mosullon

Updated: May 6, 2025

The fourth and last mart mentioned as lying on the African side of the channel, which opens from the Straits of Babelmandeb, is Mosullon; this was the most important mart on the whole coast, and that which gave a specific name to the trade of the ancients: the imports were numerous, comprising, besides those already mentioned, some that were peculiar to this place, such as vessels of silver, a small quantity of iron, and flint glass: the exports were, cinnamon, of an inferior quality; the quantity of this article is noticed as so great, that larger vessels were employed in the trade of this port, expressly for conveying it, than were seen in the other ports of Africa.

Robert Kerr - A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 : Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and : Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth : Century, By William Stevenson

It is well asked by Dr. Vincent, in reference to this account of Strabo, might not that geographer, from knowing the ships brought home Indian commodities, have supposed that they sailed to India, when in reality they went no farther than Hadramant, in Arabia, or Mosullon, on the coast of Africa, where they found the produce of India?

Robert Kerr - A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 : Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and : Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth : Century, By William Stevenson

Cape Aromata, the Gardefan of the moderns, is not only the extreme point east of the continent of Africa, but also forms the southern point of entrance on the approach to the Red Sea, and is the boundary of the monsoon. At the marts between Mosullon and this Cape, no articles of commerce are specified, except frankincense, in great abundance and of the best quality, at Alkannai.

Robert Kerr - A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 : Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and : Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth : Century, By William Stevenson

It is true, indeed, that he visited Mosullon, which lies beyond the straits, but not by sea, having marched by land to that place, through the interior of Abyssinia and Adel.

Robert Kerr - A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 : Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and : Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth : Century, By William Stevenson

It appears that in the age of Agatharcides, the monopoly of the trade between India and Europe by this route was wholly possessed by the Sabeans; that, in order to evade the effects of this monopoly, the Greeks of Egypt found their way to Aden and Hadraumaut, in Arabia, and to Mosullon on the coast of Africa.

Robert Kerr - A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 : Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and : Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth : Century, By William Stevenson

We are informed by Pliny, that Mosullon was a great market for cinnamon, and it would seem, from its being conveyed in large vessels by sea, that it came from Arabia.

Robert Kerr - A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 : Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and : Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth : Century, By William Stevenson