Antiquity During antiquity, Kismayo was part of the
Somali city-states that in engaged in a lucrative trade network connecting
Somali merchants with
Phoenicia,
Ptolemic Egypt,
Greece,
Parthian Persia,
Saba,
Nabataea and the
Roman Empire. Somali sailors used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the
beden to transport their cargo.
Middle Ages and the early modern period , an influential Somali empire that held sway over Kismayo and the larger Jubaland region during the Middle Ages. The Kismayo area was originally a small fishing settlement. To reward the Italians for joining the Allies in
World War I, and following the
Corfu incident of 1923, Britain decided to cede Kismayo and the northern half of Jubaland unconditionally to the
Italian colonial empire. The northern half of the partitioned Jubaland territory, had a brief existence from 1924 as the
Italian colony of
Trans-Juba (
Oltre Giuba). The Italians referred to the city as
Chisimaio. The colony had a total area of 87,000 km2 (33,000 sq mi), with a population of 120,000 inhabitants. Jubaland was then incorporated into neighbouring
Italian Somaliland on 30 June 1926. Britain retained control of the southern half of the partitioned Jubaland territory, which was later called the
Northern Frontier District (NFD). In 1941
Operation Canvas was launched from the NFD with the Battle of the Juba. Kismayo was quickly captured by 14 February.
Somali Civil War Following the breakdown of central authority that accompanied the
civil war in 1991, various local militias fought for control of the city, including supporters of
Mohammed Said Hersi ("General Morgan"), and Col. Barre Adan Shire Hiiraale
Somali National Front (SNF), later on known as the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA). As well of Col. Omar Jess'
Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM). Aid worker
Sean Devereux was assassinated in the city in January 1993. In March 1993, a
United States Marine amphibious group arrived in the city in an attempt to keep the peace as part of the
United Nations intervention in Somalia. By December 1993, General Morgan's troops controlled Kismayo, despite the presence of peacekeepers. The last UN troops left the city in December 1994. General Morgan briefly declared Jubaland independent on September 3, 1998. Political opponents of his subsequently united as the
Allied Somali Forces (ASF), seizing control of Kismayo by June of the following year. Led by Colonel
Barre Adan Shire Hiiraale, the ASF administration renamed itself the
Juba Valley Alliance in 2001. On June 18 of that year, an 11-member interclan council decided to ally the JVA with the newly forming
Transitional Federal Government. On January 8, 2007, as the
Battle of Ras Kamboni raged just south of Kismayo, the TFG relocated from its interim location in
Baidoa to the nation's capital,
Mogadishu. This marked the first time since the fall of the
Siad Barre regime in 1991 that the federal government controlled most of the country. Following this defeat, the Islamic Courts Union splintered into several different factions. Some of the more radical elements, including
Al-Shabaab, regrouped to continue their insurgency against the TFG and oppose the Ethiopian military's presence in Somalia. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Al‑Shabaab scored military victories, seizing control of key towns and ports in both central and southern Somalia. By January 2009, Al‑Shabaab and other militias had managed to force the Ethiopian troops to retreat, leaving behind an under-equipped
African Union peacekeeping force to assist the Transitional Federal Government's troops. In September 2012,
Somali Army, Ras Kamboni militiamen and Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF), all under command of the African Union Mission in Somalia
AMISOM, re-captured the city from the Al-Shabaab insurgents during the
Battle of Kismayo (2012). This was a culmination to the Kenyan
Operation Linda Nchi attack into Somalia which had begun late the year before. On 12 July 2019, a car bomb and a gun attack at the
Asasey hotel killed at least 26, including two prominent journalists and nine foreigners.
Islamist group
al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. == Geography ==