In Search of Gendabelo, the Ethiopian “Market of the World”of the 15th and 16th Centuries

This paper edits and translates three unpublished Ethiopian texts in Ajami, Arabic, and Amharic from the 19th and 20th centuries that mention nostalgically the now vanished great medieval market of Gendabelo. The market appears in the 15th and 16th century documentation, both endogenous and exogenous to the Horn of Africa, in which it is described as one of the main breakbulk points for caravans linking the Red Sea coasts to the Ethiopian highlands. Located in the region of Ifāt, which was a powerful sultanate in the 14th century and, although it came under Christian rule in the early 15th century, continues to be inhabited by numerous Muslim communities to the present day, Gendabelo is not located. This article proposes a hypothesis of localization with the archaeological site of Asbari, based in particular on archaeological material (imported ceramics, glass, pearls, metal) collected during a visit in 2009 and with the help of the 19th c. Ajami poem.