The Merchant Houses of Mocha: Trade and Architecture in an Indian Ocean Port

285 Pages·2009·3.11 MB·English

by  Nancy Um

publications on the near east
publications on the near east
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Medieval Agriculture and Islamic Science: The Almanac of a Yemeni Sultan by Daniel Martin Varisco
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The Merchant Houses of Mocha: Trade and Architecture in an Indian Ocean Port byNancy Um
Nancy Um
Mocha
the merchant houses of
trade and architecture in an indian ocean port
university of washington press seattle and london
publication of this book was supported in part by a grant
from binghamton university, suny. publication was also
supported by the donald r. ellegood international
publications endowment.
© 2009 by the University of Washington Press
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Pamela Canell
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
University of Washington Press, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145 U.S.A.
www.washington.edu/uwpress
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Um, Nancy.
The merchant houses of Mocha : trade and architecture
in an Indian Ocean port / Nancy Um. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Publications on the Near East)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn978-0-295-98910-5 (hardback : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-295-98911-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Architecture and merchants—Yemen (Republic)—Mukha—History—17th century.
2. Architecture and merchants—Yemen (Republic)—Mukha—History—18th century.
3. Mukha (Yemen)—Commerce—History—17th century.
4. Mukha (Yemen)—Commerce—History—18th century.
5. Mukha (Yemen)—Buildings, structures, etc. I. Title.
na2543.m47u42009 953.32—dc22 2008051590
The paper used in this publication is acid-free and 90 percent recycled from at least 50
percent post-consumer waste. It meets the minimum requirements of American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ansi z39.48-1984.∞ (cid:81)
To R, E, and O

contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Transliteration, Dates, and Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 3
1 The Mocha Trade Network 16
2 The Yemeni Coffee Network 36
3 A Littoral Society in Yemen 48
4 Merchants and N¯akh¯udhas 78
5 The Urban Form and Orientation of Mocha 96
6 Trading Spaces 125
7 On the Politics of Inside and Out 162
Conclusion: The End of the Mocha Era 185
Appendix A. The Imams of Q¯asim¯ı Yemen
and the Governors of Mocha 191
Appendix B. Archival and Museum Sources Consulted 193
Notes 199
Glossary 239
References Cited 241
Illustration Credits 256
Index 257
acknowledgments
M
y fascination and engagement with Mocha have endured for more
than a decade. During that time, many people and institutions around the
world helped me make sense of ruins, documents, stories, spaces, and im-
ages. Numerous granting organizations provided the financial support for
travel, research, and writing. They included the Institute of International
Education, with a Fulbright grant; the American Institute for Yemeni
Studies, with a predoctoral and a postdoctoral research grant; the National
Endowment for the Humanities, with a Summer Stipend; and the Getty
Foundation, with a postdoctoral fellowship. At Binghamton University,
Dean Jean-Pierre Mileur of Harpur College provided research funds as well
as a generous subvention for the production of this book. I thank these or-
ganizations for their financial support. Of course, all the opinions and con-
clusions that follow are my own and do not reflect those of the institutions
that funded my work.
In Yemen, three successive resident directors of the American Institute
for Yemeni Studies in Sanaa facilitated my research—Noha Sadek, Marta
Colburn, and Christopher Edens—along with the executive director, Ma-
ria Ellis. At the Centre Français d’Archéologie et des Sciences Sociales in
Sanaa, François Burgat and Renaud Detalle were always helpful in every
aspect of life in Yemen, both work and recreation. At the General Organiza-
tion for Antiquities and Manuscripts, two successive presidents, Yu¯suf(cid:2)Abd
All¯ah and Muhammad al-(cid:2)Aru¯s¯ı, provided me with research permissions
˙
ix