SOMALI HISTORY CORNER

[Constantine MMX]

[Ras Siyan]

Nice banner to celebrate our millennial history. Will be tuned here

[desert burner]

when i was akid i used to here hawa taka and dakaxa tur played crucial role in the fight of Somali sovereignty

[Constantine MMX]

Hawo Tako

Hawo Osman Tako was a prominent early 20th century Somali nationalist. Tako participated in the 1948 riots in Mogadishu that followed the visit of the Four-Power Commission, where she was killed.

She later became a symbol for Pan-Somalism, and her struggle was taken up by the nationalist Somali Youth League (SYL) political party. The SYL, for its part, would go on to produce numerous influential Prime Ministers and Presidents of Somalia.

In the 1970s, a monument was erected in Mogadishu in honor of Tako's sacrifice for her nation. Several schools in present-day Somalia are also named after her. - Source

[Constantine MMX]

Ahmed Gurey

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi "the Conqueror" (c. 1507 – February 21, 1543) was a Somali Imam and General of Adal who invaded Ethiopia and defeated several Ethiopian emperors, wreaking much damage on that kingdom. With the help of an army mainly composed of Somalis, Imam Ahmad (nicknamed Gurey in Somali and Gragn in Amharic (ግራኝ Graññ), both meaning "the left-handed"), embarked on a conquest which brought three-quarters of Ethiopia under the power of the Muslim Sultanate of Adal during the Ethiopian-Adal War from 1529-43. - Source

[Constantine MMX]

Sultan Kenadiid


King Osman Mahmud


Hobyo Calvary


Qardo Fortress


Dudo Fort

[Constantine MMX]

[Hadrami]

Was that the ''old'' Somali flag ?

[Constantine MMX]

Its the flag of the Somali Youth League, an independence movement that produced the majority of Somalia's presidents, prime-ministers and other societal leaders.

[Constantine MMX]

Dervish State

The Dervish state was an early 20th century Somali Sunni Muslim state that was established by Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, a religious leader who gathered Somali soldiers from across the Horn of Africa and united them into a loyal army known as the Dervishes. This Dervish army enabled Hassan to carve out a powerful state through conquest of lands claimed by the Somali Sultans, the Ethiopians and the European powers. The Dervish State acquired renown in the Islamic and Western worlds due to its resistance against the European empires of Britain and Italy. The Dervish forces successfully repulsed the British Empire in four military expeditions, and forced it to retreat to the coastal region. As a result of its fame in the Middle East and Europe, the Dervish State was recognized as an ally by the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire. It also succeeded at outliving the Scramble for Africa, and remained throughout World War I the only independent Muslim power on the continent. After a quarter of a century of holding the British at bay, the Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920, when Britain used aeroplanes to bomb the Dervish capital of Taleex. - Source

Sayyid Muhammad Abdullah Hassan

[daahir]

The Ajuuraan Somali empire 14th–17th-century.

Major cities of the empire: Mareeg, Qaallafo, Merca and Hobyo.


The Ajuuraan State was a Somali Muslim empire that ruled over large parts of East Africa in the Middle Ages.
....successfully resisted an Oromo invasion from the west and a Portuguese incursion from the east during the Gaal Madow and the Ajuuraan-Portuguese wars.
.....practiced hydraulic engineering and developed new systems for agriculture and taxation, which continued to be used in parts of the Horn of Africa as late as the 19th century.
...left an extensive architectural legacy, being the major medieval Somali power engaged in castle and fortress building, with many of the hundreds of ruined fortifications dotting the landscapes of Somalia today attributed to Ajuuraan engineers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajuuraan_State


Historical citadel ruins in Gondershe.

Gondershe is situated a few kilometers northeast of Merca and southwest of Mogadishu.[1]
It is an ancient stone city built on an oasis. The town's ruins consist of typical Somali architecture such as coral stone houses, fortifications, tombs and mosques. It is said to date from the medieval Ajuuraan period, when it became a center of trade that handled smaller vessels sailing from India, Arabia, Persia and the Far East.
Gondershe was also a popular tourist attraction during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In addition, the film La Conchiglia (1992) by the award-winning Somali filmmaker Abdulkadir Ahmed Said was shot here, and features the town's local residents.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondershe

[EvolvingPrimates]

The Hiraab Imamate


The birth of the Hiraab Imamate

According to local oral tradition and the town chronicles along the coast, the Hiraab imamate was a powerful alliance of closely related groups who shared a common lineage under the Gurgarte clan divisions. It successfully revolted against the Ajuran empire in the 15th and 16th centuries before establishling an independent entity.

