Barawa, also known as Barawe or Brava, is a port town in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. It flourished as an Indian Ocean trading port under the Ajuran Sultanate of the Middle Ages, and Arab merchants from the city visited China as early as the 15th century, becoming known to the Ming as Pulawa. In 1506, the Portuguese general and explorer Tristao da Cunha captured the wealthy port and proceeded to burn and loot Barawa. However, the Portuguese failed to maintain a lasting occupation, and Barawa quickly recovered from the attack. In 1910, Italy annexed Barawa from the Geledi Sultanate, and the city came to produce several prominent religious scholars after Somali independence. During the Somali Civil War, Barawa was the site of the 1993 Battle of Brava, and, in 2009, al-Shabaab seized control of the town. That same year, the US military killed al-Qaeda leader Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in a raid on Barawa; in October 2013, SEAL Team Six launched a raid on Barawa which failed to capture al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane (he was later killed in a 2014 airstrike on Barawa). By 2013, Barawa had 32,800 inhabitants, while the wider district had 96,901 residents.
Gallery[]
