Balaw (or Belew) is an Arabic speaking nomadic tribe of Beja and Bedouin ancestry inhabiting the area of western and southern Eritrea .
31-665: The origin of the Balaw is thought to be somewhere along the Suakin area of eastern Sudan. During the second wave of the Beja migrations into Eritrea, the Balaw (Belew) people, a then predominantly Christian group of mixed Beja and Bedouin ancestry, entered the country between the 12th and 15th centuries CE. Some groups continued down the coast up until Zeila where they influenced the political and social configurations and attained positions of political preeminence. This article about ethnicity
62-466: A Red Sea Port by Jean-Pierre Greenlaw, Kegan Paul International, 1995, ISBN 0-7103-0489-7 . Suakin has a very hot desert climate ( Köppen BWh ) with brutally hot and humid, though dry, summers and very warm winters. Rainfall is minimal except from October to December, when easterly winds can give occasional downpours: in November 1965 as much as 445 millimetres (17.5 in) fell, but in
93-620: A monopoly of most trade in the East, angering some European powers at the time. He gained the title of the "Merchant Sultan" ( السلطان التاجر ) . In 1424–26, he invaded and conquered Cyprus , captured its king Janus of Cyprus (from the House of Lusignan ) and forced him to pay tribute. In 1430, Egypt was severely struck by famine and plague . Barsbay had good ties with other Muslim rulers of his time, namely Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah ,
124-571: A number of administrative reforms in the Mamluk state, including the consolidation of the sultanate as a military magistrature and securing for Egypt exclusive rights over the Red Sea trade between Yemen and Europe. In the process he diverted the Indian Ocean trade routes through Jeddah (closer to Cairo) and also introduced a state monopoly on sugar and pepper. His Red Sea activity included
155-470: Is Oosook . This is possibly from the Arabic word suq , meaning market. In Beja, the locative case for this is isukib , whence Suakin might have derived. The spelling on Admiralty charts in the late 19th century was "Sauakin", but in the popular press "Suakim" was predominant. Suakin was likely Ptolemy 's Port of Good Hope, Limen Evangelis, which is similarly described as lying on a circular island at
186-455: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Sudan -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Eritrea -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Suakin Suakin or Sawakin ( Arabic : سواكن , romanized : Sawākin , Beja : Oosook ) is a port city in northeastern Sudan , on the west coast of
217-474: Is known for at least three extant and notable monuments. He built a madrasa-mosque complex in the heart of Cairo on al-Muizz street in 1424. His mausoleum complex , which also included a madrasa and khanqah , was built in Cairo's Northern Cemetery in 1432. He also built a mosque in the town of al-Khanqa, north of Cairo, in 1437. Barsbay's first wife was Khawand Fatima, the daughter Qajqar al-Qardami. She
248-734: The Naval Brigade , arrived in Suakin in March 1885 and served until mid-May. After the defeat of the Mahdist State , the British preferred to develop the new Port Sudan , rather than engage in the extensive rebuilding and expansion that would have been necessary to make Suakin comparable. By 1922, the last of the British had left. Since 2000, Sudan's National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums has undertaken research and documented
279-659: The Red Sea . It was formerly the region's chief port, but is now secondary to Port Sudan , about 50 kilometres (30 mi) north. Suakin used to be considered the height of medieval luxury on the Red Sea, but the old city built of coral is now in ruins. In 1983, the adjacent historic mainland town, known as the Geyf, had a population of 18,030 and the 2009 population was estimated at 43,337. Ferries run daily from Suakin to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia . The Beja name for Suakin
310-565: The Sultan of Bengal . According to Al-Sakhawi 's Al-Daw' al-Lāmi` li-Ahl al-Qarn al-Tāsi' , the Mamluk sultan once gifted the Bengali sultan with investiture, a robe of honour and a letter of recognition. The Bengali ruler had died before his gifts could be dispatched to Barsbay. His son and successor, Shamsuddin Ahmad Shah , had slightly delayed the dispatching but nevertheless sending