The Imamate formed a clear division of power. The alliance involved the army leaders and advisors of the Habar Gidir and Duduble, a Fiqhi/Qadi of Sheikhal, and the Imam was reserved for the Mudulood branch who is believed to have been the first born. Once established, the Imamate ruled the territories stretching from Mogadishu in the Banaadir province along the coast to as far as the port town of Hobyo in the northernmost central town.

Transferred leadership

As affirmed earlier, the Hiraab had defeated the Ajuuraan, and subsequently the titular clan leadership within the Hawiyya tribe had shifted from the Garen Jambelle to the Gorgarte clan divisions, hence the strategic watering wells and trading locations were some of the many new purks that they attained. And indeed, by the early modern times, Hawiyya country was increasingly identified by those territories whom the Hiraab had held sovereignty over.


The importance of Hobyo in the Imamate

Hobyo served as a prosperous commercial centre for the Imamate. The agricultural centres of Eldher and Harardhere included the production of sorghum and beans, suplementing with herds of camels, cattle, goats and sheep. Livestock, hides and skin, whilst the aromatic woods and raisins were the primary exports as rice, other foodstuffs and clothes were imported. The luxury comodities traded consisted predominantly of textiles, precious metals and pearls. The commercial goods harvested along the Shabelle river were brought to Hobyo for trade. Also, the increasing importance and rapid settlement of more southernly cities such as Mogadishu further boosted the prosperity of Hobyo, as more and more ships made their way down the Somali coast and stopped in Hobyo to trade and replinish their supplies. To conclude, the port of Hobyo was an income-generating source where the Imamate received enormous revenue.

The reigning sultans of the Hiraab Imamate

1. Suldaan Xaaji Cumar Hilowle al-Yacquubi
2. Suldaan Doodshe Aadan Good
3. Suldaan Daamey Cali (Xume) Axmad
4. Suldaan Cumar Abu Bakr
5. Suldaan Abu Bakr
6. Suldaan Axmad I
7. Suldaan Maxamad I
8. Suldaan Axmad II
9. Suldaan Maxmuud
10. Suldaan Cali
11. Suldaan Cusmaan
12. Suldaan Maxamad II
13. Suldaan Axmad III
14. Suldaan Xassan C/Qaadir Xaaji

The fall of the Hiraab Imamate

By the late 19th century, the Imamate began to decline. Faced with internal problems and challenges from the imperialist forces, the Zanzibari sultan, and even from the Portugese earlier on, the Hiraab Imamate lost it’s power and eventually fragmented. By 1880, a young ambitious dissident of the northeast, allied with an army of Hadrami musketeers, had managed to sieze Hobyo and formally declared an independent sultanate. After a few years, Hobyo was ceded to the Italian government of Mogadishu. In 1925, under Italian admission, the sultanate was pensioned off to Mogadishu and Hobyo became an administative district of the Mudugh region.

By then, the entire surrounding regions of what formed the Italian Somaliland were snapped up by the fascists Italians and it led to the birth of a modern Somalia. However, the Hiraab hereditary leadership has remained intact up to this day and still enjoys a dominant influence in national Somali affairs.

References: The Shaping of Somali society by Lee Cassanelli.

[EvolvingPrimates]

Yaquub Sultanate

The emergence of the Imamate of Yaaquub in Mogadishu is related to the tyrannical rule of the Ajuran in the interior, and the attraction of the growing Mogadishu wealth as a consequence of its thriving trade controlled by the Muzzaffar dynasty which was allied to the Ajuran in the interior.

The Yaaquub is a lineage of the Abgal clan who itself is part of the wider Darandoole Mudulood group. The Darandoole Mudulood is a pastoral group that lived in Central Somalia, and throughout the centuries migrated Southwards. As a consequence of this southwards migration, the Darandoole Mudulood encroached slowly but steadily on Mogadishu city and came in conflict with the Muzzaffar dynasty. This dynasty in Mogadishu was itself incapable to withstand this migration and encroachment and opted for negotiation with the Imam of the Darandole.

Cerulli has recorded traditional narrative of how the Darandole conquered Mogadishu against the Muzaffar dynasty:


“In ancient times the Sirasi lived in Mogadiscio. The people called Halawani succeeded the Sirasi. The Mudaffar succeeded the Halawani. The Mudaffar came from the country of Yemen in Arabia. He had guns. He built the palace that is found under the Governor’s house. He was a friend of the Aguran. At that time the Mudaffar governed the coast; and the Aguran ruled in the woodland.

“Later the Mudaffar had an interpreter who was called ‘Ismankäy Haggi ‘Ali. This ‘Ismankäy had the idea of letting the Darandollä enter the city. A message was sent to the imam Mahmud ‘Umar, who lived at Golol. The imam, guiding his warriors, came south and approached Mogadiscio. Then what did ‘Ismankäy do? He spoke with the Mudaffar: ‘By now the Darandollä are near Mogadiscio, let me be accompanied by some soldiers, and I shall go to them.’ ‘How do you want to do it?’ ‘I shall do it this way. I shall come to an agreement with the leaders and make them return to the places in the north.’ ‘So be it!’ said the Mudaffar. Then ‘Ismänkäy took some soldiers with him, but without weapons: ‘Leave your weapons! We go out to conclude an agreement, not really for war.’ They put down the weaons. They went into the woodland. When they had gone into the woodland, the Darandollä came out and took all the soldiers prisoner. Then they continued the raid and entered Mogadiscio. The Mudaffar was caputred and they wanted to kill him. But he, looking at the people who had come close to him, saw among them ‘Ismankäy Haggi Ali. ‘Stop!’ he said then. ‘Before you kill me, I want to speak. O ‘Ismankäy, you are good for nothing, you are capable of nothing, you will not pass seven!’ he said. Thus was 248 ‘Ismankäy cursed. When the Mudaffar was killed, when seven days passed after his death, ‘Ismankäy died too. It happened exactly as he had been cursed."


The Darandoolle have conquered Mogadishu city and killed the Muzzaffar governor sometime between 1590 and 1625. The approximate dates appear to be corroborated by a Portuguese document dated 1624 .

After the Darandoolle Mudulood took control of the Mogadishu city in 1624, they quarrelled with the Ajuraan on the interior.

‘After entering Muqdisho, the Darandoolle quarrelled with the Ajuraan. They quarrelled over watering rights. The Ajuraan had decreed: ‘At the wells in our territory, the people known as Darandoolle and the other Hiraab cannot water their herds by day, but only at night’’…Then all the Darandoolle gathered in one place. The leaders decided to make war on the Ajuraan. They found the imam of the Ajuraan seated on a rock near a well called Ceel Cawl. They killed him with a sword. As they struck him with the sword, they split his body together with the rock on which he was seated. He died immediately and the Ajuraan migrated out of the country.’

The Darandoolle became as such the first group to rebel against the tyranny of Ajuraan in the interior, and ever since this Ajuraan defeat other groups would follow in the rebellion which would eventually bring down Ajuraan rule of the inter-riverine region.

After the defeat of the Ajuraan in the interior the Darandoolle Mudulood established themselves around Mogadishu and Shabelle river valley, in which Wacdaan inhabited the environs of Afgoye and Mogadishu, Hiilebi in Lower Shabelle, Moobleen went to the region now known as Middle Shabelle, while the Abgaal established themselves in and around Mogadishu city.

By about 1700 the entire political structure of Mogadishu city was altered with the ascendancy of a new line of Abgaal Yaaquub imams who established themselves in Shangaani quarter (the northern moiety of Mogadishu city). The Yaaquub imam’s powerbase remained among the people of the interior, while members of the Imam’s Yaaquub lineage intermarried with the BaFadel and Abdi Semen, two famed merchants families of Yemeni origins.

The Yaaquub Imam collected the port tariffs of the city, and emerged as the authority of Mogadishu city, despite its division into two moieties. The Yaaquub imamate would survive until the closing of the 19th century and was a force to reckon with when Zanzibari influence slowly expanded throughout the Banadir region.

[daahir]

The old city of Mogadishu and the sultanate trading empire of Mogadishu brief highlights.

Sultanate of Mogadishu 10th-16th centuries.


Mogadishu, one of Africa's oldest cities and the eternal capital of the Somali nation.

Mogadishu Sultanate was a medieval trading empire in Somalia. It rose as one of the pre-eminent powers in the Horn of Africa and the larger East Africa region during the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, before becoming part of the expanding Ajuuraan Empire. The Mogadishans maintained a vast trading network, dominated the regional gold trade, minted their own coins, and left an extensive architectural legacy in modern Somalia.

According to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, maritime trade connected Somalis in the Mogadishu area with other communities along the Indian Ocean coast as early as the 1st century CE..


Mogadishu coral stone house.

Golden Age
According to the famous Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta “Mogadishu as "an exceedingly large city" with many rich merchants, which was famous for its high quality fabric that it exported to Egypt, among other places.


The Almnara Tower in Mogadishu, erected during the reign of the Sultanate of Mogadishu.

Mogadishan currency

Mogadishu established its own currency during its medieval trading empire in the Indian Ocean, when it centralized its commercial hegemony by minting its own coins to facilitate regional trade. The coins beared the names of 23 successive Sultans of Mogadishu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultanate_of_Mogadishu

[daahir]

Fakrudin Mosque

Fakr ad-Din Mosque. Location: Hamarweyne district Mogadishu, Somalia.

The mosque was built in 1269 by the first Sultan of Mogadishu.
Stone, including Indian marble, and coral were the primary materials used in the construction of the mosque, which displays a compact rectangular plan with a domed mihrab axis. Glazed tiles were also used in the decoration of mihrab, one of which bears a dated inscription.
http://archnet.org/library/sites/one...p?site_id=7810

[EvolvingPrimates]

Speech given by the founding father of the Somali Republic President Aden Abdulle Osman given at a State Dinner in honor of Mr Jomo Kenyatta of the Kanu Party in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1962.



“…The principle of self-determination, when used properly to unify and enlarge an existing state with a view towards is absorption in a federal system of government is neither balkanization nor fragmentation. It is a major contribution to unity and stability, and totally consistent with the concept of Pan-Africanism”.

“A desire for unity must be matched by a willingness to sacrifice a measure of sovereignty, and to remold the machinery of government to absorb new political and administrative methods. I say that, not to alarm or discourage, but because I think it is time that our continent of Africa took a more practical and realistic view of the problems that have been created by the after effects of colonialism and their relations to a closer political association of African States”.

“There are some lessons to be learned from the short but nonetheless profitable experiences of this Republic; because we can claim with justice that we have made a unique, practical contribution to African unity by merging two independent African states into one-even against the established prejudices of interested powers. I do not have to enumerate the colonial-made problems that we have encountered in the field of fiscal, judicial, linguistic and administrative integration because they still preoccupy us and are too well known. But I would like to underline three lessons”.

“First--as a prerequisite to either a federal system or a total union of states, it is necessary to accept, as we have done in Article Six of our constitution, limitations of sovereignty on conditions of parity with other states.

“Second—we have learned that the outmoded concept of territorial integrity must vanish from our habitual thinking because its roots are embedded in colonialism, and it is incompatible with Pan-Africanism”.

“Third—we have learned of a cardinal principle underlying the effectiveness or otherwise of a political union between two independent states. It is this: the ordinary person must be able to identify himself and his interests with the new order, on economic, ethnic and cultural grounds”.

“It is this last lesson that is perhaps the hardest to learn but, if we Africans are proud to take our place as a democratic people in the comity of nations, we must do more than pay lip-service to the feelings of the ordinary man and woman in our society. We claim, many of us, to be African leaders and socialists. This implies that, through our wisdom and understanding, men will follow us, and, by the equity of our laws, our people will have equal rights and opportunities”.

“Regrettably, it is becoming commonplace in Africa today to accept the development of a privileged class of rulers, with the instincts of colonialists, as a substitute from government by the people. This is one of the after effects of colonial rule. But it is my duty to give this warning to my colleagues in Africa: it will be the unwillingness of African rulers to curb their powers and to lift their artificial colonial boundaries, that will frustrate the hopes and desires of the ordinary people of Africa to be led out of isolation and ignorance into the greater union of African States”.

“I am sorry to have had to end on a not of caution, but there is too much at stake, in the prevention of the kind of tragedies that beset our brothers in the Congo, for me to refrain from bringing unpalatable facts to your notice. Of course, I hope these forebodings will not materialize, but they exist for those who have the eyes to see and the care to understand”.

[EvolvingPrimates]

Colonialism & Characteristics of the Southern Resistance


The Anglo-Italian agreements of 1891 gave Italy the triangle of land known as the Horn of Africa as her ‘sphere of influence’. Afterwards, Italy proceeded to construct shaky colonial edifice of her own in this part of Africa. Until the outbreak of the First World War, Italy was unable to consolidate her control over these territories. All attempts, both military and political, were in vain due to active resistance from the inter-riverine people of southern Somalia. It is out of the scope of this article to discuss the details of this resistance; however, a brief sketch will be helpful. In the late 19th century, the inter-riverine region was the centre of religious ferment and economic resistance against European colonization. The so-called Gosha Revolt (1890-1907), led by Nassib Buunto, emerged from the struggle against slavery. Nassib Buunto recruited the bulk of his fighters from the freed slaves who deserted their Italian landlords and Somali ‘Abans’ (overseers). He established a centre named after him in the Gosha region. The centre offered the escaped slaves not only refuge and freedom, but also a better way of life by developing communal ways of farming and cattle herding, training in new handicraft skills, new techniques for building houses and for manufacturing tools and weapons. It was the free men of this centre who fought against the Italians, delaying their penetration into the fertile hinterlands of the inter-riverine region for decades.

