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Merca

Coordinates:01°42′48″N044°45′56″E/ 1.71333°N 44.76556°E/1.71333; 44.76556
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Merca,
Marka
مَركة, Medieval somali, مـارـكـ
Medieval somali,
City
Merca beachside
Merca beachside
Nickname:
Marko cadey
Merca, is located in Lower Shebelle
Merca,
Merca,
Location within Somalia
Merca, is located in Somalia
Merca,
Merca,
Location within the Horn of Africa
Merca, is located in Horn of Africa
Merca,
Merca,
Location within Africa
Merca, is located in Africa
Merca,
Merca,
Merca, (Africa)
Coordinates:01°42′48″N044°45′56″E/ 1.71333°N 44.76556°E/1.71333; 44.76556
CountrySomalia
RegionLower Shabelle
Founded1000 BC
Government
• Mayor and GovernorOsman Muuse Mohamed
Population
(2021)[1]
• City230,100
•Urban
716,361
Time zoneUTC+3(EAT)

Merca(Somali:Marka,Arabic:مركة) is the capital city of theLower Shebelleprovince ofSomalia,a historic port city in the region. It is located approximately 109 km (68 mi) to the southwest of the nation's capitalMogadishu.Merca is the traditional home territory of the Bimal clan and was the center of theBimal revolt.[2]

History[edit]

Antiquity[edit]

The city ofEssinais believed to have been the predecessor state of Merca. It used to be an ancientProto-Somaliemporiumcity-state.[3]It is mentioned in thePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea,a Greek travel document dating from the first century AD, as one of a series of commercial ports on the Somali littoral.[4]According to thePeriplus,maritime trade already connected peoples in the Merca area with other communities along the Somali Sea coast.[5]

Medieval Period[edit]

Main articles:Ajuran SultanateandSomali aristocratic and court titles
Minaretand moonrise in Merca

According to the 12th-century authorAl-IdrisitheHawiyeoccupied the coastal areas betweenRas Hafunand Merca, as well as the lower basin of the lowerShabelleriver. Al-Idrisi's mention of theHawiyeis the first documentary reference to a specific Somali group in the Horn. Later Arab writers also make references to theHawiyeclan in connection with both Merca and the lower Shabelle valley.Ibn Sa'id(1214–74), for instance, considered Merca to be the capital of the Hawiye, who lived in fifty villages on the bank of a river which he calledthe Nile of Mogadishu,a clear reference to the Shabelle river.Yaqut al-Hamawi,another thirteen-century Arab geographer also mentions Merca, which he says belonged to theBlack Berbersconsidered ancestors of modernSomalis.[6]

During the Middle Ages, the area was one of several prominent administrative centers of theAjuran Sultanate.The polity formed one of the largest kingdoms in theHornregion. Variouspillar tombsexist in the region, which local tradition holds were built in the 15th century when the Sultanate'snaa'ibsgoverned the district.[7]According toIbn Sa'idin the thirteenth century described nearby Merca as one of the three most important cities on the East African coast along withMogadishuandBarawaall serving as the commercial and Islamic centers for theIndian Ocean.[8]

Following the decline ofAjuran Sultanate.In the vicinity of Merca, a mysterious group known as theEl Amirmade its appearance between 1650 and 1700. According to an account collected by Guillain in 1847, a leader known as Amir, believed to originate from theAbgaal,formed a following or "tribe" which invaded the territory of Merca and expelled theAjuranclan. The El Amir ruled for thirty-four years until theBiimaalexpelled them and definitively occupied Merca.[9]

Early Modern[edit]

One of the most powerful sultanates to have emerged from Southern Somalia called theGeledi Sultanatecentered inAfgooyein the late 17th century. The Sultanate of Geledi tried to attack and destroy the Bimaal clan many times to try and capture the coastal city of Merca. But the Bimal of Merca managed to defeat the Geledi Sultanate 2 times. In 1843Yusuf Mahamud,the Sultan of Geledi, vowed to destroy the Bimaal once and for all and mobilizes the Geledi army. In 1848 the sultan of the Geledi, Yusuf Mahamud was killed at Adaddey Suleyman, a village near Merca, in a battle between the Bimaal and Geledi Sultanates. His son SultanAhmed Yusuftried to seek revenge but was also killed in 1878 at Agaaran, near Marka by the Bimal. This caused a steady decline in the Geledi Sultanate.[10]

The walls of Merca photographed in 1928 the traditional stronghold of theBimaal

Bimal Revolt[edit]

TheBimal revolt,Bimal resistance,orBanadir resistancewas aguerrilla waragainst theItalian Somalilandin southernSomalia.It was fought from the years 1896 to 1926 and largely concentrated in theLower Shebelle,Banadir,andMiddle Shebelle.The war was centered around Merka and Danane.

