Mokha ( ar, المُخا, al-Mukhā), also spelled Mocha, or Mukha,
is a port city on the
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
coast of
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
. Until
Aden
Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...
and
al Hudaydah
Al-Hudaydah ( ar, الْحُدَيْدَة, al-ḥudayda), also transliterated as Hodeda, Hodeida, Hudaida or Hodeidah, is the fourth-largest city in Yemen and its principal port on the Red Sea.
As of 2004, its population was 402,560 and it is ...
eclipsed it in the 19th century, Mokha was the principal port for Yemen's capital,
Sanaa
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Gover ...
. Long known for its coffee trade, the city gave its name to
Mocha coffee and chocolate.
Overview
Mocha was the major marketplace for coffee (''
Coffea arabica'') from the 15th century until the early 18th century. Even after other sources of coffee were found,
''Mocha'' beans (also called ''Sanani'' or ''Mocha Sanani'' beans, meaning ''from
Sana'a
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...
'') continued to be prized for their distinctive flavor—and remain so even today. The coffee itself did not grow in Mocha, but was transported from places inland to the port in Mocha, where it was shipped abroad. Mocha's coffee legacy is reflected in the name of the
mocha latte and the
Moka pot
The moka pot is a stove-top or electric coffee maker that brews coffee by passing boiling water pressurized by steam through ground coffee. Named after the Yemeni city of Mocha, it was invented by Italian engineer Alfonso Bialetti in 1933 and ...
coffee maker. In Germany, traditional
Turkish coffee
Turkish coffee is a style of coffee prepared in a '' cezve'' using very finely ground coffee beans without filtering.
Preparation
Turkish coffee is very finely ground coffee brewed by boiling. Any coffee bean may be used; arabica varieties are ...
is known as
Mokka.
![Mocha Dapper 1680](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Mocha_Dapper_1680.jpg)
According to the Portuguese
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
missionary
Jerónimo Lobo
Jerónimo Lobo (1595 – 29 January 1678) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary. He took part in the unsuccessful efforts to convert Ethiopia from the native Ethiopian church to Roman Catholicism until the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1643. Aft ...
, who sailed the Red Sea in 1625, Mocha was "formerly of limited reputation and trade" but since "the Turkish assumption of power throughout
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
, it has become the major city of the territory under Turkish domination, even though it is not the
Pasha
Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...
's place of residence, which is two days' journey inland in the city of Sana'a." Lobo adds that its importance as a port was also due to the
Ottoman law that required all ships entering the Red Sea to put in at Mocha and pay duty on their cargoes.
History
Near the modern Mocha was the important ancient
emporion of
Muza.
Mocha reached its zenith in the 17th century, owing to its trade in coffee. The city boasted a stone wall enclosing a citadel, as well as a labyrinth of thatched huts that surrounded the wall from without. Of these, some four hundred accommodated Jewish households that engaged in trade.
Passing through Mocha in 1752 and 1756, Remedius Prutky found that it boasted a "lodging-house of the
Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...
, which was like a huge tenement block laid out in many hundred separate cells where accommodation was rented to all strangers without discrimination of
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
or
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
." He also found a number of European ships in the harbor: three
French, four
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, two
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, and one
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
. In the 18th century, a plague killed half of the city's population, from which time the city never really recovered.
English, Dutch, and French companies maintained factories at Mocha, which remained a major emporium and coffee exporting port until the early 19th century. In August 1800 ''
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
'' visited. William Moffat, her captain, took the opportunity to prepare a chart of the mouth of the Red Sea.
Mocha was very dependent on imported coffee beans from present-day Ethiopia, which was exported by Somali merchants from
Berbera
Berbera (; so, Barbara, ar, بربرة) is the capital of the Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. It ...
across the Gulf of Aden. The Berbera merchants procured most of the coffee from the environs of
Harar
Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saint ...
and shipped them off in their own vessels during the Berbera trading season. According to Captain Haines, who was the colonial administrator of
Aden
Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...
(1839–1854), Mocha historically imported up to two-thirds of their coffee from Berbera-based merchants before the coffee trade of Mocha was captured by British-controlled Aden in the 19th century.
![Bellin - Plan de la Ville de Moka](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Bellin_-_Plan_de_la_Ville_de_Moka.png)
The Somalis of Berbera also had a navigation act where they excluded Arab vessels and brought the goods and produce of the interior in their own ships to Mocha and other Arabian ports:
Berbera held an annual fair during the cool rain-free months between October and April. This long drawn out market handled immense quantities of coffee, gum Arabic, myrrh and other commodities. These goods in the early nineteenth century were almost exclusively handled by Somalis who, Salt says, had "a kind of navigation act by which they exclude the Arab vessels from their ports and bring the produce of their country either to Aden or Mocha in their own dows."
Foreign observers at the time were quick to notice the
Somalis
The Somalis ( so, Soomaalida 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒆𐒖, ar, صوماليون) are an ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic Somali language is the shared ...
who frequented Mocha. The majority of the Somalis arrived seasonally and stayed temporarily to trade in the goods they brought from the interior of the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
. They were noted to be industrious in trade as well as keeping to the general peace:
The Samaulies, who inhabit the whole coast from Gardafui to the Straits ab-el-Mandeb and through whose territories the whole produce of the interior of Africa must consequently reach Arabia, have been represented by Mr. Bruce, and many others, as a savage race, with whom it would be dangerous to have connection. I think that this is an unjust accusation, and is sufficiently disproved by the extent of their inland trade, their great fairs, and their large exports in their own vessels. A great number of them live close to Mocha, and are a peaceable inoffensive race.
Amidst the varied classes which are found in this town, the Soumalies, or natives of the opposite coast of Africa, are the most calculated to excite the attention of a stranger. Few reside here permanently, the greater number only remaining until their stock of sheep, gums, or coffee is disposed of.
