Bulhar (Bulahar, ) is a historic port town in the Sahil region of

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

with routes dating back to antiquity. The port was rejuvenated in the 19th century and was a rival to nearby

Berbera Berbera (; , ) is the capital of the Sahil, Somaliland, Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of t ...

History

Antiquity

Bulhar is situated near

. The site is believed to correspond with the ancient commercial Port of Isis described by the Roman scholar

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

. Pliny also associated the area with the toponym Abalito, which Said M-Shidad Hussein writes is likely the Avalite of the ''

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and Roman commerce, trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports lik ...

''. According to Pliny, the Port of Isis was a center for

myrrh Myrrh (; from an unidentified ancient Semitic language, see '' § Etymology'') is a gum-resin extracted from a few small, thorny tree species of the '' Commiphora'' genus, belonging to the Burseraceae family. Myrrh resin has been used ...

commerce. He likewise noted that the Egyptian Pharaoh

Sesostris Sesostris () is the name of a king of ancient Egypt who, according to Herodotus, led a military expedition into parts of Europe. Tales of Sesostris are probably based on the life of Senusret I, Senusret III and perhaps other Pharaohs such as Sho ...

led his forces passed the region en route to the northeastern port of Mosylon, a

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

hub that is believed to have been in or close to present-day Bosaso. Additionally, Pliny indicated that the Port of Isis was located near stone pillars on which unknown letters were engraved. Samuel Sharpe suggests that these old inscriptions were probably hieroglyphical.

Early Modern Period

Although Bulhar's roots date back to antiquity, the settlement was not repopulated until the mid-19th century. The re-establishment of Bulhar was due to a dissension between the

mercantile Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cred ...

Reer Ahmed Nur and Reer Yunis Nuh lineages of the Habar Awal clan over the control of the trade of

in 1845. With the support of Haji Sharmarke Ali Saleh, the ruler of

Zeila Zeila (, ), 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 with the Biblical location of Havilah. Most modern schola ...

, the Reer Ahmed Nuh drove out their kinsmen and declared themselves the sole commercial masters of

. In retaliation for their expulsion, the Reer Yunis Nuh merchants founded the port of Bulhar and persuaded their past foreign trade contacts to do business at their port over

. This act had an almost immediate effect as trade at Bulhar grew rapidly in the latter half of the 19th century, with the port becoming a major market for

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

hide (skin) A hide or skin is an animal skin treated for human use. The word "hide" is related to the German word , which means skin. The industry defines hides as "skins" of large animals ''e.g''. cow, buffalo; while skins refer to "skins" of smaller animals ...

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

, and other various goods procured from the interior. According to several European explorers who traveled through much of the Somali Peninsular in the 19th and early 20th centuries,

and Bulhar's extensive trade links covered large tracks of the Somali and Ethiopian interiors, and the merchants from Berbera and Bulhar had trade contracts with merchants from as far as

Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

and

Merca Merca (, ) is the capital city of the Lower Shebelle province of Somalia, a historic port city in the region. It is located approximately to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home territory of the Bimal c ...

Nearly all trade for
Ogaden Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled ''Ogadēn''; , ) is one of the historical names used for the modern Somali Region. It is also natively referred to as Soomaali Galbeed (). The region forms the eastern portion of Ethiopia and borders Somalia ...
goes from Bulhar; but we found on the Webbe that we had, as it were, reached the point at which merchants from Berbera and Bulhar meet those from Merka and Mogadaxo (Madisha).

Hargeisa is situated on the Tug Marodijeh, the banks of which are well wooded, and as it can boast of an excellent climate all the year round, and is about half-way on the main route from Bulhar to Jig-jigga on the Abyssinian frontier, it is always likely to be of some importance to caravans. A large percentage of the trade from Ogadayn passes through it to Bulhar on the coast.

On leaving Hargeisa we travelled for many miles through beautiful park-like land, alive with birds and jungle fowl. We met the usual Somali khafilas rading caravansof Habr-Awal men, carrying their skins, gums, ghee, and coffee to our port at Bulhar, situated between Berbera and Zeila.

Demographics

Bulhar was historically inhabited by the Reer Yunis Nuh and the Jibril Abokor, and was later inhabited by the Makahil sub-clan, all of which are lineages of the wider

Habr Awal The Habr Awal, alternately known as the Zubeyr Awal (, , Full Name: '' Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ash-Ishaaq bin Ahmed, Shaykh Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad)'' is one of the largest subclans of the wider Isaaq clan family, and is further divided into eight su ...

clan."

References

{{coord, 10.3839, N, 44.4200, E, source:wikidata, display=title Archaeological sites in Somaliland Populated places in Sahil, Somaliland Port cities in Africa Cities in Somaliland Ancient Greek geography of East Africa