Sharma (medieval)

Sharma
Sharma
Coordinates: 14°45′39″N 49°36′25″E / 14.760833°N 49.606944°E / 14.760833; 49.606944

Sharma or Sharmah (Arabic: شرمة) was a medieval trading port in Ḥaḍramawt (South Arabia) on the Gulf of Aden. It was deeply involved in the Indian Ocean trade and was "one of the busiest harbours of the Indian Ocean"^[1] until its abrupt abandonment around 1180. Although known from texts, the location of the settlement was only discovered in 1996. Archaeological excavations began in 2001.^[2] They have revealed a large, heavily fortified port founded around 980 by merchants from Siraf on the Persian Gulf.

Sharma had a small permanent population of merchants and soldiers and served mainly as a transshipment point between East Africa and India. Nevertheless, its site possesses the richest assortment of Chinese ceramics from its period in the Islamic world.