(The Mysterious Harla Somalis) Who were the ancient Harla people?

[Geeljire]

The Pictures below are of excavated ruins and findings from Hararghe South Eastern Ethiopia( Somali Region). These are some of the remains and heritage left by the mysterious ancient Harla Civilization. The Findings date back to thousands of years some even predate islam. Shows ruined villages , houses ,walls. Ancient chinese coins and ancient islamic coins.

Figure.5(left) & 6(right)
Photo by: Meftuh S. Abubaker. (left) the ruined house found at
“Afeyzero”
Fig.6.(Right) recently renovated Harari house in the town of Harar Jugol. See striking similarity between the two houses

Fig.17:Photo by: Marco Vigano


Archaeological finding:

Professor Marco Vigano confirming the dating of the coins he found at the hands of peasants at Harla.The coin reads
“Huang Song Tong Bao, casting in Song Dynasty Ren Zong reign”.
The exact date theyhave been cast is from 1039 to 1053 AD
”.
Marco Vigano also recently explored one of medieval Muslim Sultanate town of Adal kingdom located 55 kilometres North West of Hararcurrently known as “Darbiga” meaning Stone wall
, 5 km north tothe town of Chinacsan. Marco found stone wall fort on top of the hill. This medieval town was one ofthe trade posts for caravans traveling from Harla & Harar to the east cost towards Barbara, the port in Northern Somalia or currently Somaliland.

12

Islamic coins found at Harla region, near Dire Dawa, collected by local peasants.

Fig.19(left) and 19 (right):
Photo by: Meftuh Shash. Pit marks on the stones are Mancala game board found at Harla ruins(left) & Gursum Mt. Stinico Rock shelter (Right)

This region is quite rich in history and archaeology, yet not well explored or studied. Several more ruins are
to be found within this region as I’ve mentioned earlier in this paper
and some others by previous explorers and travellers. Anthropogenic factors are resulting from human influence have onthe walls. The states of the ruins here quite obvious are in the verge of complete destruction to theground if not planned to salvage what is left of them as heritage site. The local villagers living not farfrom the site use the ground for farming and stones from the ruins for terracing to control the run ofwater. This is out of ignorance of their heritage value as it is shown on this picture

In Harar you can see old ancient coins , Chinese coins , very tiny coins which you can't see what's on them without magnifiers in Museums . And also in Harla ancient Chinese which date before christ.

NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND IN SOUTHEAST ETHIOPIA Southeast of Harar & the ruins of Harla By: Meftuh S. Abubaker, May 16, 2014

 

[Geeljire]

The mysterious "Harla":

But just who were the Harlas? They were an early Afro-Asiatic speaking people which are credited by the present-day inhabitants of Hararghe with having constructed various historical sites found in the province. Although now mostly lying in ruins, these structures include stone necropoles, store pits, mosques and houses. Described by scholars like Azais, Chambard and Huntingford, the builders of these monumental edifices were ancestral to the Somalis ("proto-Somali").


The Harla page from encyclopedia Aethiopica:

Spoiler: encyclopedia harla somalis

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

 

[Geeljire]

Follow up on the encyclopedia text above.

1. ''If you observe the text despite the “Harla" found's language being a somewhat distinct dialect of Af Somali called “Af Harlaad” ("Af" depending on the context can mean "Mouth" or "Language", in this context it means the latter. they seem to connect themselves to the Darod via the ancestor of the Harti (my own subclan) and the Garri. The Garri as noted in the encyclopedia are semi-agriculturalist and not entirely pastoral nomads .

(Uhlig, Siegbert (2007). Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N, Volume 3. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 1034. ISBN 344705607X)."

''2. Cerulli notes that the Harla who speak "Af Harlaad" that he found could've possibly just been a Somali subgroup with a unique dialect that merely absorbed the "Harla" identity. Though while this is possible I find it unlikely as they were found in the general area the "Harla" were known to inhabit (Eastern Ethiopian around and very close to Harar), they interestingly speak a divergent dialect of Somali & made a point of maintaining a separate identity. And then the connections drawn between the "Harla" in general and the ancient "Berbers" whom we can roughly tell were some form of ancestral Somalis,

Gebissa, E. (2004). Leaf of Allah: Khat & Agricultural Transformation in Harerge, Ethiopia 1875-1991. James Currey. p. 36

3. '' According to the scholars Azais, Chambard and Huntingford, the builders of these monumental edifices were ancestral to the Somalis ("proto-Somali"). Modern traditions similarly link the Harla with the Ismail Jabarti and the Darod ancestors


(Braukämper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: Collected Essays. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 17–18. ISBN 3825856712)

 

['Omar]

Interesting stuff.

 

[Geeljire]

Interesting stuff.

Indeed!!

Upon searching through Harar's history or something along those lines I found this interesting group called the "Harla", I found them as a man suggested somewhere that the Harla were the origins of Ahmed Gurey and many of his relatives.
The Harla subject seemed intensely interesting and so I decided to delve into and these "Harla" who seem like some sort of Somali-subgroup or involved group clearly had a part in the local area and the history of the Wilinwili's sultanates in the region so they are relevant and the Abadir and Harari origins seemed interesting as they noted further relations between Somalis and Harar.

 

[RedStar]

Last summer I was in Jigjiga, and I was told that the sons of Kombe were Harla, Gerri, and Harti. There are still Harla people around, but they live Jigjiga west of Jigjiga along with some Gerri sub-clans. However, in Kilil 5, the Somalis who live near the border with Oromia often claim both Somali and Oromo. Furthermore, Somali oral history is sometimes unreliable and it could be that the Harla are not even Somali.

 

[Geeljire]

Last summer I was in Jigjiga, and I was told that the sons of Kombe were Harla, Gerri, and Harti. There are still Harla people around, but they live Jigjiga west of Jigjiga along with some Gerri sub-clans. However, in Kilil 5, the Somalis who live near the border with Oromia often claim both Somali and Oromo. Furthermore, Somali oral history is sometimes unreliable and it could be that the Harla are not even Somali.

They are definetly not oromo.. I think they are eniterely different somali sub group that got assimilated by somali clans like Harti and Garri. They speak however a different distinct dialect of Af Soomaali called Af Harlaad. Because of that currently they are considered proto Somali.

Or at least part ancestral to the somalis. More research needs to be done on this tho.