Somalis Kingdoms and Sultanates?

Do you have any maps of Somaliweyn during the 18th-19th century that depicts all these polities? Google images is horrible for finding historical Somali maps
The ones i've seen online are terrible.

No but i can make one. I could also make one also of middle ages as well, as aside by side contrast. Add a page references to it.
 
People are mistaking their traditional clan chief, for a Sultanate.

This mislabelling is making Somalis seem like liars or primitives. Especially when you make up fake history and even use it, to debate with foreigners.
Not many Somali clan chiefdoms have evolved considerably to being considered states/sultanates, apart from few; like for instance:majertenia and geledi which is more like a city state. Somalis lack historical integrity due to qabyaalad
 
Hiirab imaamate apparently their leader was sheikh. I didn’t include the ajuran kingdom because the hiirab already conquered it and absorbed them.
No evidence of both even existing, but hypothetical fantastical clan empires are being invented into history for fkd purposes. Araweello is more real than ajuran and hiraab if we are going off conjectural evidence.
 
No evidence of both even existing, but hypothetical fantastical clan empires are being invented into history for fkd purposes. Araweello is more real than ajuran and hiraab if we are going off conjectural evidence.
Lol Hiraab and especially Ajuran did exist
 
Not many Somali clan chiefdoms have evolved considerably to being considered states/sultanates, apart from few; like for instance:majertenia and geledi which is more like a city state. Somalis lack historical integrity due to qabyaalad

Majerteen didn't evolve out of a cheifdomship btw. It was part of a larger non-clanal sultanate which ecompassed all of hartis and that sultanate was a tributary vasal to Awdal but it fragmented in the early 1600s which is when it re-organized.
15CdZj8.jpeg

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Geledi as well, which was one of the vassals and other surviving cities like Luuq much like Harar as well was connected to larger polity , they didn't evolve out of chieftainships.

Cheifdomships and single city states and seperate states were due to a collapse in the 1600-1700s that fragmented the region. Before this the whole region was broken into provinces governed by various emirs, naibs, vizers under a sultan

No evidence of both even existing, but hypothetical fantastical clan empires are being invented into history for fkd purposes. Araweello is more real than ajuran and hiraab if we are going off conjectural evidence.

Hiraab did rule over Xamar, but Xamar was more or less a city state with a council under a titular leadership in the 1800s. It wasn't a wide teritory and/or a collection of towns under one leadership like Majerteen/Hobyo etc

and Ajuuran was a local nickname for taxing and administrating authorities, not much different to what Majerteen referred to their own urban admins as Saladiin's. Are we going to refer to a Saladiin sultanate and saladiin empire?

You can't fault Somalis for faulty research and representation by foreign orientalist writers.

And a big large sultanate that extended over the southern coast and into the interior reaching Hadiyah and with its commercial capital Mogadishu, was decribed by foreign visitors , in quite detail. But just like Awdal it wasn't a clan empire
 
Majerteen didn't evolve out of a cheifdomship btw. It was part of a larger non-clanal sultanate which ecompassed all of hartis and that sultanate was a tributary vasal to Awdal but it fragmented in the early 1600s which is when it re-organized.
15CdZj8.jpeg

yINmPmm.png

gO3jI9B.png


Geledi as well, which was one of the vassals and other surviving cities like Luuq much like Harar as well was connected to larger polity , they didn't evolve out of chieftainships.

Cheifdomships and single city states and seperate states were due to a collapse in the 1600-1700s that fragmented the region.



Hiraab did rule over Xamar, but Xamar was more or less a city state with a council under a titular leadership in the 1800s. It wasn't a wide teritory and/or a collection of towns under one leadership like Majerteen/Hobyo etc

and Ajuuran was a local nickname for taxing and administrating authorities, not much different to what Majerteen referred to their own urban admins as Saladiin's. Are we going to refer to a Saladiin sultanate and saladiin empire?

You can't fault Somalis for faulty research and representation by foreign orientalist writers.

And a big large sultanate that extended over the southern coast and into the interior reaching Hadiyah and with its commercial capital Mogadishu, was decribed by foreign visitors , in quite detail. But just like Awdal it wasn't a clan empire


Habar Younis wrote something about a Sultanate on Wiki but I have never heard of such a thing. What are your thoughts on that?

 
Habar Younis wrote something about a Sultanate on Wiki but I have never heard of such a thing. What are your thoughts on that?


Sounds made up , it's probably written by a Somaliland nationalist that attempts to create secessionist grounds to argue from.

The only two real sultanates was hobyo & majerteen in the 1700s-1800s and (Warsangeli could losely fit into this)
 
Not the Geledis? So how did they defeat Ethiopia, extract tribute from Oman and became one of the most powerful polities in East Africa if they were just a city state?
Geledi was a powerful city state, that had the ability to extend it's political influence into the coast. It came from Geledi trying their best to gain a coastal outlet of their own and expand their markets for export, so in a way it could be seen as a sultanate but it was mainly headquartered in Afgooye.

Regular rural ogaden Somali clans defeated Ethiopia numerous times lool , not just geledi. Almost everyone even Luuq defeated them. Harar even did defeat them before disarming happened and the pre-emptive exit that left them unguarded
 
So something similar like the historical Republic of Venice, a city state that also had extended influence/control over parts of the Mediterranean with Venice at its main stronghold

Kinda, it extended control over in the interior trade routes and levied tribute and taxes from the coast. It had economic wealth from agricultural products and iron and cotton production which it used to expand it's influence and regional powers.
 

Galool

VIP
@Idilinaa I recently watched this video and you can see a lot of the distinctly Somali culture in Harar. How it was a Somali trade route, camel caravans, the stone city similiar to other Somali towns, the camel meat, the craftsman, the hyena gates being called waraabe gate. Even the craftsmen area is called giirgiir, which is the same as the Somali word gariir. The wooden doors and balconies.

It highlights a lot of the things you have been talking about on here.


 
@Idilinaa I recently watched this video and you can see a lot of the distinctly Somali culture in Harar. How it was a Somali trade route, camel caravans, the stone city similiar to other Somali towns, the camel meat, the craftsman, the hyena gates being called waraabe gate. Even the craftsmen area is called giirgiir, which is the same as the Somali word gariir. The wooden doors and balconies.

It highlights a lot of the things you have been talking about on here.



It's obvious to any casual Somali unlooker. A lot of what they mistakenly believe is ''Uniquely Harari' culture is actually just copy and paste of Somali culture you find elsewhere and in other cities and in general. It shows that Harar was essentially just a Somali city with a majority Somali population until recently.

Even these wooden slates/boards we call 'looh'', they hold up as artifacts of culture in that same video. This is how Somalis teach and learn Quran , by writing on wooden slates with ink.

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The boards displayed are carved in the same manner and style as well.

Qur'anic writing board, mid 20th century Unknown artist, Somalia



A tradition used to this day:
zPoPUJf.jpeg


This is also described by the Portuguese in the town of Maydh in the 1500s just in case some Harari pseudo historian claims we got it from them. It mentions the big School where kids wrote on ink wooden boards

The manuscript/bookbinding culture is Somali as well, its literally copy and paste of the same style you find Merca and other cities. Most of what they display as harari manuscripts are probably Somali as well, since Burton and others described the extensive collections and private libraries that was kept by Somalis inside the city.

The authentic chronicles that Cerulli uncovered/published ''Tarikh Al Mulukh(The History of Kings), Tarikh Al-Wali Asma(The History of the Surpeme Rulers) and Tarikh Al-Mujahid(The History of the Holy War) was in the hands of Somalis as well or copied from us.
 
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Galool

VIP
It's obvious to any casual Somali unlooker. A lot of what they mistakenly believe is ''Uniquely Harari' culture is actually just copy and paste of Somali culture you find elsewhere and in other cities and in general. It shows that Harar was essentially just a Somali city with a majority Somali population until recently.

Even these wooden slates/boards we call 'looh'', they hold up as artifacts of culture in that same video. This is distinctly and uniquely how Somalis teach and learn Quran , by writing on wooden slates with ink.

U3PMcwC.png


G5aiLxr.png


They are carved in the same manner as well.

Qur'anic writing board, mid 20th century Unknown artist, Somalia



A tradition used to this day:
zPoPUJf.jpeg


This is also described by the Portuguese in the town of Maydh in the 1500s just in case some Harari pseudo historian claims we got it from them. It mentions the big School where kids wrote on ink wooden boards

The manuscript/bookbinding culture is Somali as well, its literally copy and paste of the same style you find Merca and other cities. Most of what they display as harari manuscripts are probably Somali as well, since Burton and others described the extensive collections and private libraries that was kept by Somalis.

The authentic chronicles that Cerulli uncovered/published ''Tarikh Al Mulukh(The History of Kings), Tarikh Al-Wali Asma(The History of the Surpeme Rulers) and Tarikh Al-Mujahid(The History of the Holy War) was in the hands of Somalis as well or copied from us.

Yes, it is still in use today




 
Cheifdomships and single city states and seperate states were due to a collapse in the 1600-1700s that fragmented the region. Before this the whole region was broken into provinces governed by various emirs, naibs, vizers under a sultan

Btw i seperate that history in two periods. ''The Era of Emirs'' and ''The Era of Sheikhs''

If i were to simplify this division it would be grouped into two periods.

The Era of Amirs - 800-1650
(Period where states led by Emirs dominated the political and economic developments)




The Era of Shayukhs - 1650-1927
(Period where Sufi orders led by Sheikhs dominated the political and economic developments)

I wouldn't call this period a dark age. There was a decline and then a re-emergence but a Dark Age implies some kind of sustained underdevelopment or lack of progress or repressiveness, which this wasn't.
 

Garaad Awal

War is coming.
Sounds made up , it's probably written by a Somaliland nationalist that attempts to create secessionist grounds to argue from.

The only two real sultanates was hobyo & majerteen in the 1700s-1800s and (Warsangeli could losely fit into this)
Those were tribal chiefdoms who ruled over their tribes. Every Somali tribe was like that. There was not a single Kingdom in Somaliweyn since the 16th century (fall of Adal in SL & Eastern Ethiopia).
 
There was not a single Kingdom in Somaliweyn since the 16th
Not even remotely true. Majeerteen, Hobyo, Hiraab, Geledi sultanates as well as the Harar Emirate were all kingdoms. They all collected taxes, had real bureaucracies, markets, centralization ect

A chiefdom means no social classes meaning no cities. One of the most famous and successful Somalis of the 19th century was Sharmarke Ali Saleh, a merchant who took control of Zeila and had influence over trade across the northern Horn. Does that sound like simple chiefdom stuff to you? You are basically dunking on your fellow Isaaqs lmao
 
Those were tribal chiefdoms who ruled over their tribes. Every Somali tribe was like that. There was not a single Kingdom in Somaliweyn since the 16th century (fall of Adal in SL & Eastern Ethiopia).

Hobyo and Majerteen was neither tribal cheiftanships. They were fully fledgling states and Kingdoms, with professional armies, defined territories, flags, taxation/revenue collection system, bureaucracies ( broken into sharifs, wiziers, qadis and naibs governing the various coastal towns and cordinating rural side production). Those people were appointed into position as well. State controlled industries/markets. Defined social strata between classes of producers, labourers and non-producers.

And they governed over subjects that were not even Majerteen is proof of them being non-clanal, led armies that were diverse as well and with Hobyo it was the most pronounced they included various clans into their leadership, Ogadenians were the Qadis/judges in the administration, Habr Gidir was part of the upper ranks in the administration and some governors were even Tumaal/Madhiban and one of the right hand man of the Sultan was Madhiban.

Clan cheiftanships don't rule over other clans. Cheiftanships only rule over their own immediate family through honorifics with no real authority. They don't collect taxes, pay salaries or appoint leadership, carry personal guards or command a standing army like the Sultanates.

You can see that the only two real sultanates in Somalia in 1800s was Hobyo and Majerteen by what Historian Said Samatar says and how he defines them:

Horn of Africa - Volume 15 - Page 131

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Aside from those two sultanates, there was city states as well, where they were either ruled over by a Monarch/Governor like in Luuq, Harar, Bardheere, Afgooye, Zayla and or collectively through city councils of diverse clan elders under a titular leadership like in Barawa, Mogadishu, Berbera, Kismayo and Merca.
 
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Not even remotely true. Majeerteen, Hobyo, Hiraab, Geledi sultanates as well as the Harar Emirate were all kingdoms. They all collected taxes, had real bureaucracies, markets, centralization ect

A chiefdom means no social classes meaning no cities. One of the most famous and successful Somalis of the 19th century was Sharmarke Ali Saleh, a merchant who took control of Zeila and had influence over trade across the northern Horn. Does that sound like simple chiefdom stuff to you? You are basically dunking on your fellow Isaaqs lmao

Hirab was not a sultanate. They were a titular leadership over mogadishu that acted as a city state which was internally ruled by a city council of different clan elders.

Geledi and Harar could be seen as a sultanate depending on how you define it in the sense that they were ruled over by monarchs/sultans/emirs. But they also essentially opperated like city states that had political and economic influence outside their domains.

Majerteen, Hobyo ruled over a wider territory and over a collection of villages, towns and cities. and a wider rural country side that acted as producers . They were not confined to a single town or city or settlement. They were Kingdoms if you want to get technical with it.

There was several Somali governors of Zayla before Sharmarke did a take over and the justice/record keeping administrated by Somali qadis as Burton remarked for many generations. Believe it or not Zayla was probably not a dependency of Mocha, the Sherif of Mocha appointed someone to protect his commercial interests not someone to govern the city which Burton mistook, because the cities fought over the trade revenues all the time which also made Zayla keep a garrison in Aden to protect their own commercial interests and we've seen Somalis had their own trading quarters and stations in Mocha also.

The following is an excerpt from the 1760:

A Universal History From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time Β· Volume 15’ p. 625

β€œZEILA is seated in a spacious bay, just without the straits of Babel Mandeb, and, from its situation, seems to be the Avalites of Ptolemy. It retains still some noble relics of its ancient splendour. The houses are built of stone and mortar, the streets wide and regular; its haven is very commodious, and well frequented. It is populous, and carries on a considerable commerce, it being the place through which the greatest part of the merchandises, which are carried into the Abyssinian empire, commonly pass, as well as those which are consumed in the kingdom of Adel; the revenue of which is so considerable, that its kings are often at war with those of Aden about it; upon which account the former keeps constantly a strong garrison in it.”

It is also somewhat related to how the British in the 1800s also thought Tadjourah was tributary to Zayla because they payed taxes to it, but what they payed wa in-fact an agreement to secure the traders of Tajura a guaranteed place at the markets of Zeila. They were infact independent from Zayla.
 
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Hirab was not a sultanate
Wikipedia lied to me (again). I need to stop using that site for history that I'm not very well versed in
:mjcry:
opperated like city states
Tbh, sometimes I feel the line between city state and kingdom/sultanate are blurred. Then again maybe I keep thinking that every city state should be like the powerful ones of Europe.
Majerteen/Hobyo ruled over a wider territory
Could you inform me as to why Majeerteen/Hobyo were the few in the region to rule over wider territory like that? What developments did they have that say, Mogadishu or Berbera didn't that lead them to sultanate status?

Lastly, why did it take Bari until the 17th-19th century to unite into a sultanate?
There was several Somali governors of Zayla
Yes Step a Side talkes about this as well
View attachment 335215

Qadi of Zeila in ottoman eras were administrative rulers. Richard burton didn’t understand the true role of the qadi and how the ottomans saw them. Here are what Turkish historians saw about their rule.

View attachment 335207

β€˜Districts in the Ottoman state are administrative units ruled by civil administrators with a scholarly background, called kadi’

Again read the next line. Kadiships/districts were established aside of sanjaks (ottoman provinces). They weren’t just judges.

β€˜In the Ottoman system, the shaykh al-Islam (Turkish seyhulislam) was the chief mufti (jurisconsult) and head of the state hierarchy of ulama. Often served as adviser to the sultan's court on political affairs’

⬆️ When it says they came under the sheikh Ul Islam it means the ultimate authority over them came from the ottoman shaykh not that they were individually run by sheikhs

Haji sharmarke was a proxy governor for the eyalet of Yemen he was deposed by an β€˜adjacent’ governor( he was a puppet) he wasn’t the head of a kadiship.

View attachment 335208

This is why historical context is important. It’s referring to two different deposings. The first is of Mohamed Al barr being removed in favour of hajj sharmarke and the second is the hajj being removed himself. Burton made this super clear

View attachment 335209

Sharmaarke was deposed by the eyalet of Yemen which means the Turkish rulers of the region.

Burton didn’t understand how the ottomans saw the kadis even Turkish historians disagree completely with his narrative.
 

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