341-549: The 14th century. One of Suakin's rulers, Ala al-Din al-Asba'ani , angered the Mamluk sultan Baybars by seizing the goods of merchants who died at sea nearby. In 1264, the governor of Qus and his general Ikhmin Ala al-Din attacked with the support of Aydhab. Al-Asba'ani was forced to flee the city. The continuing enmity between the two towns is testified to by reports that after the destruction of Aydhab by Sultan Barsbay in 1426,
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#1732772788948372-474: The 1860s an Egyptian style of architecture began to incorporate features from Egypt and Europe. As the buildings had no plaster covering, they decayed quickly and the town fell into ruin. A detailed description of the buildings of Suakin, including measured plans and detailed sketches, can be found in The Coral Buildings of Suakin: Islamic Architecture, Planning, Design and Domestic Arrangements in
403-582: The Ottoman province of Habesh was established in 1555 with the residence of its pasha in Suakin. The Ottomans restored the two main mosques - Shafi'i and Hanafi , strengthened the walls of the fort and built new roads and buildings. As the Portuguese explorers discovered and perfected the sea route around Africa and the Ottomans were unable to stop this trade, the local merchants began to abandon
434-705: The end of a long inlet. Under the Ptolemies and Romans , though, the Red Sea's major port was Berenice to the north. The growth of the Muslim caliphate shifted trade first to the Hijaz and then to the Persian Gulf . The collapse of the Abbasids and growth of Fatimid Egypt changed this and Al-Qusayr and Aydhab became important emporia, trading with India and ferrying African pilgrims to Mecca . Suakin
465-547: The final destruction in 1426 of ‘Aydhab , a once important port which had been in decline in the previous century. The 15th century saw an international economic recession. During this time, Barsbay knew the importance of trade for Egypt and acted to strengthen Egyptian rule in the Hejaz and Yemen while securing Egyptian trade in the Mediterranean Sea . He reduced customs duties to attract merchants until Egypt became
496-420: The history of Suakin, and in 2022, the online project Sudan Memory published historical photographs, architectural drawings and a 3D reconstruction of the town on its website. On 17 January 2018, as part of a rapprochement with Sudan, Turkey was granted a 99-year lease over Suakin island. Turkey plans to restore the ruined Ottoman port city on the island. On 12 June 2022, some 15,000 sheep drowned in
527-528: The initial gifts of his father off whilst also adding more gifts of his own. In total, the package was worth over 12,000 red tankas and included clothes, cotton, ginger , myrobalan and other spices. The envoy, travelling from Bengal to Cairo via the Indian Ocean , sank whilst at Jeddah 's coast. In 1436, the Governor of Jeddah sent some men to search the Red Sea for the gifts and they came back with
558-620: The military commander-in-chief. Despite quelling a revolt by the Viceroy of Aleppo and imprisoning several emirs, tension between Barsbay and Taribay escalated, resulting in Barsbay's victory. Taribay was captured and imprisoned in Alexandria , allowing Barsbay to pursue the throne. With backing from the Viceroy of Damascus and other emirs, Barsbay deposed Sultan Muhammad just two days later, on April 1, 1422. Barsbay's 16-year reign
589-545: The refugees, who fled to Suakin instead of Dongola , were all slaughtered. Despite the town's formal submission to the Mamluks in 1317, O. G. S. Crawford believed that the city remained a center of Christianity into the 13th century. Muslim immigrants such as the Banu Kanz gradually transformed this: Ibn Battuta records that in 1332, there was a Muslim "sultan" of Suakin, al-Sharif Zaid ibn-Abi Numayy ibn-'Ajlan, who
620-739: The sinking of the Badr 1 in the port of Suakin. The buildings of Suakin were largely constructed of madrepore , or rock-coral, taken from the sea-bed. The vernacular style of construction under the Ottomans was akin to that of Jiddah in Arabia and Mitsiwa in Ethiopia. The houses, which had a white plaster finish, were up to four storeys in height and often built in blocks or terraces of three or more, separated by narrow streets. They had large casement windows (Arab. rushān) and doors of Java teak surmounted by carved stone door-hoods and denticulated parapets. From
651-461: The textiles although the spices were damaged by the water. After Barsbay was informed of this by the governor, he ordered for the arrest of all members of the Bengali embassy, the confiscation of their envoy's merchandise, and banned them from ever travelling to Cairo again. The revenues from this military victory and these trade policies may have helped him finance his construction projects, and he
