Maritime history of Somalia refers to the seafaring tradition of the Somali people.Charles Geshekter, "Somali Maritime History and Regional Sub Cultures: A Neglected Theme of the Somali Crisis It includes various stages of Somali navigational technology, shipbuilding and design, as well as the history of the Somali port cities. It also covers the historical sea routes taken by Somali sailors which sustained the commercial enterprises of the historical Somali kingdoms and empires, in addition to the contemporary maritime culture of Somalia.
In antiquity, the ancestors of the Somali people were an important link in the Horn of Africa connecting the region's commerce with the rest of the ancient world. Somali sailors and merchants were the main suppliers of frankincense, myrrh and spices, items which were considered valuable luxuries by the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans and Babylonians.Phoenicia pg 199The Aromatherapy Book by Jeanne Rose and John Hulburd pg 94 During the classical era, several ancient city-states such as Ophir at the time Berbera and Ras Hafun and Hiran then part of Mogadishu competed with the Sabaeans, Parthians and Axumites for the wealthy Indo-Greco-Roman trade also flourished in Somalia.Oman in history By Peter Vine Page 324 In the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade including the Ajuran Sultanate, the latter of which maintained profitable maritime contacts with Arabia, India, Venetia,Journal of African History pg.50 by John Donnelly Fage and Roland Anthony Oliver Persia, Egypt, Portugal and as far away as China. This tradition of seaborne trade was maintained in the early modern period, with Berbera being the pre-eminent Somali port during the 18th–19th centuries.
Antiquity
In ancient times, the Kingdom of Punt, which is believed by several Egyptologists to have been situated in the area of modern-day Horn of Africa, had a steady trade link with the Ancient Egyptians and exported precious natural resources such as myrrh, frankincense and gum. This trade network continued all the way into the classical era. The city states of Mossylon, Malao, Mundus, and Avalites in Somalia engaged in a lucrative trade network connecting Somali merchants with Phoenicia, Tabae, Ptolemic Egypt, Greece, Parthian Persia, Saba, Nabataea and the Roman Empire. Somali sailors used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the beden to transport their cargo.
The periplus described the method of governance as decentralized and consisting of a number of autonomous city-states, these city-states would be governed by their respective local chief or tyrannida.Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, (Greenwood Press, 2001), pp.13–14 Some cities the berbers living in them were described as very unruly an apparent reference to their independent streak. Whereas others port cities like Malao the natives were described to be peacefull.Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Schoff's 1912 translation
In ancient times Somalia was known to the Chinese as the "country of Pi-pa-lo", which had four departmental cities each trying to gain the supremacy over the other. It had twenty thousand troops between them, who wore cuirasses, a protective body armor.Eastern African History By Robert O. Collins Pg 53
After the Roman conquest of the Nabataean Empire and the Roman naval presence at Aden to curb piracy, Arab and Somali merchants barred Indian merchants from trading in the free port cities of the Arabian PeninsulaE. H. Warmington, The Commerce Between the Roman Empire and India, (South Asia Books: 1995), p.54 because of the nearby Roman presence. However, they continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from any Roman threat or spies. The reason for barring Indian ships from entering the wealthy Arabian port cities was to protect and hide the exploitative trade practices of the Somali and Arab merchants in the extremely lucrative ancient Red Sea-Mediterranean Sea commerce.E. H. Warmington, The Commerce Between the Roman Empire and India, (South Asia Books: 1995), p.229 The Indian merchants for centuries brought large quantities of cinnamon from Ceylon and the Far East to Somalia and Arabia. This is said to have been the best-kept secret of the Arab and Somali merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world. The Romans and Greeks believed the source of cinnamon to have been the Somali peninsula but in reality, the highly valued product was brought to Somalia by way of Indian ships.E. H. Warmington, The Commerce Between the Roman Empire and India, (South Asia Books: 1995), p.186 Through Somali and Arab traders, Indian/Chinese cinnamon was also exported for far higher prices to North Africa, the Near East and Europe, which made the cinnamon trade a very profitable revenue generator, especially for the Somali merchants through whose hands large quantities were shipped across ancient sea and land routes.
Somali sailors were aware of the region's monsoons, and used them to link themselves with the port cities of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. They also developed an understandable way of defining the islands of the Indian Ocean in their navigational reach. They would name archipelagos or groups of islands after the most important island there, from the Somali point of view.Historical relations across the Indian Ocean: report and papers of the - Page 23
Middle Ages
During the Age of the Ajurans, the sultanates and republics of Merca, Mogadishu, Barawa, Hobyo and their respective ports flourished and had a lucrative foreign commerce with ships sailing to Arabia, India, Venetia, Persia, Egypt, Portugal and as far away as China.
