Introduction: Navigation Below
..............Djibouti might not seem attractive to many tourists because of its arid expanses of rocks, ravines, sunken plains and salty lakes that look like cotton fields from afar. Despite its meager offerings of beaches and desert scenery, those in search of spirituality and simplicity would find it a country of many beauties. Yes, to really appreciate Djibouti, you must be an anthropologist or one of those who are looking for unique natural designs.
......So, why did France colonized Djibouti and still finds it an important harbor for its foreign army?
It is because of its strategic location at a choke point to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. French desire to control the country, as it is the ardent wish of two competing ethnic groups who inhabit it: the Afars, related to Ethiopians, and the Issas, kin to Somalis.
.......But Europeans were but lately interested in this region, and mainly for commercial reasons.
Ancient maps and scripts do not describe any human activity in the area of the actual Djibouti. The harbour of Tadjoura had been active through centuries; it was a starting point of caravans, with access to plenty of camels, but it is not related to western knowledge before 1855.
....However, the site Djibouti was well known to Arab sailors who came there for shelter and water. The water, they draw it from the wells of Ambouli or Doralé. The serpent islands and Marabout were only accessible at low tide, and the entire territory belonged to the nomadic Issas tribe.
In the 14th century , Zeila was described by Arab globetrotter Ibn Battuta as follows:
"The trip by boat from the city of Aden to the city of Zeila took four days. The landscape is a desert all he way down to Maqdashaw (Mogadishu). It takes two month to travel between these two cities. The people of Zaila has black skin and they are known for their fat camels and sheeps."
...Richard Burton (1821-90) was famous since 1853 when he, disguised as a pilgrim, visited the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
He rapported:
"On the 29th October, 1854, I started from Aden in a Somali boat bound to Zayla, a small port on the African coast of the Red Sea, nearly opposite and about 140 miles from our Arabian settlement. After the two days sail we reached our destination, when I found that the mules, ordered three months before, and paid for, had not been procured.
The governor, our old friend El-Shermarkay, sent immediately to the neighbouring port of Tadjourah;
but between the delay of catching the animals and a contrary wind which delayed the vessel, I lost at Zayla twenty-eight days.
The governor supplied me with women (cooks), guides, servants, and camels -under protest, warning me that the road swarmed with brigands, that the Eesa had lately murdered his son, that the small-pox was depopulating Harar, and that the emir was certain destruction...
I contented myself with determining the good Shermarkay to be the true Oriental hyperbolist."
The Horn of Africa also sheltered many writers for while, notably famous French writers like Rimbaud, Soupault, Leiris, Monfreid, Morand, Londres, Kessel, etc., who were impressed by the country.
The French poet Arthur Rimbaud even moved from Aden to Harar; he had one of the first European business activity there. Among products as coffee, leather and gums he also sold fireworks that helped Menelik unify Ethiopia and to become Negus.
(hold mouse over buttons to see content)
Click here if you encounter problems with navigation:
About Djibouti / Useful information /
My research paper /
Photos /
Other sites /
Resume
Amina Said Kiré
asaid@montaigne.u-bordeaux.fr
