Zeilah

Zeilah , in Somali Saylac , is a port of Somalia, on the Golfe of Aden. Located in the area of Awdal, it belongs to the republic secessionist not recognized of the Somaliland.

Its coordinates are: .

History

Zeilah was identified with the ancient city of the Avalite S of the name of Avalites emporium . It then appears in 891 under the feather of the geographer Ya' qubi who mentions it in his Kitab Al-Balden (“the Book of the countries”), then by Al Masudi towards 935 and Ibn Hawqal in 988.

Its importance as commercial port was confirmed by Al Idrissi and Ibn Said, which describes Zeilah like an important city, centers milked slaves, under contrîole Ethiopia N. One thinks also that Marco Polo refers with Zeilah (then capital of Adal) when it describes how the “sultan of Aden” captured a bishop of Ethiopia travelling through his States, tried to convert it of force, and the circoncit according to the Moslem practices. This affront caused the lifting of an army by the Négus and the catch of the capital of the sultan.

The traveller Ibn Battûta visited Zeilah in 1329, but was not impressed by this city of which he wrote that it was “dirtiest, most unpleasant and more puante city of the world. ”

About this same time, Zeilah was had by the Oualashma, which reigned on the Ifat, and, although it passed thereafter to the 14th century in the hands of the Masters of Yemen, this family remained established so well that the sultan Sa' AD AD-DIN II took refuge there in 1403 (or 1415) to escape the emperor David {{Ier}}. The emperor éthopien took the city after a seat of several day and killed the sultan. After its death, this one was regarded as a saint, and his tomb venerated during several centuries.

The travellers of the 16th century report that at that time Zeilah was an important place of trade, although having been devastated by Portuguais in 1517 and 1528. Later in the century, the raids of the nomads Somalis pushed his governor Garad Lado to strengthen it.

Although, with Tadjourah, Zeilah was one of the principal harbor outlets of the town of Harar and the areas of Asayita and Choa, the city lost of its importance with time. At the beginning of the 19th century, the port had become a dependence of Mocha. After conquerbeing briefly conquered by the Egypt between 1874 and 1885, Zeilah was annexed to the British Somalia.

The construction of the railway of Djibouti to Addis-Abeba at the end of the 19th century accelerated its decline.

Random links: