[1] The name of Siyara derives from the Somali word Siyaaro, a term used to describe a localized annual pilgrimage to a holy site where the ancestor of a clan or a saint is buried.

Sa'ad ad-Din II the last Sultan of Ifat had been slain in Zeila after losing the city to Emperor Dawit I after a siege.

Sabr ad-Din II pillaged the region and was able to defeat Yeshaq's imperial headquarters in Adal and retired to his capital, while instructing his followers and commanders to continue to fight.

[3][4] Legendary 15th century Arab explorer Ahmad ibn Mājid wrote of Siyara and several other notable landmarks and ports of the northern Somali coast, including Berbera, the Sa'ad ad-Din islands (aka the Zeila Archipelago near Zeila), Alula, Ruguda, Maydh, Heis, El-Darad and El-Sheikh.

[6]In the year 1845, Sharmarke Ali Saleh – who was by then the Governor of Zeila – chartered four Somali ships from Siyara with men and building material for the erection of his tower forts to solidify his takeover of Berbera, which lasted from 1845 to 1852.

What greatly enhances the value of Kurrum however is its proximity to the country of the Dulbahanta, who approach within four days of Kurrum, and who therefore naturally have their chief trade through that port.In 2016 and again in 2020, the Incipit (Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio) Spanish-lead archaeological team surveyed the site of Siyara and made a number of new archeological finds, including stone buildings made of coral masonry and several hundred Muslim burial graves and tumuli.

The team also uncovered amounts of imported and local potteries, glass, stone vessels and accumulations of bones and ashes (which indicates large feasts and gatherings).