ANCIENT HARAR:

This ancient city, still renowned for the unique quality of its coffee, was for a time known throughout the East as the beacon of Islam in Africa. Harars history in the past century seems alike a long struggle for Power. As a major center of Islam along with Mecca and Medina, the city of the 99 mosques remained a magnet for many great travellers such as Ibn Battuta and Richard Burton.

We know that when Battuta reported about his 10-year saga to his sovereign back in Morocco, the latter expressed his disapointment that, among the holy cities, he had visited Mecca and Medina only.Battuta was therefore instructed to journey all the way to Harar, a task that was to require many more years of his life to complete.
For his part, Burton was to write in 1855 about the harsh rule exercised by the local rulers. In his days, slaves trafficking constituted one of the major activities of Harar, a great "half-way house" for slaves originating from Janjero, Gurage, and Galla territories, with "Abyssinians and Amharas slaves" being the most valued.


Pictures by Monfreid in 1913, a prisoner was taken to trial
by askaris, the white-clad imperial police force.
One of the custom posts who controlled the city´s access.


View of the city near the customs post.

Pictures taken by Monfreid in 1913 depict the hanging of criminals in the marketplace of Harar. The same marketplace has had longstanding relations with merchants in India, Egypt and Arabia. Europeans and Americans were also to come into contact with the ancient city after Emperor Menelik captured Harar in 1886. The traditional route from Harar to Zeila had increasingly become hazardous and by the middle of the century Tadjura was progressively replacing Zeila for Harar´s exports. This explains why the first European traders, (such as Rimbaud below), came via Tadjura.

Ancient times
 British Aden
 Obock, 1862-91
 Building the city
 1916 - 1936
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