TheDahlak Archipelago is anEritreanisland group located in theRed Sea, measuring around 643square km (248square miles) and lying roughly 58kilometers (31nautical miles, 36miles) east ofMassawa, the regional capital city.

Dahlak Archipelago

Dahlak Archipelago Location of Dahlak Archipelago off the coast of Eritrea
Geography
Coordinates	15°50′N40°12′E / 15.833°N 40.200°E /15.833; 40.200
Adjacent to	Red Sea
Major islands	Dahlak Kebir, Dhuladhiya, Dissei, Dohul (Dehil), Erwa
Administration
Eritrea
Demographics
Population	c. 3,000
Languages	Dahalik

The etymology of the name remains obscure.Al-Hamdani,al-Idrisi, andYaqut used the form "dahlak," while Yaqut also recorded "dahlik." According to Yaqut and al-Idrisi, "dahlak" is a foreign word that became Arabicized. Moshe Piamenta states that "dahlak" means "big merchant."^[1]

G.W.B. Huntingford has identified with the Dahlak archipelago a group of islands nearAdulis called "Alalaiou" in thePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea which were a source of tortoise shell. According toEdward Ullendorff, the Dahlak islanders were amongst the first people in theHorn of Africa to embraceIslam, and a number of tombstones inKufic script attest to this early connection.^[2]

Relations betweenAbyssinia and the Dahlak Islands date back to the 4th century AD. After Abyssinian pirates attackedJeddah in 702, the Dahlak Islands were occupied by Muslims, becoming a strategic Islamic foothold in theHorn of Africa. The Umayyad CaliphAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan used the islands as a prison. Under CaliphUmar ibn Abd al-Aziz,Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, the governor ofKhurasan, was sentenced to exile in Dahlak in 717–718 but was later allowed to remain imprisoned in Aleppo. The poetAl-Ahwas Al-Ansari was exiled to Dahlak for four to five years for writing satirical verses against CaliphSulayman ibn Abd al-Malik but was later permitted to leave the "land of thorns" by CaliphYazid II.^[3]

Between around 1140 and 1249, the Dahlak Islands were ruled by a line of sultans, with the title reserved for rulers wielding real political and military power. The first known use of "sultan" dates to 1093, but it may have referred to a "blessed" individual rather than a ruler. Titles such as "defender of Islam" mirrored those of Nur al-Din Mahmud of Aleppo, reflecting a Sunni character. In 1125–1126, the amir al-Muwaffaq fromEgypt attempted to arrest Ibn Nab in Dahlak. The genealogical record of the sultans is incomplete, as many rulers are identified only in the epitaphs of others. The da'i Ibn Hibbat al-Dawla met with Muhammad ibn Abi al-Arab ofAden in Dahlak around 1119–1120.^[4]

In the 13th century,Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi mentions that the king of Dahlak was an Abyssinian Muslim who maintained his independence from the ruler of Yemen. And according toAbulfeda, the island was ruled by a local "Abyssinian" Muslim who had contacts with theMamluk Sultanate and theRasulid dynasty of Yemen. In 1517 theOttoman Turks conquered the islands and placed them under the rule of thePasha atSuakin as part of the province ofHabesh.^[2] By 1526 the Dahalik sultan, Ahmad, had been degraded to a tributary. There was a short revival of the sultanate during theAbyssinian-Adal war, where thesultanate of Adal waged a temporarily successfuljihad against theEthiopian Empire. Sultan Ahmad joined the Adal Empire and was rewarded with the port town ofArkiko. However, in 1541, one year after the death of sultan Ahmad, the Portuguese returned and destroyed Dahlak yet again. Sixteen years later, the islands were occupied by theOttoman Empire again, who made them part of theHabesh Eyalet.^[5]

In the second half of the 19th century, the islands temporarily came under theKhedivate of Egypt, but they remained a backwater. In 1889 the Italians occupied Eritrea and established a vice-residency on the island of Nokra. The census of 1931 gave a total of 2,275 inhabitants, composed of 1,475Tigre, 475Arabs and 325Afar. However, during this time the islands were home to little except theNocra prison camp operated by the Italian colonial forces.^[2]

After Ethiopia allied itself with theSoviet Union during the Cold War, following the rise of theDerg, the Dahlak Archipelago was the location of aSoviet Navy base.^[6] In 1990, Ethiopia lost control of the Dahlak Archipelago and the northern Eritrean coast to the Eritrean independence movement (EPLF) and by 1991 Ethiopia had lost control of all of Eritrea.^[2] Following the international recognition of Eritrean independence in 1993, the Dahlak Archipelago became a part of Eritrea.^[7]

Consisting of two larger and 124 smaller islands, only three of the islands are permanently inhabited, withDahlak Kebir being the largest and most populated. Other islands of the archipelago are Dhuladhiya,Dissei, Dohul (Dehil), Erwa, Harat,Harmil,Inghel, Isra-Tu, Nahaleg,Nakura,Nora (Norah) and Shumma.

Besides Dahlak Kebir, only Nora and Dohul are permanently inhabited. Residents of the archipelago speakDahlik and maintain a traditional way of life, including fishing, shepherding and raisingcamels. The localpearl fisheries of thearchipelago have been famous sinceRoman times, and still produce a substantial number ofpearls.^[9]

Tourism is increasing. The islands can be reached by boat fromMassawa and are popular with scuba divers and snorkellers.^[2]

The islands and surrounding seas, with their coral reefs and shoals, are rich in marine life, includingseabirds andwaders. Some islands are fringed with mangroves and others with salt brush scrub. Dolphins, dugongs, sharks, and turtles can be seen as well as a variety of invertebrates.^[2]

The archipelago has been designated anImportant Bird Area (IBA) byBirdLife International because it supports significant populations ofspotted sandgrouse,white-eyed gulls,lesser crested terns,lesser kestrels,sooty falcons,greater hoopoe-larks,blackstarts andcinereous buntings.^[10]

• Sultanate of Dahlak
• Dahlak Marine National Park
• Dahalik language

  Media related toDahlak Archipelago at Wikimedia Commons

• Dahlak – Reef pearls of the Red Sea – Dahlak Islands informative site