Rhapta was a marketplace on the coast of eastern Africa, which first rose to prominence in the first century CE. Its location has not yet been firmly identified, although there are a number of plausible candidate sites. A marketplace is the space, actual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | Eastern Africa ... (1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century - other centuries) The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 to 99. ...

The ancient Periplus of the Erythraean Sea described Rhapta as "the last marketplace of Azania," two days' travel south of the Menouthis islands, under the rule of Mapharitis (Ma'afir) in the Arabian peninsula (chapter 16). The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (Periplus Maris Erythraei ) is a Greek periplus, describing navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice along the coast of the Red Sea, and others along East Africa and India. ... Azania is the name that has been applied to various parts of sub-Saharan Africa. ... The Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula is a peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia consisting mainly of desert. ...

According to Claudius Ptolemy, Diogenes, a merchant in the Indian trade, was blown off course from his usual route from India, and after travelling 25 days south along the African coast arrived at Rhapta, located where the river of the same name enters the Indian Ocean opposite the island of Menouthis. Diogenes further describes this river as having its source near the Mountains of the Moon, near the swamp whence the Nile was said to also have its source. This article is about the geographer and astronomer Ptolemy. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ... The Mountains of the Moon or Montes Lunae was a mountain range in central Africa that was long believed to be the source of the White Nile. ... The Nile (Arabic: النيل an-nīl), in Africa, is one of the two longest rivers on Earth. ...

Rhapta is also mentioned by the 6th century author Cosmas Indicopleustes. This Buddhist stela from China, Northern Wei period, was built in the early 6th century. ... Cosmas Indicopleustes (India-voyager) of Alexandria was a Greek sailor in the early 6th century who travelled to Ethiopia, India and Sri Lanka. ...

Location

G.W.B. Huntingford lists five proposed locations for Rhapta:

• Tanga, at the mouth of the Mkulumuzi and Sigi rivers
• Pangani, at the mouth of the Ruvu river
• Msasani, three miles north of Dar es Salaam — or Dar es Salaam itself
• Kisuyu
• Somewhere in the Rufiji River delta, opposite Mafia Island.

Huntingford dismisses the first two as being too close to Zanzibar and Pemba islands (which he identifies with Menouthis, and follows the author of the Periplus in locating Menouthis north of Rhapta). He observes that there is no river at Msasani, and thus concludes Kisuyu or the Rufiji delta are the most likely candidates. However, J. Innes Miller points out that Roman coins have been found on Pemba; that the Ruvu emerges near the Kilimanjaro and Meru mountains — which confirm the account of Diogenes; and that an old inscription in Semitic characters has been found near the Pangani estuary, which make Pemba a likely candidate for Rhapta. For other meanings, see Tanga (Portugal), Tanga (clothing) and Tanga (Movie). ... Pangani is the Zanzibar of the Tanzanian mainland. ... Dar es Salaam (دار السلام), formerly Mzizima, is the largest city (pop. ... The Rufiji River lies entirely within the African nation of Tanzania. ... Mafia Island (Chole Shamba) is part of the Tanzanian Spice Islands, which consists also of Zanzibar and Pemba. ... Map of Zanzibars main island Zanzibar, Tanzania, comprises a pair of islands off the east coast of Africa called Zanzibar (Unguja) (1994 est. ... Map of Pemba Island Pemba is an island about 50 kilometres to the north of the island of Zanzibar. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation) The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Augustus), until its radical reformation in what was later to be known as the Byzantine... Kilimanjaro includes the highest peak in Africa. ... Meru may refer to: Méru, a commune of the Oise département in France. ... The Semitic languages are the northeastern subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages, and the only family of this group spoken in Asia. ...

In recent years, professor Felix Chami has found archaeological evidence for extensive Roman trade on Mafia Island and, not far away, on the mainland, near the mouth of the Rufiji River, which he dated to the first few centuries CE.

Goods

Cinnamon sticks.

