Black African Origins of Ancient Egypt | The Debate is Over

In the previous video, we discussed the origins of the Ottoman-Portuguese Wars, and the battle around the Walls of Diu in India. The conflict they were locked in had become remarkably global. This video will continue the story of the Ottoman-Portuguese Wars, not by moving forward chronologically, but by moving west to the equally crucial East African As both empires found themselves heavily reliant on local alliances to project power into crucial regions, the devastating conflict between the Kingdom of Ethiopia and the Sultanate of Adal would become part of the two empires' widening rivalry. In our opinion, learning new stuff and developing yourself is an essential part of being a human. In our fast-paced world, it's often difficult to find enough time, though, as our work, social lives, and hobbies take most of our time. It's natural to think that you don't have enough time to read a book, but the sponsor of this video, Blinkist, is here to help you with that problem. This is a unique app that takes the most important insights, new developments, and know-how from thousands of non-fiction books, condensing them into a 15-minute long read or listen. Blinkist recently teamed up with popular podcasters, creating Shortcasts, a new edition that gets you to the heart of podcasts faster. If you are interested in the history of the era, you'll love Age of Discovery by Ian Goldin and Chris Kutana, as it draws useful parallels between the 16th century and our era, and The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan, which talks about the creation of the trade network across Asia. The first 100 people to go to blinkist.com slash kingsandgenerals are going to get unlimited access for one week to try it out. You'll also get 25% off if you want the full membership! Thought to be the birthplace of the human species and the centre of one of antiquity's great empires, the history of Ethiopia is long and storied. When the exploring Portuguese first made landfall in the diminished kingdom of Ethiopia or Abyssinia during their early forays into the Indian Ocean, it seemed to them an exotic hermit kingdom hidden from the world and from the passage of time. To them, this was a devoutly Christian kingdom ruled by the crusade-era legend of Presta John, surrounded by coastal Muslim states and pastoral tribes. The Presta John myth held powerful sway over Europe for a century or more, with official papal envoys even being sent to find and coordinate with the elusive emperor. There were, of course, many differences in reality. For one, Ethiopia was anything but a hermit kingdom. Under the Empire of Axum, which Christianized only shortly after Rome in 330AD, Ethiopians traded and clashed with Rome and Persia as a near-equal, even dominating the southern areas of Arabia for long stretches of time. Though Indian Ocean trade had become a largely Islamic enterprise during the conversion of the coastal regions, with Muslim traders and dynasties establishing themselves as far south as Zanzibar by riding the reliable monsoon winds, Ethiopia remained closely connected to the wider Indian Ocean. Though rival sultanates rose and fell among the Somalis, none were able to create a single state to unify the coastal regions, leaving them to generally accept Ethiopian suzerainty. Muslim merchants ruled the waves during the 15th century, but tributes and taxes poured into the coffers of the Nergus, and Ethiopia's slaves and ivory flowed unabated to markets in Egypt and India. An Ethiopian delegation had even attended the Council of Florence in 1441, where they were excitedly welcomed as subjects of Presta John, despite their every assertion that their Nergus, or Emperor, was called Zari Yaqob, and bore no such title. The years just prior to the Ottoman entry into the Indian Ocean had not been kind to Ethiopia, however. Throughout the 14th century, the nearest thing to a Muslim rival to the Empire had been the Sultanate of Ifat under the Walasma dynasty. A disunified state, ruling over a coastal merchant elite often loyal to the Ethiopian Nergus, and a pastoralist semi-nomadic population generally unconcerned with the borders or conflicts of the two states. An attempt by Sultan Sabradin to invade Ethiopia in 1332 led the warrior-king Amdasayon to sack and conquer most of Ifat. Further conflict in the following decades led to the Sultanate's destruction by Amdasayon's grandson Dawit in 1403. But from its ashes would emerge a far more formidable foe. As Ifat crumbled, the Walasma dynasty split in two. Some of the ruling family opted to remain in the former lands of Ifat, retaining some wealth and influence. The more militant branches of the family headed east to found the Sultanate of Adal, centred in Harar. In the century that followed, succession crises and weak monarchs would weaken Ethiopia's hold over both its coastal Muslim tributaries and the increasingly powerful Christian feudal nobility at home, while Adal prospered from trade and bolstered its military might through the conversion of Afar and Somali pastoralists to Islam. Still, in 1516, Ethiopia remained strong, and with the aid of a Portuguese fleet, Nergus lebna dengel scored a significant victory against Adal, killing its Sultan Merfus, and even burning Ifat's old capital of Zela. Chroniclers triumphantly declared the Muslim threat ended forever, but the following years would change everything. In 1517, Selim the Grim conquered Egypt and gained his first foothold in the Indian Ocean. Adal would be quick to forge ties with this powerful new neighbour, allowing for the acquisition of modern armaments Ethiopia largely lacked. The Ottomans, for their part, saw Adal as a useful ally given the partial