Al-Ḡulayfiqa

Al-Ghulayfiqah was a Red Sea landing place serving the inland city of Zabid. Medieval geographers described Ghalafiqa as the coast opposite Zabid, where ships bound for the city came to anchor. The port connected the Tihama plain and its great centre of learning with traffic along the sea. Other landing places later shared this role, including al-Fazah, founded by the Rasulid ruler al-Nasir Ahmad in the fifteenth century; the importance of Ghulayfiqah declined as maritime activity shifted along the coast.