A chronological divison of post islsmic somalia

[Awbarre]

I wanna add also that it was not due to a lack of literacy or localized learning.

Literacy and localized learning was extensive in the early modern period both in the hinterland and on the coast, not limited a elite/rich or the clergy.

Notice he mentions women teachers.

A good indicator of the high literacy rates and learning in medieval period can be indicated by how available learning was so much so that you had women scholars and teachers . A few examples :

This also can be seen in the number of female saints/sheikhas ''Ay's'', tombs/graves in the ruined medieval town of Dogor in Northern Western Somalia

Are Baraawes of Somali origin or are they just Swahilis that became Somalised

 

[Idilinaa]

Are Baraawes of Somali origin or are they just Swahilis that became Somalised

Reer Barawa are Somali in their origin, obviously. But they are translocal community, so they can at times identify with more than 1 place , they are like a bridge between worlds.

 

[Idilinaa]

IThese links also existed not just with the coast of Southern Somalia but also with the Southern interior. There was political and cultural links between Sultans of Geledi and Bardheera Jama with the northern Swahili coast particularly with Witu and Lamu.

The city State of Siyu, for example was revived from the 1700s by a new stream of Somali Shayukhs who joint ruled it and intitiated it into a center for learning and book production

The influence in book production can be seen in the Somali leathermaking for book binding and woodcarving, motifs etc

I wanna add also that it was not due to a lack of literacy or localized learning.

Literacy and localized learning was extensive in the early modern period both in the hinterland and on the coast, not limited a elite/rich or the clergy.

Notice he mentions women teachers.

A good indicator of the high literacy rates and learning in medieval period can be indicated by how available learning was so much so that you had women scholars and teachers . A few examples :

This also can be seen in the number of female saints/sheikhas ''Ay's'', tombs/graves in the ruined medieval town of Dogor in Northern Western Somalia

@Midas @Shimbiris

As a carry on from the info above. Salman Reis the Ottoman describes the port of Zayla during the 1500s as a place for book production and distribution. And the major driver of Islamic activities ''The Frontier of Islam''

''and near a port which is known as Zaila stands a city called Janasir. They call it's rulers Mujahidin and they are all very pious. Most learned books are distributed from Zaila. That province is the frontier of Islam. Every year raids are carried against the infidel Habes, on the path of Allah, by way of holy war and they fight hard...

Btw Baylul is Afar/Danakil port.

 

[Idilinaa]

Another thing is that Richard Burton visited Harrar which he called the ''Alma Mater of Somali lands''

The most important ulema at the time in Harar was Somali Shaykh Jami Al-Bartirri who invited him to his home and showed him his collection of Books.

He echoes something i said before that after reading what other scholar have said, a lot of the books in Harar are not local copies, but mostly antiques.

Harar in many cases acted as a central collection place where they binded and preserved manuscripts and books.

@Midas one last info .

Another thing that i noticed is that Richard Burton is always consulting Somalis about historical books and manuscripts when he visited the area. In another instance he mentions a Hawiye Qadi from Harar tasked with record keeping at the city of Zayla, and he shows him some of those records

It really is a shame we don't have copies of those towns records available, like the Barawa Qadi records.
I am hoping there are families out there that have them in their private libraries or if it exists in European libraries and antique collections. Or maybe even in Yemen.

He also mentions manuscript given to Speke by the Majerteen Sultan's Aban recording the Sheikh Ismail Darood Al-Jabarti arrival, rulers of the land during that time and the genealogy. Sadly the original journal by Speke didn't survive so we can only infer from what Burton says about it after he read it which he rewrote a lot.

Another thing Richard Burton mentions that stood out to me , supports how the towns urban culture and industry was shaped by Somalis and how they were the majority of craftsmen as it's been reported on

Also it's not surprising that tumur/tumtu (Blacksmith/tumaal) and boon (tanner) are loans when you consider the fact that most black smiths/craftsments and weavers/leatherworkers in Harar were Somali. They call them Tumur collectively as a result of that.

