BERBERA

port, northwestern Somalia, on the Gulf of Aden. It lies at the terminus of roads from the towns of Hargeysa and Burko and has an airport. Known during classical times and to Ibn Sa'id (d. 1286) and other early Arab geographers, Berbera was one of the Muslim settlements of the medieval state of Adal. It was sacked by the Portuguese in 1518 and occupied by the sharifs of Mocha in the 17th century, by the Egyptians in 1875, and by the British in 1884. It served as the capital of British Somaliland until 1941. Water is supplied by pipeline from Dubar to the south. Berbera's trade, mainly with Aden (Yemen), 150 miles (240 km) north and across the Gulf of Aden, has increased since World War II because of improved port facilities, which were further modernized in the late 1960s and early '70s. Exports include sheep, hides and skins, ghee, frankincense, myrrh, and gum arabic. A portion of the population migrates to the Galgodon (Ogo) Highlands during the hot season. Pop. (1985 est.) 70,000.