In December 1820,
HMS ''Topaze'' and ships and troops belonging to the British
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
attacked the North and South Forts, destroying them. The action was in pursuit of British demands on the government of the city. A decade and a half later,
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt
Ibrahim Pasha ( tr, Kavalalı İbrahim Paşa; ar, إبراهيم باشا ''Ibrāhīm Bāshā''; 1789 – 10 November 1848) was an Ottoman Albanian general in the Egyptian army and the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Wāli and unrecognised ...
would also attack the city and destroy its fortified wall closest to the sea, as well as its citadel.
[''Iben Safir'', (vol. 1), ]Jacob Saphir
Jacob Saphir ( he, יעקב הלוי ספיר; 1822–1886) was a 19th-century writer, ethnographer, researcher of Hebrew manuscripts, a traveler and emissary of the rabbis of Eastern European Jewish descent who settled in Jerusalem during hi ...
, Lyck, 1866, pp. 110a– 111a (Hebrew) By that time, however, Mocha's trade in its country's precious commodity of coffee grains (''
Coffea arabica'') had already been supplanted by Ethiopia, which was the principal trader of this commodity to North Africa and which sold for a third of the price of the same coffee imported from Arabia.
![Mocha Turkish governor villa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Mocha_Turkish_governor_villa.jpg)
Diplomat
Edmund Roberts visited Mocha in the 1830s. He noted that Turkish "rebels" possessed Mocha. The Turks took it over after they left Egypt while being disgruntled with the rule of
Muhammad Ali of Egypt
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...
. These "rebels", consisting of confederates throughout
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
, had banded together under one leader named Turkie ben al Mas.
Jacob Saphir
Jacob Saphir ( he, יעקב הלוי ספיר; 1822–1886) was a 19th-century writer, ethnographer, researcher of Hebrew manuscripts, a traveler and emissary of the rabbis of Eastern European Jewish descent who settled in Jerusalem during hi ...
who visited the city in 1859 wrote about seeing many houses that were vacant of dwellers, although the Turkish governor still dwelt there with a band of soldiers, collecting taxes from local traders and ships visiting the harbor.
When the British took control over Aden, the port in Mocha fell into disuse, being replaced by Aden. The general destruction of the city was still prominent as late as 1909, when German explorer and photographer,
Hermann Burchardt
Hermann Burchardt (November 18, 1857 – December 19, 1909) was a German explorer and photographer of Jewish descent, who is renowned for his black and white pictorial essays of scenes in Arabia in the early 20th century.
Life
Burchardt, born in ...
, wrote of the city Mocha as he saw it: “This card will reach you from one of the most godforsaken little places in Asia. It exceeds all my expectations, with regard to the destruction. It looks like a city entirely destroyed by earthquakes, etc.”
The Bialetti
Moka pot
The moka pot is a stove-top or electric coffee maker that brews coffee by passing boiling water pressurized by steam through ground coffee. Named after the Yemeni city of Mocha, it was invented by Italian engineer Alfonso Bialetti in 1933 and ...
stovetop pressurized espresso maker was named after the Yemini city by the Italian engineer inventor
Alfonso Bialetti
Alfonso Bialetti () (17 June 1888– 4 March 1970) was an Italian engineer who became famous for the invention of the Moka Express coffeemaker. Designed in 1933, the coffee pot has been a style icon since the 1950s. While many variations of the ...
in 1933.
At the time Mocha was a famous leading producer and trader of
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
worldwide with a history going back 500 years, and also became known for its unique Yemini wild
Mocha coffee beans. The Bialetti Moka pot became known as a brilliant functional iconic
Futurist
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
design that it is still known as today.
Mocha was among the population centers in southern Yemen taken over by the
Houthis
The Houthi movement (; ar, ٱلْحُوثِيُّون ''al-Ḥūthīyūn'' ), officially called Ansar Allah (' ''Partisans of God'' or ''Supporters of God'') and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed movement that ...
during their
military offensive
An offensive is a military operation that seeks through an aggressive projection of armed forces to occupy territory, gain an objective or achieve some larger strategic, operational, or tactical goal. Another term for an offensive often used b ...
in March 2015, and was
bombed by an Arab coalition in July 2015.
The city was attacked by pro-Hadi forces in January 2017 and captured by pro-Hadi forces in February 2017.
At present, Mocha is no longer utilized as a major trade route and the current local economy is largely based upon fishing and a small number of tourists. The village of Mocha was officially relocated west along the Red Sea shore to accommodate the building and demolition of several coastal highways.
Climate
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as
hot desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one ...
(BWh).
See also
*
Mocha coffee bean
The Mocha coffee bean is a variety of coffee bean originally from Yemen. It is harvested from the coffee-plant species '' Coffea arabica'', which is native to Yemen. In appearance it is very small, hard, round with an irregular shape, and olive g ...
*
Caffè mocha
A mocha ( or ), also called mocaccino (), is a chocolate-flavoured warm beverage that is a variant of a caffè latte (), commonly served in a glass rather than a mug. Other commonly used spellings are mochaccino and also mochachino. The name ...
*
Almaqah
Almaqah or Almuqh ( xsa, 𐩱𐩡𐩣𐩤𐩠; ar, المقه; gez, አልመቀህ) was the Moon god of the ancient Yemeni kingdom of Saba'. He was also worshipped in the kingdom of Dʿmt, which later became the kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia a ...
References
Further reading
;Published in the 19th century
*
*
*
*
;Published in the 20th century
*
*
External links
{{Authority control
Populated places in Taiz Governorate
Port cities and towns of the Red Sea
Sub-districts in Al-Makha District