Cannabis Eye Magazine - The Arrival Of Indian Cannabis Culture To Africa And The Zambezi River

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The Arrival Of Indian Cannabis Culture To Africa And The Zambezi River

Written by Zamalito

Saturday, 05 January 2008

When we left we had travelled across the Red Sea with Menelik I, Ethiopian son of king Solomon in bringing the Ark Of The Covenant into the African continent implying that cannabis first came to Africa across the Red Sea from the Mideast.

The acceptance of Kaneh Bosem as being cannabis by the Ethiopian orthodox church is of a significance we must keep in mind while reading the second part. According to the old testament Kaneh Bosm incense must be burned while approaching the Ark of The Covenant or God would vaporize you. If the Ethiopian Orthodoxy Church still possesses the Ark of The Covenant than surely their interpretation of the work Kaneh Bosm must be correct.

After all, it is a life or death situation that this incense be correct. In continuance of the previous part and of importance to this part, we must establish that cannabis was an important staple source of incense at this time. Incense was one of the most highly valued and traded commodities of the time and by proving cannabis was one of the staple sources of also a unique form of this product we can thereby imply its demand and significance in trade around these regions. The Hebrew word for hashish has also been cited as the word for incense. There are also references to the assyrians using cannabis as an incense between 600 and 800 BC under the name Qunubu similar to the Iranian Kunubu.

The incense trade started with the domestication of the camel and over time took advantage of maritime advancements in order to bypass taxation and laws requiring the incense to travel trhough certain kingdoms giving kings and royalty access to rare goods, protect secret sources, as well as avoid thieves and other hazards and during the peak incense traders moved over 3,000 tons of incense every year. The arrival of the domesticated camel to Arabia, I believe, was the primary catalyst for intercontinental trade which set off a spark, still visible in Mid-eastern and some Asian cultures to this day. In hopes that this does not sound offensive, anyone even vaguely familiar with Arab culture has probably noticed how ingrained certain trade skills and customs have become. In most of the world, Arab owned markets possess unique goods both domestic and foreign which has facilitated an ability to find a means of support for their families in almost any region of the world.

The Bedouin myth regarding the origin of the camel is that they went into the mountains to raid a jewish settlement and ended up getting lost and eating their horses. They eventually wandered into the Jewish camp and the jews fled leaving a couple camels behind but the bedouins killed all of them. The Bedouin then tracked down the Jews and killed them and rode their Camels down out of the mountains. From that day on the Jews never rode camels again and the Bedouin did. Most evidence seems to point to the Jews as the ones who originally obtained the Camels from Africa where they were first domesticated and according to some phrases in the bible, it may very well have been Abraham who was among the first to have a domesticated Camel outside of the African continent.

We now take a look at how trade was established between Africa India China, Viet Nam and Egypt and for the first part of this section we will be looking at a vague and misunderstood maritime history. For the purpose of this discussion we have three cultures trading in the Indian ocean, the Chinese, Indians, and a vague nonspecific group historians simply refer to as "Arab Traders". The reason historians feel quite safe in assuming it was Arab traders who brought cannabis to southern Africa have to do with the Arabs had really mastered the transfer of goods from east asia which remained from the times of the roman empire to long after the discovery of the new world, and actually thrived on the gold and silver the portuguese and spanish had brought back. The oldest cannabis using cultures of southern and central Africa appear to be along the Zambezi river. Also there were several very old Arabic trade colonies still in existence when the first Europeans explored the river in the 19th century. Most historians attribute the introduction of cannabis into southern Africa during the 13th and 14th centuries but they fail to explain why these cultures seem to have been created well before the introduction of Islam.

We now go back to the Red Sea, at the death of Alexander The Great in 323 BC 3 years after his invasion of north India. Now One could go on for years about the effects that Alexander alone had on the dispersal of cannabis but three primary results came from the last 3 years of Alexander's life and his subsequent death. Alexander's assault on and the resulting weakening of the tribes of northwest India reinforced trade links between, Northwest India, Afghanistan, Persia and the Mediteranean. Alexander was well known for encouraging his soldiers to marry outside of their own culture in an attempt to link the east and the west. After his death, many of his soldiers, originally from Macedonia, moved to Punjab, a region historically well known for cannabis production, where they lived with their wives for the rest of their days. I feel there is no question this had an effect on the trade of cannabis products, but the extent of which is hard to quantify. The third result the death of Alexander had on the spread of Cannabis products is that the Greek empire was divided among his generals. The middle east was divided between the Ptolomies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria.

The Seleucids had one serious advantage over the Ptolomies, they had an overland route that gave them access to Indian war elephants amd ivory. The ptolomies in order to obtain these valuable war comodities employed the help of a group much more knowledgeable in maritime trade in the indian ocean, possibly a group called the Nabataeans. Instead of solely obtaining their elephants from India which were those more traditionally used in war. The Zambezi river an immense resource in the collection of African elephants, one variety of which provided very large tusks on both males and females and was a great source of ivory and war elephants. Africa is the home of the largest species of Elephant alive today. The other species of African elephant is a smaller faster species which is capable of swimming underwater also would appear to be useful in battle and its distinct form has interestingly found its way into Nabataean art.

From the Sinai, the Nabataeans were possibly the first to take advantage of the seasonal monsoon winds facilitating trade from the east coast of Africa to Kerala, Sri Lanka and The Bay Of Bengal. Simulataneously, either because of coincidence or shared technology the Nabataeans od the Sinai, the Indians, Sri Lankans and the Chinese all had an explosion of technology facilitating oceanic travel. The development of a triangular sail when combined with a long centerboard/keel for the first time, allowed sailors to harvest the power of vectors and sail virtually upwind by tacking and the timing of how this technology was spread along with their possession of artwork from all over South and East Asia as well as Africa implies that they were possibly the ones to spread this technology around the indian ocean. One of these early hull types for the early triangular sailed dhows, still in use today is referred to as a "Ganja". Although atm for me to provide any sort of guess as to how this type of hull received this name other than pointing out that the hulls were most likely built in India would be pure speculation but it is an interesting link worthy of more investigation.

The size of the gene pool and variability in phenotypes of landrace plants in Yunnan (southeastern china) or India, individually is absolutely immense but together, have the ability to produce potent cannabis capable of growing almost anywhere on the planet with even the most modest agricultural potential, whether due to a short growing season, arid conditions, or just an inhospitable climate.

B. Introduction To Southern Africa (Finally, lol)

I feel we can confidently say Cannabis goes back quite far in eastern, southern and central Africa. Community based rituals along the Zambezi valley such as those that employ piles of cannabis leaves being thrown upon a fire and are inhaled by the community as a whole as a means to create a communal bond, typically dont develop extremely rapidly, especially with unfamiliar materials. Also, the introduction of cannabis to the region by Arab traders appears to be quite separate from the introduction of Islam to the region. Several coins have turned up in Zimbabwe and the Zambezi valley originating from Persia and ranging in dates from the first to 4th century AD. As I said before, the Arab trade colonies along the Zambezi river were the first to introduce Cannabis to Africa outside of the Red Sea/Middle Eastern region. Linguistically there are three groups of terms for Cannabis in this region. There are words based on the Indian term Bhang such as Bhangi, Mbanghi, Mbanzhi, etc. Then theres the hottentot Dagga based words, and then you have the Riamba, Liambe, Liamba, Diamba family of words. The latter family of terms spreads from the headwaters of the Zambezi river and a little but north and east but mostly north and west all the way to Nigeria and is also used in some modern context in the Ivory Coast. Many botanists insist that cannabis was not introduced into Nigeria until after World War II but Sir Richard Burton mentioned it growing wild in Lagos, Nigeria in one of his journals. I cannot profess to claim the origins of the Riamba based words but interestingly a search of towns, hills, mountains, cities etc of places in the world whose names contain these words solely brings up places in this region of Zambia, Angola, Cameroon, Ivory Coast etc, all places which use this as the traditional term for cannabis. It seems likely that this liguistic group illustrates the route of introduction into central Africa also. I tend to feel that these terms are remnants of the first Arab Ivory traders who came up the Zambezi river from before Arabs adopted the term Bhang from India.