Another focal point of resistance was the Banadir. The Banadirians of the interior were concerned that the occupation of the port by foreigners would mean the diversion of the external trade from their control. The Banadir ports played a significant role in the region’s external and internal trade. They supplied the hinterland with imported commodities as well as providing markets for livestock and major local products. Moreover, it was in these coastal towns that cottage industries like weaving and knitting the Banadiri cloth, the manufacture of utensils and tools flourished, and trader communities were established. It was essential to defend such economic resources, and the Banadir revolt (1888-1910), though religious in origin, was motivated by economic factors. The Banadirians blockaded the Italians on the coast for more than two decades, from 1888-1910.



In October 1923, De Vecchi di Val Cismon became the first fascist Governor of Somalia marking a change in Italian strategy in the Horn of Africa. De Vecchi set out to exterminate all who opposed his government’s desire for total control over what fascist propaganda called ‘La Grande Somalia’. However, the Somalis were heavily armed and led by men who had been given advanced training during the preparation for the First World War. An estimated 16,000 rifles were in Somali hands. The Governor’s first task, therefore, was to order the confiscation of arms and ammunition from the Somalis, particularly from the clans in the inter-riverine region.

The Barsane revolt

In March 1924, Sheikh Hassan Barsane, of the Gugundhabe and a leader of the Shabelle valley movement known as the Barsane Revolt, convoked a Shir (meeting of elders) where the participants, inflamed with millenarian zeal, denounced the Governor’s order. On behalf of the Shir, Barsane wrote the following to the Governor:

In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful … I have received your letter and understood its contents, but must advise that we cannot obey your orders and join with you in a covenant . . . Your government has its laws, and we have ours. We accept no law other than ours. Our law is the law of Allah and his Prophet . . . We are not like other people, none of us has ever enrolled in the Zaptie (colonial forces), never! … and if you come to our land to fight against us, we will fight you with all possible means … The world is very close to its end, only 58 years remain. We don’t want to stay in this world. It is better to die while defending our laws.

After some initial success, the Somali resistance crumbled when Barsane was captured by the Italians on 4 April.

De Vecchi’s problems were not over. Further resistance emerged from the Jama’oyin religious settlements which had sprung up in the 19th century in the same region. In 1923, Sufi Baraki united several Jama’a settlements: Buulo Mareerto, Golwiing, Muki Dumis and others scattered in the Lower Shabelle region, and set up his headquarters in Barawa, the birthplace of Sheikh Aways Qadir, the founder of the movement. The major goal of this movement was to propagate the teaching of its founder. The tours of Sufi Baraki to the villages, where he often made provocative speeches, aroused Italian suspicion, and the fascist authorities warned him several times to give up what they called ‘these unhealthy activities’. Sufi Baraki was forced to leave Barawa for the extreme north of the Upper Jubba region, where a strong religious movement had emerged led by Sharif Alyow al-Sarmani. Sufi Baraki learned many things there, which he later taught to the Lower Shabelle militants. These included plans to fight against tribalism; to bring harmony among the Ikhwan (Muslim) brotherhood; to fight salaried tribal chiefs who were considered agents of the colonial administration; to establish settlements for the protection of the Ikhwan from Italian raids, and to promote learning and training.

Sufi Baraki returned to the Lower Shabelle and established a village called ‘Dai Dai’, later known as ‘Jama’a Dai Dai’, located in the heart of the Jidu territory. Eventually, the movement gained the support of Sharif Alyow al-Sarmani, who established his own village at Qorile, later known as Buulo Ashraf, not far from Dai Dai. A partial merging of the two groups occurred, making the Lower Shabelle movement more powerful. Delegations were despatched across the inter-riverine region to obtain support. They contacted Sheikh Murjan, a prominent Qadiri holy man in the Lower Jubba. The Italian authorities felt endangered, and as a preemptive measure, the Governor ordered the Barawa District Commissioner to negotiate with the leaders of the movement in a peaceful way. This was not fruitful, and a Zaptie commando was sent against Sufi Baraki and his allies. On 20 October 1924, Zaptie forces besieged Dai Dai Camp; the Ikhwan defended their village and forced the Zaptie to retreat to Barawa leaving behind some of their dead and injured. Sufi Baraki considered the event a miracle, and proclaimed a Jihad against the fascist administration. Early in November 1924, the Italians sent well-armed detachments to attack the strongholds of the movement; many centres were attacked, and the Ikhwan fought bravely with arrows and swords.

Characteristics of the Southern Resistance

In dealing with Somali resistance to colonialism, much scholarly attention has been given to the northern Somalia, particularly the rebellion led by Ina ‘Abdulle Hassan, known as ‘the Dervish Movement’. Southern Somali resistance is not often discussed in Somali scholarship.

