Zeila

Zeila, also known as Zaila (Somali: Saylac, Arabic: زيلع‎), is a port city in the northwestern Awdal region of Somalia.

Located on the Gulf of Aden coast near the Djibouti border, the town sits on a sandy spit surrounded by the sea. It is known for its offshore islands, coral reef and mangroves. Landward, the terrain is unbroken desert for some fifty miles. Berbera lies 170 miles (270 km) southeast of Zeila, while the city of Harar in Ethiopia is 200 miles (320 km) to the west.

Zeila was in antiquity identified with the commercial port of Avalites described in the 1st century Greek document the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, an area that was situated in the historic northern Barbara region. The town evolved into an early Islamic center with the arrival of Muslims shortly after the hijra. By the 9th century, Zeila would be described as the capital of an already-established Adal kingdom, and would attain its height of prosperity a few centuries later in the 1300s. The city subsequently came under Yemenite administration, followed by Ottoman and British periods of rule.

In the post-independence period, Zeila was administered as part of the official Zeila District in the Awdal region of Somalia. Since the 2000s, control of the town has been disputed between Awdalland, a proposed autonomous state, and Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia.