Afar (people)

Origin

Also called Danakil, Afars would have appeared in the Corne of Africa thousand to two thousand years before J. - C. Downward of Cham, wire of Noah, these warlike pastors, like much of African people, however make go up their origin with their conversion with Islam, in VIIIe century. One thinks that Danakil compared Allah to their god of the sky, Waq, the father of the universe according to them.

History

At the beginning of XVIe century, Afars unite with the troops of the conqueror Ahmed Ibrahim to subject the Christian Abyssinie copte. But, in 1542, a Portuguese forwarding, unloading on the coasts of the Red Sea, puts in rout the Moslem troops of Ibrahim, who will be killed. In spite of the pressure of the close ethnos group, the Oromo S, Afars manages to the end it XVIIIe century to extend their territory towards the south. Masters of the desert, they make make later the play of the European States (Great Britain, France, Italy) by ensuring, realizing royalties, the safety of the first caravans which circulate between the Red Sea and Ethiopia. But the control of the country escapes to them little by little with the profit from Ethiopia of Menelik II, recognized like a Sovereign state, and powers which divide the coast of the Red Sea: England (Zeila and Berbera), Italy (Massaoua and Assab) and of France (Djibouti). The layout of the borders is carried out in the total contempt of the populations. Afars thus see their grazing areas shared between three different jurisdictions. In Ethiopia, the interminable reign of Haïlé Sélassié Ier (1928-1974), then that of the Marxist Mengistu (1974-1991) will do nothing but ratify the bursting of the country afar which extends from now on on the territory from a fourth State, the Érythrée, born in 1993.

Behavior

In the horn of Africa, the emotional life of the nomads afars reveals singular behaviors. For the men and the women, the inaccuracy is almost obligatory. The virgin young girls go naked chest until the marriage: apart from an official union, the sexual relations before nuptials are regarded as criminals and the banished culprit of the clan. After their future wedding and not to yield too quickly to their husband, the young girls will have to fight against him.

Trade

The salt which comes from the Lac Assal, in Djibouti, is collected only when it is completely dry. Charged on camels, it passes then in Érythrée where also reside of Afars. There, it is negotiated at the best price before essaimer in all Africa.

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