Sandwiching the Riamba language group we have the Bhang based terms occur to the East, and South. These terms represent the groups which adopted the term from traders who brought the word from India and seem to hint at Indian ancestry to the cannabis itself. Indian phenotypes appear to be common in southern Africa. Traits such as monophyllus leaves, heavy tertiary and quaternary branching, and the terpenotypes appear to connect many of the southern african landraces to southern India. Thise term very possibly arrived with later traders before the 11th century AD during the mining of gold fields in East Africa.

The term Dagga seems to have been originally a hottentot term, as a reference to the shared properties of ingestion by smoking with tobacco referring to it as green tobacco (daXab) from the original term for tobacco duXan. This is most likely used by the hottentots because they were introduced tobacco from the Portuguese most likely at a time similar to that of cannabis. The portuguese were known to have taken advantage of the southernmost tip of Africa as a trade route around the continent. The word dagga also appears on the southernmost portion of the continent.

(Tomorrow will be posting maps and charts, then we will proceed to central Africa, The eastern Islands and West Africa)

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Comments (6)

1. Written by HothouseFlowers, on 05-01-2008 00:35
Fantastic read Zam, I really enjoyed that brother! thank you much.

Peace! hhf

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2. Written by Goddess Supreme, on 05-01-2008 08:49
Quote:

Also there were several very old Arabic trade colonies still in existence when the first Europeans explored the river in the 19th century. Most historians attribute the introduction of cannabis into southern Africa during the 13th and 14th centuries but they fail to explain why these cultures seem to have been created well before the introduction of Islam.

I would like to see references to authorities relied upon for this quote and more so the entire entry. Historians have a way of disagreeing with each other, doesn't really mean there is factual scientific DNA analysis and carbon dating (which can also be disputed as to precision if not widely disputed to the general accuracy).

I recall watching a program on PBS TV, about the author of a book (will find the link) who theorized that a illustrious Chinese naval general, discovered the Americas long before Christopher Columbus. But other historians point to flaws in the analysis and say the author is just dreaming.

Lengthy discussion about that can be found at these links:

http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=10387

(^^^see links at bottom of this page for pros and cons of Gavin Menzies 'theories'.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1421_hypothesis

http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20030110_china.html

Point being made, is the history is full of hypothesis that cannot easily be proved or disproved. Perhaps the massively large and great Chinese Naval fleet where responsible for the cannabis introductions around the world circa 1400's, lol

I dunno man, maybe Zheng He' was ripped on potent sativas from Vietnam, considering the suggestions below :D I'm telling you, back in 1400's Zheng He or the shipmates, had all the primo bud of the time, woohoo! Dude was all over the place in the Middle East and SE Indies, Vietnam, etc...with the largest naval fleet the world had ever known, surely there was tons of weed on those ships :D

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sultan/explorers2.html#n01

Quote:

Zheng He visited what would later become Vietnam and reached the port of Calicut, India. On his return, he battled pirates and established massive warehouses in the Straits of Malacca for sorting all the goods accumulated on this and subsequent voyages.

While voyaging to India, the ships encountered a ferocious hurricane. Zheng He prayed to the Taoist Goddess known as the Celestial Spouse. In response, a "divine light" shone at the tips of the mast, and the storm subsided. This heavenly sign -- perhaps the static electrical phenomenon known as St. Elmo's fire -- led Zheng He to believe that his missions were under special divine protection.

The emperor launched Zheng He's fourth and most ambitious voyage in January 1414. Its destination was Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, where artisans strung together exquisite pearls and merchants dealt in precious stones and metals. While Zheng He lingered in the city to amass treasure for the emperor, another branch of the fleet sailed to the kingdom of Bengal in present-day Bangladesh.

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3. Written by Goddess Supreme, on 05-01-2008 08:58
Sorry, meant to finish the quote with the reference to Africa and, low and behold incense...so which happened in Africa, cart before the wheel as far as cannabis being used for incense??? Just because this reference or others do not mention cannbis, does not mean it was not a valuable traded item procured during these established trade routes brought about by Zheng He's naval fleet. It would seem highly unlikely that cannabis was not part of this equation.

