- Hafun
Hafun ( _so. Xaafuun) is a 40 km long low-lying peninsula in the Bari region of northern
Somalia . The promontory juts out into theIndian Ocean , where it is known as Cape Hafun (Ras Hafun or Raas Xaafuun) and is the easternmost point on theAfrica n continent.The promontory is joined to the mainland at the town of
Foar by a sand spit 20 km long, 1-3 km in width and roughly 5 m above sea level. The fishing town of Hafun is located 2 km east of the sand spit and has a population of about 5000.Hafun in the Ancient World (Opone)
Ras Hafun is believed to be the location of the ancient trade center of Opone. Opone was mentioned by an anonymous merchant in the 1st century CE in his "
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea ".Ancient Egypt ian, Roman andPersian Gulf pottery has been recovered from the site by an archaeological team from theUniversity of Michigan . Opone is in the thirteenth entry of the "Periplus of the Erythraean Sea", which in part states:And then, after sailing four hundred stadia along a promontory, toward which place the current also draws you, there is another market-town called Opone, into which the same things are imported as those already mentioned, and in it the greatest quantity of
cinnamon is produced, (the arebo and moto), and slaves of the better sort, which are brought to Egypt in increasing numbers; and a great quantity oftortoiseshell , better than that found elsewhere.In ancient times, Opone operated as a port of call for merchants from
Phoenicia ,Egypt ,Greece ,Persia ,Yemen ,Nabataea ,Azania , theRoman Empire and elsewhere, as it possessed a strategic location along the coastal route from Azania to theRed Sea . Merchants from as far afield asIndonesia andMalaysia passed through Opone, trading spices, silks and other goods, before departing south forAzania or north toYemen orEgypt on thetrade route s that spanned the length of theIndian Ocean 's rim. As early as 50 AD it was well known as a center for the cinnamon trade, along with the trading ofclove s and otherspice s,ivory , exotic animal skins andincense .Modern Hafun
Hafun today has a population of about 2,500 fisherfolk. On
26 December 2004 , Hafun was struck by atsunami caused by the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake . It was the worst affected area of Africa and the only location west of the Indian subcontinent where the waves pulled away from the shore before rushing in. The low-lying western part of the town (approximately 2m above sea level) was flooded by about 2m; 812 houses were destroyed and another 400 reported damaged. 19 bodies were recovered and another 160 inhabitants were reported missing. Parts of the sand spit connecting Hafun to the Somali mainland were flooded, but the spit was not overtopped by the waves.External links
* [http://www.hafun.org Hafun News Agency]
* [http://archaeology.about.com/od/oterms/g/opone.htm About Archaelogy entry on Opone]
* [http://www.somalism.com/videos/Hafun-post.the.tsunami.html Hafun tsunami videos]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4134485.stm BBC article on effects of tsunami]
* Hermann M. Fritz and Jose C. Borrero, [http://scitation.aip.org/journals/doc/EASPEF-ft/vol_22/iss_S3/S219_1.html "Somalia Field Survey after the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami"] , "Earthquake Spectra", Vol. 22, No. S3, pp. S219–S233, June 2006
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