Inside the city the artisans are concentrated in certain quarters:

Is how he mentions how most of the furniture and items in the Harar households are Somali products aside from the rare Persian imports.

Somali pillows , wooden spoons, and porringers shaped with a hatchet , finished with a knife, stained red and brightly polished . The gourd is a conspicous article ; smoked inside and fitted with a cover of the same material, it serves as cup , bottle , pipe and water-skin: a coarse and heave kind of pottery of black or brown clay , is used by some citizens.

Even the digging sticks for farming are made by Somalis in Harar

Weighted Digging Sticks in Ethiopia

The shafts are made by households as required. The metal tip sheaths are made in Harar by an endogamous 'caste' of Somali blacksmiths called t'umt'u .

This is of particular importance because Harar a half a century before Burton is noted that to be inhabited by Somalis and are singled out as the most industrious people in East Africa.

I mentioned Shaykh Jami A-Bartirri of Harar earlier , his kinsmen are agro-pastoralists mentioned to be cultivating coffee trees near Harar. One of the key cash crops that are exported.

The commerce of city in particular was controlled by Somali traders that move from Harar and through Zayla and Berbera , with Berbera noted to be in control of most of the commerce.

''He who commands at Berberah, holds the beard of Harar in his hands'' is a saying which i have heard even within the city walls.''

 

[Idilinaa]

Finally i am also starting to wonder if the earlier Amirs of Harar were just Somalis before the Gurage oromo Emir took over the title of Emir. @Emir of Harar @Midas @Shimbiris. @Emir of Zayla

Here it is mentioned by a visitor in 1840.

i know that for a fact that Awsa Emirs were simply Harla Darood, that later politically intermarried with neighboring Issa . From the genealogies and chronicles they left behind. They saw Afar/Danakil as seperate people they warred with, who harrased caravans. The minute Afar took control, they dislodged the carvan going to Harar and Zayla and relied on trading rock salt from nearby. You can also see the conflict they had with the Awsa Emirs continues with their conflict with Issa. Danakil are mentioned to seperate from Awdal/Zayla and allied with Abyssinia in a number of sources Arab, Ottoman, Portuguese etc.

It is very important to point this out because it's Issa's who controlled the trade route from Awsa to Harar and from Harar to Zayla. They also have priestly/clergy group in both places called Sayhas. Sayhas Isa sub clan are mentioned to particularly inhabit Harar during the Egyptian occupation in the records. And the majority trace descent from Sayh Fiqi Umar.

Habesha and Oromos tend to take on somali provincial and city names(Harrar is named after a Somali tree as Richard Burton was told and similarly Awgoba was a province) after conversion and moving there and try to construct identities around them i have noticed, which ends up misleading people. Because those are place names not cultural identities.

Somalis don't tend to name themselves after place names, instead they refer to families from those places Reer(Family) Awdal (Zayla Somalis), Reer Xamar (Mogadishu Somalis, Reer Barawe, Reer Bari, Reer Waqooyi/Galbeed, Reer Goleed, Reer Seeki(Luuq Somalis), Reer Adare (Harar Somalis)

Because we don't identify with a single place but see ourselves as a network of connected families.

Big evidence to this is how Hararis just like Gurage have a supported recorded tradition that they are from Tigray and are of Tigrayan origin. Just like that early visitor in 1840 said of Gurage Oromo's

And they cannot support a connection to the city at all in any of their sources/traditions and the earliest mention of the inhabitants in year 1814 says they are Somalis by two different french visitors like i have shown in the other post. There is no mention of Harari as a population group until after 1840s when the Gurage Oromo Emir and the likes take control of the city.

She mentions archeological research on Awgoba in the last paragraph and they have done that: Came with predictable conclusion that they are from elsewhere with no connection to the place.

And researchers have investigated Argobba and its the same case for them they have no connections to the land or of Awfat and some was peasants from the upper plateau and some of them were Amhara colonizers who came to the area in the 19th century and took on the regional name:

 

[Midas]

@Midas one last info .

