It's kinda of funny how reed badiye ( an arabic word)has a negative connotation but reer miyi ( a somali word doesn't
Somali twitter vs Spanish archaeologist
- Thread starter Chaseyourdreamzz
- Start date
This is terrible way to frame things, the exchange of goods doesn't mean that it was multi-ethnic. Also i can understand the trade with Eritrea, Adulis to be exact but not Axumites, they were semi-landlocked. Southern Ethiopia is absolutely nonsensical, does he need a map? to see how were Bandar Khor is located.
There is so much wrong with this, but let us break this down, yall can copy and reply this to him since i don't have a twitter.
There is no concrete historical evidence that other African groups, particularly from southern Ethiopia, were directly operating as maritime traders along the Somali coast in antiquity. Here’s why:
The Somali Coast Was Dominated by Proto-Somalis, as you said .The Somali coast has been continuously occupied by the same Cushitic-speaking Somali peoples, who were the primary traders, sailors, and merchants.
Archaeological and historical records, such as those from Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century AD), describe trade activity along the Somali coast but do not mention Axumites or other inland African groups directly controlling or engaging in maritime trade.
Aksumites Were Not a Maritime Empire. While the Aksumite Kingdom (100 AD–940 AD) had influence over the port of Adulis (Eritrea) and some coastal areas of modern-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, they were not a seafaring people. Aksum was heavily reliant on intermediaries, like the Somalis, to access Indian Ocean trade. The Axumites never controlled Somali ports like Bandar Khor, Berbera, or Zeila.
In contrast, the Somali coast had its own indigenous maritime culture and shipbuilding traditions. You have direct mentions by various classic writers about this. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century AD) explicitly describes the Somali coast as being controlled by native inhabitants who operated their own ports and engaged in maritime trade using their own boats.
Southern Ethiopia’s Geography Makes This Claim Absurd. The idea that people from southern Ethiopia (who were mostly highland farmers or pastoralists) were maritime traders is completely baseless. These groups had no historical or geographical connection to the sea. The Ethiopian highlands are landlocked, and their societies historically relied on intermediary trade caravans(usually by Somalis or Afar/Beja), not direct maritime engagement.
Trade does not mean ethnic presence on the coast. Just because goods from other African regions reached the Somali coast doesn’t mean people from those regions were physically there.
For example, Somali traders were active in Zanzibar, but that doesn’t mean Zanzibar was ethnically Somali. Similarly, goods from Ethiopia may have reached the Somali coast, even through caravan trade, but there is no evidence of Ethiopian traders living or operating ports there.
In conclusion: The Somali coast was not some "multi-ethnic trading zone"
I think Reer Guuraa could even broadly refer to caravan transporters than the term ''nomads'', it actually meant to capture mobility. It translate to those who migrate or leave on a journey.
You are right, i remember linguist Abdalla Mansur mentioned it while explaining the symbiotic dualism that Somalis carry, how the binary system of Somali culture represent an organization where two different elements combine to make a single whole.
Such as:
Miyi iyo Magaalo (countryside and city)
Cad iyo Caano(meat and milk)
Biy iyo Baad(Water and pasture)
Sab iyo Samaale (the two mythical ancestors of nearly all Somalis)
May iyo Maxaatiri(dividing Somali society according to the names of the two main dialects)
Culmo iyo Caamo(Islamic scholars and the layman)
So the town and city life just represents a complimentary extensions of country side life, and vice versa. Not something distinct or seperate.
Hive mob have descended on twitter discussions, after i checked back to see it. That app is truly a cesspit or a mind hive where people descend on eachother like flocks of sheep. First of all you guys can respectfully disagree and inquire questions, but not attack and harass people. I also don't understand the push back against Somalis that do that by way of tagging the archeologists in a rant about BLM and Swahili coast. What the hell?
This is why i don't use twitter as it often devolves into hostility rather than productive debate. While it's important to challenge misinformation, it's equally crucial to engage in discussions with nuance and respect, rather than personal attacks.
Yes Somalis weren't called "Somali" 2000 years ago, but they weren't called Africans either which is even more of recent term to describe a continent and it's people. They were called Berber for the most part and that term had a direct continuity into the middle ages, with the artifact of it still present in our language and the port of Berbera.
If we take their argument to its extreme, then we shouldn't call Romans "Romans" either because Italy's population has changed over time.
But historians do refer to ancient Romans as part of Italy's historical identity, just as ancient Greeks are tied to modern Greeks.
The same logic applies to Somalis. While the exact term "Somali" may not have been used 2000 years ago, the people inhabiting the Somali coast were clearly the direct cultural and genetic ancestors of modern Somalis.
Historians often apply modern ethnic terms to ancient peoples when there is clear continuity—for example:
Persians for the Achaemenid Empire (even though they didn’t call themselves "Iranians" back then)
Chinese for the people of the Han Dynasty
Egyptians for Pharaonic Egypt
You can see there are actual historians that have zero problem of admitting this when it comes to Somalis. So it's not a radical take by ignorant Somalis who are allergic to real history
This is why i don't use twitter as it often devolves into hostility rather than productive debate. While it's important to challenge misinformation, it's equally crucial to engage in discussions with nuance and respect, rather than personal attacks.
Yes Somalis weren't called "Somali" 2000 years ago, but they weren't called Africans either which is even more of recent term to describe a continent and it's people. They were called Berber for the most part and that term had a direct continuity into the middle ages, with the artifact of it still present in our language and the port of Berbera.
If we take their argument to its extreme, then we shouldn't call Romans "Romans" either because Italy's population has changed over time.
But historians do refer to ancient Romans as part of Italy's historical identity, just as ancient Greeks are tied to modern Greeks.
The same logic applies to Somalis. While the exact term "Somali" may not have been used 2000 years ago, the people inhabiting the Somali coast were clearly the direct cultural and genetic ancestors of modern Somalis.
Historians often apply modern ethnic terms to ancient peoples when there is clear continuity—for example:
Persians for the Achaemenid Empire (even though they didn’t call themselves "Iranians" back then)
Chinese for the people of the Han Dynasty
Egyptians for Pharaonic Egypt
You can see there are actual historians that have zero problem of admitting this when it comes to Somalis. So it's not a radical take by ignorant Somalis who are allergic to real history
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I lowkey don't get what all the fuss is about. It's just some lackluster research by a researcher who's clearly wet behind the ears on the region and who at best has an "implicit racist-ish bias" as @The alchemist pointed out. But, otherwise, he seems polite, well-meaning and somewhat willing to adjust. And, again, it's a pretty irrelevant bit of research no one would read or reference other than deep Anthro nerds like us. They didn't need to blow it up like this and blow up his Twitter either. Quite absurd.
The guy is also a liberal and people are treating him as if he’s some
supremacist
TheLand
VIP
I wonder if that word is related to the Guu season, as in Guu-rar…moving during the rainy season.
I've made my peace with the fact that Somalis are for some reason an extermely reactionary people. This is partially why I suspect you see so much discussion by Somalis on stuff when they're intrested in a topic.
I think it's the app, that makes people act reactionary.
Somali should do their own independent work, and put out the content they prefer. Instead of complaining and harassing others about it. Make a blog post or something, publish a paper etc
Also support and learn from Somali academics and researchers. Share their work and leave the conversation to those who are educated and well versed.
Foreign researchers or traveler or documentary maker or what have you will come with their own incentives, implicit biases, world view and separate motives. A lot of times not even malicious intent. I am sure some of the motive is they came for adventure and discovery.
It's not their job to communicate what we think and know. It's our experience, its our culture, its our land why do they expect someone else to come and educate us about it? and be 100% accurate and inclusive in their take? They can add to our understanding but it should be more driven , corrected, re-balanced by us (we are the source material) and we should approach in a collaborative way.
I also think much of the misunderstandings about Somali history and development can be cleared up by understanding our geographical landscape, climate and our economic adaptability to it. You be surprised how much wrong people get about that and not understand how it shaped us apart from other Africans.
I am going to post a part 2 to this thread: That will cover climate adaptability, topographical benefits, hydrological resources, and environmental resilience.
Somalia's Historical Geographical Advantages over Sub-Saharan Africa: (Summary) Part 1
I was asked to make this one last thread that i had planned, before i exit. I shared this video to @Midas in another thread, but then i came to realize that many of the setbacks and geographical disadvantages underscored in this video for Sub-Saharan Africa does not apply to Somalia at all...
www.somalispot.com
What @Midas said is also equally true, there is much that will be clarified to us once we collect the private manuscripts and documents etc in people's possession.
Inshallah soon.
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We should maybe train our people to be less opinionated. We can't be chiming in on every public discussion out there, especially we need to understand our limitations in terms of expertise and subject knowledge.
Even somali scholars in the 90s or 2000s worked under the same misunderstandings. A lot of the very influential ones like mukhtar still do.
A lot of that unfortunately links back to the war and political situation in Somalia, they project backward to reinterpret things to fit that.
Someone should send him that Ajami manuscript, you shared in that thread
A manuscripts of xeer cisse from 1814
It's amazing what you can find my crawling through somali social media. This guy apparently found a somali ajami manuscript of xeer cisse from 1814. That's 211 years ago.
www.somalispot.com
Since they are linguist it might reveal something to them about our language.
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Old thread i found on timojileec/arab Muslims talking about African women….- Started by caanoshaah
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