4.3 The Cinnamon Route
73
suggest that this increased demand for spices, and especially for cloves and cinnamon, may have been the trigger for the establishment of a direct route from the
Spice Islands to Rhapta. If so, it would probably also have been the trigger for the
initial colonization of Madagascar.
Prehistorians, however, are divided on the timing for this migration. Victor King
[5], noting that the Madagascan languages “are most closely related to the south-east
Barito language family including Ma’anyan (Dyen 1971)” of Borneo, comments, for
example,
It has been suggested that Austronesians from southern Borneo may well have settled in east
Africa relatively recently, from the mid- or late-first millenium (see Bellwood 1978: 124)
and may have been members of boat-crews organized under Malay or Javanese control
(Adelaar 1990: 7). But Glover draws attention to regular trading contacts across the Indian
ocean even during the first millenium BC.
Matthew Hurles et al. [6], quoting Dahl [7] and Adelaar [8] more specifically
claim that the Austronesian Malagasy language of Madagascar “shares 90% of its
basic vocabulary with Maanyan”. Following Dewar and Wright [9] and Burney et al.
[10], Hurles et al. believe that Madagascar was settled 1,500–2,000 years ago from
the Barito River area of Borneo.
On the other hand, J. Innes Miller [11] believes that a “study of the Sanskrit element in Malagasy as compared with that in Malay is important as an indicator of
when the colonization of Madagascar occurred”. He argues that the Sanskrit terms
used in Malagasy refer to “common objects affecting everyday life” and that these
“were probably brought in by Kalingan traders long before hinduization by settlement began”. He contrasts such vocabulary with “that dominant in and around the
Courts” and associated with Hindu migrations into Island Southeast Asia dating to
the beginning of the Christian era. He explains
Kalinga was one of the historic kingdoms of India. . .famous for its maritime trade. . .It
was conquered by Asoka in 255 B.C. Sanskrit had been in use in India since about 1500
B.C., and the vigorous and homely Prakrit derivatives dealing with trade, agriculture, and
domestic life, which are common to the Malay and Malagasy languages, could only have
come when Kalinga was a strong and active power. The beginnings of the Indonesian or
Malagasy settlement of Madagascar may therefore go back to the second millenium B.C.,
to the time of the Shang or Yin dynasty in China and that of Hatshepsut in ancient Egypt,
and it was along the route which ran direct from Java to Madagascar, and thence via Rhapta
to the Nile Valley and the Somali ports, that the cassia and cinnamon of China and southeast Asia came to the Mediterranean in Roman imperial times. This was the Cinnamon
Route (p. 166).
Suggested dates for the colonization of Madagascar thus stretch over 2,400 years
from 1500 BC to AD 900.
We know, from the cloves found in Terqa and dated to 1721 BC, that the international trade in spices grown in the Spice Islands is close to 4,000 years old at least.
Given this fact it is not unreasonable to suppose that the Cinnamon Route may have
been established 3,500 years ago as Miller suggests: possibly set up specifically to
supply the embalming spices, cinnamon and cloves, to Egypt. It is clear that only
cold-adapted, famine-resistant mariners could have sailed the route from the Spice
73
suggest that this increased demand for spices, and especially for cloves and cinnamon, may have been the trigger for the establishment of a direct route from the
Spice Islands to Rhapta. If so, it would probably also have been the trigger for the
initial colonization of Madagascar.
Prehistorians, however, are divided on the timing for this migration. Victor King
[5], noting that the Madagascan languages “are most closely related to the south-east
Barito language family including Ma’anyan (Dyen 1971)” of Borneo, comments, for
example,
It has been suggested that Austronesians from southern Borneo may well have settled in east
Africa relatively recently, from the mid- or late-first millenium (see Bellwood 1978: 124)
and may have been members of boat-crews organized under Malay or Javanese control
(Adelaar 1990: 7). But Glover draws attention to regular trading contacts across the Indian
ocean even during the first millenium BC.
Matthew Hurles et al. [6], quoting Dahl [7] and Adelaar [8] more specifically
claim that the Austronesian Malagasy language of Madagascar “shares 90% of its
basic vocabulary with Maanyan”. Following Dewar and Wright [9] and Burney et al.
[10], Hurles et al. believe that Madagascar was settled 1,500–2,000 years ago from
the Barito River area of Borneo.
On the other hand, J. Innes Miller [11] believes that a “study of the Sanskrit element in Malagasy as compared with that in Malay is important as an indicator of
when the colonization of Madagascar occurred”. He argues that the Sanskrit terms
used in Malagasy refer to “common objects affecting everyday life” and that these
“were probably brought in by Kalingan traders long before hinduization by settlement began”. He contrasts such vocabulary with “that dominant in and around the
Courts” and associated with Hindu migrations into Island Southeast Asia dating to
the beginning of the Christian era. He explains
Kalinga was one of the historic kingdoms of India. . .famous for its maritime trade. . .It
was conquered by Asoka in 255 B.C. Sanskrit had been in use in India since about 1500
B.C., and the vigorous and homely Prakrit derivatives dealing with trade, agriculture, and
domestic life, which are common to the Malay and Malagasy languages, could only have
come when Kalinga was a strong and active power. The beginnings of the Indonesian or
Malagasy settlement of Madagascar may therefore go back to the second millenium B.C.,
to the time of the Shang or Yin dynasty in China and that of Hatshepsut in ancient Egypt,
and it was along the route which ran direct from Java to Madagascar, and thence via Rhapta
to the Nile Valley and the Somali ports, that the cassia and cinnamon of China and southeast Asia came to the Mediterranean in Roman imperial times. This was the Cinnamon
Route (p. 166).
Suggested dates for the colonization of Madagascar thus stretch over 2,400 years
from 1500 BC to AD 900.
We know, from the cloves found in Terqa and dated to 1721 BC, that the international trade in spices grown in the Spice Islands is close to 4,000 years old at least.
Given this fact it is not unreasonable to suppose that the Cinnamon Route may have
been established 3,500 years ago as Miller suggests: possibly set up specifically to
supply the embalming spices, cinnamon and cloves, to Egypt. It is clear that only
cold-adapted, famine-resistant mariners could have sailed the route from the Spice