Another thing that i noticed is that Richard Burton is always consulting Somalis about historical books and manuscripts when he visited the area. In another instance he mentions a Hawiye Qadi from Harar tasked with record keeping at the city of Zayla, and he shows him some of those records

It really is a shame we don't have copies of those towns records available, like the Barawa Qadi records.
I am hoping there are families out there that have them in their private libraries or if it exists in European libraries and antique collections. Or maybe even in Yemen.

He also mentions manuscript given to Speke by the Majerteen Sultan's Aban recording the Sheikh Ismail Darood Al-Jabarti arrival, rulers of the land during that time and the genealogy. Sadly the original journal by Speke didn't survive so we can only infer from what Burton says about it after he read it which he rewrote a lot.

Another thing Richard Burton mentions that stood out to me , supports how the towns urban culture and industry was shaped by Somalis and how they were the majority of craftsmen as it's been reported on



Is how he mentions how most of the furniture and items in the Harar households are Somali products aside from the rare Persian imports.

Somali pillows , wooden spoons, and porringers shaped with a hatchet , finished with a knife, stained red and brightly polished . The gourd is a conspicous article ; smoked inside and fitted with a cover of the same material, it serves as cup , bottle , pipe and water-skin: a coarse and heave kind of pottery of black or brown clay , is used by some citizens.

Even the digging sticks for farming are made by Somalis in Harar

Weighted Digging Sticks in Ethiopia


This is of particular importance because Harar a half a century before Burton is noted that to be inhabited by Somalis and are singled out as the most industrious people in East Africa.

I mentioned Shaykh Jami A-Bartirri of Harar earlier , his kinsmen are agro-pastoralists mentioned to be cultivating coffee trees near Harar. One of the key cash crops that are exported.

The commerce of city in particular was controlled by Somali traders that move from Harar and through Zayla and Berbera , with Berbera noted to be in control of most of the commerce.

''He who commands at Berberah, holds the beard of Harar in his hands'' is a saying which i have heard even within the city walls.''

Wow how did nobody notice this before. I can't imagine what we'll find in some of the local famliy libraries. Although some were undoubtedly lost when menelik basically wiped out the somalis from harar

 

[Midas]

Finally i am also starting to wonder if the earlier Amirs of Harar were just Somalis before the Gurage oromo Emir took over the title of Emir. @Emir of Harar @Midas @Shimbiris. @Emir of Zayla

Here it is mentioned by a visitor in 1840.

i know that for a fact that Awsa Emirs were simply Harla Darood, that later politically intermarried with neighboring Issa . From the genealogies and chronicles they left behind. They saw Afar/Danakil as seperate people they warred with, who harrased caravans. The minute Afar took control, they dislodged the carvan going to Harar and Zayla and relied on trading rock salt from nearby. You can also see the conflict they had with the Awsa Emirs continues with their conflict with Issa. Danakil are mentioned to seperate from Awdal/Zayla and allied with Abyssinia in a number of sources Arab, Ottoman, Portuguese etc.

It is very important to point this out because it's Issa's who controlled the trade route from Awsa to Harar and from Harar to Zayla. They also have priestly/clergy group in both places called Sayhas. Sayhas Isa sub clan are mentioned to particularly inhabit Harar during the Egyptian occupation in the records. And the majority trace descent from Sayh Fiqi Umar.

Habesha and Oromos tend to take on somali provincial and city names(Harrar is named after a Somali tree as Richard Burton was told and similarly Awgoba was a province) after conversion and moving there and try to construct identities around them i have noticed, which ends up misleading people. Because those are place names not cultural identities.

Somalis don't tend to name themselves after place names, instead they refer to families from those places Reer(Family) Awdal (Zayla Somalis), Reer Xamar (Mogadishu Somalis, Reer Barawe, Reer Bari, Reer Waqooyi/Galbeed, Reer Goleed, Reer Seeki(Luuq Somalis), Reer Adare (Harar Somalis)

Because we don't identify with a single place but see ourselves as a network of connected families.

