Northern Coast

The northern coast of the Horn of Africa is characterized by the ports of Adulis, Massawa, Saad-Din, Berbera and Zeila, as well as the Dahlak Islands off the coast of Eritrea. Excavations at these sites have also underscored the importance of the northern coast as the forum for contacts with Southern Arabia as far back as the second millennium BC. Analysis of similarities in material culture as well as evidence on constant interaction suggests an interdependent development of complexity on both sides of the Red Sea, especially in the pre-Aksumite period. The ports of Adulis and Massawa were significant for the external connections of the emerging Aksum polity during the Early Common Era and show evidence of Aksumite and southern Arabian interactions and trade. Artifacts recovered include gold, ivory, and a human skeleton in chains or manacles suggesting the existence of slave trade. The Dahlak Islands were sources of tortoiseshell and ambergris, but also were known pirate bases and hence played an important role in controlling the Red Sea trade until their conquest in the tenth century CE. The ports of Zeila and Saad-Din show intensive merging of agricultural and pastoral activities by providing specialized infrastructure for pastoral exchange and trade as well as being important centers of transoceanic trade. The north coast was regarded as part of the territory controlled by the given highland polity. However, regardless of hinterland influence, these ports were probably semi-autonomous. From the eighth century, Islam started to spread across the Horn but found its strength in the coastal ports of the northern coast. The aforementioned ports as well as new ports such as Aydhab and Suakin (further north) were part of coastal Islamic polities of Shewa, Falasha, Gojjam, and Damot (late ninth century and tenth century) and Ifat (Yifat) (eleventh century CE) are usually seen as engaging in conflict with the highland Christian polities of Zagwe. It is clear from recent analysis that the religious conflict did not significantly affect the trading relationships as the highland states continued to use the aforementioned ports for their commercial and diplomatic activities. Trade continued even during the conflicts between the Ethiopian polity and the emergent Islamic states of Adal and Harar between and through the fourteenth century to sixteenth century CE. The territorial conquest of most of the Horn by Imam Ahmad bin Ibrahim al-Ghazi or Ahmad Grafi of Harar between

CE 1529 and 1543 was brought to an end by the arrival and action of the Portuguese acting as coreligionist partners of the Ethiopian state of Gondar. Though the late first and early second millennium periods have undergone historiographic scrutiny, largely through the lens of the Christianity versus Islam conflict, this and the subsequent periods have not been subjected to significant archaeological research, especially in the hinterland.