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#1732772788948682-558: The town. Some trade was kept up with the Sultanate of Sennar , but by the 18th and 19th centuries, the Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt found two-thirds of the homes in ruins. The Khedive Isma'il received Suakin from the Ottomans in 1865 and attempted to revitalize it: Egypt built new houses, mills, mosques, hospitals, and a church for immigrant Copts . The British Army was involved at Suakin in 1883–1885 and Lord Kitchener
713-460: The whole year from July 1981 to June 1982 no more than 3 millimetres (0.1 in) was recorded. Barsbay Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Dīn Barsbāy ( Arabic : الأشرف سيف الدين برسباي ) was the ninth Burji Mamluk sultan of Egypt from AD 1422 to 1438. He was Circassian by birth and a former slave of the first Burji Sultan, Barquq . A former slave of the inaugural Burjite sultan, Barquq, Barsbay hailed from Circassian descent. On May 2, 1418, he
744-532: Was a relatively long reign by the standards of the Mamluk period in Egypt. His reign was marked by relative security and stability, with few wars or rebellions. He apparently had a reputation simultaneously for being greedy and bad-tempered but also generous to the poor and to Sufis (the latter tendency being evident in his mausoleum-khanqah complex in the Northern Cemetery ). He was responsible for
775-584: Was briefly part of the Adal Sultanate . Suakin was sieged by the Portuguese in 1513 and captured briefly in 1541 . Following the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, the Ottoman Empire became the major power in the Red Sea . After a brief period of Ottoman-Portuguese struggles in the Red Sea, Özdemir Pasha occupied Suakin in the early 1550s. Though it was only loosely controlled, until
806-478: Was buried with her father. Another wife was Khawand Jolban, daughter of Yashbak Tatar, a Circassian. She had been a concubine, and was his favourite wife. Barsbay married her after she gave birth to their son Al-Aziz Jamal ad-Din Yusuf on 14 April 1424. She died on 18 April 1436, after a long illness, and was buried in the tomb mosque of Barsbay. Another wife was the widow of his master, Amir Duqmaq. Another wife
837-458: Was designated as the governor of Tripoli . He later assumed the role of tutor to Muhammad , the son of Sultan Tatar , who was just ten years old upon ascending to the throne. Afterward, conflict broke out among three groups of emirs, one supporting the Sultan's Mamluks, while emirs Barsbay and Tarabay opposed him. Barsbay and Taribay swiftly gained control, with Barsbay becoming regent and Taribay
868-412: Was first mentioned by name in the 10th century by al-Hamdani , who says it was already an ancient town. At that time, Suakin was a small Beja settlement, but it began to expand after the abandonment of the port of Badi to its south. The Crusades and Mongol invasions drove more trade into the region: there are a number of references to Venetian merchants residing at Suakin and Massawa as early as
899-503: Was the mother of his son Muhammad. She died on 15 May 1424. Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tadid II and the qadis were involved in her funerary prayer. She was buried at the qubba of Barsbay's madrasa. Another of his wives was Khawand Fatima, the daughter of Sultan Sayf ad-Din Tatar . Her mother was the daughter of Qutlubugha Hajji al-Banaqusi al-Turkmani al-Halabi. She had previously been married to Amir Yashbak. She died on 30 August 1469, and
930-461: Was the son of a Meccan sharif . Following the region's inheritance laws, he had inherited the local leadership from his Bejan maternal uncles. With the decline of Mamluk power in the late 14th century, the Hedareb tribe took over the port city and made it their capital. Suakin then established itself as the most important north east African port along the Red Sea . In the fifteenth century, Suakin
961-693: Was there in this period leading the Egyptian Army contingent. Suakin was his headquarters and his force survived a lengthy siege there. The Australian colonial forces of Victoria offered their torpedo boat HMVS Childers and gunboats HMVS Victoria and HMVS Albert , which arrived in Suakin on 19 March 1884 on their delivery voyage from Britain, only to be released as fighting had moved inland. They departed on 23 March, arriving in Melbourne on 25 June 1884. An essentially civilian military force of 770 men from New South Wales , including some of