It is compared to the war of the Mad Mullah in northern Somalia.[11][12]Named after theBimalclan since they were the major element in the resistance.[13]

Notable elders and the Sultan belonging to the Bimal clan in Merca

For more about Bimal or Merca revolt see:

Main article:Bimal Revolt

Modern[edit]

In the 1930s a group ofItalian Somalisestablished residency in Merca. ThePort of Mercawas the oldest port inItalian Somaliaand was nicknamed the "port of bananas" due to its status as a key exporter of bananas from Somalia toEurope.[14]In the city of Merca there was a huge economic development in the 1930s, due mainly to the growing commerce of the port of Merca connected by small railway to the farm area ofGenale.[15]

Merca was abandoned by government forces and captured byAl-Shabaabin February 2016.[16]It was recaptured by theSomali National Armyalong withAfrican Uniontroops, a few days later. A small battle was fought in which a Somali soldier, several militants, and four civilians died.[17]

On 27 July 2022, an Al-Shabaab suicide bomber killed mayorAbdullahi Ali Ahmed Waafowand twenty other people while Waafow was giving a speech.[18]

Demographics[edit]

According to the UNDP in 2005, Merca had a population of around 250,000inhabitants.[19] it is primarily inhabited by Biimaal Clan with there being a recognizable amount of other Somali tribes.[20]

Transportation[edit]

Merca has ajetty-classseaport,thePort of Merca.[21]

The nearest airport to the city is theK50 Airportin theLower Shebelleprovince.

Notable people[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^PopulationStatPopulation of Merca, city and urban area
  2. ^http:// landinfo.no/asset/2736/1/2736_1.pdfMarka is the traditional home territory of the Midgan clan of Madhiban (Lewis 2008, p. 5).
  3. ^Ptolemy's Topography of Eastern Equatorial Africa, by Henry Schlichter Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography © 1891 - p. 443
  4. ^Jama 1962,p. 19.
  5. ^Huntingford 1980,p. 94.
  6. ^Fage, J. D.; Oliver, Roland; Oliver, Roland Anthony; Clark, John Desmond; Gray, Richard; Flint, John E.; Roberts, A. D.; Sanderson, G. N.; Crowder, Michael (1975).The Cambridge history of Africa: Fage, J. D.p. 137.ISBN9780521209816.
  7. ^Northeast African Studies.African Studies Center, Michigan State University. 1989. p. 115.
  8. ^The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3 - Page 138
  9. ^Cassanelli, Lee (1973).The Benaadir Past Essays in Southern Somali History.University of Wisconsin Madison.
  10. ^Mukhtar, Mohamed Haji (25 February 2003).Historical Dictionary of Somalia.Scarecrow Press.ISBN9780810866041.
  11. ^Ciisa-Salwe, Cabdisalaam M. (1996-01-01).The collapse of the Somali state: the impact of the colonial legacy.HAAN. p. 19.ISBN9781874209270.
  12. ^Kusow, Abdi (2004-01-01).Putting the cart before the horse: contested nationalism and the crisis of the nation-state in Somalia.Red Sea Press. p. 82.ISBN9781569022023.
  13. ^Kusow, Abdi (2004-01-01).Putting the cart before the horse: contested nationalism and the crisis of the nation-state in Somalia.Red Sea Press. p. 86.ISBN9781569022023.the Bimal clan was the major element in the resistance. See:Gherardo Pantano,Nel Benadir: La Citta di Merca e la Regione Bimal
  14. ^"La colonization agricola nella Somalia italiana 1920/39".March 30, 2015.
  15. ^"Map of Genale (the green area was the farm concessions) and Merca in the 1930s".
  16. ^"Al-Shabaab militants retake Somali port".February 5, 2016 – via theguardian.
  17. ^"Somali troops 'retake' key port city of Merca from al-Shabab - BBC News".BBC News.6 February 2016.Retrieved2016-02-06.
  18. ^Dhaysane, Mohamed (July 27, 2022)."Bombings in Somalia Kill at Least 20".Voice of America.Retrieved2022-08-13.
  19. ^"Population data"(PDF).docs.unocha.org.Retrieved2019-07-18.
  20. ^Landinfo Somalia: Lower Shabelle.Landinfo Somalia: Lower Shabelle
  21. ^"Istanbul conference on Somalia 21 – 23 May 2010 - Draft discussion paper for Round Table" Transport infrastructure ""(PDF).Government of Somalia.Retrieved31 August2013.
  22. ^Marchal, Roland (1997).Studies on Governance.United Nations Development Office for Somalia.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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