Somaliland Coast: The Magnet of the Horn of Africa

Empires changed. Flags changed. Ideologies changed. But geography remained.

Araweelo News Network | Associated Online Agencies

Author: Abdillahi Jama Ali – Qurus

Reading Time
10–12 minutes

There are places in the world whose importance depends on the power of the state that controls them. There are other places whose importance is determined by geography itself.
The Somaliland coast belongs to the second category.
For centuries, the northern Somali coast has stood beside one of the world’s great maritime corridors. It faces the Arabian Peninsula across the Gulf of Aden and lies close to the Bab al-Mandab—the narrow gateway linking the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and, through the Suez Canal, to the Mediterranean and Europe.
That geography has repeatedly drawn the attention of distant powers.
The Greeks and Romans came through trade. Persian, Arab and Indian merchants entered the same commercial world. The Portuguese arrived with their armed fleets. The Ottoman Empire extended its influence towards the coast. The British Empire came to protect the route to India. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States competed for access to Berbera.
And now, in a new geopolitical age, Israel has recognised Somaliland. This is not an accident. It is part of a much older pattern. Empires changed. Flags changed. Ideologies changed. But geography remained.
The ancient magnet
The strategic importance of the Somaliland coast did not begin with European colonialism.
More than two thousand years ago, the coast was already connected to an international trading world. Archaeological research on the Somaliland coast has uncovered Roman amphorae, South Arabian jars, Egyptian wares and other foreign goods. Greek inscriptions have also been found, confirming direct contact with merchants connected to the Roman world.
The most famous evidence comes from the ancient port of Mosylon, identified with the archaeological site of Heis on the Somaliland coast. Archaeological discoveries there have included imported Roman pottery, including amphora fragments, and inscriptions in Greek
The ancient coastline was therefore far from isolated.
It was part of a commercial network linking Africa, Arabia, Egypt, the Mediterranean and the wider Indian Ocean world.
The attraction was clear: the coast stood on the road of maritime trade.
Ancient sailors came not because the Somali coast was easy to dominate, but because it was impossible to ignore.

Persia, Arabia and the Indian Ocean world
For centuries, the northern Somali coast remained part of a much larger commercial system. Arab, Persian and Indian merchants were drawn towards its ports and markets. The coast became a meeting place between African pastoral societies, inland trade routes and seaborne commerce.
The attraction was both geographical and economic.
The Gulf of Aden connected the coast to Arabia and the Persian Gulf. At the same time, caravans carried livestock, gums, resins and other goods between the Somali interior and coastal markets.
The foreign merchant saw the coast as a gateway.
The Somali merchant saw the sea as an opening to the world.
This was the first great magnetism of the Somaliland coast: trade pulled the world towards it.

The Portuguese arrive
Then the magnet began attracting a different kind of visitor.
In the sixteenth century, Portugal entered the Indian Ocean with armed fleets and imperial ambitions. Portuguese strategy was no longer simply about participating in trade. Lisbon sought to influence and, where possible, control the great maritime routes linking the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea.
The Portuguese became active around the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden, and the ports of the region became entangled in a wider struggle for control of maritime passages.
The issue was larger than any one Somali port.
The Portuguese understood that the southern entrance to the Red Sea was a strategic gateway.
And the Somaliland coast stood beside it.
The old commercial magnet had become a geopolitical magnet.

The Ottoman shadow
Portugal’s arrival provoked a reaction from another great power. The Ottoman Empire, expanding through the Red Sea and the wider Islamic world, saw Portuguese activity as a threat to its own strategic interests and to the maritime routes connecting the Middle East and the Indian Ocean.
Ottoman influence extended to Zeila, while the wider Somali coast became connected to the contest between the Ottoman and European worlds. The relationship was not one of simple or continuous Ottoman control. Local Somali rulers and communities retained their own authority and agency. Nevertheless, the strategic interest of the Ottoman Empire was unmistakable.
Portugal looked towards the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean.
The Ottoman Empire looked towards the Indian Ocean from the Red Sea.
And between these two strategic worlds stood the Horn of Africa.
Once again, the Somaliland coast had become a magnet.
Britain and the imperial highway to India
The British Empire saw the coast through the lens of global strategy.
Britain’s occupation of Aden in 1839 made the northern Somali coast particularly important. The coast supplied livestock and other goods to the British presence across the Gulf of Aden.
But the strategic importance became even greater after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
The Red Sea route was transformed into one of the principal arteries of the British Empire—the route linking Britain to India. Britain could not ignore the African shore opposite Aden.
In the late nineteenth century, Egypt briefly occupied important sections of the northern Somali coast, including Berbera. When Egyptian forces withdrew, Britain moved in. By the mid-1880s, the British Somaliland Protectorate had emerged.
The logic was strategic. Britain feared that another foreign power might occupy the coast and threaten its communications through the Red Sea and Suez route.
The Somaliland coast had become part of an imperial highway stretching from:
London to Suez.
Suez to Aden.
Aden to India.
The coast was no longer merely a local frontier.
It had become part of the infrastructure of a global empire.

