Remains of prehistoric cultures and Ancient Rock art
once Center of the flourishing frankincense trade
Extensive history of foreign occupation
Come uncover Socotra's profound history
The earliest evidence of Socotra’s inhabitation comes in the form of Oldowan stone tools found in 2008 on the outskirts of Socotra’s largest inhabited center, Hadibo (Amirkhanov, et al., 2009). Though this points to the presence of a Lower Paleolithic culture on the island, no other remains from the period have been found and further study of this topic has been hindered on Socotra due to mainly political reasons.
Based on historic descriptions and even present day traditions, it can be gathered that Socotra has long been considered a place of great mythological importance. As noted by Sissick, “The Phoenicians believed Socotra to be the abode of the Phoenix, a mythical bird believed by the ancients to fly from Socotra to Heliopolis in Egypt once every 500 years to rejuvenate itself in a sacred flame. Herodotus, Pliny the Elder and Diodorus of Sicily mention Socotra in regards to this legend.” Indeed, even the first detailed historical description of Socotra was made by Mediterranean mariners.”
The first detailed description of Socotra occurs in the 1st century CE Greek manuscript Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, where the island is referred to as Dioskouridou or “island of Dioscuri”(Potts, 2020). The name Dioscuri refers to the Greek-Roman myth of partly divine twin half-brothers Castor and Pollux that also acted as popular patrons for travel and particularly maritime navigation in ancient Greece. Interestingly, till date the endemic Socotri Dragon blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari) is referred to in the archipelago’s Arabic vernacular as the “blood of the two brothers tree.” While a variety of legends and folk tales exist that address the origins of this name, certain posit that this name may in fact refer to Dioscuri.
Socotra’s convenient geographic location at the mouth of the Red Sea and in between the valuable Indian subcontinent, East African coast, Mediterranean Sea and Arabian peninsula allowed the island to become as a popular trading hub during roughly the first six centuries of the common era. The descriptions of Socotra present in Periplus of the Erythrean Sea and a variety of texts found on wooden tablets, including one in Palmyrean, indicate that Socotra hosted travelers and traders from around the old world that used Socotra as a stopping point along spice routes as well as a primary source of many valuable natural products including frankincense, myrrh, aloe and dragon blood (Sidebotham, 2011). Indeed, speleological and archeological research on Socotra has revealed a multiple inscriptions, drawings and and other archaeological findings in a variety of scripts including Brahmi, Palmyrean, Ethiopic, Greek and Bactrian dating from the 1st to the 6th centuries CE (Rensburg, 2018). Presumably, it was during this period that Indian mariners gave the island the Sanskrit title “Dvipa Sukhadara” meaning “island abode of Bliss,” likely acting as main influence for its current name; Socotra.
"They find on this Island very fine ambergris. They live on flesh and milk and rice. They are capital fishermen, and catch a great quantity of fine large sea-fish, and these they dry, so that all the year they have plenty of food, and also enough to sell to the traders who go thither. They have no chief except a bishop, who is subject to the archbishop of another Island, of which we shall presently speak, called SCOTRA. They have also a peculiar language."
-Excerpt from The Travels of Marco Polo/Book 3/ Chapter 31
During this period, with the rapidly growing demand for valuable resins, and namely frankincense, around the world, the rich stands of frankincense trees of South Arabia and Socotra became a valuable resource. The author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea states that Socotra was"subject to the King of the frankincense-bearing land” that it was “leased out and under guard." The majority of frankincense harvested on Socotra was shipped to the mainland of Hadhramaut by Hadhrami traders and then onwards by land both east towards the Persian Gulf and West towards the Red Sea (Grant). It was along these trade routes that visitors from abroa also brought monotheistic religion to Socotra.
Certain sources, largely based on the 3rd century apocryphal Acts of Thomas, hold that the inhabitants of Socotra were converted to Christianity by Thomas the Apostle in 52 CE5. Multiple sources from the second half of the first millennium CE also maintain that the inhabitants of Socotra were Christian at the time. Indeed, Socotra is even mentioned in The Travels of Marco Polo, who never actually visited the island, but mentioned that Christian Socotris had an archbishop who was not at all associated with the Roman pope, but rather to another archbishop residing in Baghdad (Polo, 1958, Missick, 2016).
The second millennium CE would see a variety of forces combatting for control of the valuable Socotra. In 1507, a Portuguese fleet arrived and took the main Socotri city of Suq. Due to the infertility and inhospitable nature of the island, the Portuguese soon left in 1511. Within the same year, the Sultans of Mahra took over Socotra converting the island’s population to Islam. During this period, the island continued to be used as a hub of maritime trade in the Indian ocean and the new rulers from Mahra continued to harvest valuable resins from the island to feed the world’s growing demand.
The second millennium CE would see a variety of forces combatting for control of the valuable Socotra archipelago. In 1507, a Portuguese fleet arrived and took the main Socotri city of Suq. Due to the infertility and inhospitable nature of the island, the Portuguese soon left in 1511. Within the same year, the Sultans of Mahra took over Socotra converting the island’s population to Islam. During this period, the island continued to be used as a hub of maritime trade in the Indian ocean and the new rulers from Mahra.
Oldest mosque in Hadibo; thought to have hosted Sufi scholars during the early islamic period on Socotra.
In 1834, the East-India trading company stationed a garrison in Socotra under the expectation that the ruler of the time, the Mahri Sultan of Qishn and Socotra would willingly accept to sell the island to British forces. Later on in 1876, in keeping with this expectation, the sultan entered an agreement in which Socotra was to be effectively kept for use only for British forces. The British occupation of the island effectively lasted for close to another century until British colonial forces left the area in 1967 and Socotra became part of South Yemen. Given their political relations, South Yemen allowed Socotra to be used as a support station for the Soviet navy between 1971 and 1985. Till date, soviet tanks can be found on Socotra northern coast.
Since unification of Yemen in 1990, Socotra has been part of the Republic of Yemen.
Literature cited:
1. Amirkhanov, K.A.; Zhukov, V.A.; Naumkin, V.V.; Sedov, A.V. (2009). Эпоха олдована открыта на острове Сокотра. Pripoda (in Russian).
2. Potts, D.T. (2020, June 14). Diosko(u)rides (island). Pleiades. https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/39338
3. Sidebotham, Steven E. (2011). Berenike and the Ancient Maritime Spice Route. California. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-520-24430-6.
4. Rensburg, J. J. (2018). Rock Art of Soqotra, Yemen: A Forgotten Heritage Revisited. Excellence Cluster TOPOI, Freie Universität. 4.
5. Grant, Grainne. Socotra: Hub of the Frankincense Trade. https://naturalingredient.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/grant.pdf
6. Polo, Marco (1958). The Travels of Marco Polo. Translated and introduction by Ronald Latham. Penguin Books. pp. 296–297. ISBN 978-0-14-044057-7.
7. Missick, S. A. (2016). Socotra: The Mysterious Island of the Assyrian Church of the East. Church of Beth Kokheh Journal. https://bethkokheh.assyrianchurch.org/articles/235
images of socotri history
