Talk:Zeila

Picture of Rio de Janeiro?

The picture of the zeila coastline looks strangely like the Pao de Acucar in Rio de Janeiro with the Corcovado in the background. I doubt that this picture actually is from the somaliland coastline. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Brandonwilson (talk • contribs) 20:31, 29 December 2006 (UTC).

Modern Times section

The section on Modern Times is totally disconnected from the rest of the article. It refers to a war with no explanation and which is not explained here nor described anywhere else. There is also no mention of the fact that the area is now administered by the unrecognised but independent Republic of Somaliland.Stuartsh (talk) 12:06, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

''''The Rulers of Zeila decent account: The history of the people of Zeylac are mostly notnarrated properly nor it states the truth about the real history of the main clan which are still living in their land in and around Zeila. The descendants of the ruling family are in fact have been in treat so their history remained distorted until now for a political and protection purposes as they kept in secrets against others clans to claim that authority as theirs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mohamed Rirache (talk • contribs) 04:22, 24 February 2013 (UTC)

''''The Rulers of Zeila decent account: The history of the people of Zeylac are mostly notnarrated properly nor it states the truth about the real history of the main clan which are still living in their land in and around Zeila. The descendants of the ruling family are in fact have been in treat so their history remained distorted until now for a political and protection purposes as they kept in secrets against others clans to claim that authority as theirs. This is continuing... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mohamed Rirache (talk • contribs) 04:26, 24 February 2013 (UTC)

Whether or not you accept that Somaliland is a legal entity they do exist and Zeila is within their border. I would think that they deserve a post script. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Iowastate (talk • contribs) 23:03, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Zeila proposal

Please, could somebody add a few sentences about the Zeila proposal of 1935? --Roksanna (talk) 22:06, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

Zay people and Zaila connection

Zeila was a stronghold of the Harla dominated Adal Sultanate. I believe the city was named by the extinct Harla people to mean land near water in contrast to gey which means town in Harla such as Hargeisa. An ethnic group called the Zay people are located in Ethiopia most likely scattered after Abyssinian-Adal war. The Zay language is related with the Harari language another tribe that were located in the capital of Adal called Gey or Harar. Volunteering editors should find sources connecting the two. Kiziotherapy (talk) 10:57, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

When was the town destroyed?

In the late 1980s by Barre/Morgan or in the early 1990s (which I doubt because fighting was not heavy in Somaliland). See the Spanish Wikipedia to see that the 1980s are more probable.Marcin862 (talk) 08:25, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

Havilah versus Avalites

Avalites is called in the Peripleus Eritrea source. This Havilah is being used indisciminately and would like comments from neutral editors. Authorityofwiki (talk) 20:20, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

There's no issues with using both terms Avalite/Havilah however blanking is not acceptable. see this source [1] The exact location of Avalite is not known its disputed. Duqsene (talk) 21:23, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for posting your point of view Duqsene, I will wait for neutral editors to view the source(s) you provided for the edit you made, and that they(neutral editors) will see the source(s) and provide their analysis of the source and claim. Authorityofwiki (talk) 22:22, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

I'd like to also add, it seems odd for this statement "In antiquity, it was identified with the commercial port of Havilah." In "antiquity"(ancient times), and then it links to Havilah which goes back to Book of Genesis, referring to a "region" and then it gets limited to a "Port" town called "Zeila" in Somalia? This port town of "Zeila" may have been mistakenly named as "Havilah" by 1500-1800 European explorers, however the Ancient Greek traveler who wrote the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea referred to the area as "Avalites". This source [2] states:"From this place the Arabian Gulf trends toward the east and becomes narrowest just before the Gulf of Avalites. After about four thousand stadia, for those sailing eastward along the same coast, there are other Berber market-towns, known as the 'far-side' ports; lying at intervals one after the other, without harbors but having roadsteads where ships can anchor and lie in good weather. The first is called Avalites; to this place the voyage from Arabia to the far-side coast is the shortest. Here there is a small market-town called Avalites, which must be reached by boats and rafts." Authorityofwiki (talk) 23:19, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

More sources [3] and [4], Avalites is a Greek term, while Havilah is a Hebrew word. The two are not necessarily the same thing. What 1500-1800 Christian European explorers renamed or mistakenly named does not justify using their terms over the original text of the Ancient Greeks. Authorityofwiki (talk) 23:44, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

According to these sources, the two are not the same:

   https://books.google.ca/books?id=irBUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA619&dq=avalites+Havilah&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiq7tCrppnYAhUM92MKHZgoCJcQ6AEIWDAI#v=onepage&q=avalites%20Havilah&f=false  AND   https://books.google.ca/books?id=tABgAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA70&dq=avalites+Havilah&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjx79joppnYAhUG1mMKHfHfBZYQ6AEIQTAE#v=onepage&q=avalites%20Havilah&f=false

Peter K Burian (talk) 19:20, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

The two sources each say that Havilah was the predecessor of the Avalites. Duqsene (talk) 21:12, 20 December 2017 (UTC)