Historical trade routes between banaadir and the interior

[Chaseyourdreamzz]

I was reading on here about a historical trade route that stretched from luuq all the way to xamarweyne are there any other trade routes between coastal areas and the interior that you guys are aware of post what you can

 

[Chaseyourdreamzz]

There is not many immediate resources in Mogadishu or on the Benadiri coast in general, early on no one except producers from far interior or the hinterland would settle there and use it as an exchange center for their products. Whether they be agro-cultivators or camel herders.

People who lived in the hinterland of Mogadishu weren't all simple camel herding nomads either, a lot of them were settled agro-pastoralists living in a number of farming villages near/along the banks of the shabelle river. Each village inhabited by 200 people.

The earliest mentions of Mogadishu/Merca in medieval sources paints the same picture, connecting it to it's hinterland and describing the 50 villages along the banks of the river.

This is also supported by archeological excavations in Afgoye, that shows that the agricultural town pre-dates Mogadishu. The economic developments in the hinterland directly led to the formation, settlement and development of the urban towns on the coast.

Note that there other interior commercial urban towns(most now abandoned) along caravan routes, the oldest surviving of them being the walled city of Lugh. Benadiri Reer Shaykh Mumin clan is one example that is interspersed between the camel caravan trade routes that links to Lugh(Interior city) and Bur Hakaba(Agricultural center) from the coast of Mogadishu(Coastal City) and commanded it.
''The town depended on the grain brought by camels from the Galadi(Shabelle) River''

It looks like this banaadiri clan were influential in the trade routes between these cities interesting also describes trade routes between lower shabelle and xamar

 

[Idilinaa]

It looks like this banaadiri clan were influential in the trade routes between these cities interesting also describes trade routes between lower shabelle and xamar

Yes they are a raxanweyn clan whose ancestor Shaykh Muumin is buried in Bur Hakaba, they dispersed between luuq, buur hakaba and mogadishu. Luuq was the most important
interior trading city in the 19th century
The trade from Afgoie and Aw Degle and Genale etc was handled by other clans.

Aside from the coastal villages dotted between the cities/towns i mentioned:

No Mogadishu was always bigger. Mogadishu is actually a twin town, whereas Merca and Barawa are both single towns. There was also good number of early smaller village settlements dotted between Mogadishu and Merca, communities such as Gezeira, Nimow, Aw Make, Danane, Gendershe, and Gelib-Merca.

and aside from the agricultural villages along the river in the interior i mentioned. One thing i forgot to mention was that most of the coastal towns had twin urban settlements in their immediate hinterland

Couple this with the extensive trade routes, the upper shabbele river for example served as a rough dividing line between two trade routes, one leading up to the Northern coast and another leading down to the southern coast. That long distance trade was more than half of Benadiri export commodities in estimation.

The cross regional trade and movement of people linked Somalis with each-other into one integrated economic system.

 

[Idilinaa]

Yes they are a raxanweyn clan whose ancestor Shaykh Muumin is buried in Bur Hakaba, they dispersed between luuq, buur hakaba and mogadishu. Luuq was the most important
interior trading city in the 19th century
The trade from Afgoie and Aw Degle and Genale etc was handled by other clans.

Aside from the coastal villages dotted between the cities/towns i mentioned:

and aside from the agricultural villages along the river in the interior i mentioned. One thing i forgot to mention was that most of the coastal towns had twin urban settlements in their immediate hinterland

Couple this with the extensive trade routes, the upper shabbele river for example served as a rough dividing line between two trade routes, one leading up to the Northern coast and another leading down to the southern coast. That long distance trade was more than half of Benadiri export commodities in estimation.

The cross regional trade and movement of people linked Somalis with each-other into one integrated economic system.

Luuq existed at an intersection point of main caravan routes

A description of the interior trading city of Luuq , urban planning and lay out. It was the royal seat of Gasaarguude Garaads and the towns people were collectively known as ''Reer Kofur'

Based on the descriptions it was probably same urban planning as the town of Bardheere and the stone architecture was similar to the coastal towns with elaborate white washed dwellings.

A fun wall art i found in Harar, showing how integral line the Camel Caravans was for the city @Shimbiris

 

[Midas]

Luuq existed at an intersection point of main caravan routes

A description of the interior trading city of Luuq , urban planning and lay out. It was the royal seat of Gasaarguude Garaads and the towns people were collectively known as ''Reer Kofur'

Based on the descriptions it was probably same urban planning as the town of Bardheere and the stone architecture was similar to the coastal towns with elaborate white washed dwellings.

