Maritime history of Somalia: a timeline from the Periplus to the ICJ ruling of 2021

Show who took part and what each event meant for unity ## In short

This page puts the history of the Somali coast and its sea trade in date order. Each line links to a full page with its sources. For the coast today, see fishing and the sea and ports.

Antiquity

Before 1500

1. 1st century AD

   The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Greek sailing guide, lists Avalites (near Zeila), Malao (Berbera), Mundus (Heis), Mosylon, the Market of Spices near Cape Guardafui, and Opone (Ras Hafun), exporting myrrh, frankincense and spices (Chittick, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 8.4, 1979). See the Periplus ports.

2. 1st–3rd centuries

   Roman, Egyptian, Parthian, South Arabian and Indian goods were left at Heis (Xiis) in Sanaag (Fernández Fernández, González-Ruibal and de Torres, 2022). See Heis and Opone at Ras Hafun.

3. Greek and Roman writers

   called the coast Barbaria. See Greek and Roman writers on the Somali coast.

800s to 1500: the Indian Ocean trade

1. Mid-800s

   The Tang scholar Duan Chengshi described Po-pa-li (Berbera), trading ivory and ambergris (Hirth and Rockhill, Chau Ju-kua, 1911). See Chinese records of the Somali coast.

2. About 1000–1600

   Beach fairs around Berbera traded with Asia; surveys found Chinese, Indian and Persian imports (González-Ruibal, de Torres et al., 2021). See the trade fairs of the Berbera coast.

3. 1229–1454

   The tax books of Rasulid Yemen name Zeila as the main port for the trade of "Abyssinia", Berbera and Maydh as ports shipping sheep to Aden, and Mogadishu as an East African trading city (Vallet, L'Arabie marchande). See Rasulid Yemen and the Somali ports.

4. About 1298

   Marco Polo wrote about the coast. See Marco Polo and the Somali coast.

5. 1331

   Ibn Battuta described young men in Mogadishu meeting each ship to host the traders (Gibb, 1929). See Ibn Battuta in Mogadishu and Zeila.

1499 to 1884: the Portuguese, Oman and Zanzibar

1. 1499–1500s

   Vasco da Gama passed Mogadishu in 1499. Duarte Barbosa described Zeila, Berbera, Barawa and Mogadishu trading gold, ivory and grain with India and Arabia. See the coast towns, 1331–1586.

1500 to 1884

1. Early 1500s

   João de Barros wrote that a Mogadishu ship was the first foreign vessel to reach the gold trade of Sofala. See Mogadishu and Brava in João de Barros and Zeila and Berbera in Barros.

2. 1700s–1880s

   "The Omanis exercised a shadowy authority over the Banaadir coast", which was later "drawn into the orbit of Zanzibari rulers" (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study). See sultanates, the coast and customary law.

1884 to 1991: colonies, seamen and a navy

1. 1884 onward

   Britain held the northern coast mainly to supply Aden with livestock; Italy took the Banaadir ports. See British Somaliland and the partition.

2. 1880s–1950s

   Somali seamen and traders settled abroad through Aden; Aden had 10,611 Somali residents by 1955. See Somali seamen and early migrants.

1960 to 1969

1. 1964

   The Somali Navy was founded with Soviet help, with bases at Berbera and Kismayo. It dissolved with the state in 1990–1991. See the Somali Navy.

1991 to now: piracy, fishing and borders

2000 to 2012

1. Mid-2000s to 2012

   Armed groups from the coasts of Mudug, Nugaal and Bari hijacked ships; attacks peaked in 2009–2011. See piracy off Somalia and ships hijacked off Somalia.

2. 26 December 2004

   The Indian Ocean tsunami struck the Puntland coast. See the 2004 tsunami.

3. 2009

   The navy was re-established. See the Somali Navy.

2012 to 2020

1. 2014 onward

   A Turkish company took over Mogadishu port, and DP World expanded Berbera from 2017. See ports and the port of Berbera.

2020 to now

1. 12 October 2021

   The International Court of Justice drew the sea border between Somalia and Kenya, rejecting Kenya's line along the latitude (ICJ, Judgment of 12 October 2021). See the Somalia–Kenya maritime case.

2. 8 February 2024

   Somalia and Turkey signed a ten-year defence and economic agreement under which Turkey is to build and train the navy. See the Somali Navy.

3. Illegal fishing

   is estimated to cost Somalia about $300 million a year (ENACT, Institute for Security Studies, January 2026). See fishing and the sea.

Who suffered?

1. Seafarers held by pirates,

   and fishing communities hit by illegal fishing and the 2004 tsunami. See the linked pages.

2. Migrants at sea

   In September 2007 alone, boats from Bosaso carrying more than 1,500 people reached Yemen, "with 62 reported dead or missing" (UN Security Council, S/2007/658, para. 47).

Sources differ

1. Where the Periplus ports were

   Most scholars place Malao at Berbera and Opone at Ras Hafun; other identifications are discussed on the Periplus ports.

Read the primary sources yourself

• The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, trans. W. H. Schoff (1912): archive.org.
• Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa, trans. Gibb (1929): archive.org.
• International Court of Justice, Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya), judgment of 12 October 2021: text.