Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia. It is the country's largest city, with the last estimate putting the population at 1.2 million people.

Mogadishu was originally settled by Arab peoples sometime around the year 900. By the 12th century, it had grown to become a trade center for the east coast of the continent. Portugal colonized and controlled the city from the 16th century until 1871, when the Sultan of Zanzibar took over. In 1892, he leased the whole place to Italy, and in 1905, they purchased the city and made it the capital of the Italian colony of Somaliland. During World War II, the city was captured by the British, and after the war was mishandled along with the rest of Africa. Constant clan warfare and civil strife plagued the city and surrounding countryside for decades. The fighting flared most visibly starting in 1992, when United Nations Peacekeepers were drawn in. At one time it was a major port, and the commercial center of the country. Major industry revolves around food and cotton processing.

The most historic buildings in Mogadishu include the Mosque of Fakr Ad-Din, built in 1269, and the Sultan's Garesa Palace, dating back to the late 19th century. Everything else is pretty much ruined. The city is linked by road with Kenya to the west, and Ethiopia to the north.

Ibn Battuta, an Arab traveller. For an account of his travels in the 14th century go to Medieval Sourcebook: Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354l. Therein you find the following account:

"The town of Mogadishu in Somalia On leaving Zayla we sailed for fifteen days and came to Maqdasha [Mogadishu], which is an enormous town. Its inhabitants are merchants and have many camels, of which they slaughter hundreds every day [for food]. When a vessel reaches the port, it is met by sumbuqs, which are small boats, in each of which are a number of young men, each carrying a covered dish containing food. He presents this to one of the merchants on the ship saying "This is my guest," and all the others do the same. Each merchant on disembarking goes only to the house of the young man who is his host, except those who have made frequent journeys to the town and know its people well; these live where they please. The host then sells his goods for him and buys for him, and if anyone buys anything from him at too low a price, or sells to him in the absence of his host, the sale is regarded by them as invalid. This practice is of great advantage to them. We stayed there [in Mogadishu] three days, food being brought to us three times a day, and on the fourth, a Friday, the qadi and one of the wazirs brought me a set of garments. We then went to the mosque and prayed behind the [sultan's] screen. When the Shaykh came out I greeted him and he bade me welcome. He put on his sandals, ordering the qadi and myself to do the same, and set out for his palace on foot. All the other people walked barefooted. Over his head were carried four canopies of coloured silk, each surmounted by a golden bird. After the palace ceremonies were over, all those present saluted and retired."

ZHENG HE , who visited Mogadishu during the fifth of seven "Ming voyages to the "Western Ocean" in the 15th century.. At that time, "Mogadishu was an Islamic Sultanate, ruled by the Muzaffar Dynasty which in the 14th century was succeeded by the Dynasty of Fakhr ad-Din; the latter were dependent on the Ajuran, who in the early 17th century were defeated by the Hawiye Somali, thus becoming the new force dominating Mogadishu".

Duarte Barbosa, a Portugese traveller in the 16th century. It is reported that "The Portuguese visited the city, but never succeeded in taking it".

SIGHTSEEING IN MOGADISHU

The Fakr ad-Din Mosque is the oldest mosque in Mogadishu. It is located in Hamar Weyne (literally "big town"), the oldest part of the city. The mosque was built in 1269 by the First Sultan of Mogadishu. It is closely related to the Palace of Husuni Kubwa on the island of Kilwa. Together with the Great Mosque of Kilwa, the two buildings are among the oldest preserved Islamic monuments on the eastern coast of Africa.

Stone (including Indian marble) and coral were the primary materials used in the construction of the mosque, which displays a compact rectangular plan with a domed mihrab axis. Glazed tiles were used in the decoration of mihrab, one of which bears a dated inscription. Photographs of Fakr ad-Din mosque feature in drawings and photographs of central Mogadishu from the late 19th century onwards. The mosque can be identified amidst other buildings by its two cones, one round and the other hexagonal.

“The Mosque of Fakhr al-Din, built by the first Sultan of Mogadishu in the thirteenth century, indicates formal architectural design. It is built in a compact rectangular plan with a strong, domed mihrab axis and a lofty prayer hall. Its use of conical vaults, the finely squared coral blocks of its construction, and the transitions of curved pendentives in place of squinches, further attests to the fine attention to detail and artistry at Fakhr ad-Din. The mosque, together with Husuni Kubwa on the island of Kilwa, are the two earliest remaining buildings on the East African coast and reveal planning more sophisticated than anything for centuries subsequent. Today Fakhr al-Din Mosque is located between the quarters of Xamar Weyn and Sheikh Muumin in the Somali capital city.

The entry facade has three doorways surrounded by slabs of paneled marble and carved coral with recessed orders and conical bosses jutting from their architraves. The central door of the three displays particularly ornate floral interlace and carries an inscription. Upon entrance through these three doors, one arrives in one of three small ablution lobbies where there is a second set of doors. The central of these doors is again the most notable. It is recessed via shallow stepped corbelling and is covered with marble slabs smothered in intertwined floral patterns. This door contains a diaper pattern of diamond shapes excised into the projecting coral bosses inset into the spandrels of the arch which is surmounted by a triple frieze.

These three ablution lobbies open into a narrow, transverse courtyard. In the southwestern corner of this court is a tiny barrel vaulted room from the thirteenth century.

Beyond this courtyard is an arcaded portico approximately equal in area to the courtyard and spanning the face of the mosque. The portico is divided into five bays and the central bay is covered with a high, octagonal fluted dome on axis with the mihrab and the inner dome. This dome is reminiscent of an Anatolian conical type and is decorated with cusped plasterwork on the interior and exterior. The portico has remarkable elements such as curved column capitals quite rare on the east coast and only otherwise found at Kilwa. Two marble finials in the portico of the mosque have square shafts with diamond patterns carved into them. One passes from the portico through yet another choice of marble paneled doorways into the square prayer hall.

The prayer hall itself is remarkably spacious for an East African mosque. Only two polygonal columns interrupt the space and carry the longitudinal beams supporting the high ceiling. The internal division of space into nine bays is apparent only when looking up at the rafters above, as opposed to the more common East African layout of aisles dividing the space by columns which obscure a direct view of the mihrab. Secondary beams transect the corner bays creating an octagonal roof structure and a drum upon which the dome sits above the central bay. The shape of this "sugar-loaf" dome recalls Sudanese tombs and its style is dated to the original thirteenth century mosque. The exterior of the central dome was surmounted by a large Chinese celadon jar. Two side rooms run alongside the central prayer hall.

The alcove of the mihrab is inlaid with an Indian marble carving of a lamp hung by a chain hung from the apex of a cinquefoil arch that replicates the mihrab around it. Above this marble work is a glazed tile with an inscription of the year 1269, a religious verses, and an undecipherable name which might be the artist's or the architect's. The lamp motif, as well as the diamond carvings in the portico, appear also at Kilwa suggesting that they may have been imported to both Mogadishu and Kilwa from elsewhere. The glazed tiles which depict mihrab arches and columns are, however, unique to Fakhr al-Din. The existing mihrab was probably built in the eighteenth century and is much plainer than that of the thirteenth century, though it incorporates remains from the earlier version. This newer version the mihrab apse is a rectangular recess broken by a string course underneath an elliptical arch.”

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