Which goods were traded at Rhapta is disputed. The Periplus only states that it was a source of ivory and tortoise shell. J. Innes Miller argues that Rhapta formed an important link in the trade route between what is now modern Indonesia and consumers in the Mediterranean region. Miller notes that ancient authorities (e.g. Herodotus 3.111) state that cinnamon and cassia bark were harvested in Africa, yet these species until recently were found only in Southeast Asia. Miller points to the well-documented cultural links between Indonesia and the east coast of Africa (e.g., the Malagasy language is related to Malay, both people use double outrigger canoes), then posits that the use of the Monsoons began far earlier than previously thought, allowing traders to bring their spices westward perhaps as early as the 2nd millennium BC. sticks of cinnamon bark Source: fr:Utilisateur:Nataraja License: GFDL File links The following pages link to this file: Cinnamon User:Norm/Main Page Main Page/test User:Jobe6 Rhapta Wikipedia:Recent additions 25 Categories: GFDL images ... sticks of cinnamon bark Source: fr:Utilisateur:Nataraja License: GFDL File links The following pages link to this file: Cinnamon User:Norm/Main Page Main Page/test User:Jobe6 Rhapta Wikipedia:Recent additions 25 Categories: GFDL images ... An elaborately carved ivory decoration Ivory is a hard, white, opaque substance that is the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals such as the elephant, hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth, etc. ... Genera Chersina Dipsochelys Furculachelys Geochelone Gopherus Homopus Indotestudo Kinixys Malacochersus Manouria Psammobates Pyxis Testudo The tortoise is a land-dwelling reptile which is of the order Testudines. ... Bust of Herodotus at Naples Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Ἡροδοτος, Herodotos) was a historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... Binomial name Cinnamomum verum J.Presl Cassia (Indonesian cinnamon) is also commonly called (and sometimes sold as) cinnamon. ... Binomial name Cinnamomum aromaticum Nees Cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum, synonym ) is an evergreen tree native to southern China and mainland southeast Asia west to Myanmar. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Malagasy is the westernmost member of the Austronesian language family, spoken on Madagascar, where it is an official language. ... Not to be confused with the Malayalam language, spoken in India. ... Outrigger canoe at El Nido, Philippines The outrigger canoe (Tagalog: bangka; Maori: waka; Hawaiian: waa) is a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull. ... For the band Monsoon see Sheila Chandra Monsoon in the Vindhya, a mountain chain in central India A monsoon is a periodic wind, especially in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia. ... (3rd millennium BC – 2nd millennium BC – 1st millennium BC – other millennia) // Events To grasp the spirit of the 2nd millennium BC, we must divide it in two parts, for there is a period of change around its middle so important that it creates two separate sub-millennia. First half (2000...

It is possible that both the account of the Periplus and at least part of Miller's theory are correct, for the Periplus focuses on the availability of tortoise shell and its silence about other goods should not be taken as evidence that other goods were not traded.

Bibliography

• Casson, Lionel. 1989. The Periplus Maris Erythraei. (Translation by H. Frisk, 1927, with some updates and improvements). Princeton, Princeton University Press. (This is considered by some the most accurate translation of the Periplus into English, and also includes the Greek text.)
• Chami, F. A. 1999. "The Early Iron Age on Mafia island and its relationship with the mainland." Azania, 34, pp. 1-10.
• Chami, Felix A. 2002. "The Graeco-Romans and Paanchea/Azania: sailing in the Erythraean Sea." From: Red Sea Trade and Travel. The British Museum. Sunday 6 October 2002. Organised by The Society for Arabian Studies. [1]
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. See especially Section 15 on Zesan = Azania and notes. [2]
• Huntingford, G. W. B. 1980. Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. London: the Hakluyt Society.
• Miller, J. Innes. 1969. Chapter 8: "The Cinnamon Route". In: The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire. Oxford: University Press. ISBN 0-198142641
• Ray, Himanshu Prabha, ed. 1999. Archaeology of Seafaring: The Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period. Pragati Publications, Delhi.
• Schoff, Wilfred H. 1912. The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea. New York, Longmans, Green, and Co. Second Edition. Reprint, New Delhi, Oriental Books Reprint Corporation. 1974.