of Shihr The history of ash-Shihr (formerly also
al-Asʿāʾ It was a major port on the
incense trade route as an exporter of
frankincense to places as far away as
China. Local pottery production at
Yadhghat was exported through al-Shihr, possibly as early as the 10th century. In 980, the
entrepôt of
Sharma was founded by Persian exiles up the coast from al-Shihr. These rival ports are mentioned together in works of
medieval Islamic geography. Writing in 985,
al-Muqaddasī records that Sharma and ah-Shihr were dependencies of the
Ziyadid dynasty. About 1150,
al-Idrīsī wrote that Sharma and al-Shihr were stopovers on the sailing route from
Aden to
Mirbāṭ and were about one day apart. Around 1300,
al-Dimashqī noted that Sharma and al-Shiḥr were the two harbors of Hadhramaut. Al-Shihr is also mentioned by
Ibn Khaldun in his
al-Muqaddimah. Politically, al-Shihr has been under the
Ziyadids (818–981), the
Banū Maʿn (11th century), the
Rasulids (1228–1454) and the
Tahirids. After a short time, the latter lost it to the sultanate of
Kathiri under Badr ibn Tuwayriq in 1462. In the 16th century, it was attacked several times by the
Portuguese, who called it Xaer or Xael. There are still graves along the shore said to be of victims of the Portuguese. The
Ottomans advised the Sultan of al-Shihr, Badr, to not submit to the Portuguese and left cannons and 100
levends (
Ottoman irregular troops) with the Sultan of al-Shihr. In 1548
Dom Álvaro arriving from Goa had it bombarded, albeit with meager results, as he lacked heavy artillery and around 40 Portuguese were killed. Sometime later two large galliots arrived with siege guns, with which the Portuguese were able to batter the walls of the fort heavily, and within a short time, the garrison sent Sulaimân bin Sa'd bin Sulaimân al-Muhammadï who sought to surrender in exchange for freedom, The fort was stormed on April 7 and the Kathiri garrison was entirely slaughtered. The fort was delivered to the Afrar brothers and Sulaimân bin Sa'd was taken prisoner to Goa. Later, al-Shihr became one of the three major cities of the
Qu'aiti Sultanate, before a unified Yemen was formed, the other two being Mukalla and
Shibam.
Carsten Niebuhr visited al-Shihr in the 18th century. Yemenis who emigrated to East Africa and their descendants are known as Shihiris, because most of them moved through
the port of al-Shihr. == See also ==