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Ruguda
Ruguda, also known as Rakudah ( so, Ruguuda) is a historic coastal port town located in the Sanaag region of Somaliland, near Heis. Overview Ruguda is a coastal town approximately 38km away from the larger Heis town nearby. Other nearby cities and towns include Erigavo (134km), Burao (389km), and Xagal (108km). History Ruguda was a well known landmark to navigators and legendary Arab explorer Ahmad ibn Mājid wrote of Ruguda and a few other many notable landmarks and ports of the northern Somali coast, including Berbera, the Sa'ad ad-Din islands aka the Zeila Archipelago near Zeila, Siyara, Maydh, Alula, El-Sheikh, Heis and El-Darad. John Hanning Speke, an English explorer who made an exploratory expedition to the area in an attempt to reach the Nugaal Valley, described the port town: Demographics Ruguda is populated by the Sanbuur sub-division of the Habr Je'lo Isaaq The Isaaq (also Isaq, Ishaak, Isaac) ( so, Reer Sheekh Isxaaq, ar, بني إسحاق, Ba ...
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Sanbuur
The Sanbur ( so, Sanbuur, ar, صنبور, Full Name: ''Ibrāhīm ibn ash-Shaykh Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad'') is a major clan of the wider Isaaq clan family. Its members form part of the larger Habr Habusheed confederation along with the Habr Je'lo, Ibran and Tol Je'lo clans. Politically however, the Sanbur fall under the Habr Je'lo clan. The clan primarily inhabits the Togdheer and Sanaag regions of Somaliland, especially the towns of Qallocan and Ruguuda. History Lineage Sheikh Ishaaq ibn Ahmed was one of the Arabian scholars that crossed the sea from Arabia to the Horn of Africa to spread Islam around 12th to 13th century. He is said to have been descended from Prophet Mohammed's daughter Fatimah. Hence the Sheikh belonged to the Ashraf or Sada, titles given to the descendants of the prophet. He married two local women in Somaliland that left him eight sons, one of them being Ibrahim (Sanbur). The descendants of those eight sons constitute the Isaaq clan-family. DNA ...
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Sanaag
Sanag ( so, Sanaag, ar, سَنَاج) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in north eastern Somaliland.Regions of Somalia
Sanaag has a long coastline facing the to the north, and is bordered by the region of Sahil to the west, to the south and to the east. The region is disputed by the self-declared Republic of

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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 also served as a major port of the Ifat, Adal and Isaaq sultanates from the 13th to 19th centuries. In antiquity, Berbera was part of a chain of commercial port cities along the Somali seaboard. During the early modern period, Berbera was the most important place of trade in the Somali Peninsula. It later served as the capital of the British Somaliland protectorate from 1884 to 1941, when it was replaced by Hargeisa. In 1960, the British Somaliland protectorate gained independence as the State of Somaliland and united five days later with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somalia) to form the Somali Republic.Encyclopædia Britannica, ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'', (Encyclopædia Britannica: 2002), p.835 Lo ...
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Zeila
Zeila ( so, Saylac, ar, زيلع, Zayla), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland. In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila (or Hawilah) with the Biblical location of Havilah. Most modern scholars identify it with the site of Avalites mentioned in the 1st-century Greco-Roman travelogue the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' and in Ptolemy, although this is disputed. The town evolved into an early Islamic center with the arrival of Muslims shortly after the Hijrah. By the 9th century, Zeila was the capital of the early Adal Kingdom and Ifat Sultanate in the 13th century; and also a capital for its successor state the Adal Sultanate, it would attain its height of prosperity a few centuries later in the 16th century. The city subsequently came under Ottoman and British protection in the 18th century. Up until recently Zeila was surrounded by a large wall with five gates: Bab al Sahil ...
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Heis (town)
Heis ( so, Xiis, ) is a historic coastal town located in the Sanaag region of Somaliland. The town was important for trade and communication with the Somali interior and was used to export frankincense to Arabia. History Antiquity The site said to be identical with the ancient trading post of Mundus ( grc, Μούνδος) that is described in the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'', an anonymous account by a Greek Alexandrian salesman from the 1st century CE. A large collection of cairns of various types lie near the city. Excavations here have yielded pottery and sherds of Roman glassware from a time between the 1st and 5th centuries. Among these artefacts is high-quality millefiori glass. Dated to 0-40 CE, it features red flower disks superimposed on a green background. Additionally, an ancient fragment of a footed bowl was discovered in the surrounding area. The sherd is believed to have been made in Aswan (300-500 CE) or Lower Nubia (500-600 CE), suggesting early trading ...
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El-Darad
El-Darad ( so, Ceel Daraad) was a historic coastal settlement and fort located in the Sahil region of Somaliland. History Legendary 15th century Arab explorer Ahmad ibn Mājid wrote of El-Darad and several other notable landmarks and ports of the northern Somali coast, including Berbera, the Sa'ad ad-Din islands (aka the Zeila Archipelago near Zeila), Alula, Ruguda, Maydh, Heis, Siyara and El-Sheikh. In the 19th century, El-Darad was a seasonal coastal trading settlement with a fort made of adobe (earth) and stone masonry, which was surrounded by Somali Aqal and Areesh (traditional nomadic and coastal dwellings respectively). The fort was erected in circa 1826 and was owned by Muhammad Diban, a Habr Je'lo ( Adan Madobe) pirate and slave trader based in El-Darad who garrisoned the fort with slaves armed with matchlock rifles. Muhammad Diban also had cordial relations with Sharmarke Ali Saleh – governor and ruler of Zeila, Berbera and Tadjoura – who provided Muhamma ...
