|
( Mogadishu)
Mogadishu [moga'd??u] (Somali Muqdisho, popularly Xamar; Arabic ??????? Maqadishu; Italian Mogadiscio) is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important regional port for centuries. With the collapse of the central government in 1991, Mogadishu has been the stage for 17 years of fighting between rival militias. Years of civil unrest and uncontrolled insurgencies against Ethiopian occupation have transformed Mogadishu into one of the most dangerous and lawless cities in the world.[4] Estimates of the city's current population vary greatly, with figures ranging from 1.5 million to 3 million, as many of its former inhabitants have fled. Trade connected Somalis in the Mogadishu area to other communities along the Indian coast as early as the 1st century according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. With Muslim traders from the Arabian Peninsula arriving circa 900 AD, Mogadishu was well-suited to become a regional center for commerce. The northernmost of the East African city-states, Mogadishu prospered through trade with the interior, which spread Islam throughout Somalia. The Portuguese visited the city but never took it. In 1871 Barghash bin Said, the sultan of Zanzibar, occupied the city.
|
Mogadishu Subcategories
Mogadishu Articles
|
| 