Big evidence to this is how Hararis just like Gurage have a supported recorded tradition that they are from Tigray and are of Tigrayan origin. Just like that early visitor in 1840 said of Gurage Oromo's

And they cannot support a connection to the city at all in any of their sources/traditions and the earliest mention of the inhabitants in year 1814 says they are Somalis by two different french visitors like i have shown in the other post. There is no mention of Harari as a population group until after 1840s when the Gurage Oromo Emir and the likes take control of the city.

She mentions archeological research on Awgoba in the last paragraph and they have done that: Came with predictable conclusion that they are from elsewhere with no connection to the place.

I suppose part of the reason non somalis haven't been able to conncetd the dots. Is that they didn't understand somali place names and how they are connected with clan names. And to think in the time of I. M lewis and even before him people thought that we were somehow newcomers to the land and are orgins were from southern ethiopia. When that in fact describes oromos perfectly. How ironic.

 

[Idilinaa]

I suppose part of the reason non somalis haven't been able to conncetd the dots. Is that they didn't understand somali place names and how they are connected with clan names. And to think in the time of I. M lewis and even before him people thought that we were somehow newcomers to the land and are orgins were from southern ethiopia. When that in fact describes oromos perfectly. How ironic.

I don't think they are connected with clan names, the cities are usually inhabited by a diverse family lineages and not one clan. You see Issa, Geri, Bartirre,Hawiye, Habar Awal individuals mentioned to be citizen and inhabitants of Harar by Burton and Egyptian records. So we say ''the families from that place'' when using Reer before a place name, so those we refer to could be any clan or family

Harar is named after a common Somali tree as well : https://www.somalispot.com/threads/harar-is-named-after-a-somali-tree.169754/

What Gurage Oromos have done is like Somalis coming to London and calling themselves Londonis people and start saying the Somali language is actually Londonis language. Like what? We arrived at London recently and maybe inhabit certain quarters of the city but the city is by English people who lived through the country and/or those who have been there for several generations thats the historical reality.

But in Somalia we are not new comers and the historical sources just show that. So writers like I'M Lewis werent historians but was instead just revisionists.
Link: A summary of historical sources that show Somali population stability and continuity

Wow how did nobody notice this before. I can't imagine what we'll find in some of the local famliy libraries. Although some were undoubtedly lost when menelik basically wiped out the somalis from harar

We might find some at local European libraries, it's worth looking into and maybe private libararies from families from the north or in Yemen.

There is mention of a few Somali manuscripts taken to the German state library from Northern Somalia.

It is also to be underlined that these three manuscripts originate in north Somalia where I. M. Lewis had them copied from the originals in the second half of the 50s. WAGNER received the copies of these Somali manuscripts from Lewis in 1972 and left them to the Staatsbibliothek in 1996.

 

[Idilinaa]

Thought i should include this one last one @Shimbiris @Midas
Another example i came across is this manuscript locally produced in Lamu by a Somali scribe.

Which was the oldest one in their collection :

5. Localising Islamic knowledge: acquisition and copying of the Riyadha Mosque manuscript collection in Lamu, Kenya

In Lamu, Islamic practice and intellectual traditions in the late nineteenth century were strongly marked by the foundation of the Riyadha Mosque, established by Ṣāliḥ b. ʿAlawī Jamal al-Layl, known in East Africa as Habib Saleh (1853-1936).2 He was a descendant of early migrants from Ḥaḍramawt...

books.openedition.org

''Some of the manuscripts features and historical context of their production also suggests influences from the southern Somali coast''

Another thing is that Richard Burton visited Harrar which he called the ''Alma Mater of Somali lands''

The most important ulema at the time in Harar was Somali Shaykh Jami Al-Bartirri who invited him to his home and showed him his collection of Books.

He echoes something i said before that after reading what other scholar have said, a lot of the books in Harar are not local copies, but mostly antiques.

Harar in many cases acted as a central collection place where they binded and preserved manuscripts and books.

Reference to a mid 19th century book production among Somalis and us writing down our language with Arabic characters and existence of libraries.

''He stated of the Southern Somali, that ''they have many books, which are written with the Arabic character, but in a different language, and that there are learned men among the Somali, who make books.''