Mogadishu enjoyed the height of its prosperity during the 14th and 15th centuries[11] and was during the early modern period considered the wealthiest city on the East African coast, as well as the center of a thriving textile industry.

[16] The origins of the name Mogadishu (Muqdisho) have many theories but it is most likely derived from a morphology of the Somali words Muuq and Disho which mean "Sight Killer" or "Blinder", possibly referring to the city's blinding beauty.

[28][29][30][31] More importantly, it contradicts oral, ancient written sources and archaeological evidence on the pre-existing civilizations and communities that flourished on the Somali coast, and to which were the forefathers of Mogadishu and other coastal cities.

[40] Ibn al-Mujawir mentions the Banu Majid who fled the Mundhiriya region in Yemen in the year 1159 and settled in Mogadishu and also traders from the port towns of Abyan and Haram.

[48][49]For many years Mogadishu functioned as the pre-eminent city in the بلد البربر (Bilad al Barbar – "Land of the Berbers"), as medieval Arabic-speakers named the Somali coast.

[72] Mogadishu, the center of a thriving weaving industry known as toob benadir (specialized for the markets in Egypt and Syria),[73] together with Merca and Barawa also served as transit stops for Swahili merchants from Mombasa and Malindi and for the gold trade from Kilwa.

In this town there is plenty of meat, wheat, barley, and horses, and much fruit: it is a very rich place.In 1542, the Portuguese commander João de Sepúvelda led a small fleet on an expedition to the Somali coast.

They would wear traditional rich white silk wrapped around their bodies and have Islamic turbans, and coastal people only wore sarongs and wrote in Arabic as a lingua franca.

After World War II Mogadishu was made the capital of the Trust Territory of Somaliland, an Italian administered fiduciary political entity under the UNO mandate, for ten years (1950–1960).

His assassination was quickly followed by a military coup d'état on 21 October 1969 (the day after his funeral), in which the Somali Army seized power without encountering armed opposition — essentially a bloodless takeover.

[102] Alongside Barre, the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) that assumed power after President Sharmarke's assassination was led by Lieutenant Colonel Salaad Gabeyre Kediye and Chief of Police Jama Ali Korshel.

[103] The SRC subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic,[104][105] arrested members of the former civilian government, banned political parties,[106] dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution.

[118] On 8 January 2007, as the Battle of Ras Kamboni, raged, TFG President and founder Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former colonel in the Somali Army, entered Mogadishu for the first time since being elected to office.

Working closely with the UN, USAID, and DRC, Nur's administration started large-scale rehabilitation of roads and general infrastructure, with residents cooperating with the civil and police authorities to tighten up on security.

The city is administratively divided into eighteen districts of Abdiaziz, Bondhere, Daynile, Dharkenley, Hamar-Jajab, Hamar-Weyne, Heliwa, Hodan, Howl-Wadag, Karan, Shangani, Shibis, Waberi, Wadajir, Wardhigley and Yaqshid.

The 3.5 million EUR initiative lasted three and a half years, and saw the establishment in Mogadishu of a sustainable waste collection system, a technical training centre, water quality testing laboratories, better access to clean drinking water, improved employment and livelihood opportunities in the low-cost fuel production sector, strengthened skills training and regulation in the construction sector, and laboratories for the testing of construction material quality.

As of January 2014, these diplomatic missions include the embassies of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Uganda, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Japan, China,[156][157] and Qatar.

[156] In May 2015, in recognition of the sociopolitical progress made in Somalia and its return to effective governance, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a preliminary plan to reestablish the US embassy in Mogadishu.

[159] President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke also presented to Kerry the real estate deed for land reserved for the new US embassy compound.

[160] Mohamud concurrently signed an Establishment Agreement with the EU Head of Delegation in Somalia Michele Cervone d’Urso, which facilitates the opening of more embassies in Mogadishu by European Union member states.

[161] In February 2014, Somalia's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdirahman Duale Beyle announced that the federal government was slated to reopen the former Institute of Diplomacy in Mogadishu.

[150] The galvanization of Mogadishu's real estate sector was in part facilitated by the establishment of a local construction yard in November 2012 by the Municipality of Istanbul and the Turkish Red Crescent.

The new high rise is slated to be completed by the end of 2015, and will feature a Tawakal Global Bank customer and financial services center, a large, 338 square meter supermarket, a 46-room luxury hotel, restaurant and coffee shop facilities, and conference and event halls.

Following a greatly improved security situation in the city in 2012, Somali expatriates and many of the diaspora began returning to Mogadishu for investment opportunities and to take part in the post-conflict reconstruction.

[204] In September 2013, the Somali federal government and its Chinese counterpart signed an official cooperation agreement in Mogadishu as part of a five-year national recovery plan in Somalia.

Financed by the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as well as other donor institutions, the university counts hundreds of graduates from its seven faculties, some of whom continue on to pursue Master's degrees abroad thanks to a scholarship programme.

In 2012, Zamzam foundation started agricultural training school declared its purpose to be “rebuilding food production system of the country and accelerate its yield, while promoting income generation for low-income families”.

Mogadishu Cathedral was built in 1928 by the colonial authorities in Italian Somalia in a Norman Gothic style, and served as the traditional seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mogadiscio.

[224] In September 2013, the Somali federal government and its Chinese counterpart signed an official cooperation agreement in Mogadishu as part of a five-year national recovery plan in Somalia.

The company also assisted in comprehensive infrastructure renovations, restored a dependable supply of electricity, revamped the baggage handling facilities as well as the arrival and departure lounges, put into place electronic check-in systems, and firmed up on security and work-flow.