Azania - Ancient Azania

Ancient Azania

Pliny the Elder mentions an "Azanian Sea" (N.H. 6.34) that began around the emporium of Adulis and stretched around the south coast of Africa.

The slightly later Periplus of the Erythraean Sea offers more details about Azania (chapters 15,16,18). From chapter 15 of the Periplus, Huntingford identifies Azania proper with the area south of modern day Somalia (the "Lesser and Greater Bluffs", the "Lesser and Greater Strands", and the "Seven Courses"). However, chapter 16 clearly describes Rhapta, as located south of the Puralean Islands at the end of the Seven Courses of Azania, as the "southernmost market of Azania".

Modern identifications of Rhapta place it on the coasts of modern-day Tanzania — indicating that Azania referred to an area perhaps identical to the later Arab Zanj. Felix A. Chami has found archaeological evidence indicating that Rhapta was probably near the mouth of the Rufiji River.

Azania was known to the Chinese as 澤散 Zésàn by the 3rd century CE.

Later writers who mention Azania include Claudius Ptolemy and Cosmas Indicopleustes.