Even Ibn Majid who lived in the 15th century(the same century as Yeshaq) casually talks about Barr Al Sumal in his book like its some well known country opposite Barr Al Arab
Futuh al-Habasha: Somalis As Bedouins
- Thread starter Shimbiris
- Start date
Not only are they never mentioned in any sources. But the earliest mention of Harari's in particular by a visitor in 1846 a decade before burton depicts them as Somali and gives a detailed description of the various population in the region and the commercial activities.
And he also gives a tally on how many inhabitants lived in Harar during that time. Harars population was 2-3thousand at most and it follows the same population size as most Somali towns at that time and must have ballooned a lil bit in the later half of the century with increased trade and conversions.
Hararis are most likely Gurage converts and other groups who took on the identity of the people that converted them as a Muslim identity. Their language is pretty much Gurage.
And researchers have investigated Argobba and its the same case for them they have no connections to the land or of Awfat and some was peasants from the upper plateau and some of them were Amhara colonizers who came to the area in the 19th century and took on the regional name:
They probably are, If linguists invested time into this and calculated the approximate time when both the East Gurage and Harari languages split from each other, it would likely coincide with the onset of the Oromo migration, 16th century.
No it's not possible for Soo'maal to be meat. Because of the double oo, the long vowel. Ali Riraash explains:
The story is Galbeed locals conflating it with pagan Tiri clan tradition Taalo Tiriyaad , the giant builder of the stone mounds that dot the landscape Because they were said to inhabit the area before the other Muslim clans were founded. So easy conflation.
Harla and Harti are two seperate lineages in the Kombe Tree. Harla are connected to Darood Ogaden ancestors. And If Harla was present in the east they would be in the lineage system wether paternal or maternal among the Harti. They are not.
Somali urbanism didn't last from 1200-1500 looool.
It's been an ongoing process for many thousands of years before and after but the economic growth and expansion of it has varied in different periods due to the nature of trade and environment.
There was a period of growth between 1100s and 1600s due to the trade shift that occurred (Trade shifted from Dahklak Islands to the Somali coastline) and decline between 1600s and 1800s due to the Portuguese trade blockage and wars and subsequent growth/revival in the1800s and 1900s due to trade increase but with capitalist alterations.
People set up new towns , settlements and have abandoned them throughout, even during the 1900s.
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Yeah I meant a more intense urbanism. After the adal wars we basically entered a somali dark age. The ajuran fell, oromo invasions that took more than a century to drive back. The northern coastal cities razed and bombed by the portugese. Every single major somali city became a shadow of its former glory with massive pouplation declines. I wouldn't even be surprised if it turned out the pouplation declined.
I hope you mean economic growth . Towns are a product of trade.
Don't believe oromo invasion was a big cause for a decline but more so the trade blockage and loss of revenue streams. Ajuraan (Ashuuran/Taxation) became a local nickname for the rulers during this period as they ended up over-taxing the population to gain back the wealth they had lost.
Economic problems caused internal problems.
I find it hypocritical that you point out the supposed absence of the Harari word in the literature until recently to undermine the Harari identity whilst at the same time engaging in what is akin to mental gymnastics to explain the term Somali and its absence from the written literature before the 15th century.
Reference to Harari clans figures and place names can be found in Harari as well as foreign sources well before the date you mentioned and the Kitabul Farayid is a Harari book written in Arabic characters from the 16th century according to linguists like Banti. Compare this to Somali where the first written texts in Afsoomaali we have are from the late 19th century.
وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا ۚ اعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ
The mental gymnastics is to approach a name/word like it has the same meaning in 1500s as it did in the 20th century. To know what it meant you look at how its being used and that's what i pointed out.
Futuh is the most authorative book during that period because it gives more inside info and Somalis are mentioned by both clan and occupational/ethnic name all over from the beginning. Hararis are not and the earliest mentions by a visitor says the town inhabitants are Somali. They have no traditions proving their locale in that area or involvement either nor does that book prove it.
Furthermore the topic of Somali written tradition has been covered and said as much:
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Are you aware of any somali equivalent of ethipoian chronicles. Also how would you explain all the hariri scripts. I can't remember where I read it but it wasn't article posted on here talking about there were all sorts of hidden scripts used by scholars in harar and they even wrote grammar books if I remember correctly.
By ethiopian chronicles i mean the christian ones written in Geez.
Aside from Futuh, there are a few short chronicles that survived. Tarikh Al-Walashma, and the Tarikh-Mulikh and Tarikh Al-Mujahidiin. All in Arabic and two of them (Tarikh Al-Walashma and Tarikh Al-Mulikh) are not from Harar. Tarikh Al-Mulikh are from Issa clan and the Mujahidiin is copied from a Somali scholar in Harar.
Those texts are regarded as credible because they follow a date and chronology and are written with the same narrative style and language of that time period.
Other texts are fraudulent so much you can tell they are written in the 19th century at the earliest and jumbled info that contradict other sources.
