Antiquity Bulhar is situated near
Berbera. The site is believed to correspond with the ancient commercial
Port of Isis described by the Roman scholar
Pliny the Elder.
Samuel Sharpe suggests that these old inscriptions were probably
hieroglyphical. The town was briefly occupied by the
Khedivate of Egypt. According to several European explorers who traveled through much of the Somali Peninsular in the 19th and early 20th centuries,
Berbera and Bulhar's extensive trade links covered large tracks of the Somali and Ethiopian interiors, and the merchants from Berbera and Bulhar had trade contracts with merchants from as far as
Mogadishu and
Merca: Nearly all trade for
Ogaden goes from Bulhar; but we found on the Webbe that we had, as it were, reached the point at which merchants from Berbera and Bulhar meet those from Merka and Mogadaxo (Madisha). Hargeisa is situated on the Tug Marodijeh, the banks of which are well wooded, and as it can boast of an excellent climate all the year round, and is about half-way on the main route from Bulhar to Jig-jigga on the Abyssinian frontier, it is always likely to be of some importance to caravans. A large percentage of the trade from Ogadayn passes through it to Bulhar on the coast. On leaving Hargeisa we travelled for many miles through beautiful park-like land, alive with birds and jungle fowl. We met the usual Somali khafilas [trading caravans] of Habr-Awal men, carrying their skins, gums, ghee, and coffee to our port at Bulhar, situated between Berbera and Zeila. ==References==