How a Calicut merchant boosted business in Jeddah port in 15th century

Historian Mahmood Kooria discusses the rise of Jeddah port and Malabar's connections to global trade in 15th century.

A merchant from Calicut is reported to have helped the rise of the Jeddah port in Saudi Arbia as a major centre of trade in the 15th century, according to historian Mahmood Kooria.

“Till then, Aden in Yemen was the most important port. Ibrahim, the trader, took his ships to Jeddah, in view of certain prevailing political conditions in the Red Sea, and helped boost the business there. However, he gets killed later. Details of his activities are referred to by prominent Saudi historian Taqi al-Din al-Fasi in his writings on Ibrahim’s wife and little son who travelled from India to Mecca to recover his properties,” he said during a talk on ‘Malabar journey: From pre-modern Africa to Latin America’ here on Tuesday. Mr. Kooria is lecturer, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, U.K., and recipient of the Infosys Prize 2024.

He pointed out that very less had been written about the travel of women from Malabar to far-flung countries. People from Malabar had sailed to countries such as Panama and Mexico in the 17th century and African people came here too. “There were slaves from present-day Kerala in Mexico. Along with the Christian names they assumed after baptism, these slaves also had suffixes such as ‘casta Malabar Vellala’ or ‘casta Malabar Malavar’. This reveals their caste identity and the fact that they belonged to the slave community even before their transportation to those countries,” Mr. Kooria said.

He said that a letter written by a senior government official’s wife in Panama, complaining about a slave who ran away after her husband’s death, was available in the archives. “These slaves were multi-lingual people proficient in Malayalam, Tamil, Sinhalese, Spanish, and Portuguese. In the later part of their lives, they also worked as translators,” Mr. Kooria said.

He also mentioned about the ex-slaves from East Africa who settled in various parts of India, including Kerala. “There are references to African natives, who worked as ‘shahbandar’ or lord of the harbour in the erstwhile Calicut, at the historic Mishkal Mosque in Kuttichira. Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta has written about a scholar from Mogadishu in Africa, who was found in Ezhimala near Kannur,” Mr. Kooria said. The event was organised by the Cultural Collective, Kozhikode.