November 4, 2018

Metal Resources

Local exploitation of mineral resources is not well documented, but gold seems to have come from Sudan (Sasu), some southern Ethiopian regions and possibly Gojjam, Eritrea, and the Beja country, and iron ore, silver, lead and tin are also mentioned, though mostly from Portuguese sources (Connah 1987: 72; Pankhurst 1961: 224-9). The gold trade from the south is known from the sixth century (Kosmas, ed. WolskaConus 1968: 360-1), and reports about Ethiopia’s wealth in gold reached ludicrous heights in later times (Pankhurst 1961: 224-7). Kosmas’ story about the exchange of gold for iron, salt and cattle is supported by de Almeida’s account (Beckingham and Huntingford 1954: 149) of gold obtained in his day from Cafraria (a general name for the lands extending from the southern kingdom of Enarya east to Malindi and west to Angola), where the Cafres exchanged it for clothing, cows, salt and other goods. Even when Bruce was in Ethiopia, gold from the south was exchanged for similar products, iron and copper, skins and hides, and beads (Pankhurst 1961: 227). Alvares (Beckingham and Huntingford 1961: 159-60, 457) was tempted to try his own experiments at gold-washing in Aksum, inspired by reports that much gold was found after storms. His attempts may have been doomed to failure through a misunderstanding; doubtless, his informants referred to the finding of small gold objects, such as coins, rather than actual gold in the soil as occurred in Damot or Enarya far to the southwest (Pankhurst 1961: 224-7).

Even now the people of Aksum find considerable quantities of ancient coins after the rains have washed the soil away. Some gold has also been reported from Gojjam, much closer to Aksum (Pankhurst 1961: 224; Kirwan 1972: 171; Crawford 1958) and ancient gold workings are claimed in Eritrea (Tringali 1965: 151-2; see also the brief note on material from the Museum of Mankind appended to the account of the Adulis excavations of 1868, Munro-Hay 1989i) and in the Beja territory (Kobishchanov 1979: 134), where there was much activity from the ninth century when the Arabs became interested (Hasan 1973: 50). The greater part of the gold, that from the south, was found by panning or by searching river beds and was not from mines. Silver seems not to have been common, but some reports of mines exist from the Portuguese period (Pankhurst 1961: 227-8). Possibly the considerable issues of silver coins, over some 300 years, depended on imported silver, but this seems very unlikely in view of the amounts used and the fact that many silver issues were adorned with gold overlay, scarcely necessary if the metal itself were already a rarity.

It seems probable that the Aksumites had local silver sources, possibly including some of those mentioned by the Portuguese in later centuries. Doubtless, the exploitation of precious metals was kept as much as possible under state control. Sources of iron ore were apparently fairly common in Tigray (Pankhurst 1961: 228-9; Fr. Raffaello Francescano in Monneret de Villard 1938: 60). Copper and bronze do not seem to be noted except as an import in the Periplus (Huntingford 1980: 21-2), though tin was apparently available in later times (Pankhurst 1961: 229).