Maduna | |
|---|---|
Archaeological site | |
  Maduna  Maduna | |
| Coordinates: 9°30′04″N47°09′21″E / 9.50121°N 47.15578°E | |
| Country |  Somaliland |
| Region | Sanaag |
| District | El Afweyn District |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EAT) |
Maduna (Somali : Maduuna) is a medieval town in western Sanaag region of Somaliland, near El Afweyn. [1] [2]
The ruined Islamic city of Maduna is considered the most substantial and most accessible ruin of its type in Somaliland. [1] [2] The main feature of the ruined city includes a large rectangular mosque, its 3 metre high walls still standing and which include a mihrab and possibly several smaller arched niches. [2] The mosque is surrounded by several old houses, most of whom being partially intact. [2] The houses include roofed rooms, as well as compounds of dome-shaped structures lacking doors or windows. [3] Just on a slope below the ruined city stands a baobab tree, large enough to suggest that it was planted while the city was inhabited. [2]
Not much is known about Maduna's history, with its dry-stone architectural style suggesting that Maduna was a contemporary of other ruined cities in Somaliland like Amoud and Abasa, meaning that Maduna was presumably part of the Adal sultanate. [2] Swedish-Somali archaeologist Sada Mire dates the ruined city to the 15th–17th centuries. [3]
Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the south and west, and Somalia to the east. Its claimed territory has an area of 176,120 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), with approximately 6.2 million people as of 2024. The capital and largest city is Hargeisa.
Sanag is an administrative region (gobol) in north eastern Somaliland. Sanaag has a long coastline facing the Gulf of Aden to the north, and is bordered by the region of Sahil to the west, Sool to the south and Somalia to the east. The region is disputed by the self-declared Republic of Somaliland and Puntland, a Federal Member State of Somalia. Its capital city is Erigavo. Sanaag is the largest region of Somaliland, accounting for 35% of Somaliland's total land area.
Hargeisa is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland, a de facto sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still considered internationally to be part of Somalia. It is also the regional capital of the Maroodi Jeex region of Somaliland.
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El Afweyn is a town in the Sanaag region of Somaliland.
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Abasa is an ancient town in the northwestern Awdal region of Somaliland. In ancient times it served as the capital of both Queen Kola's Kingdom and Kingdom of Adal.
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Somali architecture is the engineering and designing of multiple different construction types such as stone cities, castles, citadels, fortresses, mosques, temples, aqueducts, lighthouses, towers and tombs during the ancient, medieval and early modern periods in Somalia and other regions inhabited by Somalis, as well as the fusion of Somalo-Islamic architecture with Western designs in contemporary times.
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