CULTURE
* Dressing
* Traditional dance
* Exceptional welcoming and hospitalization
* Traditional Harari Houses
* Local Market
THING TO DO
* City Gates
* Harar Museum
* Its rich and colorful marketplace
* Casa museo di Rimbaud
* Hyena feeding sites
* Ras Teferi’s House
* Feres Megala
* Tombs of Sheikh Abadir
* Traditional Adare Houses
* Smugglers' Market
HARAR
Harar, formerly written Harrar[1][2] and known to its inhabitants as Gey, is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia, formerly the capital ofHarergey and now the capital of the modern Harari ethno-political division (or kilil) of Ethiopia. The city is located on a hilltop in the eastern extension of the Ethiopian Highlands, about five hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa at an elevation of 1,885 meters. Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Harar has an estimated total population of 122,000.
HISTORY
The foundation of Harar goes back to the foundation of the first Muslim sultanate at the central and southern Ethiopia in 896 A.D. In 1521 A.D. Amir Abubakar Muhammad tranferred his capital from Dakar to Harar which before long emerged as the most important town in the horn of Africa. After the fourteen years of successive holy wars and the defeat of Iman Ahmad Ibn Ibrahim Algaz (Gran) in 1543, the power was assumed by his nephew, Amir Nur ibn Alwazir Mujahid, who married the late Imam's widow, Bati Del Wambara. It was he who was responsible for the construction of the great wall (Jugal) around Harar for defensive purpose. This structure becomes the towns' most important feature.
Because of its strategy, situated on the eastern spur of the southern Ethiopian mountain massif, Harar become the most important trade centre, playing an intermediary role between the two trading companies, the rich higlands of the interior and the Gulf of Aden ports.