Portuguese blockade of the Red Sea. The succession crisis sparked by the death of Merfus led to the usurpation of the state by the former soldier Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim in 1520. Despite never claiming the title of the Sultan, Ahmad, called Granye for his left-handedness, was militant and visionary, who intended to overthrow the Solomonic Empire by conquest, positioning himself as the In 1529, he launched his first forays into the Ethiopian highlands, challenging Lebnadengil and sparking a war that would outlive them both. The first encounter between the two kings was a decisive victory for Granye. Bolstered by Ottoman-manufactured firearms and possibly even a contingent of Ottoman troops, Granye inflicted heavy casualties on the larger Ethiopian army before driving it from the swampy field in the Battle of Simbrakure. Such a dramatic victory, a mere 50 kilometres east of today's Addis Ababa, threw the empire into disarray, and after a brief period of consolidation, Granye pushed northwards, easily overthrowing Ethiopian power in the largely Muslim regions of Shewa and Amhara. He granted long-suppressed local elites the authority they had lost under Ethiopian rule, effectively integrating new territory as fast as his armies could conquer it. Further confrontations would solidify Adal's advantage over the crumbling Ethiopian army. General Wasan Sagat, tasked with guarding the eastern and southern provinces in the wake of Lebnadengil's withdrawal, was killed in battle at Mount Busat in 1531, while other Ethiopian armies broke and scattered before the shock and awe created by the unfamiliar cannons. During the second battle between Granye and Lebnadengil at the fortress of Ambasel near the Bashilo River, Lebnadengil was almost captured by the victorious imam while his army routed around him. By the end of 1531, only the fortified central highlands remained securely Ethiopian. The once-great warrior-king of Ethiopia was a virtual prisoner in the innermost regions of his empire, with the Adalites dominant as far west as Lake Tanna. In the more Christian-dominated areas, stiffer resistance was put up to Granye's advance. Axum represented a major prize for Granye, being the seat of the first great Ethiopian empire, a legacy Gran wished to invoke in a close echo to the Ottomans' own claims of successorship to the Roman Empire. Yet here, a few Turkish Christian converts had furnished the Ethiopian defenders with firearms of their own. Though Axum would fall with the rest of the Tigray region after a difficult siege, with Granye destroying the Church of Mary of Zion in punishment for its resistance, it did check his advance until 1533. The degree of direct Ottoman support Gran received in the earlier years of his campaign is rather unclear, highlighting another failing of the Portuguese chroniclers that otherwise provide a remarkably detailed account of the conflict. Nevertheless, the devastating impact of Ottoman-made arms is undeniable in the rapid collapse of the Horn of Africa's strongest power. Lebnadengil was helpless to oppose Granye, and after the fall of the royal compound of Ambergeshen, spent the last years of his life an effective fugitive within his own realm. Alongside the widespread fighting, famine ravaged the highlands, cut off from crop tributes, and subject to frequent raiding. But all was not lost for the Solomonic Kingdom, and the following years would see a new force enter the fray, countering the Ottoman support. In 1535, with his own armies on the run, the vanquished emperor had sent an appeal for aid to the King of Portugal. Portuguese aid would not arrive within his lifetime, but the call for help he sent may well have saved his dynasty. Not long after the ascension of his son Gologiuos, 400 Portuguese musketmen, along with numerous craftsmen and gunsmiths, arrived in Massawa in February of 1541, where they were joined by small contingents of loyal Ethiopian warriors. Sebla Wangel, Queen Mother of Ethiopia, served as their guide and attaché as they marched out in hopes of joining their force to that of Gologiuos. Pushing into the Tigray region, they won a number of decisive battles, despite the greatly superior numbers of the Adalite garrisons. Gren himself was injured during an utter rout at Jarta, leading Cristóvão's chronicler, Miguel de Castañosol, to declare that with a hundred horses to pursue with, the whole threat of Adal might have been ended. However, the rainy season slowed Cristóvão's advance into Tigray considerably, and a number of Adalite-held fortresses still stood between him and Gologiuos. And while the local populace largely supported Cristóvão as a fellow Christian, Adalite forces in the region remained an ever-present threat. By 1542, the broader Ottoman-Portuguese war was at its height. The defeat at Diou had been just four years earlier, with the Ottoman fleet still at large as Sultan Suleiman searched for new ways to undermine his Portuguese rivals. Thus, when Ahmad Gren's call for help brought news of the Portuguese presence in Ethiopia to Suleiman's attention, the Adal war became a new front against a major rival. Determined not to allow Portuguese-backed Ethiopia to gain a presence in the Gulf of Aden and block off the Red Sea again, and hoping to stamp out the tenacious Christian kingdom entirely, Suleiman authorised a sizable expedition to enter the war on the Adalite side. From Zabid in Yemen, 900 Turkish and 2,000 Arab soldiers embarked across the Red Sea to aid their African ally. When Cristóvão returned to Wofla in August 1542, fresh off his victory seizing Amber back from the Adalites to open the path to Gologiuos, he was unwittingly walking into the jaws of the much larger Ottoman Adalite force. On