Somalia's Historical Geographical Advantages over Sub-Saharan Africa: (Summary) Part 1

[Aseer]

Connectivity:

Somalia is characterized mostly by flatter gently rolling terrains like plains and plateaus which facilitate easier movement of people, goods, and ideas. This promotes greater interaction and integration among communities, leading to more cultural and linguistic uniformity over time. Somalis were in constant communication and contact with eachother over vast land and distances as much as we were also in constant contact with the world outside our lands. It not only resulted in creation trade networks but also familial bonds.

Whereas other Africans are separated from each-others by mountains, sahara desert, savannahs or thick forests, creating severe geographical boundaries where people develop distinct linguistic and culture differences in isolation. So it inhibited connection building, sharing of resources, technology , ideas etc
This is why Africans prior to the Arrival of Europeans were bunch of seperate isolated tribes and are broken into many different languages. They had very little to no contact with the outside world as well.

Therefore they have been the most insulated people from the rest of the human races and isolated people have always lagged behind the rest.

I saw a source somewhere that talked about how somali merchants were discussing the crimea war and europeans were shocked as to how we knew of this when it only started a few days ago. If I find the source I will post it here.

 

[Idilinaa]

I saw a source somewhere that talked about how somali merchants were discussing the crimea war and europeans were shocked as to how we knew of this when it only started a few days ago. If I find the source I will post it here.

It reminds me of this observation by Burton:

The Somali Bedouins have a passion for knowing how the world wags. In some of the more desert regions the whole population of a village will follow the wanderer. No traveller ever passes a kraal without planting spear in the ground, and demanding answers to a lengthened string of queries: rather than miss intelligence he will inquire of a woman. Thus it is that news flies through the country. Among the wild Gudabirsi the Russian war was a topic of interest, and at Harar I heard of a violent storm, which had damaged the shipping in Bombay Harbour, but a few weeks after the event.
​

 

[Idilinaa]

I also want to add @Aseer another thing related to connectivity that separates us from other Africans. Is that any Somali that traveled and settled abroad kept ties and contacts with his homeland and with other Somalis, and in many cases they act as a bridge to integrate new comers , we have seen this with entire villages/towns, quarters, markets and mosques being reserved for Somalis. They also returned with knowledge and expertise, but also sent back income and resources.

Whereas with what you can observe with oromos, habeshas and other Africans in general is that they severed their ties with their homeland when they left it.

So our familial bonds are much more deeply rooted.

 

[Aseer]

I also want to add @Aseer another thing related to connectivity that separates us from other Africans. Is that any Somali that traveled and settled abroad kept ties and contacts with his homeland and with other Somalis, and in many cases they act as a bridge to integrate new comers , we have seen this with entire villages/towns, quarters, markets and mosques being reserved for Somalis. They also returned with knowledge and expertise, but also sent back income and resources.

Whereas with what you can observe with oromos, habeshas and other Africans in general is that they severed their ties with their homeland when they left it.

So our familial bonds are much more deeply rooted.

Reminds me of the somali built mosques in damascus and morocco, I wonder if there are any other examples.

 

[Idilinaa]

Reminds me of the somali built mosques in damascus and morocco, I wonder if there are any other examples.

India, Hijaz, Yemen as well they built mosques there ( Banu Al-Zayla'i mosque and Al-Jabarti Mosques). Although India migrations is less researched and is overshadowed by the habshi slave descendants

 

[Idilinaa]

Resources:

Unlike Kilwa and other African societies/kingdoms the bulk of Somali wealth didn't directly come from slave raiding the interior and surrounding population. Infact the interior was connected to the coast via caravan routes and was used for producing products, supplying raw materials, resources/food, transportation and for manufacturing. States/kingdoms taxed rural populous production and collected costume duties through trade goods passing through which directly accrued them wealth.

- Long Coastline: gave us marine resources such as (pearls, ambergis, fish, salt, coral, shells, dyes, and expensive pigment from mollusks). Somalia's coastline has extensive coral reefs. Coral was burned to make lime to whitewash our stone houses and to use as sement. Coral was also used to make jewlery. Our sea shore gave us copal, amber, coral, carnelian, glass etc we used to manufacture items and jewlery, for example rose water glass vases was a popular item Somali exported out.


-The river crossings, seasonal rivers and highlands: (shabelle, Juba , awash rivers/tributaries and northwest Somaliland/harrar highlands) provide for more arable grounds to produce surplus of various agricultural products (barley, wheat, chickpeas, daafi(teef), sorghum, coffee, millet,
On top of the tropical lowland climate made it suitable to cultivate mango's , dates, bananas, squash and sugar canes just mention the most popular fruits.
Our environment historically allowed for food surpluses, which in turn led to a non-agricultural work force, including a rurling class. Surplus crops and also form a tax base to support a central authority. This is contray to other Africans where the tetsy fly discouraged certain forms agricultural activity that allowed for this.

- The long pastures: that cover Somalia gave us abundant livestock (cows, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys and camels) , which gave us butter, pelts aka hide and skins (leather goods) , milk , meat, wool and fertilizer.

(Donkeys, horses and camels gave us transportation efficiencies as well). Lack of available pastures for grazing and disease prone climates like tetsy fly prevented this in other parts of Africa. Heck lack of livestock made certain Africans rely on and eat bushmeat.

- Mountain ranges: Which offered natural high elevated defenses but also bore extensive mines Somalis used to procure raw materials. There is evidence of mining, metal works in the Golis mountains, Harar highlands and in the Buur areas in the south with one city in Hobaad being a wealthy mining and manufacturing city.

- Hot and rocky landscape: , which has made it historically a hub for various spices , aromatics, and medicinal herbs (infact it could possible be argued that Somalia invented the spice trade)

- Geology: Somalia unlike other African countries has a geological landscape in many areas that allowed for available stone quarries that can be used for construction like limestone, granite and sandstone for building purposes and cement production. Whereas other African countries in many areas are characterized by laterite soils and sedimentary rock formations rather than extensive granite or limestone deposits and opted historically to use mud , adobe and timber are mostly available to them as building materials. Similar with Ethiopia their quarrying industry is not as developed as in Somalia, especially in rural areas. That's why the homes of Somalis are much better constructed than the slums you see prevail in different parts of Africa. Mentioned this another thread with examples: https://www.somalispot.com/threads/...-with-indian-slums.173349/page-2#post-4170103

- Woodlands : Availability of wood which is extensively cultivated along the northern Somali coastal plain. Somalis used to also export, transport timber for dhow/ship and boat construction and exported it also to Arabia. They also used it locally to construct houses with it and for roof making on brick and stone houses , you can read more about it here: Non-timber Uses of Selected Arid Zone Trees and Shrubs in Africa

All of what i listed above are clear resource advantages given to Somalis over other Africans due to our geography historically , it is made abundantly clear when you see the comparison to Oromo's who trend in the same way with other Africans: The eastern countries he describes as having ''a large heritage'' are Somalis.

This is a 1800s translated qoute describing the oromo petty kingdoms:

"The Galla kings have no budget, they do not have, as in some Eastern countries, a large heritage which keeps them alive; they can hardly hoard on the booty made in the field, because it must be distributed to the warriors. They must so resort to extraordinary resources, and this is the trafficking of children who provide them. Some, the most frank, receive a child tax in all families; others arrive at the same but by fines imposed as punishment for more or less serious offences real, and it is in children that the fine is paid. Such a chief is accused of conspiring against the prince (an absurd suspicion in a country where anyone who wants to seize power only has to mount a horse and call his followers), the children of the one suspected and those of his relatives, and the fact seems so natural that no revolt. These unfortunate people are sold in herds, at a low price and at cash, to the merchants from the north who come every year to tour the Galla kingdoms."


