Socotra News
The Socotra Archipelago, a part of the Republic of Yemen, consists of the biggest Socotra Island and a few small ones, of which Abd-el-Kuri, the closest island to the Horn of Africa, and Samha Island, one of Al-Ikhvan islands (Samha and Darsa), are settled by people. Darsa Island is peopleless. The smaller islands and rocks are uninhabitable.
In the Soviet Union times the island was well-known primarily to our military men. The name of the island was often mentioned in the Western media when there was raised an uproar over “Soviet Union’s military presence” in the Red Sea and Horn of Africa Regions. Today also many people, both in Russia and abroad, believe that Socotra was a place where an important Soviet military base was developed like it was in Berbera, on the northern coast of Somali.
The famous scientist and journalist Mukhammad Megalommatis published an article about Socotra of the “Periplus of the Erythraean Sea” (mid-1st century A.D.) epoch.
English scientist Brian Lougery states that it was Socotra where a Shakespeare’s play was put on for the first time in the Arab world!