Malao () was an ancient port city in present-day Somaliland. The town was situated on the site of what later would become the city of

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 ...

. It was a key trading center involved in the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

trade during

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

. The town maintained an important monetary market, exchanging goods in the currencies of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

History and trade

The ancient port city of Malao was positioned in the historic Somali city of

. It is mentioned in the 1st century CE ''

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 ...

'': Other than Arabia, goods were also purchased and transported to the Greek, Roman and Egyptian empires. Malao gained its high level of trade from its nexus position, by being the closest African port to Arabia and the more peaceful nature of the city, as compared to other potential trade areas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malao (Ancient) History of Somaliland 1st century City-states Ancient Greek geography of East Africa

History and trade

See also

References