This is a map Mokha from 1764 made by the french cartographer Jacques-Nicolas Bellin. It shows that the city had a sizable Somali quarter outside the city walls . Mokha was the major port for coffee in the world at that time and as the coffee beans came from Ethiopia, it was Somali traders who lived between the Ethiopian highlands and the Yemeni coast that shipped the coffee beans to Mokha. In fact the european explorer who visited the town George Annesly said that up to two thirds of the coffee beans in Mokha came from Berbera. He also wrote on Somalis in his book:
“The Samaulies, who inhabit the whole coast from Gardafui to the Straits [Bab-el-Mandeb], and through whose territories the whole produce of the interior of Africa must consequently reach Arabia, have been represented by Mr. Bruce, and many others, as a savage race, with whom it would be dangerous to have connection. I think that this is an unjust accusation, and is sufficiently disproved by the extent of their inland trade, their great fairs, and their large exports in their own vessels. A great number of them live close to Mocha, and are a peaceful inoffensive race."
Source: Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, The Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt in the Years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806, by Goerge Annesly
“The Samaulies, who inhabit the whole coast from Gardafui to the Straits [Bab-el-Mandeb], and through whose territories the whole produce of the interior of Africa must consequently reach Arabia, have been represented by Mr. Bruce, and many others, as a savage race, with whom it would be dangerous to have connection. I think that this is an unjust accusation, and is sufficiently disproved by the extent of their inland trade, their great fairs, and their large exports in their own vessels. A great number of them live close to Mocha, and are a peaceful inoffensive race."
Source: Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, The Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt in the Years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806, by Goerge Annesly
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