Merka
| Marka مَركة Merka |
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| Coordinates | 1 ° 43 ′ N , 44 ° 46 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Somalia | ||
| Shabeellaha Hoose | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | SO-SH | ||
| Residents | 230,100 | ||
 On the beach in Merka
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Merka ( Somali name Marka , also written Merca or Marca ) is a port city in southern Somalia on the Indian Ocean , about 70 kilometers south of Mogadishu . Merka is the capital of the Shabeellaha Hoose (Lower Shabeelle ) region and had an estimated population of 65,000–100,000 in 2005.
In Merka Somali of different clans and Benadiri - who are of Arab-Persian descent - have always lived together relatively peacefully. Parts of the city are characterized by Arabic architecture. The city is often called Marka cadey , the "white Merka"; this addition relates most closely to the white limestone buildings, but could also have something to do with the Benadiri's skin color, which is lighter than that of the Somali.
history
Oral traditions indicate that Arabs and Persians founded the city, possibly as early as the 7th century under the Umayyad - Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan . The city was first mentioned in writing in the 12th century by the Arab geographer al-Idrisi (who also mentions the cities of Mogadishu and Baraawe ). It is also called by al-Hamawi and ibn Said al-Maghribi .
From the 13th century onwards Somali groups such as the Digil and Jiidu invaded Merka repeatedly . Merka went from being a city inhabited and shaped by Arabs to a city predominantly inhabited by Somali. The Biyomaal, a subclan of the Dir , have dominated the area since the 16th century .
At the end of the 17th century, Merka fought off the Ajuran . It also prevented several attempts to conquer the Geledi Sultanate of Afgooye . In 1826 the city placed itself under the rule of the Sultanate of Oman and from 1856 the Sultanate of Zanzibar . In 1860 a governor's residence for the Sultanate of Zanzibar was built. Two Italians were murdered in 1893 and 1897 , and the Biyomaal resisted Italian colonization from 1900 to 1908 .
From the colonial times to the time of Siad Barres , Merka was a holiday and seaside resort for guests from the nearby Mogadishu .
The last natural smallpox case occurred in Merka in 1977 before the disease was eradicated worldwide. A hospital cook was infected, whereupon the vaccination of tens of thousands was initiated and an epidemic was prevented.
Merka was also affected by the Somali civil war , as a result of which internally displaced persons came to the city from the hard-fought Mogadishu, Baidoa and other parts of the country. In 1995 the Habar-Gedir-Hawiye clan under Mohammed Farah captured Aidid Merka from the previously dominant Biyomaal. In 1995/1996 the warlords Aidid and Osman Ali Atto fought for the city in the so-called "banana war", since the lucrative export of the bananas grown in the hinterland around Janaale mainly took place via Merka. In the further course of the civil war, the Ayr, a subclan of the Habar-Gedir-Hawiye, became the dominant clan in the city. Overall, however, there was relatively little fighting in Merka itself, so most of the buildings have been preserved. A local administration has existed since 2003.
Until the port of Mogadishu was reopened in 2006 after the Union of Islamic Courts took power , international food aid to Somalia was mainly introduced through Merka.
In November 2008, supporters of the radical Islamist al-Shabaab took control of the city without a fight.
swell
- ↑ a b UNICEF / New Ways Merka: Report on the school situation in Merka, 2005
- ↑ a b c d Said Samatar: Merka , in: Siegbert Uhlig (Hrsg.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica , Volume 3, 2008, ISBN 978-3447056076
- ↑ Mohamed Haji Mukhtar : Islam in Somali History: Fact and Fiction , in: Ali Jimale Ahmed (Ed.): The Invention of Somalia , Red Sea Press 1995, ISBN 0932415997
- ^ Andreas Birken: The Sultanate of Zanzibar in the 19th century. Stuttgart 1971. p. 159.
- ↑ Marka , in: Mohamed Haji Mukhtar : Historical Dictionary of Somalia , New Edition, Scarecrow Press 2003, ISBN 0-8108-4344-7
- ↑ Smallpox: Eradicating the scourge
- ^ Ioan M. Lewis : A Modern History of the Somali , 4th edition 2002, ISBN 978-0852554838 (p. 277)
- ↑ UN World Food Program: "For the first time in ten years, WFP ship docks with food in Mogadishu - in the past there have been repeated pirate attacks"
- ^ Islamist Insurgents Take Somali Port City Without a Fight , in: New York Times, November 12, 2008.
