liberal ethio-philia phenomenon deep dive

[Aseer]

I looked at the ref to it and it says Sokoto was a slave society. I doubt an economy largely based on mostly slave export to be that advanced.

Somali societies had more diversified trade developments and networks.

For example our textile industry was larger it was the one of the most dominant in Africa, especially in East Africa and they got incredibly wealthy from it continued throughout the 1800s until the early 1900s, exporting finished garments, shawls and artisanal caps.

It managed to even stay competitive against American textile exports:

And this is just southern Somalia alone, Harar textiles and tailored garments probably compounded that several folds i am looking more into.

How about population? How would somalis go about industrialising in that period when our total population didnt even break the threshold of 1 Million if we compare it to the japanese pre industrialisation their population was at 30 Million, A Healthy number to implement industrialisation and growth.

 

[Zak12]

How about population? How would somalis go about industrialising in that period when our total population didnt even break the threshold of 1 Million if we compare it to the japanese pre industrialisation their population was at 30 Million, A Healthy number to implement industrialisation and growth.

Our population was bigger than 1 million, at least according to @Idilinaa that said, you don't need a huge population to industrialize. Scandinavian countries back in the 19th century had tiny populations, barely 3 million but they were all able to industrialize

 

[Aseer]

Our population was bigger than 1 million, at least according to @Idilinaa that said, you don't need a huge population to industrialize. Scandinavian countries back in the 19th century had tiny populations, barely 3 million but they were all able to industrialize

Our population was very spread out as well thoug over a large landmass.

 

[ila-soco]

Our population was bigger than 1 million, at least according to @Idilinaa that said, you don't need a huge population to industrialize. Scandinavian countries back in the 19th century had tiny populations, barely 3 million but they were all able to industrialize

He makes a fair point. A large and well fed population is crucial to industrialisation.
Scandinavia punches above its weight due to an OP geography that allowed them to cultivate a dominating maritime culture.
Somalia could easily feed itself with fish like the nordics, but there’s also a land and population issue. Somalia is way too sparsely populated, the nordics have a dense population because half their land is uninhabitable

 

[Zak12]

Our population was very spread out as well thoug over a large landmass.

Yeah but populations would still be concentrated in key cities and areas with tons of commercial activity.

 

[Aseer]

Yeah but populations would still be concentrated in key cities and areas with tons of commercial activity.

How would the clans be united and who would have been likely to lead the industrialisation? @Idilinaa

 

[Idilinaa]

He makes a fair point. A large and well fed population is crucial to industrialisation.
Scandinavia punches above its weight due to an OP geography that allowed them to cultivate a dominating maritime culture.
Somalia could easily feed itself with fish like the nordics, but there’s also a land and population issue. Somalia is way too sparsely populated, the nordics have a dense population because half their land is uninhabitable

Most of Scandinavia is long winters where they couldn't cultivate and had to store food, most of their economy like in Norway was lumber exports. They had to import food.

Somalia on the other hand was exporting more grain and food surpluses than most of the East Africa, they not only fed entire cities but also help feed neighboring countries

In the past it was usually not just meat exports or even livestock. It was also other agricultural products.

Somalia was the main supplier of grain and other products to Southern Arabia and Yemen. Which basically dubbed southern-central part of Somalia as the ''Grain Coast supplier of Southern Arabia'' from the mid 1800s

In the medieval times 1500s Northern Somalia used to produce a lot of food of all types, especially various agricultural products and the export of it went to supply Aden and other parts of Arabia to qoute ''A port of much provisions for Aden, and all parts of Arabia'' . So yeah you are right in a way when you say it was the ''breadbasket''

Same goes for the Harar uplands many cities in mid-late 1800s balooned and trippled/doubled in size because of an increase in agricultural production.



The nordics don't have dense population.

The northern parts of the country are sparsely populated due to the climatic conditions. Overall, the population density is only 14.3 people per km², making Norway one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Less than 2% is a built-up area.

The Nordic remains sparsely populated, with huge expanses of unspoiled wilderness – mainly forests, meadows, mountains and water.

Only denmark is densely populated, not surprising seeing how tiny it is.

And the map you see where they display the whole of Somalis is very misleading because some parts of it wasn't much inhabited but you had the greatest density/population clusters in the Northernwestern part of the country and southern part of the country, if exclude harar upland which would be the 2nd most densily populated.

 

[Idilinaa]

How would the clans be united and who would have been likely to lead the industrialisation? @Idilinaa

Somalis had a robust exchange system between clans and a sizeable population looking for employment opportunities, the merchants and state actors would lead the industrialization and help finance it.