Ethiopia (April-May 2012): Harar and around
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Panoramic view of the
old city of Harar.
Harar was first
settled in the early 13th century by Arab religious leaders. But it only became
a notable city in 1520 when Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad made it the new capital
of the Adal Sultanate, a Muslim Somali kingdom. The city lies on a hilltop
surrounded by a fertile agricultural area most famous for producing coffee,
khat, and mangoes. It is the main center of Ethiopia′s
Muslim population and some Muslims consider it as the 4th-holiest city in the
world. It is also said to have the largest density of mosques of any city in
the world. However, most are small, and none has a distinguished architecture.
In fact, Harar does not boast any
impressive building. Instead, it is a dense and large maze of small,
atmospheric streets and alleys enclosed by a 3.4km-long defensive wall. The
wall was built in the mid-16th century by the then ruler of Harar,
Emir Nur ibn Mujahid. For
centuries it has been a major trade center and a meeting point for people from the
Horn of Africa, the Arabic peninsula, and South Asia. Today′s Harar consists of two very distinct parts: the old part,
also called Jugal, fully contained inside the wall,
and the modern part, which sprawls outside the wall on the western side of Jugal. Jugal is the interesting
part.
Harar, one of the most fascinating
cities of the world, is unique in many ways: visually, ethnically,
historically, and culturally. I spent several days strolling the narrow streets
of old Harar and watching the amazing flow of people who,
every day, converge toward the city from surrounding regions (and sometimes
from much further). On separated days I also visited the village of Koremi, located 17km southeast of Harar,
and the small town of Babile, 32km east of Harar. Koremi is considered the
oldest settlement in this region of Ethiopia (pre-dating Harar)
and is famous for its multi-century-old stone houses. Babile
is a moderately interesting market town inhabited mostly by Somali people. During
this visit I did not focus much on the numerous religious structures (mainly mosques
and tombs of holy men), scattered in old Harar. I
corrected this mistake in 2017 during a second visit (see here).
Click on the links
below to see photos of old Harar (Jugal),
Koremi and Babile:
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Street
maze, traditional Harari house, defensive wall, and hyenas |
