It's kind of weird how said shidaad who is arguably the greatest living somali historian and he works and lives in somalia (puntland ). Yet none of his research seems to be widespread or well known in somalia. I can't find a single video of him giving a talk.
The legit somali intellectuals love to remain in hiding for some reasonI really had not heard of him until @Idilinaa brought him to my attention but he seriously is the most serious and legit scholar we have on the field today who is actually redefining many things. He should contact Sada Mire for PR pointers.
They really do ignore this stuff at their own peril. I mean the pseudohistory that is public somali history is mind boggling.I think they're ultimately academics and feel what they're doing is much more "meaningful" in the big scheme of things because they're publishing actual scholarly works that wind up in journals or as books by qualified scholars (them).
But I think they ignore the importance of PR because while you will certainly steer the serious scholarship on a subject by publishing serious scholarly works, the average person's opinions are based on what they see on YouTube, TikTok, random forums like this and even Wikipedia to some extent. You have to somewhat be publicly accessible to influence and reach those people but I don't know if they really care about that.
They really do ignore this stuff at their own peril. I mean the pseudohistory that is public somali history is mind boggling.
I'm somewhat reminded of what I've more recently been learning about Ancient Greece which is that it was actually an essentially an Agro-Pastoral society:
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Past, present and future of pastoralism in Greece - Pastoralism
Pastoral farming has been a feature of the Greek scene since antiquity. The geomorphology of the area, climatic conditions and the prevailing systems of agricultural production in lowland regions at any given time have all been conducive to the development and preservation of this productive...pastoralismjournal.springeropen.com
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The Identification of pastoralist sites Within the context of estate-based agriculture in ancient Greece: beyond the ‘Transhumance versus agro-pastoralism’ debate
The present ‘transhumance versus agro-pastoralism’ debate is here set within the context of a broadly based anthropological approach to pastoralism. Certain constant features of the relationship of pastoralists to their landscape are identifiable,www.academia.edu
Much of mainland Greece and the islands are simply not suited for large-scale agriculture—too rocky, mountainous, and with thin soil. To make up for this, the Greeks heavily supplemented their agricultural economy with animal husbandry and transhumance. They herded goats and sheep seasonally between highland and lowland pastures, relying on their milk and meat as dietary staples. It’s no coincidence that many early Greek myths, like those of the Homeric heroes, often portray shepherd figures tending their flocks—pastoral life was deeply embedded in their cultural identity.
What's been standing out to me is how mobile and adaptive the Greek economy seems to have been. Households often shifted between different roles depending on the season or family structure—some members farming what land they could, others herding animals, trading, sailing, or even fighting. Sounds a whole lot like how it appears Somali society functioned except we had bigger herd animals in the form of camels and cattle and less mountainous and rocky terrain.
@Idilinaa @Midas @Xareen @NidarNidar
Islam probably became consolidated amongst Somalis somewhere in the 11th to 12th century.I have a somewhat relevant question. When did Islam become widespread and common among Somalis? (when I say widespread and common I don't mean 100%, just a good number of Somalis became Muslim)
Videos Ive seen on the “spread of Islam” seem to coincide with Somali clan history e.g. Sheikh Isaaq etc around the 13th century, I guess these videos use that as evidence but I just don't buy it, I'm sure Islam arrived much earlier than that for Somalis, my guess is around the 8th century, iirc there's an ancient masjid in saylac that points to Jerusalem which proves how ancient Islam is in Somalia, at least with some early adopters. We know of how some of the Sahaba migrated to Ethiopia for a while and some conversions happened yet you never see that in these videos, it kinda annoys me ngl. Its not like the horn of Africa was alien to the Muslims considering extensive trade happened way before the Islamic period and continued to happen.
This video doesn't do too bad of a job considering it places the time period for Somalia around the 10th century.
Look at this atrocious video, it places Islam in Somalia towards the 14th century and uses states as evidence, on top of that it doesn't even acknowledge the “harla kingdom” as a state in which Islam arrived.
Look at this video, it completely ignores the importance of the horn of Africa when it comes to Islamic history, literally not mentioned.
This might be one of the worst ones, it shows Islam coming to the horn through the red sea hills rather than southern Arabia lol. A lot of these videos have massive views too.
This video made by a Turkish guy (I think) was the only decent video I could find, even then im not sure how accurate it is. Some of these videos have Islam arriving in the Sahelian Kingdoms before they arrive in the Horn which is wild. The Horn region outside of Abyssinia (and even there a lot of the time tbh) has to be one of the most criminally ignored areas of history in the world.
There are numerous Christian symbols in Somaliland, but most of those disappeared after the 10th century. There were also Jewish temples dating back earlier, around the ports, Yemen, across from us, prior to Islam were Jewish.I have a somewhat relevant question. When did Islam become widespread and common among Somalis? (when I say widespread and common I don't mean 100%, just a good number of Somalis became Muslim)
Videos Ive seen on the “spread of Islam” seem to coincide with Somali clan history e.g. Sheikh Isaaq etc around the 13th century, I guess these videos use that as evidence but I just don't buy it, I'm sure Islam arrived much earlier than that for Somalis, my guess is around the 8th century, iirc there's an ancient masjid in saylac that points to Jerusalem which proves how ancient Islam is in Somalia, at least with some early adopters. We know of how some of the Sahaba migrated to Ethiopia for a while and some conversions happened yet you never see that in these videos, it kinda annoys me ngl. Its not like the horn of Africa was alien to the Muslims considering extensive trade happened way before the Islamic period and continued to happen.
This video doesn't do too bad of a job considering it places the time period for Somalia around the 10th century.
Look at this atrocious video, it places Islam in Somalia towards the 14th century and uses states as evidence, on top of that it doesn't even acknowledge the “harla kingdom” as a state in which Islam arrived.
Look at this video, it completely ignores the importance of the horn of Africa when it comes to Islamic history, literally not mentioned.
This might be one of the worst ones, it shows Islam coming to the horn through the red sea hills rather than southern Arabia lol. A lot of these videos have massive views too.
This video made by a Turkish guy (I think) was the only decent video I could find, even then im not sure how accurate it is. Some of these videos have Islam arriving in the Sahelian Kingdoms before they arrive in the Horn which is wild. The Horn region outside of Abyssinia (and even there a lot of the time tbh) has to be one of the most criminally ignored areas of history in the world
Oh and also the reason i didn't include souther eritrea was becuase it's basically desert where nobody besides a small amount of afar live.The horn of africa is such a confusing places because of all the distorted historiography. When I first learned about akusm. The way it's described made me think its so large somalis easily must have been part of it. But the more you dig the more you realize how exaggerated it is. Especially considering the fact that you don't have any churches/monasteries in the amhara region til several centuries after akusm collapses
In reality the invasion and control of yemen is deceiving. This what the actual full extent of aksum with the two red dots being yeha and axum .
View attachment 357823
The horn of africa is such a confusing places because of all the distorted historiography. When I first learned about akusm. The way it's described made me think its so large somalis easily must have been part of it. But the more you dig the more you realize how exaggerated it is. Especially considering the fact that you don't have any churches/monasteries in the amhara region til several centuries after akusm collapses
In reality the invasion and control of yemen is deceiving. This what the actual full extent of aksum with the two red dots being yeha and axum .
View attachment 357823
It's wild to think that somali weyne might have been even larger in the past.View attachment 357828
The Afar Triangle acted as a natural buffer, notice the terrain, we lost a large chunk of our arable land in the SR after the wars due to Oromo invasions and the collapse of centralised government.
Why’s the control of Yemen deceiving?The horn of africa is such a confusing places because of all the distorted historiography. When I first learned about akusm. The way it's described made me think its so large somalis easily must have been part of it. But the more you dig the more you realize how exaggerated it is. Especially considering the fact that you don't have any churches/monasteries in the amhara region til several centuries after akusm collapses
In reality the invasion and control of yemen is deceiving. This what the actual full extent of aksum with the two red dots being yeha and axum .
View attachment 357823
Becuase when you hear the word empire I imagined they controlled a large portion of Ethiopia then invaded yemen. Bu if you look at thr map it becomes clear how close the section of yemem they invaded and controlled is.Why’s the control of Yemen deceiving?