In the 16th century, Duarte Barbosa noted that many ships from the Kingdom of Cambaya in India sailed to Mogadishu with fabric and spices, for which they in return received gold, wax and ivory. Mogadishu, the center of a thriving weaving industry known as toob benadir (specialized for the markets in Egypt and SyriaGujarat and the Trade of East Africa pg.35), together with Merca and Barawa also served as transit stops for Swahili merchants from Mombasa and Malindi and for the gold trade from Kilwa.The return of Cosmopolitan Capital: Globalization, the State and War pg.22 Trade with the Hormuz went both ways, and Jewish merchants brought their Indian textile and fruit to the Somali coast in exchange for grain and wood.The Arabian Seas: The Indian Ocean World of the Seventeenth Century By R. J. Barendse Trading relations were established with Malacca in the 15th century,Gujarat and the Trade of East Africa pg.30 with cloth, ambergris and porcelain being the main commodities exchanged.Chinese Porcelain Marks from Coastal Sites in Kenya: aspects of trade in the Indian Ocean, XIV-XIX centuries. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1978 pg 2 Giraffes, zebras, and incense were exported to the Ming Empire of China, which established Somali merchants as leaders in the commerce between Asia and Africa,East Africa and its Invaders pg.37 and in the process influenced the Chinese language with the Somali language and vice versa. Hindu merchants from Surat and Southeast African merchants from Pate, seeking to bypass both the Portuguese blockade and Omani meddling, used the Somali ports of Merca and Barawa (which were out of the two powers' jurisdiction) to conduct their trade in safety and without interference.Gujarat and the Trade of East Africa pg.45
During the same period, Somali merchants sailed to Cairo, Damascus, Mocha, Mombasa, Aden, Madagascar, Hyderabad and the islands of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, establishing Somali communities along the way. These travels produced several important individuals such as the Muslim scholars Uthman bin Ali Zayla'i in Egypt, Abd al-Aziz of Mogadishu in the Maldives, as well as the explorer Sa'id of Mogadishu, the latter of whom traveled across the Muslim world and visited China and India in the 14th century.
Early modern era to present "The Somali wanders afar. You will find him working as deck hand, fireman, or steward, on all the great liners trading to the East. I know of a Somali tobacconist in Cardiff, a Somali mechanic in New York, and a Somali trader in Bombay, the latter of whom speaks French, English, and Italian fluently". (Rayne, 1921, 6)Nomads, sailors and refugees. A century of Somali migration pg 6
In the early modern period, successor states of the Adal and Ajuran empires began to flourish in Somalia, continuing the tradition of seaborne trade established by previous Somali empires. The rise of the 19th century Gobroon dynasty in particular saw a rebirth in Somali maritime enterprise. During this period, the Somali agricultural output to Arabian markets was so great that the coast of Somalia came to be known as the Grain Coast of Yemen and Oman.East Africa and the Indian Ocean By Edward A. Alpers pg 66 Somali merchants also operated trade factories on the Eritrean coast.voyage to Abyssinia and travels into the interior of that country by Henry Salt pg 152
Berbera was the most important port in the Somali Peninsula between the 18th–19th centuries. For centuries, Berbera had extensive trade relations with several historic ports in the Arabian Peninsula. Additionally, the Somali and Ethiopian interiors were very dependent on Berbera for trade, where most of the goods for export arrived from. During the 1833 trading season, the port town swelled to over 70,000 people, and upwards of 6,000 camels laden with goods arrived from the interior within a single day. Berbera was the main marketplace in the entire Somali seaboard for various goods procured from the interior, such as livestock, coffee, frankincense, myrrh, acacia gum, saffron, feathers, wax, ghee, hide (skin), gold and ivory.
According to a trade journal published in 1856, Berbera was described as “the freest port in the world, and the most important trading place on the whole Arabian Gulf (referring to the Gulf of Aden).”:
Historically, the port of Berbera was controlled indigenously between the mercantile Reer Ahmed Nur and Reer Yunis Nuh sub-clans of the Habar Awal.
The major Isaaq sub-clans that historically operated from Berbera and other ports and harbors in their domain were known to be adept at trade and seafaring:
Some Isaaq clans are very much given to both seafaring and trade. The setting up of trading posts and the erection of any permanent dwellings used to be strongly resented by the nomads of the deep interior.
During the brief period of imperial hegemony over the Somali Peninsula, Somali sailors and traders frequently joined British and other European ships to the Far East, Europe and the Americas.
Somalia, in the pre-civil war period, possessed the largest merchant fleet in the Muslim world. It consisted of 12 oil tankers (average size 1300 tons), 15 bulk ore carriers (average size 15000 tons), and 207 other crafts with an average tonnage of 5000 to 10000.Pakistan Economist 1983 -Page 24 by S. Akhtar
Naval warfare
In ancient times, naval engagements between buccaneers and merchant ships were very common in the Gulf of Aden. In the late medieval period, Somali navies regularly engaged their Portuguese counterparts at sea; the Somali coast's commercial reputation naturally attracted the latter. These tensions significantly worsened during the 16th century.