Suq (in

Socotri Soqotri (; ) is a South Semitic languages, South Semitic language spoken by the Soqotri people on the island of Socotra and the two nearby islands of Abd al Kuri and Samhah, in the Socotra archipelago, in the Guardafui Channel. Soqotri is one of s ...

Shiq) is a town on the north-eastern coast of the island of

Socotra Socotra, locally known as Saqatri, is a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean. Situated between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, it lies near major shipping routes. Socotra is the largest of the six islands in the Socotra archipelago as ...

(

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

). It is located in the Hidaybu District on the eastern end of the

Hadibu Hadibu ( '), formerly known as Tamrida (), is a coastal town in northern Socotra, Yemen. It is the largest town in the small archipelago, with a population of 8,545 as of the 2004 census. Hadibu is the capital of the Socotra Governorate and the la ...

plain. Above the village, perched on a rocky outcrop on top of ''Jabel Hawari'' there are the remains of a stone-built fort, strongly contested between Portuguese and the

Mahra Sultanate The Mahra Sultanate, known in its later years as the Mahra State of Qishn and Socotra ( ') or sometimes the Mahra Sultanate of Ghayda and Socotra ( '), was a sultanate that included the historical region of Al Mahrah Governorate, Mahra and the Gu ...

in the 16th century. The remains of the fortress are still showing sections of well-trimmed blocks and a tower at the north-western corner of the structure. At that time Suq was the main settlement of Socotra as well as anchorage point for ships. From the beginning of the 17th century onwards Suq was replaced as the capital of Socotra by Hadibu, located a few kilometers to the west. Today, Suq is a small village.

History

In 1507, a Portuguese fleet commanded by Tristão da Cunha with

Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa ( – 16 December 1515), was a Portuguese general, admiral, statesman and ''conquistador''. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across ...

landed at Suq and captured the port from the Mahra after a stiff battle. The architect Tomás Fernandes started to build a fortress at Suq, the ''Forte de São Miguel de Socotorá''. But in 1511 the Portuguese abandoned the island and the Mahra sultans regained control of Suq.

Archaeology

South-west of the modern town of Suq, a limestone outcropping contains

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s with designs including cruciform shapes, foot-symbols and scripts. Two km south of Suq is located the ''Hajrya'' site, the ruins of a pre-Islamic settlement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suq Populated places in Socotra Socotra Governorate Towns in Yemen

History

Archaeology

See also

References