Ancient History of the Horn from Punt to Siad Barre

[James Dahl]

Notes on this timeline:
bf. = Before the year of
c. = Circa, or around the year of
bfc. Before circa the year of
CE = Common Era (for instance this year is 2009 CE)
BCE = Before Common Era
Kandake = Kushite royal title for women (empress/queen)
Qo = Kushi royal title for men (emperor/king)
Upper and Lower Kush = modern Sudan minus Darfur and Kordofan.
Wawat = The area of modern Egypt between the 1st cataract and the 3rd cataract.

Timeline:
bfc. 8,000 BCE: Hamites migrate from the drying Sahara and move to the increasingly fertile Nile Valley, south to the Eritrean and Sudanese coast and north to the Mediterranean. Their descendants would be known as the Kushites, Egyptians, Phutites and Berbers.
bfc. 2,500 BCE: The highlands of the horn of Africa is very sparsely peopled entirely by simple hunter gatherer folk, with stone age tools and weapons. Most of the surviving descendants of these folk have been absorbed by the Amhara or Falasha, though a few surviving lineages exist amongst some very small clans across the horn. The northern lowlands, on the other hand, were inhabited by relatives of the Kushite nation, the Phutites or people of the land of Punt. Egyptian trade expeditions would make many visits to Punt for incense, myrrh and African blackwood ebony.
c. 1500 BCE: Kushite tribes from Sudan, under pressure from an expansionist Egypt, begin moving into the Horn and displacing the local folk, with superior Bronze age technology and domesticated cattle, allowing them both numerical and technological superiority and quickly vanquishing the natives. Kushites absorbed the Phutites into their nation and introduce both cattle and grains to the highlands and lowlands.
c. 1,300 BCE: Qo Ityopis, of the tribe of Kush, makes his home on the site of Aksum, named after his son Aksumawi and grandson Malakya Aksum.
1078 BC: After the death of Ramesses XI Egypt entirely fragments, the priesthood of Amun rule all of Upper Egypt from Thebes and recognize the new Libyan Pharaoh, Smendes, only nominally. The Viceroy of Kush becomes an entirely independent entity under Pinehesy after vicious fighting with the High Priest of Amun over Upper Egypt and Kush.
c. 1,000 BCE: Otherwise unimportant reign of the Ityopisite Kandake Makeda, daughter of Qo Angabos, except that this would later be used for propaganda purposes.
c. 950 BCE: Qo Aserkamani invades Egyptian-controlled Upper Kush, taking advantage of the chaos in Egypt to attack the new kingdom ruled by Pinehesy and his successors.
c. 750 BCE: Qo Alara and his son and successor Qo Kashta conquer all of Upper and Lower Kush, as well as Wawat, returning these territories to Kushite rule, establishes Empire of Kush at Napata. Kashta manages to have his daughter named God's Wife of Amun at Thebes, bringing the theocracy of Thebes into the new empire as well.
752 BCE - 721 BCE: Qo Piye allies with various petty kings of Lower Egypt and conquers all of Egypt, ruling a contiguous empire from the Nile Delta all the way to Axum and probably beyond. He is crowned Pharaoh, beginning the 25th dynasty of Egypt.
721 BCE - 707BCE: Reign of the Pharaoh Shabaka
707 BCE - 690 BCE: Reign of the Pharaoh Shebitku
690 BCE - 664 BCE: Reign of the Pharaoh Taharqa.
674 BCE: the Assyrian Emperor Esarhaddon invades Egypt, but is defeated by Pharaoh Taharqa.
671 BCE: Emperor Esarhaddon attacks with a much larger force and succeeds in sacking Memphis, and placing a puppet Pharaoh on the throne of Lower Egypt, Necho I.
