Land of Punt

Punt was the name given by the civilization of ancient Egypt to a region south of Nubia. The region was the source of a good deal of trade; the pharaoh Seostris III[?] actually had a canal constructed linking the Nile to the Red Sea for purposes of direct trade with Punt. It appears to have also been the subject of an occasional military campaign from Egypt.

It is uncertain what modern geographic territory corresponds to this "Land of Punt". Historians generally agree on western Africa, possibly near what are now Somalia or Ethiopia. (A contrasting point of view, however, suggests a location on the Arabian Peninsula.)

In the late 1990s part of Somalia declared itself the independent republic of Puntland.