The Geledi

[Grant]

Renewers of the Age: Holy Men and Social Discourse in Colonial Benaadir, Scott Reese, 2008.

Page 57-59

"Using slave labor obtained through the coastal ports the Geledi gradually shifted their economic base away from its traditional dependency on pastoralism and subsistence agriculture to one built largely on plantation agriculture and the production of cash crops such as grain, cotton and sesame.

This process encompassed most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By the time of the Baardheere troubles, the Geledi in Afgoye were enjoying unprecedented prosperity and influence. The power of the sultans continued to expand via local trade networks, enabling them to force all caravans bound for the interior to pass through their own markets where they could be taxed. With their victory over Baardheere, the Geledi seemed poised to dominate all of southern Somalia. Geledi expansion was blocked, however, by both local rivals and their own lack of direct access to the sea. From the mid 1840's through the 1870s Sultan Yusuf Muhammad and his successors sought to use the political and military capital accrued as a result of the conflict with Baardheere to secure their expansionist agenda. The result instead was tension, political intrigue and- eventually- armed conflict.

Immediately following the Baardheere war, Yusuf Muhammad hoped to establish a Geledi controlled port at the point where the Shabeelle was closest to the coast known as Mungiya south of Marka. The Geledi already controlled most of the riverine agricultural settlements that far south and the establishment of a port would allow them to export grain directly to overseas buyers without the expense of going through urban middlemen in Mogadishu or Marka.

Not surprisingly, this move evoked almost immediate resistance from agro-pastoralist competitors as well as coastal merchants, who saw their interests threatened by Geledi ambition. The result was a war of attrition between the Geledi and their principle rivals the Bimal, a clan of pastoral entrepreneurs from the region surrounding Marka. The latter were supported by urban merchant communities from the length and breadth of the coast. Throughout the 1840's, the two sides fought a number of indecisive engagements ultimately ending in stalemate by the latter years of the decade.

By 1847, the upper hand seemed to lay with the Geledi. Hoping to consolidate his gains ,Sultan Yusuf decided to eliminate the Bimal threat once and for all by forcing what he hoped would be a final decisive battle. In May, 1848 he forced the Bimal into a major engagement at the village of Golwayn. The details of the battle are sketchy, however, what is known is that shortly after the fighting ended, both Sultan Yusuf and his brother Musa lay dead and their forces were routed. With one blow, Geledi expansion towards the coast was ended.

While Sultan Yusuf's death ended Geledi ambitions to dominate the coast, it did not end their control over territories in the interior. Yusuf was succeeded by two of his sons, Ahmad and Abiker. Ahmad made his seat at Afgoye the traditional center of power for the Gobroon. Abiker became Sultan of Buulo Merer, a village downstream from Afgoye and opposite Bimal territory at the extreme limit of what had become the Geledi sphere of influence. This move was apparently aimed at enabling the Gobroon to maintain tight control over the furthest reaches of their territory in the face of continued Bimal belligerence..

In addition to sustaining their territorial integrity, the Gobroon were also able to maintain much of their political influence in the urban centers of the coast, especially Mogadishu, although this seems to have been more due to their economic power than military strength. The most celebrated example of their continued influence centers on the construction of a Zanzibar fortress or garesa in the Shingani district of the town. The Omani sultans of Zanzibar had laid nominal claim to the Benaadir coast since the early 1800s. Around 1870, the Zanzibari sultan, Sayyid Barghash, decided to make this claim a reality by establishing garrisons in each of the major towns for the purpose of assessing customs duty. The elders of Shangani, however resisted the idea and the Sultan lacking either the military or economic means to force compliance, looked to the Geledi Sultan, Ahmad for help. Eager to demonstrate his power over the townsmen, Sultan Ahmad readily agreed, and threatened to order his allies along the river to boycott the Shangani market if the elders continued to obstruct Zanzibari plans. Faced with the complete disruption of the local grain trade, the elders realized the futility of their position and ended their resistance. The garesa was built.

As it turned out, this was the apex of Geledi influence."

==================================

In 1878 Ahmad and Abiker again attacked the Biimaal and were both killed. Geledi dominance was at an end. The Geledi were not maritime, did not have a port and did not get to either Zanzibar or Lamu. They never ruled from Mog or controlled the coast.. Somebody has been making that stuff up.

 

[Factz]

Renewers of the Age: Holy Men and Social Discourse in Colonial Benaadir, Scott Reese, 2008.

Page 57-59

"Using slave labor obtained through the coastal ports the Geledi gradually shifted their economic base away from its traditional dependency on pastoralism and subsistence agriculture to one built largely on plantation agriculture and the production of cash crops such as grain, cotton and sesame.

This process encompassed most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By the time of the Baardheere troubles, the Geledi in Afgoye were enjoying unprecedented prosperity and influence. The power of the sultans continued to expand via local trade networks, enabling them to force all caravans bound for the interior to pass through their own markets where they could be taxed. With their victory over Baardheere, the Geledi seemed poised to dominate all of southern Somalia. Geledi expansion was blocked, however, by both local rivals and their own lack of direct access to the sea. From the mid 1840's through the 1870s Sultan Yusuf Muhammad and his successors sought to use the political and military capital accrued as a result of the conflict with Baardheere to secure their expansionist agenda. The result instead was tension, political intrigue and- eventually- armed conflict.

Immediately following the Baardheere war, Yusuf Muhammad hoped to establish a Geledi controlled port at the point where the Shabeelle was closest to the coast known as Mungiya south of Marka. The Geledi already controlled most of the riverine agricultural settlements that far south and the establishment of a port would allow them to export grain directly to overseas buyers without the expense of going through urban middlemen in Mogadishu or Marka.

Not surprisingly, this move evoked almost immediate resistance from agro-pastoralist competitors as well as coastal merchants, who saw their interests threatened by Geledi ambition. The result was a war of attrition between the Geledi and their principle rivals the Bimal, a clan of pastoral entrepreneurs from the region surrounding Marka. The latter were supported by urban merchant communities from the length and breadth of the coast. Throughout the 1840's, the two sides fought a number of indecisive engagements ultimately ending in stalemate by the latter years of the decade.

By 1847, the upper hand seemed to lay with the Geledi. Hoping to consolidate his gains ,Sultan Yusuf decided to eliminate the Bimal threat once and for all by forcing what he hoped would be a final decisive battle. In May, 1848 he forced the Bimal into a major engagement at the village of Golwayn. The details of the battle are sketchy, however, what is known is that shortly after the fighting ended, both Sultan Yusuf and his brother Musa lay dead and their forces were routed. With one blow, Geledi expansion towards the coast was ended.

While Sultan Yusuf's death ended Geledi ambitions to dominate the coast, it did not end their control over territories in the interior. Yusuf was succeeded by two of his sons, Ahmad and Abiker. Ahmad made his seat at Afgoye the traditional center of power for the Gobroon. Abiker became Sultan of Buulo Merer, a village downstream from Afgoye and opposite Bimal territory at the extreme limit of what had become the Geledi sphere of influence. This move was apparently aimed at enabling the Gobroon to maintain tight control over the furthest reaches of their territory in the face of continued Bimal belligerence..

In addition to sustaining their territorial integrity, the Gobroon were also able to maintain much of their political influence in the urban centers of the coast, especially Mogadishu, although this seems to have been more due to their economic power than military strength. The most celebrated example of their continued influence centers on the construction of a Zanzibar fortress or garesa in the Shingani district of the town. The Omani sultans of Zanzibar had laid nominal claim to the Benaadir coast since the early 1800s. Around 1870, the Zanzibari sultan, Sayyid Barghash, decided to make this claim a reality by establishing garrisons in each of the major towns for the purpose of assessing customs duty. The elders of Shangani, however resisted the idea and the Sultan lacking either the military or economic means to force compliance, looked to the Geledi Sultan, Ahmad for help. Eager to demonstrate his power over the townsmen, Sultan Ahmad readily agreed, and threatened to order his allies along the river to boycott the Shangani market if the elders continued to obstruct Zanzibari plans. Faced with the complete disruption of the local grain trade, the elders realized the futility of their position and ended their resistance. The garesa was built.

As it turned out, this was the apex of Geledi influence."

==================================

In 1878 Ahmad and Abiker again attacked the Biimaal and were both killed. Geledi dominance was at an end. The Geledi were not maritime, did not have a port and did not get to either Zanzibar or Lamu. They never ruled from Mog or controlled the coast.. Somebody has been making that stuff up.

You as a foreigner who has extreme hatred towards the Somalis and discrediting the Somali history means nothing.

Read this authentic source from below. Zanzibar Sultanate (Omani Kingdom) claimed the southern Somali coast (Benadir coast). However, it was all nominal since the coast was locally ruled by Somali kingdoms such as Hiraab Imamate and Geledi Sultanate the successor state of Ajuran Empire as it says from this source below.

Nominal definition: (of a role or status) existing in name only. Meaning they claimed the Benadir coast but didn't rule it.

This is Zanzibar Sultanate authentic map. Omanis did not pass Lamu, let alone bordering the Somali coast.

Remember all Rahanweyn lands were governed by the Geledi elites (Gobroon dynasty) which includes Barawa which is dominated by Tunni clan who hail from the Digil branch and closely related to the Geledi clan. I mean what does Bimaal resisting Geledi hegemony have to do with Geledi coast or Geledi maritime history? Bimaal only controlled Merka so what the heck are you talking about?


I'm just going to let the map do the talking.

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[Grant]

Pages 60-61

"As already seen, coastal traditions regarding the Baardheere Jihad recall that while the military skills of the Geledi were important in the defeat of the jama'a, it was the baraka and sacred magic (ta'dar) of Sultan Yusuf Muhammad that were decisive in defeating the heretics. In this struggle, the Gobroon and their powers are portrayed as defenders of true Islam. As Gobroon ambitions began to threaten and intrude on the urban sphere after Baardheere's defeat, however, the sultans were themselves transformed into heretics who must be stopped at any cost.

In a hagiograpohic traditon concerning Shaykh Uways b. Muhammad for instance, the Gobroon are presented as evil magicians bent on harming the faithful rather than as defenders of the faith, even those who are guests in their own homes:

Shaykh Uways was in a village known as Aylguudh while some of his students were in a place called Seghaal. Both of these were in the territory of the Gobroon Sultans. The one who witnessed this relates, "the Gobroon placed a spell on ;the bunn offered to the students. But this was revealed to Uways in Aylguud...even though there was a considerable distance between the two, He stood up and planted his staff in the ground, placing his turban upon it. He then traveled [miraculously] to Seghaal arriving just before the students were about to eat the bunn. Uways spit into the bunn and read something over it. As he did so, something flew from the midst of evil into the air and ran off...and the shaykh said, "eat of this as now no danger may come to you." He then returned to Aylguudh.

In this story, first recorded around 1917, the Gobroon are no longer perceived as defenders of the faith, or even as good Muslims. Instead, they appear as malevolent magicians bent on doing harm to the faithful.

In Mogadishu traditions, the final defeat of the Gobroon is presented in similarly religious terms. Before moving against the Bimal at Agareen Sultan Ahmad reputedly demanded the submission of Mogadishu. The town elders rejected his demand, telling him instead to "go see the Ashraf of Marka." Stung by this rebuff, Sultan Ahmad turned his attention to Marka, vowing to deal with the obstinate people of Mogadishu at a later date.

When his army approached Marka, a sharif of the town said to the Bimal, "Go to war against these people." He then planted a watermelon seed at the site of the impending battle that bore fruit after only three hours. The two armies joined battle in earnest. But when the soldiers came upon the fruit they stopped to eat and in doing so fell into a state of enchantment. While they were immobilized, the Bimal soldiers approached and killed them where they sat. This is proof that while the Gobroon practiced magic, the power of Islam was greater.

The thrust of these stories is clear. The downfall of the Gobroon was due to heresy and their devotion to what came to be defined as "magic" rather than to God. The real importance of such narratives, however, is the view from the urban sphere which automatically placed the conflict and its resolution within a religious framework.This might be expected from the first story which appears in one of two canonical hagiographies of Shaykh Uways B. Muhammad al-Barawi, Ins al-Anis. The second account, however, is a tradition commonly told by Benaadiris in non-religious settings."

 

[James Dahl]

Nominal rule did exist for a long time but the Sultanate of Zanzibar did take direct control after 1832 when they sailed a naval expedition and took control of the Banaadir coast by force. The relationship technically had not changed but Zanzibar took a lot more of a colonialist approach. Direct rule was pretty short lived though, they sold Banaadir to Italy in 1880, so the direct administration lasted only 48 years.

Zanzibar didn't want to spend much in the way of resources to govern Banaadir and went out of their way not to offend the Geledi, and historians have interpreted that as a co-dominion or something like that, but all the governors in all the Banaadir towns after 1832 were all Omanis.

 

[Factz]

Nominal rule did exist for a long time but the Sultanate of Zanzibar did take direct control after 1832 when they sailed a naval expedition and took control of the Banaadir coast by force. The relationship technically had not changed but Zanzibar took a lot more of a colonialist approach. Direct rule was pretty short lived though, they sold Banaadir to Italy in 1880, so the direct administration lasted only 48 years.

Zanzibar didn't want to spend much in the way of resources to govern Banaadir and went out of their way not to offend the Geledi, and historians have interpreted that as a co-dominion or something like that, but all the governors in all the Banaadir towns after 1832 were all Omanis.

When the Italians came. Zanzibar Sultanate claimed to control Mogadishu, Merca, Barawa, Kismayo and all the way to Cape Guardafui. However, it was under the local Somali kingdoms like Hiraab Imamate, Geledi Sultanate, Bimaal State, Hobyo Sultanate and Majerteen Sultanate therefore making the Italian-Zanzibar agreement null and void. Even when Zanzibar Sultanate agreed Italians to annex the coast, the Somalis resisted for many years which is why Omanis were known as nominal. Only claiming the coast but not controlling it.

Read this authentic source from below. Zanzibar Sultanate (Omani Kingdom) claimed the southern Somali coast (Benadir coast). However, it was all nominal since the coast was locally ruled by Somali kingdoms such as Hiraab Imamate and Geledi Sultanate the successor state of Ajuran Empire as it says from this source below.

Nominal definition: (of a role or status) existing in name only. Meaning they claimed the Benadir coast but didn't rule it.

This is Zanzibar Sultanate authentic map. Omanis did not pass Lamu, let alone bordering the Somali coast.

 

[Grant]

Pages 50-51:

"The emergence of commercial agriculture in southern Somalia was primarily the result of fortunate geography. The Banaadir was the only part of the East African coast with a fertile riverine plain in its immediate hinterland. |As Lee Cassanelli points out, the coastal plain created by the Shabelli river is only a few miles wide at any given point. However, it runs parallel to the coast for two hundred miles. Furthermore, at points, the river banks are higher than the surrounding plain, providing optimal conditions for irrigated agriculture. This fertile near-hinterland probably provided the towns with a ready source of food since their inception. The transformation of this region into a commercial enterprise was the result of settlement of several pastoral groups in the early years of the nineteenth century. Each of these-the Tunni near Baraawe, the Bimal in Marka and the Geledi in Afgoye just outside Mogadishu-established ownership rights to the fertile land, and within a short time made local cultivator groups their clients. By the mid-nineteenth century, pastoral entrepreneurs, using these client cultivators and imported slave labor from southern Ethiopia and elsewhere in East Africa, were producing large amounts of grain, sesame and later, cotton for commercial markets.

Although the urban residents of the coastal towns did not at first own agricultural land in the interior, they benefited from agricultural growth through domination of the ports. While pastoral entrepreneurs controlled means of production in ;the interior, they lacked both the facilities and commercial contacts to export their goods to a wider market. They needed to maintain amicable relations with urban merchants who could provide access to shipping and commercial links as well as guarantee a favorable overseas market for their produce. This included not only agricultural goods such as grain and sesame but also more traditional pastoral products such as livestock, ghee and hides, which they began to export in increasing amounts throughout the western Indian Ocean.

Banaadiri merchants also broadened their economic horizons by extending their commercial interests deeper inland in search of luxury goods especially ivory and slaves. At the start of the nineteenth century the so-called "ivory-frontier" of Somalia extended only as far as the near-hinterland of the towns. Some traditions suggest that up until this time, elephants and other beasts roamed freely about the country to the edge of the sea. Population movements, sedentarization and continued hunting, however, gradually forced merchants and hunters further inland in search of ivory, rhino horn and other valuable, low bulk goods for Indian Ocean markets. During the second half of the century coastal traders penetrated deep into the interior. By 1890, Benaadiri merchant colonies could be found in every important town in the interior including Luuq, Baardheere and Buur Haqaba. These locations served not only as nodes for coastal business interests, but also as bases for even deeper forays into the lands of the Boran and Arussi peoples in present day Ethiopia. Coastal merchants prospered by controlling the flow of slaves and ivory toward the Benaadir towns, but also speculating in the local grain and livestock markets of the interior."

-----------------------------------------------

I hope everyone noticed that at one time there were three pastoral groups, plus the Baardheere Jamaca, and separate commercial interests in the coastal towns, all competing for control of the trade in the south. The Tunni at Baraawe were not part of the Geledi confederation. The Hintire, Jiddu, Begedi and some Reewin clans also renounced their allegiance to Geledi after the burning of Baardheere. The Geledi wars of expansion, 1846-1878, ended in the deaths of two generations of leaders and the end of Geledi domination by 1878. They never got a port. The Omanis collected the customs duties and, after 1832, ruled the coastal towns through their governors.

 

[Grant]

Pages 103-104

"....during the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century Benaadiri merchants faced only occasional challenges to their renewed prosperity. The town of Barawe was attacked and briefly occupied during the late 1830s by religious reformers from the inland town of Baardheere. The merchants of Mogadishu experienced similar difficulties during the 1870s when the rulers of the Geledi clan in nearby Afgoye attempted to take over the city in an effort to gain direct access to overseas markets for grain exports. In both instances, the urbanites, in conjunction with pastoral allies, were able to defeat these external threats and safeguard their economic prosperity. During the last two decades of the century, however, Benaadiri merchants experienced a number of economic crises to their economic well-being that could not be countered by the strategic use of violence. Some of these calamities were natural, most notably drought and a rinderpest epidemic which struck much of East Africa during the 1880's. Others were created through human agency, in ;the form of Indian financial leverage and Arab mercantile adventurers backed by encroaching Omani and European imperialism.

With their principle political rivals defeated,, the last quarter of the nineteenth century seemed to hold great promise for the Benaadiri commercial society. The end of the Geledi wars in the 1870s initially provided enough security for Benaadir townsmen to expand their activities. A few of ;the wealthiest coastal patricians began to invest directly in agricultural production in the lower Jubba and Shabelle River valleys. Acquiring land and slaves, they sought to diversify their interests by engaging in the actual production of commodities such as grain, sesame seed and cotton rather than acting as mere brokers. The heart of Benaadiri commercial fortunes remained the brokerage of pastoral and agricultural goods and an ever growing caravan trade with the far interior.

The practice of commercial exchange among the inhabitants of the coast was old as the towns themselves. Journeying to the distant interior in search of these goods, however, was a relatively recent development. |According to their oral traditions, Mogadishu merchants only began to travel and trade in the interior in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Merchants from Barawe were even later entrants venturing into the far hinterland only after the middle of the 1800s. The conflicts of the middle of the century put a halt to this early expansion but peace at the end of the 1870s brought a flood of urban merchants back to the interior.

Inland commercial expansion seems driven primarily by economic expediency. The principle beneficiaries of peace were a limited number of large urban merchants. Writing about Mogadishu at the turn of the century, the Italian traveler |Gustavo Chiesi observed that once goods reached the town from the interior, they were virtually monopolized by a few wealthy traders. Upon the arrival of a caravan at the town's approaches, he wrote,"the principle traders...attempted to earmark its goods for themselves," sending their agents to appropriate the best merchandise for themselves. A similar situation prevailed in the livestock and pastoral product market in Barawe located a short distance away in the village of Soblalle. Here, once again, large merchants or their agents would descend upon the village buying up "the biggest part of the grain, ghee and livestock," then export it directly to larger markets like Zanzibar, Mombasa, the Seychelles and the Comoros, bypassing the town altogether."