671 BCE - 664 BCE: Pharaoh Taharqa attempted to regain lower Egypt, but was defeated by Esarhaddon's heir, Emperor Assurbanipal. Taharqa eventually moved south to Napata and died there.
664 BCE-653 BCE: Reign of the Pharaoh Tantamani. Tantamani invaded Lower Egypt and succeeded in retaking the country from the Assyrians and killed Necho I. The Assyrians returned in force once again and defeated Tantamani in battle, then sacked Thebes. Necho I's heir, Pharaoh Psamtik I retook Thebes in 653 BCE and ended Kushite rule of Egypt.
592 BCE: The Kingdom of Sa'ba in modern Yemen adds to the problems of the Empire of Kush when it invades modern Eritrea and carves out the kingdom of Dam't, ruled by the Binu Hakim lineage of the Binu Qahtan. Binu Hakim would, over time, morph into the legendary Menelik, and his female ancestor Balqis would be conveniently replaced by the aforementioned Kandake Makeda, giving him legitimate claim to Aksum. Egypt takes this opportunity to add to Kush's woes and invades as well, sacking the imperial capital at Napata in what is the absolute nadir of the Empire. Kush would move their capital to the safely isolated town of Meroe and would slowly lose ground to invading Nuba tribes for the rest of their history. The capital of Kushite Eritrea, Qohaito, is sacked and destroyed.
c. 550 BCE: The Marib Dam breaks, and Sa'ba suffers from catastrophic drought and rebellion. Kushites in modern Eritrea re-establish their sovereignty from the Banu Hakim, establishing a small but independent state centered at Adulis, building the town into a thriving market town. The Banu Hakim begin to build up their own state centered at Axum.
332 BCE: Alexander the Great conquers Egypt, crowned Pharaoh of Egypt, but then died only 9 years later in 323 BCE. His generals would end up fighting over his empire for the next 20 years until they finally agreed to divide it up into 4 pieces.
301 BCE: Ptolemy I Soter is crowned Pharaoh of Egypt.
283 BCE: Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt begins his rule. He would found the cities of Ptolmais Theron (modern Suakin, Sudan), Berenice Troglodytica (modern Berenice, Egypt), Berenice Panchrysos (modern Aqiq, Sudan) and even Berenice Epideires (modern Deira, Djibouti), effectively establishing sovereignty over the entire western shore of the Red Sea. The primary goal of this was in order to capture African elephants to use in war in order to counter the Indian war elephants used by his enemies, the Seleucids of Persia. The Troglodytes he is referring to, the "Cave dwellers", are the ancestors of the Beja, who had not yet domesticated the camel, and so eked out a meager existence hunting and gathering in the barren red sea coast. The secondary goal of this was also to bypass his Seleucid enemies in order to gain access to the Indian ocean trade routes. Later Ptolemaic Pharaohs would abandon these towns, which were occupied by Adulis.
bf. 50 BCE: The Iranian Bazrangid Empire founds colonies on Socotra, Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia, the Comoros Islands and Madagascar, and establishes the towns of Sarapion (Hamar Jijab) and Nicon (Hamar Weyne) on the East African coast south of the Shabelle river.
c. 1 CE: The Beja, descended from various different Egyptian and Kushite peoples, begin breeding and herding camels. Over the ensuing centuries, these excellent breeds would create a whole new lifestyle in the horn, and open up areas that had been all but devoid of human life until the coming of the camel. The Beja rapidly occupied the Red Sea coast, which had been previously uninhabited save for a few lonely trade outposts such as Suakin.
