Mogadishu

The capital and largest city of Somalia is Mogadishu. For millennia, the city has been a key harbor for connecting with commerce throughout the Indian Ocean. Mogadishu has a long history that spans from antiquity to the present. It served as the capital of the Sultanate of Mogadishu from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, which for many years ruled the gold trade in the Indian Ocean.

Later, in the thirteenth century, it was incorporated into the Ajuran Empire, a significant participant in the medieval Silk Road maritime trade. In the early modern era, Mogadishu was regarded as the wealthiest city on the East African coast and the hub of a booming textile industry. The city reached the height of its prosperity in the 14th and 15th centuries.

There is no getting around this difficult topic: A forest of AK-47 barrels often rumbles alongside warlords and roving gangs as they travel the city of Mogadishu's bumpy roads. In truth, there hasn't been much of a safe period in the capital of Somalia since the fragile end of the civil war, which fought there until 2012 in various forms. There are some indications that things are starting to shift, though.

There are now flight routes to Istanbul and Dubai thanks to Turkish investment in the Aden Adde International Airport, and there will always be potential in the bustling Bakaara Market and the lovely Mogadishu Old Town, which cascades down to the Indian Ocean in a dash of crenulated Italianesque mansions.