Island lying in the Indian Ocean, at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden. The island has about 50,000 inhabitants. The name of the island is believed to come from Sanskrit 'dvipa sakhadara', which can be translated with 'Island of Bliss'.
NATURE
Socotra is part of an archipelago, but all the other islands are small. The largest of these are Abdu l-Kuri and the Al-Ikhwan Islands. The islands stand on coral banks. The interior of the island is dominated by the beautiful and green mountains called Hajhir, rising up to 1,503 metres above sea level. To the north is the most inhabited part, yet it has the most narrow coast line. Both the northern and southern plains have little rainfall, which make these areas difficult for effective agriculture. Socotra has been isolated biologically for several million years, and about 1/3 of the animals and plants are only found here. Examples of this are the 24 endemic reptiles, 6 types of birds, like the Socotra sparrow, centipedes, one sort of dragonfly, land crabs discoverd as late as 1997 at an altitude of 700 metres, and 25 types of jumping insects. Socotra has a number of distinct flora species, like myrrh, frankincense and dragon's blood tree. Formerly, dragon's blood tree was an important ingredient in different types of dye, used for varnishing violins and making ink all over the world.
SOCIETY and ECONOMY
The main sources for the local economy are fishing, pearl diving and small-scale agriculture. Exports go principally to the rest of Yemen, and include the butter called ghee, fish and frankincense. Despite its size, Socotra has nomads who live from their cattle and other animals, as well as doing some limited agriculture. The only city on Socotra of some size is Hadibu. Important villages include Suq and Qalansiyya. These 3 are on the north coast, while Mahattat Nujad lies on the south coast. Infrastructure is badly developed, and connections to mainland Yemen are very limited. There are weekly flights, but these are victims to unstable weather about 6 months a year. The ethnic origin of the people of Socotra is not quite established. The Russian scholar Vitaly Naumkin concludes that the people are a mix, and that they became isolated from the the rest of Arabia, from where they must have most of their origin, between 1000 and 500 BCE. In addition to this, traders passing through, Indians, Portuguese, British must have given their contributions too. The people living in the extreme east, have blue eyes, and are believed to be descendants of Europeans.
HISTORY 1507: Socotra is occupied by the Portuguese. 1511: The Portuguese lose control over Socotra to the Mahra sultans. 17th century: A large conversion from Christianity to Islam starts, that changes the population that used to be Christians into becoming Muslims. 1886: Comes under British protection, which means that British interests are under the protection of present British officials. It was principally as an important strategic point and a stop-over that Socotra was used. 1967: With the independence of South Yemen, Socotra is loosened from the British, and becomes part of the new country.
[This message has been edited by leba (edited 16 September 2005).]
Alot of the populations of the area are pre-Arabic people. People like the Maharra...etc.
Soqotri's look some-what like east Indian people..The name of Socotra also came from the hindi language (dvipa sakhadara)
I found some more about them.....
Population
The total population of the island is not exactly known. Although official estimations say 80.000, the real figure is probably much lower (between 40.000-60.000?). The Soqotri are spread over a few residential areas, small villages and a couple of larger villages.The mountain people of the interior, which are considered to be the earliest settlers, are semi-nomadic and some of them live in caves during several months of the year. The language consists of a mixture of poorly spoken Arabic, old Yemenitic-Amhari, Himyaritic and even a few words Portugese. Very few western people speak the language and it is difficult to study because it is an unwritten language. Although Soqotra is part of the Yemenitic territory, its inhabitants are ethnically closer to Somalis.
More pictures
[This message has been edited by leba (edited 16 September 2005).]
Their customs are also different than most Arab Bedouin tribes. They tend to circumcize their youth at puberty like other Africans. They also have puberty rituals. Semitic people usually circumcize at birth and not as a puberty rite.
Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Their customs are also different than most Arab Bedouin tribes. They tend to circumcize their youth at puberty like other Africans. They also have puberty rituals. Semitic people usually circumcize at birth and not as a puberty rite.
Are those pre-Arab inhabitants related to Dravidic people etc?
I don't really know who the pre-Arabic populations of Yemen are related to. I have heard everything from eastern Africans,Veddoids,and Negritos. There probably were more than one type of pre-Arabic populations in Yemen.
Here are some examples of their customs:
In the south-east of Yemen the Mahra people, who represent the surviving old south Arabian element of the country's population.
page 27
At the start of the twentieth century we have a description,provided by an Austrian expedition, of a collective circumcision preformed on the islam of Scotra, which lies to the south-east of Yemen and belongs to it. Several pubertal boys, after a special meal, went out of their village in the afternoon to a wadi, where they bathed.
Then they returned to the village, where celebrations went on all night and they danced till dawn; there, on a stone bench, they were circumcised at sunrise. Then their heads were shaved. In south-eastern Yemen, in the same period, we have a description of a similar circumcision: here it took place outside the village after a festive procession.
Each boy sat on a stone and during the actual circumcision, held a sword in his hand. Daum himself has obtained information about circumcision among Bedouin in the same area. It is done between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, and many boys are circumcised together.
pages 37-38
reference
Black God: The Afroasiatic Roots Of The Jewish, Christian & Muslim Religions by Julian Baldick
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 0815605226
*Please note that despite the ''Black'' in the title it does not refer to skin color. Its actually a metaphor for the early useage of black by early Semitic speaking populations.
Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
No need for insults,Djehuti. Leba did not start anything with you on this thread. Let's keep it civil
Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Island lying in the Indian Ocean, at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden. The island has about 50,000 inhabitants. The name of the island is believed to come from Sanskrit 'dvipa sakhadara', which can be translated with 'Island of Bliss'.
NATURE
Socotra is part of an archipelago, but all the other islands are small. The largest of these are Abdu l-Kuri and the Al-Ikhwan Islands. The islands stand on coral banks. The interior of the island is dominated by the beautiful and green mountains called Hajhir, rising up to 1,503 metres above sea level. To the north is the most inhabited part, yet it has the most narrow coast line. Both the northern and southern plains have little rainfall, which make these areas difficult for effective agriculture. Socotra has been isolated biologically for several million years, and about 1/3 of the animals and plants are only found here. Examples of this are the 24 endemic reptiles, 6 types of birds, like the Socotra sparrow, centipedes, one sort of dragonfly, land crabs discoverd as late as 1997 at an altitude of 700 metres, and 25 types of jumping insects. Socotra has a number of distinct flora species, like myrrh, frankincense and dragon's blood tree. Formerly, dragon's blood tree was an important ingredient in different types of dye, used for varnishing violins and making ink all over the world.
SOCIETY and ECONOMY
The main sources for the local economy are fishing, pearl diving and small-scale agriculture. Exports go principally to the rest of Yemen, and include the butter called ghee, fish and frankincense. Despite its size, Socotra has nomads who live from their cattle and other animals, as well as doing some limited agriculture. The only city on Socotra of some size is Hadibu. Important villages include Suq and Qalansiyya. These 3 are on the north coast, while Mahattat Nujad lies on the south coast. Infrastructure is badly developed, and connections to mainland Yemen are very limited. There are weekly flights, but these are victims to unstable weather about 6 months a year. The ethnic origin of the people of Socotra is not quite established. The Russian scholar Vitaly Naumkin concludes that the people are a mix, and that they became isolated from the the rest of Arabia, from where they must have most of their origin, between 1000 and 500 BCE. In addition to this, traders passing through, Indians, Portuguese, British must have given their contributions too. The people living in the extreme east, have blue eyes, and are believed to be descendants of Europeans.
HISTORY 1507: Socotra is occupied by the Portuguese. 1511: The Portuguese lose control over Socotra to the Mahra sultans. 17th century: A large conversion from Christianity to Islam starts, that changes the population that used to be Christians into becoming Muslims. 1886: Comes under British protection, which means that British interests are under the protection of present British officials. It was principally as an important strategic point and a stop-over that Socotra was used. 1967: With the independence of South Yemen, Socotra is loosened from the British, and becomes part of the new country.
[This message has been edited by leba (edited 16 September 2005).]
quote:Originally posted by leba: Soqotri's look some-what like east Indian people..The name of Socotra also came from the hindi language (dvipa [b]sakhadara)
I found some more about them.....
Population
The total population of the island is not exactly known. Although official estimations say 80.000, the real figure is probably much lower (between 40.000-60.000?). The Soqotri are spread over a few residential areas, small villages and a couple of larger villages.The mountain people of the interior, which are considered to be the earliest settlers, are semi-nomadic and some of them live in caves during several months of the year. The language consists of a mixture of poorly spoken Arabic, old Yemenitic-Amhari, Himyaritic and even a few words Portugese. Very few western people speak the language and it is difficult to study because it is an unwritten language. Although Soqotra is part of the Yemenitic territory, its inhabitants are ethnically closer to Somalis.
More pictures
[This message has been edited by leba (edited 16 September 2005).][/B]
posted
I don't know about "Dravidic" but the people do certainly look Jalabi, I believe is the term that Yemenis use to describe indigenous people.
I notice that in Yemen there are light-skinned 'brown' Jalabis and the black Jalabis. These Socotra people look like the former. Or is there a difference?
[This message has been edited by Djehuti (edited 16 September 2005).]
Posts: 26239 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by COBRA: easy with the polatis....we already have enamies as it is. There is no need to make enamies of brothers.
LMAO....enemies...
A country dumping chemical waste and stealing from our reserves cares little for friends....
so too do i...and the rest of somalia would definetly agree with me...
when peeps begin displaying resp and other physiological effects cause by them (dumpng nuc waste).... then itll be a diff story...Hafun to kismayo already faced the after math from the tsunami.... and the back draft of material washing up on shore...
Somalia aint n dumping ground but the int'l community thinks so.. and is using bases in socatra to do so without getting caught straying around somali shores.....Hafun is 300 miles away from the closest island...
its already politiasized and the ethiop govt knows that...thats why re-building is crucial since the back draft not only destry ecology but the well being of the ethiop ppl who face alot of other issues. we know of...
the WHO...made note of it.. this activity is a ticking bomb and the world isnt ready for another hiroshima...on the scale of how much waste is dumped alng somali shores...
yemen...is 1 if not the poorest nations in the world...i dont need them to determine the future of 100s of millions of ppl because of there hunger for money at the expense of others...
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