Quote:

The initial diplomatic contact with Malindi now encouraged Zheng He to plan a direct trading voyage to eastern Africa. Landing at Somalia on the coast, he found himself offered such exotic items as "dragon saliva, incense, and golden amber." But even these substances paled before the extraordinary beasts that were loaded on board his ships. Lions, leopards, "camel-birds" (ostriches), "celestial horses" (zebras), and a "celestial stag" (oryx), were shipped back to the imperial court. Here officials showered congratulations on Zheng He and bowed low in awe before the divine creatures that accompanied him.

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4. Written by PlantBoxer, on 05-01-2008 12:03
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and information Zam!! I love the reading these articals.

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5. Written by Zamalito, on 05-01-2008 15:58
Thanks everyone for all your compliments and comments!

GS, thanks for your time in creating a discussion on this topic. You bring up some very good points.

Here is a good place to start with regards to the archaeological evidence of Arab trade in southern Africa, and provides some evidence that Arab trade started around the time of Alexander.

Trade And Economies In Southern Africa: Archaeological Evidence

I really cannot find much of a reason to explain why the Nabataeans had such a diverse collection of commodities and art from all over Asia and Africa, when no other group in their region comes close. They really weren't a large group, and didnt have much wealth with regards to resources and weren't exactly a powerful kingdom.

There is Archaeological evidence on both chinese and african soil that there was trade between China and Southern Africa in the 15th century and while I dont dispute that it is quite possible or even likely likely that the Chinese explored the Indian Ocean thoroughly as well as the eastern half of the souther hemisphere, and I am certain they played a significant role in Indian Ocean trade, Zheng He himself was living in the 15th century which is much too late to have been the first to introduce Cannabis into southern Africa. I am of the opinion that much of Admiral Zheng's navigational knowledge came directly from the Arabs he was trading with, possibly at the same time the Portuguese started to acquire what they had learned also. It is also important to note that while the exact origins of the triangular sail are unknown, the Chinese lacked the technology to sail upwind until a bit later, and Chinese junks even in the 15th century possessed square sails. Also, it has long been established that Arab trade colonies were in existence in southern Africa by the 14th century at the very latest.

I also feel fairly confident that much of the exploration attributed to the Chinese in the book "1421", was first done by Arab explorers.

One such peice of evidence which was used in the book "1421" is the Piri Reis map which he claims was of Chinese origin. However, the Piri Reis map is a turkish culmination of multiple maps from other sources. The inscription on the map states:

"This section shows in what way this map was drawn. In this century there is no map like this map in anyone's possession. The hand of this poor man has drawn it and now it is constructed. From about twenty charts and Mappae Mundi: these are charts drawn in the days of Alexander, Lord of the Two Horns, which show the inhabited quarter of the world; the Arabs name these charts Jaferiye-from eight Jaferiyes of that kind and one Arabic map of Hind, (India) and from the maps just drawn by four Portuguese ... and also from a map drawn by Colombo in the western region I have extracted it. By reducing all these maps to one scale this final form was arrived at. So that the present map is as correct and reliable for the Seven Seas as the map of these our countries is considered correct and reliable by seamen."

In summary, the new world portion of the map was of Arabic and Portuguese origin. Another noteworthy mention about this inscription on this map, is that the phrase they use which was translated into Alexander, Lord Of Two Horns could also be a reference to Ptolomy instead.

There is a general consensus that the Portuguese obtained much of their knowledge of trade and exploration of the Arabs. Even in present day, portugal is strongly influenced by Arabic culture. While the portuguese did replace the Arabic trading infrastructure in much of Africa with their own, almost the entire knowledge base with regards to trade and exploration appears to be derived from the Arabs. For example, much of the Portuguese exploration of the upper Zambezi during the early 16th century was in order to reach the Munhumatupa who were extremely wealthy from their easily mined gold fields. Their extraction and use of the gold in acquisition of wealth and power and the subsequent social stratification brought was sparked off by Arab traders who were trading for the gold. Knowledge of this vastly wealthy kingdom was passed to the portuguese by the Arabs. The Arab trade however had built the Munhumutapa kingdom into something so substantial and powerful that the Portuguese failed to conquer them despite an immense.

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6. Written by ladybird1124, on 17-03-2008 13:53
Holy god this is Good!

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