bf. 50 CE: Many port towns are founded in Somalia such as Avalites (Saylac), Malao (Berbera), Mundus (Karin) Mosyllon (Xiis) and Opone (probably Bender Beyla) to take advantage of the thriving Indian ocean commercial network.
c. 70 CE: Za Hakala (Zoskales) of Adulis reigns.
c. 100 CE: Axum conquers Adulis
211 CE: Emperor Gadara of Aksum invades Himyar in Yemen
217 CE: Emperor Gadara of Aksum captures Himyar's capital, Zafar
222 CE: Emperor Gadara of Aksum invades Hadhramawt, but is not successful
224 CE: The Bazrangid Empire is conquered by Sassanid Emperor Ardashir I, so the Bazrangid royalty move to Kilwa and found the Kilwa Empire
227 CE: The Gurat Sabeans and Himyar ally themselves against Gadara and retake Zafar. Aksum loses all their territories in Yemen except for Tihama.
229 CE: Himyar recaptures Southern Tihama and captures Berenice Epideires (in modern Djibouti). Aksum still controls the northern half with the city of Najran.
c. 321 CE – c. 360 CE: Reign of Emperor Ezana of Aksum, who converted the country to Christianity
c. 520 CE: Emperor Kaleb of Aksum invades Yemen due to the persecution of the christians of Himyar by their king Dhu Nuwas.
c. 600 CE: A tribe of coastal Kushites takes up camel domestication, and as a result rapidly take over all of the lowlands. They are stopped by the (at the time) dense jungles and highlands of southern Somalia, where the Tsetse fly made camel herding all but impossible.
614 CE: Emperor Ashama ibn Abjar of Aksum shelters early Muslims from the persecution of their tribe.
c. 640 CE: Arab tribes occupy Adulis and the whole red sea coast.
c. 650 CE: Shingan Ben Hami Ben Ma’di-Karib (Ma’di-Karib was King of Himyar c. 500CE) founds Shingani next to Hamar, which reaches 3,000 people
652 CE: The Caliphate army, having just conquered Egypt, moves south to conquer Nubia, but is defeated, leading to a peace treaty, the Baqt
c. 800 CE: Lifetime of Xaashi, earliest known Kushite ancestor of Somalis, and Hadiya, ancestor of most Gurage, Harari and innumerable other small nations.
867 CE: The Sultanate of Shoa is founded at Walalah.
c. 920 CE: Lifetime of Samaale and Sasabe
c. 1000 CE - 1063 CE: Civil war in the Aksumite Empire, Queen Badit (otherwise known as Gudit, or Judith or Yodit) the Argobba Queen of Shoa seizes power until her death, at which point the Zagwe manage to repel the Shoan invasion and recapture Aksum.
c. 1040 CE: Lifetime of Hawiye, Dir and Darood
1108 CE: Argobba King Harba'ir of Shoa reverts to Islam.
c. 1150 CE: Lifetime of Shaykh Isaaq and Yuusuf Aw Barkadle al-Kawnayn
bf. 1183 CE: Argobba Sultan Mal-asma rules Shoa.
1189 CE - 1229 CE: Reign of Zagwe Emperor Lalibela
c. 1250 CE: Sheikh Fakr ad-Din united Hamar weyne, Hamar Jajab and Shingani, founds Sultanate of Mogadishu
1262 CE: Reign of Shoa Sultan Giraam Gaz'i begins, though he abdicates shortly afterwards in favor of his brother
1263 CE: Reign of Shoa Sultan Dil-Gaamis begins
1269 CE: Shoa Sultan Dil-Gaamis is deposed by his rival, the new Shoa Sultan Dil-Marrah
1270 CE: Agazyan warlord Yekuno Amlak deposes the Zagwe Emperor Yetbarak, seizing the Imperial throne and founding the Solomonic Dynasty.
1270 CE - 1285 CE: Reign of Solomonic Emperor Yekuno Amlak
1278CE: Shoa Sultan Dil-Marrah is deposed by his rivals, and Shoa Sultan Dil-Gaamis returns to the throne
1285 CE: Sultanate of Shoa collapses, half of which is invaded and occupied by Emperor Yekuno Amlak and the other half Umar Walashma and an army of Arab and Kushite followers invades to found the new Sultanate of Ifat.
1285 CE - 1288 CE: Reign of Solomonic Emperor Yagbe'u Seyon
