The Dahlak Archipelago

Dahlak Archipelago seen from Spot satellite

The Dahlak Archipelago is an island group located in the Red Sea near Massawa, Eritrea. It consists of two large and 124 small islands. The pearl fisheries as they were known to the Romans, still produce a few pearls. Only four of the islands are permanently inhabited, of which Dahlak Kebir is the largest and most populated. The islands are a home for diverse marine life and sea-birds, and attract some tourists. An archipelago is a landform which consists of a chain or cluster of islands. ... Location of the Red Sea The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. ... Massawa in the 19th century Massawa or Mitsiwa (15° 36′ 33″ N 39° 26′ 43″ E) is a port on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. ... For other uses, see Pearl (disambiguation). ... A fishery (plural: fisheries) is an organized effort by humans to catch fish or other aquatic species, an activity known as fishing. ... For other uses, see Pearl (disambiguation). ... Dahlak Kebir is the largest of the Dahlak Islands in the Red Sea off Eritrea. ... Marine biology is the study of animal and plant life within saltwater ecosystems. ... Seabirds are birds that spend much of their lives, outside the breeding season at least, at sea. ... Tourist redirects here. ...

The people of the archipelago speak Dahlik. Some of the islands can be reached by boat from Massawa. The Mergui Archipelago The Archipelago Sea, situated between the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland, the largest archipelago in the world by the number of islands. ... Dahlik (Dahaalik, Dahalik, Dahlak) is a newly discovered language spoken exclusively in Eritrea off the coast of Massawa, on three islands in the Dahlak Archipelago: Dahlak Kebir, Nora and Dehil. ... Massawa in the 19th century Massawa or Mitsiwa (15° 36′ 33″ N 39° 26′ 43″ E) is a port on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. ...

Other inhabited islands of this archipelago, besides Dahlak Kebir are: Dhuladhiya, Dissei, Dohul, Erwa, Harat, Hermil, Isra-Tu, Nahaleg (Nahleg), Norah and Shumma, although not all are permanently inhabited. Nahaleg (also: Nahleg) is an island in the Dahlak Archipelago, Eritrea. ...

History

G.W.B. Huntingford has identified a group of islands near Adulis called "Alalaiou" in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, which were a source of tortoise shell, with the Dahlak archipelago. According to Edward Ullendorff, the Dahlak islanders were amongst the first in East Africa to convert to Islam, and a number of tombstones in Kufic writing attest to this early connection. In the 7th century an independent Muslim state emerged in the archipleago, but it was subsequently conquered by Yemen, then intermittently by the Emperor of Ethiopia and subsequent petty kingdoms of Abyssinia and about 1559 by the Ottoman Turks, who placed the islands under the rule of their Pasha at Suakin. Adulis is an archeological site in Eritrea, about 30 miles south of Massawa. ... Names, routes and locations of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. ... Edward Ullendorff (b. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... Surah Al-Baqarah written in Kufic form. ... The Emperor (Geez ንጉሠ ነገሥት, , King of Kings) of Ethiopia was the hereditary ruler of Ethiopia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. ... A petty kingdom is an independent realm recognizing no suzerain and controlling only a portion of the territory held by a particular ethnic group or nation. ... This article needs cleanup. ... January 15 - Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey. ... The Ottoman Turks were the ethnic subdivision of the Turkish people who dominated the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire. ... Pasha, pascha or bashaw (Turkish: paşa) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors and generals. ... Suakin is a port in north eastern Sudan, on the Red Sea. ...

In the late 19th century, the islands became part of the Italian colony of Eritrea, which was formed in 1890. The Islands were home to little else except a prison operated by the Italian Colonial forces. Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ...

After Ethiopia allied itself with the Soviet Union during the Cold War after the rise of the Derg, the Dahlak Archipelago was the location of a Soviet Navy base^[1]. In 1990, Ethiopia lost control of the Dahlak Archipelago and the northern Eritrean coast to the Eritrean independence movement EPLF and by 1991 Ethiopia had lost control of all of Eritrea. Following the international recognition of Eritrean independence in 1993, the Dahlak islands became a part of Eritrea. Derg party badge, c1979. ... The Soviet Navy (Russian: Военно-морской флот СССР, Voyenno-morskoy flot SSSR, literally Naval military forces of the USSR) was the naval arm of the Soviet armed forces. ... The Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) was an armed organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. ...

Still, Israel supposedly is present on the islands of Dahlak and Fatma, according to arab sources^[2]. Contracts with the eritrean president Isayas Afewerki would allow surveillance over neighbouring states as well as running a nuclear dump site. Other sources have neither confirmed nor denied.

References

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 243rd day of the year (244th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Hans Mebrat's information and pictures on the Archipelago

Coordinates: 15°50′N, 40°12′E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...