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Ceel-Sheekh
El-Sheikh ( so, Ceel-Sheekh) is a coastal settlement in the western edge of the Sahil region of Somaliland. History El-Sheikh was also known historically as ''Buurta Almis'' or جبل ألمس ''Jebel Amis'' after the nearby Mount Almis just south of the settlement. It was a well known landmark to navigators and legendary Arab explorer Ahmad ibn Mājid wrote of El-Sheikh and a few other notable landmarks and ports of the northern Somali coast, including Berbera, Siyara, the Sa'ad ad-Din islands aka the Zeila Archipelago near Zeila, Alula, Maydh, Ruguda, Heis and El-Darad. Richard Burton visited the settlement and noted the mountain in his map. After the Habr Awal massacre of Richard Burton's travel party and death of a number of British officers in 1854 led the Royal Navy to blockad the Habr Awal coast. The blockade was established from Mount Almis to Siyara and crippled trade in Berbera and Bulhar with a settlement being reached in 1856. El-Sheikh remained a well used ...
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Alula, Somalia
Alula ( so, Caluula, ar, علولة), also spelled Aluula, is a coastal town in the northeastern Bari region and is part of the autonomous state of Puntland, on the coast of the Guardafui Channel. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it served as the main capital of the Majeerteen Sultanate. It is ten miles east of Ras Filuk and 100 nautical miles from Bender Cassim. Etymology ''Alula'' is derived from the Somali term "lul", which means pearl. Overview Alula is located about west of Cape Guardafui, at the extremity of the Horn of Africa. 20 nautical miles (23 miles) east of Alula lies the coastal town of Bereeda. 7 nautical miles (8 miles) west lies Ras Filuk, the likely Cape Elephant (Elephas) of Strabo and the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea''. Adjacent to Alula is a shallow lagoon lined by mangrove bushes, which appears to correspond with the "large laurel-grove called Acannae" also described by the ''Periplus''. The Acrocephalus warbler has been heard singi ...
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Maydh
Maydh (also transliterated as Mait or Meit) (, ) is an ancient port city in the eastern Sanaag region of Somaliland. History Antiquity According to Augustus Henry Keane, Maydh represents an early center of dispersal of the Somali people. National genealogies collected by the scholars Cox and Abud assert that many clan patriarchs are buried in or nearby the town.A.H. Keane, Man, Past and Present', (Cambridge University Press: 1920), p.485. Medieval The city of Maydh was home to Sheikh Isaaq Bin Ahmed Al Hashimi (''Sheekh Isaxaaq''), who, according to tradition, moved to Somaliland from the Arabian Peninsula in the 12th or 13th century CE. He is considered to be the founding father of the large Somali Isaaq clan family that predominantly inhabits Somaliland, as well as parts of Djibouti and Ethiopia. Sheikh Isaaq's domed tomb is also located here.I.M. Lewis"The Somali Conquest of the Horn of Africa", ''Journal of African History'' 1 (1960), pp. 219-220 According to tradition, ...
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Siyara
Siyara ( so, Siyaara) was a historic coastal settlement and fort located in the Sahil region of Somaliland. It served as the first capital of the Adal Sultanate following the Muslim resurgence spearheaded by Sabr ad-Din II.Pankhurst, Richard. ''The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century'' (Asmara, Eritrea: Red Sea Press, 1997), pp.56 Etymology The name of Siyara derives from the Somali word ''Siyaaro'', a term used to describe a localized annual pilgrimage to a holy site where the ancestor of a clan or a saint is buried. The Somali word ultimately derives from the Arabic word of the same meaning: ''ziyārah'' (زيارة). History Medieval Siyara was the site of the return of the Walashma dynasty to Somali lands. Sa'ad ad-Din II the last Sultan of Ifat had been slain in Zeila after losing the city to Emperor Dawit I after a siege. His sons had fled to Yemen and would soon return led by Sultan Sabr ad-Din II. ...
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Habr Je'lo
The Habr Je'lo ( so, Habar Jeclo, ar, هبر جعلو , Full Name: ''Mūsa ibn ash-Shaykh Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad,'' historically known as the Habr Toljaala ( so, Habar Toljeclo) is a major sub-tribe of the wider Isaaq family. Its members form part of the Habr Habushed ( so, Habar Xabuusheed) confederation along with the Ibran, Sanbuur and Tolje’lo. The Habr Je'lo played a prominent role in the livestock and frankincense trade during the pre-colonial period. The Habr Je'lo also partook in a major organised front to oppose British rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries under the leadership of Haji Sudi and other subsequent anti-colonial leaders hailing from the same tribe. The Habr Je'lo are divided into three further sub-tribes: the Mohamed Abokor, Musa Abokor, and Omar. Historically, the Mohamed Abokor were chiefly nomadic pastoralists, whereas the Musa Abokor and Omar obtained much of their wealth via their frankincense plantations in the mountainous interi ...
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Nugaal Valley
The Nugaal Valley ( so, Dooxada Nugaal, ar, وادي نوجال), also called the Nogal Valley, is a long and broad valley located in northern Somalia and Somaliland. The Nugaal Valley is bounded to the north by the ''Sorl'', or ''Nugal Plateau'', and to the south by 'Iid. Overview The Nugaal Valley is a key pastoral area which spans across four regions, Nugal in Somalia and Sool, Sanaag and Togdheer in Somalia. Pastoral nomadism is the primary way of life for most of the people living in the valley. Goat and camel raising form the basis of the economy, and frankincense and myrrh are collected from wild trees. The beds of the watercourses have a few permanent wells, to which the predominantly nomadic population returns during the dry season. Low and erratic rainfall (about 5 inches 125 mm annually) and the high salinity of the soil limit crop cultivation. The segments of the Nugaal valley from Garowe eastwards is traditionally referred to as ''Bari Nugaaleed'' or ''Ba ...
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