Azania

Azania was the East African Coast, which included the coasts of modern Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania.
Rhapta was considered the capital of Azania, as well as its most southerly port.

It was mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea written in the first century CE.
In the third century CE reference, the Chinese, who were also trading with Azania, referred it as ‘Zesan’.
The name Azania is preserved in the name of the modern State of Tanzania.

Azania is mentioned by the Periplus as being subject to the Sabaean Kingdom, an Ally of Rome, whose Capital was at Marib, Yemen, and whose main port was Aden.
The Ports of Azania traded with the Yemen, Egypt, the Persian Gulf and the Roman Empire, and also India.

The Periplus describes Rhapta as the last port of Azania, two days south of the Menouthias Islands.
The exports varied from Ivory to exotic animals for the Roman Games.
To reach Rhapta, vessels had to cross the Equator.

Strabo stated that 120 Ships sailed from Myos Hormos to India, every year. Ships usually left Egypt in June or July in order to reach the Indian Ocean and take advantage of the Monsoon which reached India around the first week of June. The Journey took about 3 to 6 weeks.

The Fleet returned from India when the Monsoon reversed direction. This started in the last week of October and lasted through November, so the fleet arrived back in Egypt in December or January.
Navigation from the mouth of the Red Sea to the Indian Coast is basically East west, no compass was required, since vessels could follow the path of the Sun by day, and navigate by Polaris by night.

Chapters 1-18 of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describe the Route from Berenice down to the East Coast of Africa, known as Azania.
The Periplus describes Rhapta as the last port of Azania, being two days south of the Menouthias Islands, which was most probably the Zanzibar Archipelago.
- Berenice, Egypt
- Adulis, and Avalites, Ethiopia
- Opone, Somalia, known as the centre of the Cinnamon trade.
- Malao, Somalia.
- Menouthias Islands
- Rhapta
  - Capital of Azania – the area including the coasts of Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia. Azania is mentioned by the Periplus as being subject to the Sabaean Kingdom, an Ally of Rome.

The Cartographer Ptolemy based his world map on a previous map drawn by Marinus of Tyre.
Marinus recorded that during the first century CE, a Greek Merchant called Diogenes, returning from India, landed near Rhapta on the east coast of Africa, known as Azania.
After travelling inland for 25 days, he arrived at two great inland lakes and, at what the locals called the Mountains of the Moon, because their peaks were covered in snow. and described this area as the source of the river Nile.

The Mountains of the Moon are usually considered to be the snow capped Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda.
They may also refer to Mount Kilimanjaro in northeastern Tanzania, the highest Mountain in Africa, which is also covered in snow all year round.

Ruwenzori Mountains