1288 CE: Sultan Umar Walashma captures and circumcises Solomonic Emperor Yagbe'u Seyon's Abuna while on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and in response Yagbe'u Seyon invades Ifat, but is defeated by Umar Walashma and his capital is captured, sparking a succession crisis and civil war in the Solomonic Empire.
1288 CE - 1299 CE: Yagbe'u Seyon, his sons and his brothers, all fight over the Solomonic throne, until Wedem Arad emerges victorious.
1298 CE - 1308 CE: Reign of Walashma Sultan of Ifat Burfawe
1299 CE - 1314 CE: Reign of Solomonic Emperor Wedem Arad
1300 CE: Muslims in Shewa rebel against Solomonic Emperor Wedem Arad under Sheikh Abu-Abdallah, but are mollified by grants of land and war is prevented
1329 CE: Ibn Battuta visits Zeila, Mombasa and Mogadishu. The ruler of Mogadishu at this time is Shaikh Abu Bakr bin Umar
1308 CE - 1315 CE: Reign of Walashma Sultan of Ifat Haqq ad-Din Nasrawi
1314 CE - 1344 CE: Reign of Solomonic Emperor Amda Seyon I
1315 CE - 1320 CE: Reign of Walashma Sultan of Ifat Mansur bin Burnawe
1320 CE - 1327 CE: Reign of Walashma Sultan of Ifat Jamal ad-Din bin Burnawe
1327 CE - 1330 CE: Reign of Walashma Sultana of Ifat Abuta
1330 CE - 1332 CE: Reign of Walashma Sultana of Ifat Zubeyr
1332 CE - 1337 CE: Reign of Walashma Sultan of Ifat Sabr ad-Din
1337 CE - c. 1350 CE: Reign of Walashma Sultan of Ifat 'Ali bin Sabr ad-Din (known in Somali records as Qaat Cali)
c. 1350 CE: 'Ali bin Sabr ad-Din rebels against the Solomonic Emperor of Abyssinia but is defeated and imprisoned for several years, his son Ahmad rules as an Abyssinian vassal
1379 CE: Ifat is split between the Walashma supporting the Solomonic Emperor and those opposed, Walashma Sultan of Ifat Haqq ad-Din bin Ar'ad moves his capital to Walal to preserve Ifat's independence, Bale, Dewaro and Hadiya become independent of Ifat
1389 CE - 1403 CE: Reign of Walashma Sultan of Ifat Sa'ad ad-Din bin Ahmad
1403 CE: Abyssinia defeats and destroys Ifat, annexing Walal as well as the regions of Bale, Dewaro and Angot, Walashma dynasty flees to Yemen
c. 1405 CE: First mention of Somalis in historical record, in victory songs after the defeat of Ifat
1415 CE: Envoys from Brava and Mogadishu attend state visit of Ming Emperor of China Yong Le
1417 CE: Ming Dynasty admiral Zheng He ferries envoys from 19 countries back home from China, including Brava and Mogadishu, where he visited and traded
c. 1415 CE: Walashma Sultan Sabr ad-Din bin Sa'ad ad-Din returns in force from Yemen with his brothers and, after gathering a large army, recaptures Zeila from Abyssinia after several years of back-and-forth war. Founds the Sultanate of Adal in Zeila.
c. 1420 CE: Walashma Sultan of Adal Sabr ad-Din bin Sa'ad ad-din attempts to retake his grandfather's kingdom in Ifat from Abyssinia, but his invasion failed, and he died soon after of natural causes
1422 CE: Walashma Sultan of Adal Mansur ad-Din bin Sa'ad ad-din continued his brother's invasion of Abyssinia, only to be captured and imprisoned by the Emperor, placing Adal under Abyssinian rule

[James Dahl]

Reserved for second half.

[midnimo09]

punt is located in INDIA somesay whats your take on this????????

[James Dahl]

punt is located in INDIA somesay whats your take on this????????

They're crazy, that's pretty much it.
Egyptians didn't know about the monsoon rains, and their boats couldn't navigate the Indian ocean outside of Bar el Mandeb anyways, they were glorified rafts that would have capsized under a particularly strong wake. The only other place to even GET Frankincense is Oman, which is outside the Red Sea.

There's really only one place Punt can be, and that's the Eritrean cost. Probably even Qohaito.