Saddam,
1. This was the middle ages---for reference that's when the Portuguese started to look for "India" which they would later call Native Americans after getting lost.
2. Information was scarce basically. Even more so for Africa or most of the world without record keeping.
3. While we Somalis were unlettered, fortunately the Abyssinians were which translated to the Harari administration borrowing it.
4. Unfortunately however, the Ethiopian records, like most of their peers at that time, weren't any more sophisticated than say "Gilgamesh" almost. It is all religious/syncretic parables. It isn't really "records" as much as religious oriented "thikr" almost (ala Christian style) since the literate were only abbots.
5. However, thankfully Harar because of the Islamic influence did develop record keeping and more importantly "scribes" or city secretaries who were both writing and being "living memory." In case for example, something happened to the physical record, they had to be prepared to do write it again by heart.
6. Unfortunately, the Ethiopian capture of Harar was both BRUTAL and INCREDIBLY damaging/irresponsible. After they defeated the last Emir at Challenko OUTSIDE of Harar, Menelike did not order a peaceful entry. The Ethiopians went berserk killing, pillaging and destroying everything. Before nightfall on the first day, countless lay dead including city administrators, the town was burning, soldiers had taken everything as booty (that's how they were paid), the biggest gate was turned into open hole, and the biggest mosque was a Church.
7. I mean in today's understanding, that's Geneva Conventions warcrimes JUST ON THE BASIS OF extent of damage, theft, and pillage of culture and civilization.
8.However, between some saved artifacts and living memory, the deducated scholarship of Cerulli and Rossini and Wagner, etc have done incredible work in the last 100 years to reconstruct that thousand year old civilization.
9. For this particular document "Documenti Arabi per la storia dell'Etiopia" Cerulli was doing work for Ethiopia Occidentale book whrm5 he heard about that
which had been saved and hidden until then.
10. He immediately went to Harar and transcribed and contextualized it by engaging the "living memory" as well that were at that time (40+ years after fall of Harar) growing old or dying out.
11. The article is about the transcription of the 2nd most important Arabic work on Harar saved (after Futuh) and Cerulli's contextualization of it using the "living memories" who saved as well as gathering a whole host of "living memories" before their human bodies grew too old or died by then 45 years after fall of Harar.
12. That's where Cerulli documents the living memories giving the last pieces of information such as from whom did Emir Nur originate.
13. They also relay other pieces of information unknown before like the fact that Emir Adruh was Adruh ben Tedros. Of this Cerulli says it can't bƩ the Marehan Hiraabe's father GoytaTedros because of time difference but that it seems Tedros was a common name in Harar. It meant one thing to one Semitic language (Harari) and another to others (Amharic/Tigrinya) based on both of their ideas of God (one Christian, one Muslim). ,
So it is fascinating what Cerulli adds to the historiagraphy which is why this document is still celebrated so uniquely almost a 100 years later.
1931
Cerulli in Harar
Documenti Arabi Per La Storia dell'Etiopia
https://www.somalinet.com/forums/viewto ... 5#p4999589
which had been saved and hidden until then.