A fun wall art i found in Harar, showing how integral line the Camel Caravans was for the city @Shimbiris

I have a question. If benadiir was producing so much grain it could he shipped to arabia. Why were the towns so small in comparison to the Arabian ones? You see a settled urban class their that was mostly nonexistent among us. What was the limiting factor?

 

[Step a side]

Xamar had four main exits, one going to cadale and the northeast, one going to balcad towards the northwest, one going to afgooye in the southwest and one going to marka and kismaayo in the southeast. Murusade lived all over Benadir and served as intermediaries based on the empirical evidence of their presence and products.

The nile of mogadishu aka webi shabeele which meets xamar in balcad and afgooye had a significant murusade presence and the third exit leading to marka and kismaayo was named after the murusade clan.

Translation: ‘the entrance murusade of Mogadishu where men and animals enter’

There are various modern maps out there which show these import and export trade routes

The Karanle at the very end of Webi Shabele in the environs of Harar and Iimey used this river to treck to Xamar to procure slaves, and when you observe the commodities in their territory it was traded in ancient banaadir

Xamar and the upper shabeelle have been connected since the ancient times due to its clan homogenity giving ease of travel and hence being named the nile of mogadishu. So it makes sense products like ivory, ostrich feathers, the horses, gold etc came from these environs. Dhulka Karanle was a further intermediary of goods from Berbera which is mentioned in 19th century european memoirs.

"Ivory, hides (maqaar), horses, grain etc from the Galla countries west of it. ^ that was in 19th century report.

^Same products in the 16th century

Several authors in the last few centuries are aware of the interior trade which is more complex on the ground as each village serves as a market and transit.

The murusade were part of the immediate trade going on in Benadir which even I.M Lewis corroborates with those other authors

Sharif Aydarus also explains the rural urban connections between the clans that include Murusade with both urban and rural ties

 

[Step a side]

The Murusade of the Shabelle valley which is all their deegaans in both shabelle regions was part of the benadir economy servicing local markets with commodities studied by authors

The commercial ties between xamar going towards cadale and the northeast is spoken about briefly by Wakefield and a few others in the 1880s although slight inaccuracies. They reported the Hawiyes of central Somalia as deep as ceelbuur and mudug imported their tobbaco, agricultural material and domestic equipments from xamar. Mareeg, hobyo and cadale were jetty ports compared to xamar.

 

[Idilinaa]

I have a question. If benadiir was producing so much grain it could he shipped to arabia. Why were the towns so small in comparison to the Arabian ones? You see a settled urban class their that was mostly nonexistent among us. What was the limiting factor?

Benadir, Berbera luuq, haraar, qulunqul, jijigga etc in the mid-late 1800s and early 1900s,. was experiencing a population boom and people were either migrating to them , or founding new satellite settlements/centers when it was exporting surpluses to Southern Arabia. Others were agricultural villages/hamlets or towns. Zayla pop was similarly growing up until they built a rail road that dismantled the urban society as they moved to Djibouti and Galbeed/ethiopia for economic oppurtunity.


The settlements in Southern Arabia weren't all large urban ones at all, most were small villages, that relied on import of food to sustain themselves and others were bedouin/nomadic camps who similarly relied on imports of grains alongside pastoral products. So the urban class/society amongst Somalis were well existent in comparison.


There was a decline though in the late 1600s -1700s mainly because of disruption of the trade and production. Food production, food distribution and population plummeted. And during the middle ages 900-1600s the urban populations were larger across the region because of increased productivity and trade, i have gone through this in another thread before: Have a read:

You are right about one thing though you cannot make an urban settlement anywhere, in the Somali context it was usually along strategic locations along trade routes &/or near water sources such as lakes, springs or wells.

You also need a rural community producing a surplus to supply food and resources to the towns. Otherwise the towns wouldn't exist. Wether it would be pastoral products or agricultural . And Somalis raised cattle, sheep and goats, not just camels.

The growth and proliferation of them had to with increase of trade and effective management of resources by local states. Somalis cohesive identity has do with our relationship to these trade routes connecting the regions and people with eachother.

fact that due to Somalia's environment that agricultural production can only be increased with centralized governmental control and coordination of resources and water and delegation of labor, because of the irregular rainfall, floods and erratic climate conditions that can set it back.

