L'Arabie marchande: Etat et commerce sous les sultans rasulides du Yemen (626-85811229-1454).

Varisco, Daniel Martin

L'Arabie marchande: Etat et commerce sous les sultans rascdides du Yemen (626-85811229-1454). By ERIC VALLET. Bibliotheque historique des pays d'Islam, vol. 1. Paris: PUBLICATIONS DE LA SORBONNE, 2010. Pp. 872. E90.

Eric Vallet is to be congratulated for filling a century gap in the historical reconstruction of the Rasalid state in Yemen. In 1906 J. W. Redhouse published the first volume of a translation and edition of the fourteenth-century Yemeni historian al-Khazraji's al-'Uqud al-lu'lu'iyya (The Pearl Strings), but since then the study of what may be the zenith of Yemen's Islamic history has been carried out mainly by Yemeni scholars, who have published several important texts from the time period. Apart from the work of the British Arabists R. B. Serjeant and G. Rex Smith, little has been published about this dynasty. Vallet's massive and comprehensive study of the administrative and fiscal aspects of the Rasalid state draws on the published sources as well as several recently discovered archival manuscripts. No one interested in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade network during the Mamluk period can afford to ignore this impressive account of the port of Aden and the role of the Rasulids in this international system.

The book is divided into an introduction, nine chapters, an epilogue, a conclusion, appendices (designating the known merchants involved in Yemeni trade, genealogical trees of merchants and administrators, and administrators in Aden), maps from the Rasulid texts, a forty-five-page bibliography, and indices of placenames, individuals, peoples, and a thematic breakdown of the contents. In the introduction Vallet provides a brief survey of the "miracle" of the Rasulids--their transformation of Yemen into a major trade center after the fall of the 'Abbasid caliphate and rise of the Mamluks in Egypt. Here he also introduces the main archival documents and other source material that he cites. Especially valuable is his elaboration of the Rasulid use of the term dawla (pp. 40-41).

The first chapter provides a historical and fiscal overview of the Rasulid state, its transition from the Ayyubids, whom the Rasulid emirs had served, and relations with the Mamluks in Egypt. This draws on the travel accounts of Ibn al-Mujawir, recently translated into English by G. Rex Smith (A Traveller in Thirteenth Century Arabia, London, 2007), and Ibn Battuta. But the most important sources are archival documents compiled for the sultans: Nur al-ma'arif of the late thirteenth century (pp. 70-72), Irtifa' al-dawla al-mu'ayyadiyya of the early fourteenth century (pp. 72-75), isolated references in the anthology of al-Malik al-Afdal (pp. 75-80), and the Mulakhkhas al-fitan of the early fifteenth century (pp. 80-83), also translated by Smith (A Medieval Administrative and Fiscal Treatise from the Yemen, Oxford, 2007).

Chapters two and three are devoted to the port of Aden, although there are references to Aden throughout the text. The first provides a historical survey of Aden, building on the work of Roxani (not Roxana, as on p. 23) Margariti (Aden and the Indian Ocean Trade. Chapel Hill, 2007), but adding new details from Nur al-ma'arif. The next focuses on the administrative structure, collection of customs and tariffs, and revenues from the port. Using the archival sources, Vallet is able to trace economic change over the course of Rasulid rule. Chapter four expands the analysis to customs and taxation throughout the Rasulid realm. Of particular interest is the distribution of revenues by region (see p. 249).

Chapter five looks at the broader role of commerce in Rasulid Yemen, including an analysis of important rural and urban markets. One of the important exports of Yemen was madder (fuwwa), which is described in detail (pp. 351-56). The texts give details on the provisions required by the Rasa lid court for their major fortresses as well as information on per diems for various officials and workers. Based on Nur al-ma'arif, Vallet is able to identify the products sent to the main highland fortress of Td'izz from surrounding regions and the international trade through Aden. Chapter six expands discussion of the trade network between Yemen and Egypt, including the ports along the Red Sea. Trade with Ethiopia is also addressed (pp. 400-424). Chapter seven examines the relation of the Rasulid sultans to Mecca, both in terms of the pilgrimage and of trade. A major contribution is made in chapter eight with the discussion of the famed Karim merchants. The Yemeni texts indicate the major role that the Rasulids played in the Karim trade network, which Vallet argues was more restricted to the Red Sea than in the Indian Ocean as such (see p. 479). The Egyptian ports of 'Aydhab and al-Qusayr are also discussed, although Vallet was not able to examine the recently published analysis by Marijke van der Veen (Consumption, Trade and Innovation. Frankfurt, 2011) of the plants and other items traded through al-Qusayr. Chapter nine follows the trade network to India, including ports in the Persian Gulf, with which the Rasulids had extensive trade and political relations. There is much of interest here on the role of the boat owner and operator, the so-called nakhudha (pp. 589-600), as well as the official galleys (shawani) used to protect merchant shipping off the Yemeni coast (pp. 600-7). The protection fee for ships bound through Aden amounted to about ten percent, according to Nur al-ma'arif (p. 177).

The epilogue is a valuable discussion of the decline of the Rasulid dynasty, especially in its relations with Egypt and Mecca, culminating in the displacement of the last Rasulid ruler by the Banu Tahir in 1454. Following almost seven hundred pages of analysis, the short conclusion pulls together the main points of the book, raising issues about the role of the state in trade and commerce. Vallet discusses the oeuvre of Fernand Braudel, whose work on the Mediterranean before the sixteenth century inspired his own linking of Rasulid trade in the longue duree of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean network.

Yemen's Rasulid texts, most of which are published in Yemen, provide a rich corpus of economic and political data for analysis, as Vallet's study demonstrates. The richness of the analysis is due in part to the author's experience in Yemen from 1999-2001, with later visits between 2002 and 2005. During this time he was able to consult Yemeni historians, including Muhammad Jazm, the editor of both Nur al-ma'arif and Irtifa' al-dawla al-mu'ayyadiyya, as well as other prominent scholars resident in Yemen. The latter text and the account of Ibn al-Mujawir contain several unique maps of Yemen and its main towns. Vallet presents these in transcription along with topographic maps of the trade network in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

DANIEL MARTIN VARISCO

HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY