Historical Atlas of the Horn

[James Dahl]

I'm working on this again to try and create an accurate atlas of the horn. The geography of the horn has been fundamentally changed many times, the Oromo migrations rewrote the geography following the Futuh al Habasha, replacing many of the ancient toponyms with Oromo ones, erasing many through war, and the chaotic 19th and 20th centuries and the development of new cities erased again much of the traditional geography of the country.

Reconstructing the original geography prior to these events is a difficult process but I think I've made some progress, and this is a work in progress.

 

[government]

I'm working on this again to try and create an accurate atlas of the horn. The geography of the horn has been fundamentally changed many times, the Oromo migrations rewrote the geography following the Futuh al Habasha, replacing many of the ancient toponyms with Oromo ones, erasing many through war, and the chaotic 19th and 20th centuries and the development of new cities erased again much of the traditional geography of the country.

Reconstructing the original geography prior to these events is a difficult process but I think I've made some progress, and this is a work in progress.

You mean demography geography doesn't change based on human events unless you're talking about something like global warming

 

[James Dahl]

Demography isn't entirely accurate either as some names changed without the demographics really changing, should have used topography

 

[Saffron]

What year is this map?

 

[Shaafici]

I found these two Latin maps when I visited the louvre here in abu dhabi the maps depict the horn with Latin names I don't understand, it's 17th century

 

[Shaafici]

 

[James Dahl]

The old maps the labels for cities and countries were not always written the same direction, you have to turn those maps to read the city names in medieval Portuguese.

Magadoxo for instance is Mogadishu. The 16th century maps you can find of the horn are crazy inaccurate, relying on third or even fourthand information.

What year is this map?

The general era for this map would be from about the year 1000 until the year 1500 or so, when war, Oromo invasions and then centuries of city building would erase most of the old toponyms in favour of new ones.

 

[offensive bias]

i believe harla culture extends to most of western somaliland as far as burco and berbera.
axumite domination fell duringnthe war with persia, the beja invasions/migrations and islam along with loss of access to indian ocean trade networks removed all influence of axum from the somali coast.
the pre-clan somalis of the coast where conquered by the dir led by ali madaxweyne the gurgura that were kings /clan leaders of all somalis. the coast from makhir to zeylac was called biyya dir till the 1400's.

todays sourghum agricultural zone from jijiga to carbsiyo as allot of ancient settlements and ruins.
they are most likely harla.

 

[James Dahl]

I've worked some more, consulting travellogues of the 19th century which use the old topography and some provinces I have had to move slightly as the travellogues are more reliable and contradict some of the old maps which are inaccurate.

Biggest surprize is the location of Werji, a travellogue finally identified the plateau of Werji and it's between Zeila and Harar. Werji was in the area of Adal but based only on the chronicles it's unclear where it was.

 

[James Dahl]

Been thinking more about Werji, that could be Were-Aji or an old name for the Dir clan.

Dawaro's location which I've confirmed by cross referencing the descriptions with the rivers and other toponyms I've identified is definintely in the north, not the south, the old maps are wrong due to the mapmakers having incorrect ideas about the location of the Awash and confusing the Awash with the Hanazo river, which are different rivers not a different name for the same river.

This means Dawaro is the same as the kingdom referred to in Afar oral history as Dewe.

Gabala is the old Argobba homeland on the east bank of the Awash and was part of Dawaro.

Finally found a reference to the location of Bequlzar and it was directly east of Bete Amhara, where there is an old town now called called Bakarsa in the Afar region.

Mora is definitely the area around Lake Abbe, not further inland as was implied in some descriptions but is described as bordering the ocean in the east.

 

[James Dahl]

I've further confirmed that the Gabala among the Afar is known as Gabbalto or Gabba'abo, sometimes Gabba'abbe.

The Adal Afar of Awsa are probably primarily Afarized Darod, the historical accounts refer to the population of Awsa as being 'Jabartis'. There are also Oromized Darod among Oromo and this makes me wonder if the Jeberti of Ethiopia and Eritrea are Tigray-ized Darod.

 

[Young Popeye]

I've further confirmed that the Gabala among the Afar is known as Gabbalto or Gabba'abo, sometimes Gabba'abbe.

The Adal Afar of Awsa are probably primarily Afarized Darod, the historical accounts refer to the population of Awsa as being 'Jabartis'. There are also Oromized Darod among Oromo and this makes me wonder if the Jeberti of Ethiopia and Eritrea are Tigray-ized Darod.

What about Somalized Darod? Did you forget about those guys? Harla and their sub clan darod ruled everything east of axumites and they later annihilated axum.

 

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

I've further confirmed that the Gabala among the Afar is known as Gabbalto or Gabba'abo, sometimes Gabba'abbe.

The Adal Afar of Awsa are probably primarily Afarized Darod, the historical accounts refer to the population of Awsa as being 'Jabartis'. There are also Oromized Darod among Oromo and this makes me wonder if the Jeberti of Ethiopia and Eritrea are Tigray-ized Darod.

Please do carry on with this daroodised suugo Science . What leads you to these hypothesis'?

 

[James Dahl]

Please do carry on with this daroodised suugo Science . What leads you to these hypothesis'?

You should investigate the lineages of Afar and Oromo clans, you would be amazed how many recognizable abtirsi you will encounter.

 

[James Dahl]

OK I think I've got it, consulting Braukamper forced me to re-evaluate my move of Dawaro but even Braukamper is confused on this.

anyways here is a stab at a complete map

 

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

You should investigate the lineages of Afar and Oromo clans, you would be amazed how many recognizable abtirsi you will encounter.

I actually did a little research last night after reading this thread . According to a paper by a PHD student on the Afar , they class themselves into two origin groups : those that joined the Afar and the original Afar . Those that joined the Afar came from Somali , Oromo and Semitic migrants .

Apparently there are two clans that claim Darood lineages . You would probably know better than me on that as Qabil history is not my area . I know the Rendille , Oromo, Bajuni et all have groups claiming a Somali lineage . I slightly surprised by Darood claims within the afar -I thought there would be more links with the DIR.

The whole Jeberti thing is also a bit strange . In Africa it is clearly associated with clerical Islamic groups , however it is associated with a low caste group in Yemen .

Please do Elaborate on your thoughts .

Suugo .

 

[James Dahl]

I have come to believe that all the Jeberti groups either are Darod, or have some connection to the Darod clan. The ones in Yemen though I don't yet understand the connection. Jeberti was also a term for Darod territory among the Yemeni so the name may mean the descendants of slaves from southern Ethiopia sold in Zeila, which means they are from Jeberti.

Darod used to have a lot more clan branches in the highlands, but almost all of them have been absorbed into Oromo or Afar because of the fallout after the Ahmed Gurey wars, and now identify as either Afar or Oromo. Hawiye and Dir have had whole branches wholesale absorbed into Afar and Oromo as well. I would go so far as to say about a quarter of the Somali nation currently speaks an Oromo language and identifies as Oromo.

It goes the other way as well in that there used to be a lot of small tribes that have been absorbed into Somali.

 

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

We wuz kingz

 

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

Hey James can you list the Afar clans you believe to be of Darood origin.

 

[James Dahl]

Hey James can you list the Afar clans you believe to be of Darood origin.

My knowledge of Afar lineages isn't very extensive but I'll compile a list, I know for instance that prior to the Afar southern expansion, both the land of Mora (central inland Djibouti) and Adal (Awsa oasis) were both inhabited by Darod and Mora was originally majority "Jeberti" during the Ahmed Gurey era.

According to this document: https://d-nb.info/1020383542/34
"Indeed there are some who claims that Issa is the son of Hadal Mahis. Similar to the claim by some Afar tribes like Daheimela and Welwelu who trace their origin from the Darod branch of Somali, Issa clans like Urweyne, Horone, Harla, Walaldon and Wardik"

Daheimela is also known as Badoytamela and is a major Afar clan. Welwelu sounds like it could be Walashma because their clan name wasn't Walashma (that was their title, Wali Ashma) but Wilinwili. The Walashma kings originally resided in what is now Afar lands.