Zeila

Zeila (Somali: Saylac, Arabic: زيلع, romanized: Zayla), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland.

Zeila
Saylac (Somali)
زيلع (Arabic)
Town
Zeila
Location in Somaliland
Zeila
Zeila (Somaliland)
Zeila
Zeila (Horn of Africa)
Coordinates: 11°21′14″N 43°28′23″E
Country Somaliland
RegionAwdal
DistrictZeila District
Establishedca. 1st century CE
Population
 (2012)
  Total18,600
Time zoneUTC+3 (EAT)
ClimateBWh

In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila 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, 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 and Bab al-jadd on the North. Bab Abdulqadir on the East: Bab al-Sahil on the west and Bab Ashurbura on the south.

Zeila falls in the traditional territory of the ancient Somali Dir clan. The town of Zeila and the wider Zeila District is inhabited by the Gadabuursi and Issa, both subclans of the Dir clan family.

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