SOME INTERESTING FACTS. JEBEL TARIK. ESTEBANICO ZANJ IL BAR SIDDI AFRO IRANIANS

SOME INTERESTING FACTS. HISTORY AND TRAVEL

GIBRALTAR the part of United Kingdom at the African tip of the Iberian Peninsula, is named after the Amazigh General(native people of North Africa who were conquered ans islamised by the Arabs)

Tariq ibn Zayid, Jebel Tariq, meaning Tariq’s mountain. The Amazigh general was a native of present day Algerie.

this is Jebel Tariq..

ESTABANICO a black man born in the Moroccan port of Azemmour(i have visited his birthplace where he is not a celebrated figure for various reasons!) under the tutelage of his patron, the spanish  nobleman Dorantes, was the first African to set foot in the territory now called America or USA.  His story is beautifully recreated in this book The Moor’s account by Laila Lalami(an American professor)

The beautiful archipelago of Zanzibar lies off the coast of East Africa and forms part of the country of Tanzania. Where did the name Zanzibar originate?

The word Zanzibar came from Arabic zanjibār (زنجبار [zandʒibaːr]), which is in turn from Persian zangbâr (زنگبار [zæŋbɒːɾ]), a compound of Zang (زنگ [zæŋ], "black") + bâr (بار [bɒːɾ], "coast"),cf. the Sea of Zanj. The name is one of several toponyms sharing similar etymologies, ultimately meaning "land of the blacks" or similar meanings, in reference to the dark skin of the inhabitants.

It was a transhipment port for slaves originating in Africa, sent to faraway places including Iran and India. The descendants of these slaves in India are known as Siddis( photo  siddi children of india) The descendants of africans, now collectively referred to as Afro Iranians are found in the southern flanks of Iran. A photo below shows a group of afro-iranians in the sistan-baluchistan province

In the last photo you see a group of men in Khorramshar taking part in a zar ceremony

SHAMLOO WHO LINKS MANY IRANIAN HEARTS WITH MINE

 

I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD CRY FOR YOU, CARLOS ALBERTO!

 I never thought I would cry for you, Carlos Alberto!

I am sitting in my room, at a seaside village in Bretagne in the West of France, not that far away from where you died, just a few days ago, in the city where you lived for 40 years, Madrid

But we had something else in common, Carlos Alberto, it was the city where you were born in 1942, son of that illustrious journalist Ernesto M who was exiled and died in Miami in 1990. 

I never met him.

I do not know where and how I met your younger brother, Alex. Vaguely I remember entering Versailles Restaurant in Calle Ocho and being introduced to him and following him and his partner to your mothers house.

It was a great honour to meet your mother.

On another occasion, I was visiting your mother and Alex and you were in the house and i was so touched when you asked me:  how are things in my Havana? as if you had just left that city on the malecon, it had already been more than thirty years.

you gave me one of your books and i remember how you dedicated it to me 

to you, who has the luxury of walking on both sides of the line

I carried that book on my next trip to Baracoa and no sooner the state security arrived at my house wanting to know about the book (as is common, someone visiting my house had been an informant)

Will you come to the local offices of the Ministry of the Interior, asked the official, who was later jailed for sexual molestation. When I arrived at the office, a fat official with two young junior officials were waiting. 

Without much introduction, he asked, are you a friend of Carlos Alberto?

No, i said vehemently, but i have the pleasure of knowing his mother. In the days before the triumph of the revolution when the fascist peons of the tyrant Batista were looking for Fidel, it was this elegant lady, who hid him in their spacious mansion (in one of the bathrooms). Fidel was grateful for this gesture and when the newly revolutionary government were purging journalists, Fidel made sure that his erstwhile friends were not in danger. At a hotel, when Ernesto and Fidel entered the lift, Fidel turned around to Ernesto and said, you are the best we have, please leave with your family within the next forty eight hours so that no harm would come to you.

So Carlos Alberto, his older brother, his younger brother  , mother and father left for Miami.. Ernesto died in 1990 and his wife in 2000, Alex of Covid in 2020 and Carlos Alberto has left us in 2023.

I never thought i would shed a tear for you, Carlos Alberto, I am genuinely sad. Tears are flowing copiously.

We did share the history of our glorious island ..

1776 AND ALL THAT. ARRIVAL OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ON THE FRENCH COAST

 Port San Gustain is a port in Brittany with an illustrious past. The current day village is a charming one on one of the estuaries in the Bay in Brittany near the town of Auray.

Two people we can historically connect to this port are 

Samuel de Champlain was well respected French exploration who explored much of eastern Canada (then known as New France), made friends with many Indian tribes and wrote about their life. If you travel in Quebec or Vermont, you would come across places that are associated with him.

No authentic portrait of him exists.

Which student of north American history does not know Benjamin Franklin? His face adorns a denomination of usa currency and there are so many places and institutions named after him in the USA. For our purpose he was the first USA, newly nascent in 1776, ambassador anywhere having arrived at this port just a few months after the American independence in 1776.

(a friend of mine from the USA wrote to me jokingly , if you meet Franklin, ask him what he thinks of what is happening to the USA!)

I had a pleasant afternoon in this small village in Brittany, absolutely gorgeous weather for this early summer day.