Somalia’s historiography became obsessed with a mythic monolithic culture, diverting scholars from examining other important themes of Somalia’s past. Current scholarship is pointing out the significance of anti-colonial resistance in the inter-riverine region. The list of scholars includes Lee Cassanelli, Virginia Luling, Bernhard Helander, Herbert Lewis and those who contributed to All Jimale’s recently edited volume, The Invention of Somalia.

Inter-riverine society was more diversified than its northern counterpart. At the advent of colonialism, it was divided not only along clan lines, but also on the basis of Sufi order affiliation. Moreover, the region had absorbed people from neighbouring regions; Arabs, Oromos and Bantu among them. One wonders how such a complex society could raise serious resistance against colonialism. Nevertheless, the region produced movements that transcended particular clan interests and fought for the protection of broader regional political and economic interests.

The struggle continued throughout the years. Rebellions against the Italian colonialists erupted, depending on the evolution of Somalia as a nation. In the mid-19th century, Cheif Hassan Gedii Abtow, heading the three Mataan Abdulle of the Abgaal tribe, was asked to take a census on his tribe and later to report the results to the Italian ruler in Mogadishu. When the time came for him to report, Chief Hassan brought with him three bags (about 50kg each) of Wambo seeds and told the Italian governor; “this is the census of the Mataan tribe as i asked each and every one of them to put one Wambo seed into the sack”. This was an act of resistance to the Italian occupation. There were many examples of resistance to the domination of the riverine and inter-riverine region such as those of Nasiib Buunde, Abdullahi Isse, and others. Women were also part of this resistance. Several of the most notable were; Hassanai Owbakar (Hassanay Bandiiro), Gura Bilaal, Fay Jeelle and Timiro Ukaash (Cuqaash).

Because the regional economy was integrated, threats to any one sector affected the others. The early Italian blockade of the Banadir ports was a threat not only to particular clans or traders, but threatened to damage the sophisticated network linking the hinterland with the coast. The caravan routes started to fade, and the value of goods dropped sharply. The oral tradition of the time records the inflation caused by the blockade. Indeed, inflation triggered the resistance that involved numerous clans of the coast, such as the Biyamals, the Tunnis, the Gheledis, the Wa’dans, the Abgals, the Shikhals and others. A coalition of these clans prevented the Italian penetration to the hinterland of the inter-riverine region for over two decades (1886-1908).

The Ethiopians

Even before the Italians began to take steps to assert control over their new possessions, another well-armed power was threatening Somali society from the west. Ethiopian King Menilek, having consolidated his power in the Shewa highlands, began to seek out livestock and manpower in the lowlands to the southeast. When Egyptian forces abandoned the Islamic city of Harar in 1885, Menilek moved in. In January 1887, he personally led an army against the forces of the Harari emir Abdullahi and defeated them on the plains outside the walled town. Thus even before Menilek was crowned emperor of Ethiopia (in 1889), Harar had become a symbol of Ethiopian expansion into the Somali Peninsula.

Using Harar as a base, expeditions of armed Ethiopian warriors on horseback set out to exact tribute from the Oromo and Somali populations to the south. By the mid-1890s, these raids were reaching the Shabeelle basin and beyond. In 1896, Ethiopian forces reached the outskirts of Luuq on the upper Jubba River.

Earlier such military forays had been disruptive to trade; in an age of colonial expansion, they assumed even more menacing proportions.

As far away as the Benaadir Coast, Somalis were aware of the Ethiopian threat. In a report which followed the assassination in 1897 of an Italian official in Marka, one of the reasons given for Somali discontent was “a general uneasiness caused by rumors of an Amharic invasion.”

Such rumors proved well founded; in the spring of 1905, an Ethiopian force estimated at several thousand well-armed horsemen pushed down the Shabeelle Valley to the environs of Balcad, about a day’s march from Muqdisho.

A Somali poet in the Afgooye area recorded the episode in the following verses.

When I was still a young man Into the world I loved the Amhara came They came from Jigjiga and the confines of Awdal Crossing the Ogaadeen, they killed many from the Karanle They used guns against the people of Imaan Cumar They killed many from the Jidle and Jajeele. [Then] they arrived at Jiiciyow and at the banks of the Webi.

When they reached Jibbirrow they were attacked; The Muslims confronted them and fighting began; In the country near Yaaqle The Mobilayn stood firm and fought with them, The magic of the Gobroon defeated them. [But] when the Amhara left the infidels appeared, Coming from every corner of the world. . .

