Editing Cape Guardafui (section)

==History==
{{Main|Majeerteen Sultanate|Sultanate of Hobyo|Italian Somaliland}}
[[File:Shipwreck off Guardafui 1905.png|thumb|left|Shipwreck off Guardafui in 1905]]

Referred to as ''[[Aromata promontorium]]'' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Αρώματον ἄκρον) by the ancient [[Greeks]], Guardafui was described as early as the 1st century CE in the ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]'', along with other flourishing commercial settlements on the northern Somali littoral.<ref name="Tuckey"/>

The name ''Guardafui'' originated during the late Middle Ages by sailors using the [[Mediterranean Lingua Franca]]: "guarda fui" in ancient Italian means "look and escape", as a reference to the danger of the cape.<ref>[https://biyokulule.com/Piratestan1.htm Piratestan] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313052821/https://biyokulule.com/Piratestan1.htm |date=March 13, 2016 }}</ref>

In the early 19th century, [[Somali people|Somali]] seamen barred entry to their ports along the coast, while engaging in trade with [[Aden]] and [[Mocha, Yemen|Mocha]] in adjacent [[Yemen]] using their own vessels.<ref name="Tuckey"/>

Due to the frequency of shipwrecks in the treacherous seas near Cape Guardafui, the British signed an agreement with sultan [[Osman Mahamuud]] of the [[Majeerteen Sultanate]], which controlled much of the northeastern Somali seaboard during the 19th century. The agreement stipulated that the British would pay annual subsidies to protect shipwrecked British crews and guard wrecks against plunder. The agreement, however, remained unratified, as the British feared that doing so would "give other powers a precedent for making agreements with the Somalis, who seemed ready to enter into relations with all comers."<ref name="Laitin">{{cite book |first=David D. |last=Laitin |title=Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LR8A4tEYZUAC&pg=PA71 |publisher=University Of Chicago Press |date=1977 |page=71 |isbn=978-0-2264-6791-7 |access-date=2015-04-28 |archive-date=2024-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522133429/https://books.google.com/books?id=LR8A4tEYZUAC&pg=PA71#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Suldaan|Sultan]] [[Yusuf Ali Kenadid]] of the [[Sultanate of Hobyo]], which also controlled a portion of the coast, later granted concessions to an Aden-based French hotel proprietor and a former [[French Army]] officer to construct a [[lighthouse]] in Cape Guardafui. Capital for the project was raised by a firm in [[Marseille]], but the deal subsequently fell through.<ref name="NAS">{{cite book |last=Committee on Northeast African Studies |title=Northeast African Studies |volume=3 |publisher=Michigan State University Press |date=1981 |page=50}}</ref>

===Lighthouse "Francesco Crispi"===
[[File:Guardafui Lighthouse 2.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Lighthouse]] 
Britain ceded to Italy sovereignty over the disputed region where Cape Guardafui is located in 1894. Starting in 1899, the Italians undertook detailed studies and surveys to build a lighthouse and the first concrete project came out in 1904. Italy wanted the construction and maintenance costs of the future lighthouse to be shared by the maritime powers which would benefit most from the new lighthouse but Britain, which suspected that Italy also intended to build a coaling station that would compete with Aden, finally refused to contribute.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-04-06|title=Un faro torinese contro i pirati africani|url=https://www.lastampa.it/torino/2014/04/06/news/un-faro-torinese-contro-i-pirati-africani-1.35763179|access-date=2021-11-09|website=lastampa.it|language=it-IT|archive-date=2021-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109190540/https://www.lastampa.it/torino/2014/04/06/news/un-faro-torinese-contro-i-pirati-africani-1.35763179|url-status=live}}</ref>

Thus, it is only in the early 1920s that the authorities of [[Italian Somaliland]] finally made good on their promise to build a lighthouse. The first one, inaugurated in April 1924 as the Francesco Crispi Lighthouse, was a simple, functional metal-framed lighthouse built atop the headland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://farofrancescocrispicapeguardafui.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/1924-il-primo-faro-a-capo-guardafui/|title=1924 – Il primo faro a capo Guardafui nella Somalia Italiana|date=29 January 2014|access-date=7 July 2015|archive-date=24 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024122825/https://farofrancescocrispicapeguardafui.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/1924-il-primo-faro-a-capo-guardafui/|url-status=live}}</ref> Simultaneously, a wireless station to monitor maritime traffic, which had been built in the nearby village of [[Tohen]], was activated.

A large-scale rebellion against Italian rule in that part of Italian Somaliland was underway at the time and troops guarding the new lighthouse and the wireless station repelled two attacks by several hundred rebels in November 1925 and January 1926.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://farofrancescocrispicapeguardafui.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/caduti-in-somalia-per-la-difesa-del-faro-francesco-crispi/|title = Caduti in Somalia per la difesa del faro Francesco Crispi|date = 5 October 2014|access-date = 9 July 2015|archive-date = 14 July 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150714192416/https://farofrancescocrispicapeguardafui.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/caduti-in-somalia-per-la-difesa-del-faro-francesco-crispi/|url-status = live}}</ref>  
[[File:Guardafui Plaque.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Lighthouse "Francesco Crispi" dedication plaque]]

The lighthouse had suffered some damages during the attacks and this was one of the reasons that prompted the authorities to build a stronger, stone and reinforced concrete lighthouse, which was inaugurated in 1930. The striking new lighthouse was built in the shape of an Italian fascist "Fascio littorio". The lighthouse, which is no longer in use, still has the huge stone axe blade characteristic of [[fascist symbolism]].

A stone lighthouse and [[radio station]] were eventually built in the headland,<ref name="Collier">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Collier's Encyclopedia: With Bibliography and Index |publisher=P.F. Collier & Son Corporation |location=New York |volume=9 |date=1957 |page=405}}</ref> with the former named after [[Francesco Crispi]] in 1930.<ref name="Bowditch">{{cite book |last=Bowditch |first=Nathaniel |author-link=Nathaniel Bowditch |title=American Practical Navigator: An Epitome of Navigation and Nautical Astronomy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EK0wLyI8lV8C&pg=PA352 |year=1939 |page=352 |access-date=2015-04-28 |archive-date=2024-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522133321/https://books.google.com/books?id=EK0wLyI8lV8C&pg=PA352 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The lighthouse has an original "Fascio littorio" exterior stone as a decoration, that is typical of [[fascist architecture]] promoted by [[Benito Mussolini]]. Italian authorities have requested a study to declare the lighthouse an "historical monument" of Somalia and a proposed World Heritage Site.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://farofrancescocrispicapeguardafui.wordpress.com/page/3/ |title=Faro Francesco Crispi |access-date=2015-08-31 |archive-date=2015-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714150757/https://farofrancescocrispicapeguardafui.wordpress.com/page/3/ |url-status=live }}</ref>