The Mahdi Times The Mahdi Times July 2014 | Page 46

Together with their neigbours in
Hadramut and Saba and Ethiopia,
Kataban was known as the land of
spices. The Sabeans destroyed the
Katabanian state, with its capital, Timna,
around the second century after Christ.

Hadramaut and Habashah
A fourth Kingdom, Hadramaut, is also
very closely connected with Ethiopia
and Somalia. Ethiopian/Kushitic Arabs
built another kingdom called Habashah.
The nexus between Habashah and
Ethiopia is demonstrated by the fact
that in Ethiopia there is a tribe of people
known as Habashah who are kindred to
the Habashas of South Arabia.
Tradition holds that the Ethiopian
Habashah crossed over to Yemen and
established the principality of Yemeni
Habashah. These two Habashahs still
maintain very close cultural links and
there is virtually no difference between
the Habashahs of Arabia and the
Habashahs of Ethiopia.

The African Axumites and the
Black Arabs:
The land of Punt was recognized by the
ancient Egyptians as the land of the
gods, of spices of incense and sweet
perfumes. It was said the gods loved to
be in that land due to its aromatic
pungency. Punt was in those days the
most prolific and ancient source of
spices and incense. Punt was not only a
sacred land it was also a country of
great wealth which came from its
ancient maritime trade through which it

supplied incense and spices to the
world.
The land of Punt was said to be located
somewhere in the current modern state
of Ethiopia. It was located just across
the Red Sea close to the Bab-El-Manden.
It was peopled by Black African
Kushites. Many principalities rose on
the surge of its pre-eminence.
One must note that Axum was neither
the first nor the greatest Ethiopian
civilization. Adulis (a famous sea-port of
great antiquity), for instance had an
older existence than Axum. Moreover,
there are archaeological discoveries
illustrating pre- Axumite civilization and
culture, located at Coloe (some 20 km
from Adi Qeyih), Yeha (near Axum),
Tokanda (near Coloe). Axum is an
indigenous African civilization which
harmoniously blends in the proto-AfroSemitic cultural complex of Ethiopia
with the Afro-Cushitic Ethiopian
cultural strain.
The Cushitic/Semitic- Black African
Axumites had long dominated the
coastal Red Sea trade before the
establishment of the first Black Arab
principality. They had grown successful
off the lucrative ancient trade in spices
and perfumes. Frankincense and myrrh,
cinnamon, precious stones and metals
were indigenous to their country.
International trade was second nature
to them since Punt was one of the
oldest, if not the oldest maritime capital
of the world.
The civilizations of Ethiopia were
characterized by the practice of
agriculture via irrigation and terracing.