Zeila and Berbera in João de Barros's Décadas da Ásia, 1513–1518

In short

João de Barros wrote a history of the Portuguese in Asia, the Décadas da Ásia, published in parts from 1552 (Wikipedia). This page quotes the Lisbon edition of 1777–1778: Década II, part 2 (archive.org) and Década III, part 1 (archive.org). Translations from the Portuguese are ours. For what Barros wrote about the southern coast, see Mogadishu and Brava in João de Barros's Décadas da Ásia. For other accounts of these towns, see Mogadishu, Zeila, Berbera and Barawa, 1331–1586.

Zeila in 1513

In Década II, book VIII, chapter III, Barros writes that in 1513 Afonso de Albuquerque, leaving the Red Sea for Aden, sent Ruy Galvão in his ship and João Gomes in a caravel "to discover the city of Zeila, which is on the other coast of Africa". The people of Zeila "would not even speak with him", and many came down to the beach "on horse and on foot, all armed, showing they were ready to defend the land". Galvão noted the site of the city and its port and burned the ships in the harbour. A man from Abyssinia swam out to join him; Barros says he was the slave of an agent of the Sultan of Cairo living there, and gave Albuquerque good answers about Abyssinia and its king (pp. 293–294). In the next chapter Barros writes that Portuguese boats near Aden found five vessels "with provisions that they brought from the cities of Barbora and Zeila", took the food and burned the hulls (p. 298).

Barros's description of Zeila

In Década III, book I, chapter V, Barros describes Zeila as "the principal port of the Kingdom of Adel", about 26 leagues outside the mouth of the Red Sea, in a bay (pp. 55–57):

• An old town. He suggests it may be the place Ptolemy called the "Avalites emporium", because "the city has old buildings of stone and lime, in the manner of the city of Aden".
• Trade. Its hinterland was fertile, and "almost the greater part of the things that are taken by way of trade from the land of the King of the Abyssinians" passed through it, as did the goods sent in.
• Its ruler. The lord of Zeila was the King of Adel, "whose capital is called Arar", 38 leagues to the south-west. Both the King of Aden and the King of Zeila lived inland and kept only governors in the ports, and Barros writes that they were enemies over the customs revenue of the Red Sea trade.
• Zeila and Aden. "In ancient times this Zeila was a more famous emporium and port of call at those gates of the strait than Aden," he writes, and after the Portuguese came to India Aden "began to grow greater with the decline of Zeila".

The capture and burning of Zeila, 1517

Barros writes that Lopo Soares, governor of Portuguese India, came to Zeila in 1517 after his fleet had suffered hunger and disease in the Red Sea (pp. 55–60):

• The reason. Soares attacked because Zeila had helped the Ottoman-Mamluk fleet of "Raez Soleimão" (Selman Reis) after it had damaged Aden, and because his men were "broken in spirit" by how little they had done.
• The capture. The town fell "without much resistance", at the cost of "the lives of many Moors who were left in those streets". Soares then had it set on fire, and his men left "with very little plunder".
• Why it was empty. Barros explains that the captain of Zeila had gone, at his king's call, "with the best and most men he could take", to a war with the Christian king of Ethiopia, and that those left behind had already moved their goods out of the town.
• A Portuguese captive. Among the captives was a Portuguese sailor, João Fernandes of Leça, from the brigantine of Gregório da Quadra that had drifted to Zeila in 1509. Barros writes that three Catalans who had come to sell arms had denounced him. Many broad, long sword blades, "still black", were found in the town.

The death of Zeila's captain

Barros adds the story of the swords the captain had taken with him (pp. 59–61). The King of Adel had marched into the Ethiopian king's lands; the Ethiopian king, then 17 years old, trapped his camp in a plain ringed by hills. On the advice of "this captain of Zeila called Mahamed", the King of Adel escaped with five horsemen, while Mahamed stayed to fight. "Trusting in the good arms he had had from the Catalans", Mahamed rode out before the armies and called for anyone who would fight him alone. A friar called Gabri Andres came out and killed him, and the army of Adel fled. Barros writes that a song was made of it, and that the priest Francisco Álvares wrote of seeing Gabri Andres honoured at the Ethiopian court. Chekroun, using other chronicles, names the emir of Adal killed in the 1517 raid as Mahfuz; see Harar, capital of Adal, 1520–1577.

Berbera in 1518

In Década III, book I, chapter VI, Barros writes that after leaving Aden, Soares planned to attack "a city called Barbora, which was below Zeila towards Cape Guardafui and opposite the city of Aden", but at the end of August the east winds and currents pushed his fleet back, and a storm scattered it (pp. 62–63).

In chapter X, Barros writes that the next year António de Saldanha, with six ships, turned his anger at a Gujarati merchant he could not catch "into falling on the city of Barbora" (pp. 100–101):

• The town. "Although it is not as noble as Zeila, which is above it to the north eighteen leagues, it almost tries to imitate it in the manner of its buildings and the life of its people, and in the coming and going of the goods of the Kingdom of Adel, whose king is its lord, and he only has a governor there, as in Zeila." He suggests it may be the port Ptolemy called "Malaca".
• The warning. Its people, knowing of "the taking of Zeila, which had been the year before", kept lookouts at sea, so that when Saldanha arrived he "had nothing more to do than enter it empty of people and goods".
• The burning. Saldanha "had fire put" to the town while he took on water, then sailed for Arabia.

Related pages

• Early Zeila and the Qiblatayn mosque
• Early Berbera before 1300
• The trade fairs of the Berbera coast, about 1000–1600
• The end of Adal, 1543–1583