The poem indicates that the threat of Ethiopian expansion was felt even by those living in the Benaadir hinterland, and that some Somali clans actually engaged in combat with the invading forces. It also suggests that the Ethiopians were initially perceived to be a greater danger than the Italians, who at that time were still confined to their enclaves along the coast. It soon became clear, however, that the Italians had imperial designs on the country as well, and that their presence was far more permanent than that of the Ethiopian raiders. It appeared that any resistance struggle the Somalis would have to wage would be on two fronts.

The Facist Italians

From 1893 to 1905, when the Italian government assumed direct administration of the southern portion of the inter-riverine region, two companies—the Filonardi Company 1893-1896, and the Benadir Company 1896-1905 — introduced customs and tariff regulations which were anathema to the people of the region. Most early protests were provoked by these measures. Italian colonial records indicate a great deal of Somali discontent. With the introduction of forced labour in the interior, and the toleration of slavery in the newly-established plantations, popular resistance acquired a new dimension. The Nassib Buunto movement is a good example of resistance against slavery and forced labour. Bitter memories of the period are found in the oral tradition of the inter-riverine people. Terms like ‘Cologno’ (corvee labour) and ‘Teen’ (shift labour) are reminders of a tragic period in the history of the region, when its people were forced to work on plantations, roads, canals and other construction projects. Workers in the plantations were treated harshly, and many died of over-exertion and disease.

The faith of Islam includes a metaphysics, a cosmology, a moral and political theory. It is not surprising that colonial oppression and the moral disruption of inter-riverine society should lead to the emergence of movements to defend that faith. The Jama’a movement played a leading role in raising the political consciousness of its followers. The sheikhs who led them were the educated elite in a mass of illiterate people. Most of the Jama’a centres were located in the agricultural part of the region where the colonial plantations also developed, and they posed a threat to colonial activities. These centres became safe havens for runaway slaves and outcasts, giving them a fresh start and helping them to integrate into the religious and economic life of the region. The centres also enabled destitute people to acquire land and earn a living while also practicing their faith. Jama’a centres were actually a means by which the Somalis could evade the colonial forced-labour regime. In brief, these communities played a tremendous social and economic role and led most the southern resistance at the time.

As we have seen, the Jama’a were scattered throughout the inter-riverine region, and the colonial authority failed to suppress their activities decisively. Italian frustration is clearly manifested in the reports sent to Rome. Governor Riveri (1920-1923) noted in 1921 that the multiplication and extension of Jama’a communities might be a cause for concern since they were acquiring more land and more adherents along the Shabelle valley. ‘By substituting the universal ties of religion for strictly ethnic ones’, Riveri added, the Jama’a ‘could constitute, sometime in the future, a real danger to the political tranquillity of the colony’. As the examples cited above of Sufi Baraki and Sharif Alyow reveal, Riveri’s warning was prophetic. Although by 1926 the most powerful Jama’a resistance had been defeated and the leadership either killed or detained, the fascist administration still confronted sporadic disturbances and sabotage from the Ikhwan followers of martyred Sheikhs.

It is also evident that millenarianism strongly motivated these movements both in opposition to the colonialists and to rally their own followers. Barsane’s letter to the fascist Governor cited above, and his foretelling the end of the world within 58 years, is a clear illustration. The statement that ‘we are living in a time of unparalleled woes’ is a familiar one in nineteenth and twentieth century African anti-colonial movements. The followers of Sheikh Aways al-Qadiri believe he would be murdered by the Dervishes of the north, and that would be the end of the world. Sheikh Abdulle Issaq from Bardhere, another millenarian, predicted that ‘when we are close to the end of the world, Captains and Commissioners will conquer our country’. Similar movements inspired by messianic and millenarian doctrines appeared all over Africa during the colonial era; such as Kimbangui in the Congo, who believed the world would end on 21 October 1921 and Adamawa in Northern Cameroon, who believed the Mahdi (Messiah) era had already passed, and it was now the epoch of the Dajjal (anti-Christ). The believers, Muslim and Christian alike, had nothing to lose in this just struggle: if they die for the cause, they become martyrs; and if they win, they are heroes. Nassib Buunto, the leader of the Somali anti-slavery movement was hanged in 1907. Sheikh Aways al-Qadiri was murdered in 1909. Sheikh Hassan Barsane was sentenced to death in 1924, but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment and died in prison in 1929. Sufi Baraki was killed in 1925.