This is also true for Ethiopian Highlanders who would sell their own country men into slavery, to escape poverty, you see several examples of this with Tigray even and Afar. Because of Somali peoples mobility/fluidity and wide array of resources we never had to resort to this.

Kilwa sultanate that certain africanist brag about it as an example of Swahili/African civilization. Yet it slave raided the interior populations soo much that it depopulated whole areas and it literally operated like a coastal enclave, was not connected to any inland routes and its geography of mountains and thick forests limited inland access and therefore didn't have access to diverse products, outside of gold, slaves and ivory. It had no reliance on intermediaries as well. Not much different then the later Zanzibari sultanate, who followed the same historical trend minus the gold.

By the way @Emir of Zayla @Step a side @Three Moons @Garaad diinle feel free to share what you know, you guys are probably more knowledgeable about this than me.

I probably wont make a part 2 to this thread as i had planned.

 

[Aseer]

By the way @Emir of Zayla @Step a side @Three Moons @Garaad diinle feel free to share what you know, you guys are probably more knowledgeable about this than me.

I probably wont make a part 2 to this thread as i had planned.

When are you going to post the pdf?

 

[Zak12]

I probably wont make a part 2 to this thread as i had planned.

Please do sxb, then you can truly retire in style

 

[Idilinaa]

Please do sxb, then you can truly retire in style

Too much work at the moment.. If i get more time i will do it.

I will compile a ref list for this thread in the meantime.

 

[Idilinaa]

When are you going to post the pdf?

I will do it in a few days. I'll add cliff notes under separate page next to each ref point.

 

[Emir of Zayla]

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.


The historical development trend in Somalia is more similar to Northern Africa and Middle-East, especially from the early middle ages and onward.

You guys can read about the summary i gave in a thread i posted on how Somalia followed the same historical trend of agricultural revolution that happened in North Africa and Middle East: https://www.somalispot.com/threads/somali-agricultural-revolution-900-1600s.172550/

Basically i am going to argue that unlike other African countries, geography cannot be used to explain Somalia's under-development , or political and economic problems. I'll show this by describing how Somalis have historically been geographically advantageous in comparison to the rest of Sub Saharan Africa, everything i mention are advantages Somalis have exploited throughout history and in turn has shaped us and accrued us wealth.

This thread has been a long time coming, I’ve seen this type of topic talked about for a while and I’ve realized that the Somali peninsula debunks most of these points about Africa’s underdevelopment. All of this just needed to be complied and made into one post. @Idilinaa congrats on your final thread!

 

[Emir of Zayla]

India, Hijaz, Yemen as well they built mosques there ( Banu Al-Zayla'i mosque and Al-Jabarti Mosques). Although India migrations is less researched and is overshadowed by the habshi slave descendants

There was a Somali diaspora in Hyderabad, one of India’s biggest and a historic mercantile city. The history behind the Somali diaspora around the Muslim world from Egypt all the way to India is really underrated.

The Afran Qallo Somalis assimilated into the Oromo, but still retained their geneological tables and Somali root words allowing us to determine their pre-assimilation origins, same with the Somalis on the Eritrean coast that married into the Afar groups, same with the Somalis in Oman, same with the Somalis in Hyderabad, etc, their Somali origins can still be retraced today centuries later.

 

[Idilinaa]

This thread has been a long time coming, I’ve seen this type of topic talked about for a while and I’ve realized that the Somali peninsula debunks most of these points about Africa’s underdevelopment. All of this just needed to be complied and made into one post. @Idilinaa congrats on your final thread!

I am going formalize it into a pdf textfile. This was a bit rushed when i wrote it.

There was a Somali diaspora in Hyderabad, one of India’s biggest and a historic mercantile city. The history behind the Somali diaspora around the Muslim world from Egypt all the way to India is really underrated.

@Midas @Aseer
I found a couple of references to Jabarti(Somali) in india that apparently came as scholars, ministers and nobles and descendants of them continue to be prominent families''Sayyids'' well into the 19th century it seems.
For example Husain Al-Jabarti

And there is a researcher in this video @43:20 talks about a new influx of Africans in 19th century in a place in hydrebad in a historical muslim African settlement, and he mentions that they found Somali clan names. Unfortunately he doesn't share much else other than a story of African sailors capturing an Island and building a fort but he says they pretended to be merchants lmaao they was most likely merchants, it also looks like they introduced the Somali shareero instrument you see a painting of one carrying it, sufi saint shrines without describing the name but says the saint didn't come as a slave but came as a trader(sounds familiar). Thats some of the non-habshi refrences he makes.


When it comes india there is a clear status seperation between Somalis and other Africans they call Siddhi, even with Ethiopian(habshi). From what i've read. It similar to Arabia in this sense, because we didn't come as slaves , enuchs and labourers.

But it is safe to say a lot of this is under researched and overshadowed.

 

[Midas]

I am going formalize it into a pdf textfile. This was a bit rushed when i wrote it.


@Midas @Aseer
I found a couple of references to Jabarti(Somali) in india that apparently came as scholars, ministers and nobles and descendants of them continue to be prominent families''Sayyids'' well into the 19th century it seems.
For example Husain Al-Jabarti

And there is a researcher in this video @43:20 talks about a new influx of Africans in 19th century in a place in hydrebad in a historical muslim African settlement, and he mentions that they found Somali clan names. Unfortunately he doesn't share much else other than a story of African sailors capturing an Island and building a fort but he says they pretended to be merchants lmaao they was most likely merchants, it also looks like they introduced the Somali shareero instrument you see a painting of one carrying it, sufi saint shrines without describing the name but says the saint didn't come as a slave but came as a trader(sounds familiar). Thats some of the non-habshi refrences he makes.


When it comes india there is a clear status seperation between Somalis and other Africans they call Siddhi, even with Ethiopian(habshi). From what i've read. It similar to Arabia in this sense, because we didn't come as slaves , enuchs and labourers.

But it is safe to say a lot of this is under researched and overshadowed.

I suspect it was due to the fact that are immigration was small in comparison to the tens of thousands of slaves that were brought in.

 

[Idilinaa]

I suspect it was due to the fact that are immigration was small in comparison to the tens of thousands of slaves that were brought in.

Thats probably true, i am not 100% faulting them for the lazy research.

 

[Aseer]

@Idilinaa were interior somali cities whitewashed? How did they colour the cities in the north and interior?

 

[Idilinaa]

@Idilinaa were interior somali cities whitewashed? How did they colour the cities in the north and interior?

Harar and Luuq was whitewashed.

They would transport coral from the sea on camel or donkey carts and burn it to make lime out it and then to whitewash their stone houses with it.

 

[Journey.]

Harar and Luuq was whitewashed.

They would transport coral from the sea on camel or donkey carts and burn it to make lime out it and then to whitewash their stone houses with it.

I would've loved to have seen Harar during it's height. So were the natives of Harar Somali or the ancestors of the ethio-semitic speaking "Hararis" who live there today?

 

[Zak12]

I would've loved to have seen Harar during it's height. So were the natives of Harar Somali or the ancestors of the ethio-semitic speaking "Hararis" who live there today?

It was both. Harar was multiethnic but initially ruled by Somalis like Nur Ibn Mujahid. Later on however when the Harar Emirate started, it would be ruled by Harari emirs.

 

[Journey.]

It was both. Harar was multiethnic but initially ruled by Somalis like Nur Ibn Mujahid. Later on however when the Harar Emirate started, it would be ruled by Harari emirs.

Were Somalis the original inhabitants or simply formed the majority? Trying to understand this quote, "Harar may have from 12 to 14,000 inhabitants, malhomets of religion, belonging to the Saumali race".