Did ajuran empire/state exist?

[Midas]

No on the contrary, it was the same with the collapse of of other states/civilizations for example the Roman Empire, much of the writings and texts disappeared along with the ruins.


It really is a shame, Zayla was referred to as being a manuscript production place, that distributed books and Mogadishu was described as a place of ''high arts and sciences'' and had many schools.

There are not that many swahili manuscripts tbh, most of the ones i have seen available online are just a handful from the 19th century from mosques. We have similar private collections from Mogadishu, Merca and other areas of Somalia.

Hopefully there are murid/faqih families out there have preserved some of it. And perhaps we will get some epigraphic writings written on monuments, tombs and graves to learn more.

Yeah all we can do is be hopeful that the mansucritps survived. I suspected more survived than we might think. I'd put it maybe 10-16000 manuscripts. Since yemen has around 50,000 manuscripts

Regarding your point about swahili manuscripts. Yeah those guys don't have any mansucripts before the 1800s. I think maybe a couple from the late 1700s. Same with west africa. I read the paper on how the hundreds of thosuand of manuscripts is really 1 or 2 sheets being called a manuscript. On top of a lot of them being from the 20th century with a few 19th century and nothing yet from the 1600s golden timbuktu period. You can even see this with how they only have 2 chronicles people constantly use with both being from the late 1600s. I tried to find something else but nothing came up with is strange considering how the mali empire and timbuktu is described. It's made me realize somali arabic manuscripts are the oldest in all of subsharan africa. We likely even have some from 9th or 10th century that survived.

 

[Riftvalley]

Great sources everyone, definitely will be referencing this when people say there was no massive state back then. Just a few months ago there was a guy saying it was only barawe and muqdisho city states. Well then what was the unifiying force that fought against the portugese ? And if I remember correctly this is the same time we (somalis) were pushing away oromos.

When the Jamat baardhere sacked barawe and enforced an annual tax on the people, the Geledi sultanate raised an army of 40 000 men and routed the movement. Likewise, it was the forces of the Geledi who thwarted the movement of Sheikh Majerteini when the latter attempted to seize some areas of the coast with the intent of establishing a first Wahabi emirate in Somalia. Some of The people in the coastal cities later supported the Biimaal forces when Geledi set their eyes on seizing the coast for themselves.

Those more recent example highlights the fact it was the sultanates who controlled the interior land and trade with whom the coastal cities sought help from. The Ajuuran reigned for longer than the Geledi and are said to have controlled larger territory including some areas of the coast, therefore they would have logically been the most capable of resisting the Portuguese attacks.


Another often downplayed fact is the development of cities like Muqdisho and the immense wealth creation often went hand in hand with the rise of sultanates rising from the interior. Muqdishos rise in the period before colonialism was in a large part to do with groups like Geledi and Biimaal agricultural practices, them making products in the interior to sell onto the coast and then onto the wider world, and the safety they provided for the long distance caravan routes serving Benadir.


Edit: yeah, I went on a tangent about the Geledi. I hope you get my drift though.

 

[CABDULWALI XASAN.]

When the Jamat baardhere sacked barawe and enforced an annual tax on the people, the Geledi sultanate raised an army of 40 000 men and routed the movement. Likewise, it was the forces of the Geledi who thwarted the movement of Sheikh Majerteini when the latter attempted to seize some areas of the coast with the intent of establishing a first Wahabi emirate in Somalia. Some of The people in the coastal cities later supported the Biimaal forces when Geledi set their eyes on seizing the coast for themselves.

Those more recent example highlights the fact it was the sultanates who controlled the interior land and trade with whom the coastal cities sought help from. The Ajuuran reigned for longer than the Geledi and are said to have controlled larger territory including some areas of the coast, therefore they would have logically been the most capable of resisting the Portuguese attacks.


Another often downplayed fact is the development of cities like Muqdisho and the immense wealth creation often went hand in hand with the rise of sultanates rising from the interior. Muqdishos rise in the period before colonialism was in a large part to do with groups like Geledi and Biimaal agricultural practices, them making products in the interior to sell onto the coast and then onto the wider world, and the safety they provided for the long distance caravan routes serving Benadir.


Edit: yeah, I went on a tangent about the Geledi. I hope you get my drift though.

Who are the geledi