Hargeisa (; , ) is the second largest city in Somalia and the capital city of the self declared Republic of Somaliland, a de facto sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still considered internationally to be part of Somalia. It is also the regional capital of the Maroodi Jeex province of Somaliland. Hargeisa is the largest city in Somaliland. Hargeisa was founded as a watering and trading stop between the coast and the interior by the Isaaq Sultanate. Initially it served as a watering well for the vast livestock of the Arab clans that inhabited in that specific region and later were joined by the current clans of Hargeisa. In 1960, the Somaliland Protectorate gained independence from the United Kingdom and as scheduled united days later with the Trust Territory of Somaliland (former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic on July 1. Hargeisa is situated in a valley in the Galgodon (Ogo) highlands, and sits at an elevation of . Home to rock art from the Neolithic period, the city is also a commercial hub for precious stone-cutting, construction, retail services and trading, among other activities. Etymology The town evolved in the latter half of the 1800s as a Qadiriyya settlement established by Sheikh Madar, near a water-stop used by nomadic stock-herders on the way to the town of Harar. It proposes a possible derivation of the name "Hargeisa" from the sobriquet Harar as-sagir, meaning "Harar the little" According to historian Norman Bennett, Madar named the settlement Hargeisa or Little Harar since he aspired for it to emulate the city of Harar as a center for Islamic teachings. Another etymological root for Hargeisa's name derives from the towns connection to the skins trade. Hargeisa has been a watering and trading stop between the coast and the interior, and chief amongst the goods traded were the hide skins procured from the interior to be processed in the settlement. In this etymological version, ‘Hargeisa’ is derived from hargageys, which means "place to sell hides and skins” in Somali. History Prehistory Numerous cave paintings from the Neolithic period are found in the Laas Geel complex, on the outskirts of Hargeisa. During November and December 2002, an archaeological survey was carried out in the area by a French team of researchers. The expedition's objective was to search for rock shelters and caves containing stratified archaeological infills capable of documenting the period when