The Cold War: the Soviet Union discovers Berbera
The British Empire eventually disappeared from the region.
But the strategic importance of the coast did not.
After independence, the Cold War transformed the Horn of Africa into an arena of superpower competition.
The Soviet Union developed close relations with Somalia and gained access to Berbera. The port and airfield became strategically valuable because of their position beside the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean. Berbera’s long runway and port facilities gave the location military significance beyond the Horn itself.

The Soviet Union was looking for access points across the world’s oceans.
The Indian Ocean mattered.
The Gulf of Aden mattered.
Berbera mattered.
The Cold War had brought another great power to the same coast.

The Soviet Union leaves. The United States arrives.
Then came one of the most remarkable reversals in the strategic history of the region.
The Soviet Union and Somalia broke apart during the 1977–78 Ogaden War, as Moscow shifted decisively towards Ethiopia.
The Soviets lost their privileged position in Somalia. But the strategic vacuum did not remain empty. The United States moved to strengthen relations with Somalia and gain access to the strategic facilities that had previously attracted the Soviet Union.
This was perhaps the clearest proof of the argument.
The ideology changed.
The flag changed.
The superpower changed.
But the location remained strategically valuable.
The Soviet Union came.
The Soviet Union left.
The United States came.
The magnet remained.
The twenty-first century: the coast becomes important again
The Cold War ended.
But the geography did not.

Today, the Somaliland coast has entered another period of international importance. Berbera has developed into a major modern port, while its location has made it increasingly important to the wider economic and strategic calculations of the Horn of Africa. Its position near the Bab al-Mandab places it beside one of the world’s most sensitive maritime corridors.
The questions are familiar:
Who controls the ports?
Who builds the infrastructure?
Who protects the shipping lanes?
Who gains access to the coast?
Who gains political influence?
New powers are asking old questions.

Then Israel arrived
The latest chapter began in December 2025.
Israel formally recognised Somaliland, becoming the first United Nations member state to do so. The decision was followed by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s visit to Hargeisa and the development of diplomatic, economic and security cooperation.
This development should not be viewed as an isolated diplomatic accident. It flows from the same historical pattern.
Israel’s strategic environment is different from that of the Portuguese, the Ottomans, the British, the Soviets or the Americans. But geography is again central.
Today, the Red Sea is a zone of conflict.
The Houthis in Yemen have attacked international shipping and have become a major security concern. Israel is deeply concerned about threats originating from the region, while the Gulf of Aden has once again become strategically sensitive. The Somaliland coast lies directly across the water from Yemen.
In June 2026, Somaliland’s defence minister confirmed that Israel was providing training to Somaliland’s police and military, while denying that there were negotiations over an Israeli military base. Israeli and Somaliland officials also publicly discussed deeper security, economic and diplomatic cooperation.
One may therefore debate the motives behind Israel’s recognition. Diplomacy is rarely driven by a single reason.
But the strategic geography cannot be ignored.
Somaliland faces the Arabian Peninsula.
It overlooks the Gulf of Aden.
It lies beside the entrance to the Red Sea.
It stands close to one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
The strategic magnet is still working.
A pattern across the centuries
The historical pattern is difficult to miss.
The Greeks and Romans came through commerce.
Persian, Arab and Indian merchants came through the trade networks of the Indian Ocean.
The Portuguese came with the struggle for the sea routes.
The Ottoman Empire came in response to the same strategic contest.
Britain came because of Aden, Suez and the route to India.
The Soviet Union came because of the Cold War and the Indian Ocean.
The United States came because the Soviet Union had gone.
And now Israel has entered the picture.
Each power had its own motives.
Each period had its own political language.
But the attraction remained remarkably constant.
The permanent power of geography
The history of the Somaliland coast is therefore more than a list of foreign powers.
It is a lesson in the permanent power of geography.
Yesterday, the attraction was:
incense, livestock and trade.
Later, it was:
the route to India and imperial communications.
During the Cold War, it became:
naval access, military facilities and superpower rivalry.
Today, it is:
ports, trade corridors, maritime security, intelligence and control of strategic sea routes.
The language changes.
The powers change.
The century changes.
But the map does not.
That is why the Somaliland coast continues to attract attention from powers far beyond the Horn of Africa.
The ancient merchant saw opportunity.
The empire saw a strategic route.
The Cold War superpower saw a military position.
The modern state sees a gateway to the Red Sea.
All were looking at the same geography.
The magnet of the Horn of Africa
The Somaliland coast is not important because one empire made it important. It is important because geography made it important.
Empires may disappear.
Flags may be lowered.
Ideologies may collapse.
Governments may change.
New powers may arrive.
But the Gulf of Aden remains.
The Red Sea remains.
The Bab al-Mandab remains.
Africa still faces Arabia.
And the Somaliland coast remains exactly where history placed it.
Empires changed.
Flags changed.
Ideologies changed.
But geography remained.
That is why, for centuries, distant powers have been drawn towards the Somaliland coast. And that is why they are still coming.
The magnet of the Horn of Africa is still working.

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Abdillahi Jama Ali – Qurus is a veteran educator, trainer, manager and public servant with more than five decades of experience. A former politician, Member of Parliament and minister, he has spent much of his career engaged in public affairs, governance and national development. He is also an independent writer and commentator on the history, politics and contemporary affairs of Somaliland and the wider Horn of Africa.

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