Merca
Sign in to saveMerca (; ) is the capital city of the Lower Shebelle province of Somalia, a historic port city in the region. It is located approximately to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home territory of the Bimal clan and was the center of the Bimal revolt.
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Place details
- Locality
- Marka مركة
- Region
- Shabeellaha Hoose شبيلي السفلى
- Country
- Soomaaliya الصومال
- Population
- 230,100
- Timezone
- Africa/Mogadishu
via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames
Key facts
- Settlement.official_name
- Merca
- Settlement.other_name
- مَركة (Wadaad)
- Settlement.settlement_type
- City
- Settlement.image_skyline
- Marka,Somalia.jpg
- Settlement.imagesize
- 250px
- Settlement.image_caption
- Merca beachside
- Settlement.nickname
- Marka Cadey
- Settlement.pushpin_map
- Lower Shebelle#Somalia#Horn of Africa#Africa
- Settlement.pushpin_map_caption
- Location within Somalia##Location within the Horn of Africa##Location within Africa
- Settlement.pushpin_relief
- 1
- Settlement.subdivision_type
- Country
- Settlement.subdivision_type2
- Region
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- city
- Country
- Somalia
- Located in
- Lower Shebelle
- Population
- +230100
- Elevation
- +0
- Time zone
- UTC+03:00
- Capital of
- Lower Shebelle
- Image
- Merca minaret moonrise.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- P1889
- Merka
- P12749
- radio astronomy
Article
13 sectionsContents
- History
- Antiquity
- Medieval Period
- Early Modern
- Bimal Revolt
- Modern
- Demographics
- Transportation
- Notable people
- See also
- References
- Sources
- External links
Merca (; ) is the capital city of the Lower Shebelle province of Somalia, a historic port city in the region. It is located approximately to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home territory of the Bimal clan and was the center of the Bimal revolt.
==History== ===Antiquity=== The city of Essina is believed to have been the predecessor state of Merca. It used to be an ancient Proto-Somali emporium city-state. It is mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Greek travel document dating from the first century AD, as one of a series of commercial ports on the Somali littoral. According to the Periplus, maritime trade already connected peoples in the Merca area with other communities along the Somali Sea coast.