August 28th, the Portuguese expedition was shattered in the Battle of Wofla. Some 120 Portuguese managed to escape the slaughter, fleeing with Zebla Wengel, while the rest either fell in battle or became prisoners of the Sultan. Cristóvão was among the captured, though he would not live long in Ahmad Gran's custody. After 13 years of war, with the Portuguese defeated, Ahmad Gran seems to have concluded that at this point his victory was complete. To an outside observer, this conclusion might have seemed a safe one, but Gran's assumption that the remaining Portuguese had simply scattered was incorrect. The 120 soldiers left of the expedition had in fact retreated back through Ambercell to join up with Gologiuos. As their excess supplies and powder had been safely stored in Ambercell when Cristóvão met with disaster in Wofla, they were able to arm and train numerous Ethiopians to fight as musketmen. Several long months were spent in training and preparation, with the first Ethiopian-made muskets and gunpowder being produced to further narrow the advantage in arms and numbers held by the Adelites. Finally, on February 6th, 1543, Gologiuos marched out for Lake Tanna at the head of his new combined army. Lebnadengol's army had been unprepared for gunpowder warfare, and Cristóvão's had been small and unfamiliar with the landscape, but Gologiuos' combined the strengths of both into something far greater. On February 21st, his army met the Adelites in what would be the deciding battle of the war. Though outnumbered, they took Ahmad Grenya and his forces by surprise, secure as the Adelites were in their victory. Accounts of the battle are unfortunately somewhat questionable, most significantly the numbers of soldiers involved, with the Chronicle claiming 9,000 Ethiopians against 15,000 Adelites. As the Ethiopian monarchy had only just a few years earlier been effectively exiles, it seems unlikely they could have so rapidly mobilized an army larger than the army Lebnadengol had drawn from the whole of a unified Ethiopia. And as the Adelites were not on active campaign when they met Gologiuos at Lake Tanna, well within what they considered safely subdued territory, it is equally unlikely that Grenya would have the entirety of his forces mobilized. Most of the warriors he had relied upon during his conquests were pastoralist tribes, which would have returned to their lands and herds with the plunder of the previous year's But even if the numbers are exaggerated, the significance of the battle's outcome can hardly be overstated. The Adelites fought bravely and competently despite the disarray the Ethiopians had caught them in, buoyed up as they were by the skilled Ottoman and Yemeni gunners and by their own years of hard-won experience. But the addition of gunnery to the Ethiopian army would doom the Adelite campaign. Ahmad Gran found his position the target of concentrated volleys of musket fire. Soon enough, a bullet found its way through the Adelite lines to the intended target of the barrage, killing the Imam and shattering Adelite morale. Another tradition holds that their surprise and disorganization allowed for a single Portuguese musketeer to rush a gap in their lines, reaching Ahmad Gran himself as he shouted orders over the deafening musket fire. Mere moments later, both fell mortally wounded, the musketeer having shot Gran through the breast before being set upon by the surrounding Adelite soldiers. This heroic account is not related by Castagnosa and is likely a fabrication, but however the Imam's death came to be, its impact on his forces was the same. The past 14 years of war had been the product of one man's vision. The shock of his death broke the morale of the Adelites and in a remarkably close echo to the Portuguese flight after Cristavo's death, the remnants of the Turkish and Yemeni force fled back to the coast of Adel with Gran's widow, Batida Wambara. On the battlefield they left behind, Gran's body was beheaded, with the grizzly trophy displayed to all surrounding countryside to spread word of the great conqueror's passing. The war would drag on for five years further, with Adel under the control of Gran's nephew, Nur ibn Majahid, due to his son's capture by the Portuguese, though Gran's death had largely ended the existential threat Adel posed to Ethiopia. Though Adel retained much of its strong army, Nur failed to inspire the same dread or loyalty his uncle had, leading to a gradual Ethiopian reclamation of the lost territories. Nur's legacy would not be in the form of conquest, but in the construction of Harra's impressive and still standing walls. Soon, the war turned to stalemate and then to peace between the two bloodied and exhausted powers. Adel retained dominion over the coast and freedom from the tributes a stronger Ethiopia had levied on the coastal Muslim states in ages past, making the war a victory from the Ottoman perspective. Though Ethiopia would retain its ties to Portugal, it would not play any major role in combating the Ottomans in the Indian Ocean without proper coastal access. But from the of Adel, and especially Ethiopia, the war had been catastrophically destructive. The following decades would see a new force emerge to challenge both states in the form of migrating Oromo tribes, with the battered and exhausted nations helpless to combat their advance. Nur's great walls would be put to the test not by the Ethiopians they had been built to ward off, but by the Oromo, shortly before the Sultanate's collapse in 1577. We'll continue this series in the coming weeks, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell button. Please, consider liking, commenting, and sharing- it helps immensely. 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