References

De Vecchi di Val Cismon (1935), Orizzonti d’impero: Cinque Anni in Somalia

Cassanelli, Lee V (1982), The Shaping of Somali Society, Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900

[EvolvingPrimates]

Assorted Quotes on Somalis

"A Somali always felt himself to be twice as good as any white man, or
any other kind of man at all, and still does, even when he is wrong.
Islam does wonders for the self respect of non-white people and
Christianity is right to worry about the spread of Islam in Africa, and
must honestly face the question of why it has happened - "


"Of all the desiccated, bitter, cruel, sunbeaten wildernesses which
starve and thirst beyond the edges of Africa's luscious, jungled centre,
there cannot be one more Christless than the one which begins at the
northern foot of Mount Kenya and stretches to the foothills of Abyssinia,
and from there to the dried-out glittering tip of Cape Gardafui where the
hot karif winds blow in from where the long sharks race under the thin
blue skin of the ocean. You can never think of those wildernesses without
thinking of daggers and spears, rolling fierce eyes under mops of dusty
black crinkly hair, of mad stubborn camels, rocks too hot to touch, and
blood feuds whose origins cannot be remembered, only honoured in the
stabbing. But of all the races of Africa there cannot be one better to
live among than the most difficult, the proudest, the bravest, the
vainest, the most merciless, the friendliest; the Somalis."

"I knew an Italian priest who had spent over thirty years among the
Somalis and he made two converts, and it amazed me that he got even those
two. The Prophet has no more fervent, and ignorant, followers, but that
is not their fault that they are ignorant.Their natural intelligence is
second to none and when the education factories start work among them
they should surprise Africa, and themselves."


"I never saw a Somali who showed any fear of death, which, impressive
though it sounds, carries within it the chill of pitilessness and
ferocity as well. If you have no fear of death you have none for anybody
else's either, but that fearlessness has always been essential to the
Somalis who have had to try and survive hunger, disease and thirst while
prepared to fight and die against their enemies, their fellow Somalis for
pleasure in the blood feud, or the Ethiopians who would like to rule
them, or the white men who got in the way for a while."

"Everytime a Somali got whipped, an Italian soldier was killed"

"Wandering in The Shag (desert) were Somalis with some of the sharpest
intelligences in the continent, nomads who had been forced into being
parasites of the camel, for centuries, and could anyone ever find a way
of using all that courage and intelligence?"

"There is no one alive as tough as the Somali nomad. No one.
An askari wounded in a fight in the Haud country walked 14 miles holding
his guts in his hand, was sewn up and lived to soldier again. And the
women are as spiritually strong as their men."

"....You get into that way of thinking in the Somali waste. You think
that way because the Somalis bitterly resent the white man, and struggle
continually, and admirably, by lies and intrigue, to fight off his
influence which spells the end of their peculiar world. You cannot beat
them. They have no inferiority complexes, no wide-eyed worship of the
white man's ways, and no fear of him, of his guns or of his official
anger. They are a race to be admired, if hard to love."

From: Warriors: Life and Death among the Somalis by Gerald Hanley

"Described as "the Irishmen of Africa", Somalis are proud, violent, romantic, imaginative and quick-witted - not unlike the natives of Erin, a land of lush fertility and EU-boosted prosperity. A country of bush, rocks too hot to touch and brackish water has created a quick-tempered warrior race, fiercer, it is said, than Afghan tribesmen, with a contempt for pain or death, who can pull the trigger, sometimes before they are insulted."


"Peacock-proud Somali males often insisted on being treated like prince-lings and, if you had different views, could, socially, cut you dead in more ways than one. Many, however, had an austere dignity about them, best seen when walking, carrying only a spear while their women, burdened with household loads, struggled behind."


"Despite its resemblance to one of Dante’s more uncongenial circles of Hades, I became fond of that nomads’ land, its wilderness silences broken by the khareef - the hot desert wind - the tinkling of sheep bells, the passage of camel-borne caravans and its coastline flecked with dhows, heraldic in the sun. I also developed an admiration for the endurance qualities of the Twiglets-thin, poor but proud Somalis, who claimed, against all evidence, that their land was a Garden of Eden."

"The bravest, most merciless but, when they accept you, the friendliest of African peoples, the Somalis are also among the most intelligent. If they could overcome centuries of mayhem and murder, they could transform a dangerous African dustbin into a prosperous, modern state."

From: ALBERT MORRIS: That cleft-stick call to arms

[Constantine MMX]

Good stuff guys, keep it up.

Historical gem: In 1962, Prime-Minister Ali Sharmarke serving in the Aden Adde Administration went on a elaborate state visit to the United States.



I find it quite odd that in a time-period where native Black Americans were forced to sit in the back of the bus, that the White American elite would be so welcoming to a black group from Africa. It seems they wanted something big from the Somali Republic (like Oil and they still do).

[Constantine MMX]

The best videos I have seen on the beauty and cosmopolitanism of prewar Mogadishu: