by Ezra Musa
As we celebrate the Fenkil 36th Anniversary, a day that commemorates the legendary liberation of Massawa and the unbreakable spirit of the Eritrean people, it is the perfect moment to share the story of the “Pearl of the Red Sea.” This title belongs to Massawa not just for its physical beauty, but for a history of wealth, global reach, and resilience that once placed Eritrea at the center of the world’s most luxurious trade.
The Pearl of the Red Sea
The Red Sea has served as a conduit for trade and cultural exchange for millennia, but in the early 20th century, its waters held a specific, shimmering promise: the natural pearl. For Eritrea, this industry was more than a trade; it was the foundation of a global legend. At the heart of this world stood Mahmud Mohammad Nahari (known as Al-Nahari), a visionary Eritrean merchant prince whose life illustrates how local ingenuity and international networks converged to create vast fortunes.
The Kingdom of the Deep: The Dahlak Strategy
The wealth of the era flowed from the Dahlak Archipelago. These islands were a biological treasure chest, yielding pearls with a unique champagne-colored luster that became the gold standard for global luxury. Al-Nahari was the architect of a vertical monopoly, linking the skilled local Eritrean divers—masters of breath-hold diving—with the elite fashion houses of Paris, London, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Eritrea’s Dahlak Archipelago
Under Italian colonial rule, the modernization of the ports of Massawa and Assab provided the infrastructure Al-Nahari needed. While the Italians sought to extract profit, this Eritrean entrepreneur leveraged their deep-water piers and telegraph lines to bypass traditional trade routes, accessing international markets directly.
The Silent Auction and the Secret of the Fingers
Al-Nahari’s business acumen was famously immortalized by French adventurer Henry de Monfreid in his bestseller Les Secrets de la mer Rouge (The Secrets of the Red Sea). Monfreid described the ritualized “Silent Auction” held in the shadows of Massawa’s coral buildings. Under a silk cloth, Al-Nahari and his buyers would negotiate through a secret code of finger-presses. This “Secret of the Fingers” kept the true value of the gems hidden from tax collectors and rivals, allowing the Eritrean financier to amass a fortune he systematically moved into European assets.
From the Sea to the Skies: The European Portfolio
Recognizing the volatility of pearls, Al-Nahari became a pioneer of global diversification. He invested his gains in the “tech boom” of the 1920s: Aviation. He was a significant early investor in French airline companies like Air Orient. When these merged in 1933 to form Air France, Al-Nahari was, on paper, one of the silent Eritrean architects of European aviation.
Furthermore, he moved his wealth into real estate in Paris, apartment blocks in Marseille, and grand villas in Rome and Naples. These properties served as collateral for loans that fueled his fleets back in the Red Sea, cementing his status as an Eritrean landlord on two continents.
The Great Freeze: War and the “Séquestre” (Seizure/Sequestration)
The tragedy of the Al-Nahari fortune was a legal “eclipse” caused by World War II. After Al-Nahari’s death in the early 1930s in Massawa, his estate fell into a trap. When Italy declared war on France in 1940, Eritrea (as an Italian colony) was labeled “enemy territory.” Under the French legal mechanism known as Le Séquestre (The Seizure/Administrator of Enemy Property), Al-Nahari’s assets were seized.
Because the family in Eritrea could not travel to Europe to defend their deeds during the war, many buildings were eventually reclaimed by the state for “unpaid taxes.” Similarly, his Air France shares were absorbed into the French national treasury under the “30-year rule” (Prescription trentenaire) (Thirty-year statute of limitations) after remaining unclaimed during the post-war chaos.
Global Fascination: European Research and Media
The story of this Eritrean legend has long fascinated Western historians, writers, and filmmakers. European perspectives have often dominated the narrative:
- Literature: Henry de Monfreid’s book Les Secrets de la mer Rouge
- Television: In 1968, the French television series Les Secrets de la mer Rouge (The Secrets of the Red Sea) was produced, featuring a character named Zaid Ali who was directly inspired by the life of Al-Nahari.
- Academic Research: Modern scholars like Dr. Jonathan Miran have conducted extensive research, such as his paper “Pearling Fortunes: Recovering ‘Ali al-Nahari,”which attempts to reconstruct his financial empire through European archives.
Eritrea: A Land of Hidden Gems
While Europeans have studied Al-Nahari as a figure of “exotic” adventure, his story belongs to us.
There is so much story that needs to be studied and told to the world from Eritrea—a land of so many hidden gems of history.
The story of Mahmud Mohammad Nahari is just one chapter. Our nation is filled with rich, complex narratives that have been obscured. What we Eritreans need to do is get a deeper understanding and conduct our own research based on locally available information. We must look at our own family oral histories, local business ledgers, and the physical ruins of Massawa & other locations to tell our history from an Eritrean perspective—one that values Al-Nahari not just as a “character” in a French book, but as a brilliant Eritrean pioneer.
Fenkil: Reclaiming the Pearl
The liberation of Massawa during Operation Fenkil in 1990 was more than a military victory; it was the reclaiming of this historic “Pearl” for its rightful owners. The three tanks standing at the entrance to Tualet Island today serve as a memorial to the heavy sacrifice paid to ensure that the wealth and heritage of the Red Sea coast would belong to Eritrea forever.
House of Mahmud Mohammad Nahari
The House of Mahmud Mohammad Nahari in Old Massawa remains a physical testament to this era. As we celebrate the 36th anniversary of Fenkil, we honor the legacy of those who, like Al-Nahari, showed that Eritrea’s vision has always been global, and the bravery of those who fought to ensure that our “Pearl” would finally shine in freedom.
References & Multimedia Resources
Literature & Digital Archives
- Original French Edition (1931): Monfreid, Henry de. Les Secrets de la mer Rouge.
- English Translation (1934): Secrets of the Red Sea, translated by Helen Buchanan Bell. URL:https://archive.org/details/secretsofredsea0000henr
Television & Video Archives
- The TV Series (1968): Les Secrets de la mer Rouge (The Secrets of the Red Sea) featuring the character Zaid Ali.
URL (Episode 2 – The Pearl Route):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u88zmUEjmoQ
Academic Research
- Research Paper: Miran, Jonathan. “Pearling Fortunes: Recovering ‘Ali al-Nahari and the Red Sea World.”
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