Berbera is a city in the northwestern Berbera District of Somalia. It is situated in the Woqooyi Galbeed province in Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia. In antiquity, Berbera was part of a chain of commercial port cities along the Somali seaboard. It later served as the capital of the British Somaliland protectorate from 1884 to 1941, when it was replaced by Hargeisa. In 1960, the British Somaliland protectorate gained independence as the State of Somaliland and united as scheduled five days later with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic.Located strategically on the oil route, the city has a deep seaport, which serves as the region's main commercial harbor. Berbera preserves the ancient name of the coast along the southern shore of the Gulf of Aden. It is thought to be the city Malao described as 800 stadia beyond the city of the Avalites, described in the eighth chapter of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, which was written by a Greek merchant in the first century CE. In the Periplus it is described as. Duan Chengshi, a Chinese Tang Dynasty scholar, described in his written work of 863 CE the slave trade, ivory trade, and ambergris trade of Bobali, which is also thought to be Berbera (see Maritime section of Tang Dynasty for more). The city was also later mentioned by the Islamic traveller Ibn Sa'id as well as Ibn Batutta in the thirteenth century. However, as I.M. Lewis notes, "beyond the fact that during the period of Portuguese domination in the Red Sea the town was sacked in 1518 by Antonio de Saldanha, little of its history is known before the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries." In 1546, the Ottoman Empire occupied the northwestern regions of Somalia including Berbera. It also made Zeila the regional capital due to the latter's strategic location on the Red Sea. One certainty about Berbera over the following centuries was that it was the site of an annual fair, held between October and April, which Mordechai Abir describes as "among the most important commercial events of the east coast of Africa."[7] The major Somali clan of Isaaq in Somalia, caravans from Harar and the Hawd, and Banyan merchants from Porbandar, Mangalore and Mumbai gathered to trade. All of this was kept secret from European merchants, writes Abir: "Banyan and Arab merchants who were concerned with the trade of this fair closely guarded all information which might have helped new competitors; and actually through the machinations of such merchants Europeans were not allowed to take part in the fair at all."[8] Lieutenant C. J. Cruttenden, who wrote a memoir describing this portion of the Somali coast dated 12 May 1848, provided an account of the Berbera fair and an account of the only visible traces of man at the site: "an aqueduct of stone and chunam, some nine miles in length", which had once emptied into a presently dry reservoir adjacent to the ruins of a mosque. He explored part of its course from the reservoir past a number of tombs built of stones taken from the aqueduct to reach a spring, above which lay "the remains of a small fort or tower of chunam and stone ... on the hill-side immediately over the spring." Cruttenden noted that in "style it was different to any houses now found on the Somali coast," and concluded with noting the presence in "the neighbourhood of the fort above mentioned [an] abundance of broken glass and pottery ... from which I infer that it was a place of considerable antiquity; but, though diligent search was made, no traces of inscriptions could be discovered."[9] The British explorer Richard Burton made two visits to this port, and his second visit was marred by an attack on his camp by several hundred Somali spearmen the night of 19 April 1855, and although Burton was able to escape to Aden, one of his companions was killed. Burton, recognizing the importance of the port city wrote. It was not long before these words proved prescient. In 1874-75, the Egyptians obtained a firman from the Ottomans by which they secured claims over the city. At the same time, the Egyptians received British recognition of their nominal jurisdiction as far east as Cape Guardafui. In actuality, however, Egypt had little authority over the interior and their period of rule on the coast was brief, lasting only a few years (1870-84). In 1888, after signing successive treaties with the then ruling Somali Sultans such as Mohamoud Ali Shire of the Warsangali Sultanate, the British established a protectorate in the region referred to as British Somaliland.[14] The British garrisoned the protectorate from Aden and administered it from their British India colony until 1898. British Somaliland was then administered by the Foreign Office until 1905 and afterwards by the Colonial Office. Generally, the British did not have much interest in the resource-barren region.[15] The stated purposes of the establishment of the protectorate were to "secure a supply market, check the traffic in slaves, and to exclude the interference of foreign powers." [16] The British principally viewed the protectorate as a source for supplies of meat for their British Indian outpost in Aden through the maintenance of order in the coastal areas and protection of the caravan routes from the interior.[17] Hence, the region's nickname of "Aden's butcher's shop".[18] Colonial administration during this period did not extend administrative infrastructure beyond the coast,[19] and contrasted with the more interventionist colonial experience of Italian Somaliland.[20] In August 1940, during the East African Campaign, British Somaliland was briefly occupied by Italy. During this period, the British rounded up soldiers and governmental officials to evacuate them from the territory through Berbera. In total, 7,000 people, including civilians were evacuated.[21] The Somalis serving in the Somaliland Camel Corps were given the choice of evacuation or disbandment; the majority chose to remain and were allowed to retain their arms.[22] In March 1941, the British forces recaptured the protectorate during Operation Appearance after a six month occupation. The first WW2 Australian POWs were taken hostage here in 1940. The British Somaliland protectorate gained its independence on 26 June 1960 as the State of Somaliland,before uniting as planned five days later with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic. In the post-independence period, Berbera was administered as the part of the Woqooyi Galbeed province of Somalia. After the collapse of the Somali central government and the start of the civil war in 1991, Somali National Movement (SNM) secessionists in the northwestern part of the country unilaterally declared independence. A slow process of infrastructural reconstruction subsequently began in Berbera and other towns in the region. Berbera is located in coastal northwestern Somalia. An old port city, it has the only sheltered harbour on the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. The landscape around town, along with Somalia's coastal lowlands, is desert or semi-desert. The city features an hot desert climate under the Köppen climate classification (BWh ). It is extraordinarily dry, averaging a little more than 50 mm of precipitation annually. The city on average sees only six days of measurable rainfall per year. Berbera is also very hot. Average high temperatures in the summer routinely exceed 40°C and can easily crack the 50°C mark. Most of the city residents are forced to seasonally migrate to the cooler inland cities during these hot times. Berbera has a population of around 232,500 residents. It is mainly inhabited by people from the Somali ethnic group, with the Isse Muuse Habar Awal sub-clan of the Isaaq well represented. A number of products are exported through the Berbera seaport, including sheep, gum arabic, frankincense, and myrrh. Its seaborne trade is chiefly with Aden in Yemen 240 km/150 mi to the north. Additionally, goods from Ethiopia are also exported through the facility. Berbera is the terminus of roads from Hargeisa and Burco. The city has one of Somalia's major class seaports.[31] It historically served as a naval and missile base for the Somali government. Following a 1972 agreement between the Siad Barre administration and the USSR, the port's facilities were patronized by the Soviets. The Berbera seaport was later expanded for U.S. military use, after the Somali authorities strengthened ties with the American government. For air transportation, the city is served by the Berbera Airport. It has an extensive 4,140m (13,582ft) runway.