You can also tell there were probably other equivalent chronicles prior to Futuh not only Tarikh Al-Walashma because the information given to Egyptian Historians detailing the Muslim side between Adal v Abssyinia was copied from Zayla Qadis. And the information includes stuff not mention in the Ethiopian ones.
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I thought the reason the specific label 'Harari' isn't mentioned is because it is a new urban identity after Emir Nur told the citizens of different origins to abandon their tribal/ ethnic identities. The current city of Harar is likely not that old either the archaeology and some of the accounts don't match.
The city of Harar also saw large influx of Abyssinian highlander Muslims fleeing the Oromo invasions and the general chaos in the region post Imam Ahmad this would explain a potential relationship with Gurage as well the relationship between other peoples who are linked with Harari such as Silte and Zway to it.
I don't think we can conclude that the Harla of old spoke a semitic language due to existence of books like Kitab al Fara'id or what we call Harari now. I think it is reasonable to believe it was a spoken language but it is a stretch to say with certainty it was the language of the majority or the language of Harla.
The surviving Harla segments found by Cerulli spoke Somali and specifically a dialect related to Madhiban- which is interesting because the ancient site of Harlaa is known for its craftmanship and also Somali in the vicinity of Harar were referred to by the Abyssinians as Semur probably a corruption of Temur and a refeference to the Tumaal. There were suggestions that the craftmanship at Harlaa is quite similar to craftmanship found much further east in northern Somalia.
These segments cannot be described as being assimilated by Somalis because they were in the middle of Oromo and Afar and yet they speak a very specific dialect of Somali- one that by the way non Madhiban Somali don't speak because it is exclusive to them and they don't teach outsiders.
There is also the references in Futuh that show Harla wasn't an ethnic group of its own or at the very least it was a confederacy of settled agro-pastoralist people - many of the figures referred to as Harla have distinctive Somali names. Sometimes Harla sections are led by a figure identified as being a 'Somali' - i.e of the nomadic section, etc. It is also the case that a very large proportion of the names mentioned of people, places and clans/tribes have a Somali etymology.
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Don't get me wrong I'm not saying what you are doing for the Somali word and its explanation are wrong. It's always good to apply critical thinking to these narratives. But what I'm saying is, why don't you apply this same critical analysis to the ethnonym "Harari"?
The Futuh is super important for sure but it's not the end of the world, there are other sources(written &oral)from the same period which allude to Harari presence and the establishment of their identity already in the 16th century
Source? The earliest European visitor to the town was Burton and he documented the language of the town which was Harari, not Somali
This is just absurd. Have you studied their traditions to come to this conclusion? It's a pity that someone so knowledgeable in the history of the area will be this dishonest.
Do you disagree that the first Somali written texts are from the second half of the 19th century? A Somali writing something in Arabic doesn't do anything for the Somali language and doesn't mean Somali is a language with extensive written literature
No. That's some wild theory with nothing to support.
How? Maybe it was composed of huts before people started building stone structures, that's why archaeologists can't find anything
This is all speculation
I did not make the connection between Harari people and Harla, I maintain they are different people.
Cerulli found those Harlas with the weird dialect living with the Somalis in Faafan just around Jijiga. They were definitely not living with Oromo or Afar
There were multiple groups of Harlas at least two of them were amongst Oromo and Afar with no Somali neighbours whatsoever.
You are right it may be older remnants haven't been found yet though it does mean at least as the walled city we know it isn't that old.
Are there old references specifically to a Harari people as an ethnic group?
The Abyssinian migration is not remotely speculation I will see if I have it in my notes- I remember people who complained about them and were unhappy that Emir Nur's slave had taken charge who was one of them.
There are not oral tradition as i know it or written tradition that elude to this.
And there is zero connection that can be drawn between Harrari or Harla.
The earliest visitor was actually a french man by the name of ''Charles E. Xavier Rochet d'Héricourt''
and he said . - Les habitants d'Harrar forment la partie la plus curieuse de cette population . Les Harraris appar- tiennent à la race des Saumalis ;
The inhabitants of Harrar form the most curious part of this population. The Harraris belong to the Somali race;
Thats the earliest mention of ''Harraris'' in text.
According to Richard Burton people spoke Somali, Oromo, various dialects and Arabic in Harar at the time of his visit.
We don't know how extensive Somali Ajami writing was because a lot of writing from the periods prior went lost but also it is meaningless because Somalis were recording and writing in Arabic before the 19th century and there are texts that survived that show it even mentioning their clan names and so on. Also description by visitors pointing this out and by neighbors.
how do you explain kitab Al Farayid and the other Harari texts from the remote period marka? Are you going to say the Harari language predated the Harari people, and there was Harari language without Harari people
Have you researched about the other names for the Harari people like Adare before dismissing their identity?
There is a difference between the "earliest visitor" and the "the earliest person to write about a city"
Share a link for that book kitab al farayid.
I don’t have the book but you can see here some screenshots from the original manuscript
