Heis (, ) is a historic coastal town located in the

Sanaag Sanag (, ) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in north eastern Somaliland.Regions of Somalia
Sa ...

region of

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

. The town was important for trade and communication with the Somali interior and was used to export

frankincense Frankincense, also known as olibanum (), is an Aroma compound, aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus ''Boswellia'' in the family (biology), family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French ('high-quality in ...

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

History

Antiquity

The site said to be identical with the ancient trading post of Mundus () that is described in the ''

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and Roman commerce, trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports lik ...

'', an anonymous account by a Greek

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

n salesman from the 1st century CE. A large collection of

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

s of various types lie near the city. Excavations here have yielded pottery and sherds of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

glassware from a time between the 1st and 5th centuries.Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
/ref> Among these artefacts is high-quality

millefiori Millefiori () is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers). Apsley Pellatt in his book ''Curiosities of ...

glass. Dated to 0-40 CE, it features red flower disks superimposed on a green background. Additionally, an ancient fragment of a footed bowl was discovered in the surrounding area. The sherd is believed to have been made in

Aswan Aswan (, also ; ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city ha ...

(300-500 CE) or

Lower Nubia Lower Nubia (also called Wawat) is the northernmost part of Nubia, roughly contiguous with the modern Lake Nasser, which submerged the historical region in the 1960s with the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Many ancient Lower Nubian monuments, ...

(500-600 CE), suggesting early trading ties with kingdoms in the

Nile Valley The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

. Ancient edifices have also been found in Heis.

Medieval

Legendary Arab explorer Ahmad ibn Mājid wrote of Heis and a few other notable landmarks and ports of the northern Somali coast, including

Berbera Berbera (; , ) is the capital of the Sahil, Somaliland, Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of t ...

, the

Sa'ad ad-Din islands The Sa'ad ad-Din Islands (, ), also Sa'ad ad-Din Islands#Etymology, Romanized as and known as the Zeila Archipelago, are a group of islands off the northwestern coast of Somalia. They are situated near the ancient city of Zeila. The Zeila Arch ...

aka the Zeila Archipelago near

Zeila Zeila (, ), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland. In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila with the Biblical location of Havilah. Most modern schola ...

Alula The alula , or bastard wing, (plural ''alulae'') is a small projection on the anterior edge of the wing of modern birds and a few non-avian dinosaurs. The word is Latin and means "winglet"; it is the diminutive of ''ala'', meaning "wing". The a ...

, Ruguda,

Maydh Maydh (also transliterated as Maedh, Mette, Mait or Meit) (, ) is an ancient port city in the eastern Sanaag region of Somaliland. History Antiquity According to Augustus Henry Keane, Maydh represents an early center of dispersal of the Somali ...

, El-Sheikh and El-Darad.

Early Modern

The Habr Je'lo derived a large supply of frankincense from the trees south in the mountains near Heis. This trade was lucrative and with gum and skins being traded in high quantity, Arab and Indian merchants would visit these ports early in the season to get these goods cheaper than at

Zeyla Zeila (, ), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland. In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila with the Biblical location of Havilah. Most modern schola ...

before continuing westwards along the Somali coast. During the

British Somaliland British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate (), was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia (Italian Ethiopia from 1936 ...

period the recorded statistics of Heis show it as a leader alongside

in the east with hundreds of thousands of hides and being the leading exporter of tanned skins with 16,000 reaching Berbera taken by Habr Je'lo traders by dhow. As well Heis exported a large quantity of skins and sheep to

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

. Heis also imported a significant amount of goods from both the Arabian coast and western Somali ports and reached nearly 2 million rupees by 1903. John Hanning Speke, an English explorer who made an exploratory expedition to the area in an attempt to reach the

Nugaal Valley The Nugaal Valley (, ), also called the Nogal Valley, is a long and broad valley located in northern Somalia. The Nugaal Valley is bounded to the north by the Warsangali clan, the Nugal Plateau and to the south by 'Iid. Overview The Nugaal Va ...

, described the port town:

Modern

In modern times Heis is no longer as commercially active compared to the past but it remains a coastal settlement of the Habr Je'lo and locals also fish. The large Asli Maydi frankincense company harvests the trees in the mountains south of the town and across

Sanaag Sanag (, ) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in north eastern Somaliland.Regions of Somalia
Sa ...

. In 1988, the Somali government closed the port of Berbera. For this reason, small natural ports such as

, Heis,

Las Khorey Las Qoray (, ) is a historic coastal town in the Sanaag region of Somalia. BBC reported in 2021, "The Navy or Somalia Coast Guard is one of the military departments of Somalia, operating on the coast of Somaliland in Las Qoray, Zeila and Berbera ...

, and

were used for the export of livestock. However, their volume was very small compared to the exports from the port of Berbera.

Demographics

The town is predominantly inhabited by the Uduruxmiin sub-division of the Habr Je'lo

Isaaq The Isaaq (, , ''Banu Ishaq'') is a major Somali clans, Somali clan. It is one of the largest Somali clan families in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territory. The Isaaq people claim in a traditional legend ...

. Heis is extremely hot, so residents live in the mountains for about six months, mainly in the summer, and spend the rest of the year near the coast.

Notes

{{Reflist

References

Xiis, SomaliaWeather forecast for Heis , Somalia
Ancient Greek geography of East Africa Archaeological sites in Somaliland Geography of Somaliland Populated places in Sanaag