the "Cape of Currents", because of the strong currents between Madagascar and the mainland (pp. 212–214). He adds that Kilwa later took control of the Sofala trade and became the leading town of the coast (p. 214).

In chapter VI, retelling the Kilwa chronicle, Barros writes that Kilwa was founded "little more than seventy years" after Mogadishu and Brava, by ʿAli, a son of a Sultan Hasan of Shiraz and an Ethiopian mother. ʿAli first came to "the towns of Magadaxo and Brava" but went on further south, because he was Persian, "which in the sect of Mahamed differ from the Arabs", and wanted a town of his own (pp. 224–225).

Brava's twelve heads and the tribute of 1503

In Década I, book VII, chapter IV, Barros writes that in 1503 the Portuguese captain Ruy Lourenço, sailing near Mombasa, captured two ships and three small boats carrying "twelve Moors, very principal men of the city of Brava". Because Brava "was ruled by a community, of which these twelve Moors were the principal heads of its government", they ransomed themselves and, in the city's name, made it tributary to the King of Portugal for 500 mithqals of gold a year, asking for a Portuguese flag for safe passage. Barros explains that they agreed so quickly because a very rich ship from Brava was coming behind them; Lourenço let it pass untouched (pp. 111–112).

The sack of Brava, 1506

In Década II, book I, chapter II, Barros tells what followed (pp. 30–35):

• The tribute refused. When the twelve heads returned home, the other leaders "mistreated" them and removed them from the government for granting the tribute so lightly. The town, "very strong and confident in its walls, towers and defensible site", did not pay.
• The defence. When Tristão da Cunha arrived in 1506 and sent a messenger, the answer was "words of proud people". The town paraded "some six thousand men, all armed in their manner" along the beach. The Portuguese landed under arrows, spears and stones and broke in at a low point of the wall.
• The leaders. Barros writes that while most of the people fled, the leading men "each stayed in the place where death took him, fulfilling the oath they had made to the people to die for the defence and liberty of all".
• The losses. The dead of the town "could not be counted"; the Portuguese lost 42 dead and more than 70 wounded. A boat overloaded with plunder sank; Barros records a report that some of those on it had cut off women's arms to take their silver bracelets.
• The burning. Da Cunha stayed three days, took the town's food and goods, "and finally had it set on fire". He meant to do the same at Mogadishu, 45 leagues further on, but the weather did not allow it.

Mogadishu and Zeila, 1509–1510

In Década II, book IV, chapter II, Barros writes that in 1509 the captain Duarte de Lemos lay off Mogadishu with seven ships but "did nothing" there, judging an attack "very doubtful" because of the town's site. During the night a small vessel under Gregório da Quadra lost its cable and was carried by the currents round Cape Guardafui to "the city of Zeila", where its men were taken captive. On his way back in 1510, Lemos "bombarded the city of Magadaxo", but because the coast was rough he could do no more than fire on its shore (pp. 380–381, 389). In book III, chapter II, Barros also mentions Portuguese ships taking a vessel "within sight of Magadaxo" (p. 234).

Related pages

• Sultanate of Mogadishu
• The Ajuran state
• Ibn Battuta in Mogadishu and Zeila, 1331
• Marco Polo and the Somali coast
• Books about Somalis, 1500 to 1884
• Zeila and Berbera in João de Barros's Décadas da Ásia, 1513–1518