Harar or Harrar
[key], city, capital of Harar region, E central Ethiopia, at an altitude
of c.6,000 ft (1,830 m). It is the trade center for a region where coffee,
cereals, and cotton are produced. Harar was probably founded in the 7th
cent. After 1520 the Somali conqueror Ahmad Gran made it the capital of a
considerable Muslim state, but an Oromo invasion brought an end (1577) to
its political power. The city maintained a precarious independence until its
occupation (1875–85) by Egypt. In 1887 it was incorporated into
Ethiopia by Menelik II. The Harari inhabitants of the city are a distinctive
Ethiopian group who speak a Semitic language, but whose written literature
is Arabic. A walled city, Harar was long a center of Islamic learning, and
has many mosques and shrines. It also is the site of a military academy and
of teacher-training and agricultural schools. It is also spelled Harer.
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