You see this hold prominence when it relates to stories about the southern interior leaders nicknamed Ajuuran(The Taxers) during the medieval period.


View attachment 327548

You see this also cordination with Awdal led North which was producing exorbitant amount of food and feeding the general regions nearby.

I.M Lewis mentions it breifly:

There were still a number of farming villages in the Western part of Somaliland during the late 19th - 20th century.

The current environment isn't really that much different

Same can be observed for the medieval period in written sources between 1000-1600 but the difference being that they were in bigger scale and productivity.

In turn confirmed by archeology Medieval Archaeology in Somaliland:

The exorbitant amount of agricultural output in Northern Somalia was also observed by the Portuguese. The general region produced so much food that it exported much of it's surplus to regions nearby.

It's very unlike neighboring medieval Abyssinia which was characterized by food shortages, famines and poverty. And it was mainly due to it's leadership policies. Despite the fact that they occupy a more fertile land than Somalis.

In Somalia the growth of urban settlements and farming communities had to with the cordination by a central state. The decline of them is owed to the state collapse and trade disturbance.

The region always had a large dominant nomadic population, as it was a rooted in an exchange system between farmers, towns people and herders. That's basic recipe that shaped it's economy.

 

[Cartan Boos]

Xamar had four main exits, one going to cadale and the northeast, one going to balcad towards the northwest, one going to afgooye in the southwest and one going to marka and kismaayo in the southeast. Murusade lived all over Benadir and served as intermediaries based on the empirical evidence of their presence and products.

The nile of mogadishu aka webi shabeele which meets xamar in balcad and afgooye had a significant murusade presence and the third exit leading to marka and kismaayo was named after the murusade clan.

View attachment 333839
Translation: ‘the entrance murusade of Mogadishu where men and animals enter’
View attachment 333834

There are various modern maps out there which show these import and export trade routes

View attachment 333835

View attachment 333840
The Karanle at the very end of Webi Shabele in the environs of Harar and Iimey used this river to treck to Xamar to procure slaves, and when you observe the commodities in their territory it was traded in ancient banaadir


View attachment 333838
Xamar and the upper shabeelle have been connected since the ancient times due to its clan homogenity giving ease of travel and hence being named the nile of mogadishu. So it makes sense products like ivory, ostrich feathers, the horses, gold etc came from these environs. Dhulka Karanle was a further intermediary of goods from Berbera which is mentioned in 19th century european memoirs.


View attachment 333836
"Ivory, hides (maqaar), horses, grain etc from the Galla countries west of it. ^ that was in 19th century report.


View attachment 333837
^Same products in the 16th century

View attachment 333841Several authors in the last few centuries are aware of the interior trade which is more complex on the ground as each village serves as a market and transit.

View attachment 333842
The murusade were part of the immediate trade going on in Benadir which even I.M Lewis corroborates with those other authors


View attachment 333844Sharif Aydarus also explains the rural urban connections between the clans that include Murusade with both urban and rural ties

it's hilarious how u always mention u qabil, doesn't matter the topic

opp: so guys we talking about landheere hilib karbaashe aboriginal

@Step a side : you see karankle,murursade,hawiye

 

[Idilinaa]

it's hilarious how u always mention u qabil, doesn't matter te topic

What can we say the guy has a passion for all things Hawiye or Karanle.

 

[Midas]

Benadir, Berbera luuq, haraar, qulunqul, jijigga etc in the mid-late 1800s and early 1900s,. was experiencing a population boom and people were either migrating to them , or founding new satellite settlements/centers when it was exporting surpluses to Southern Arabia. Others were agricultural villages/hamlets or towns. Zayla pop was similarly growing up until they built a rail road that dismantled the urban society as they moved to Djibouti and Galbeed/ethiopia for economic oppurtunity.


The settlements in Southern Arabia weren't all large urban ones at all, most were small villages, that relied on import of food to sustain themselves and others were bedouin/nomadic camps who similarly relied on imports of grains alongside pastoral products. So the urban class/society amongst Somalis were well existent in comparison.


There was a decline though in the late 1600s -1700s mainly because of disruption of the trade and production. Food production, food distribution and population plummeted. And during the middle ages 900-1600s the urban populations were larger across the region because of increased productivity and trade, i have gone through this in another thread before: Have a read:

Considering there was an urban class developing over several centuries. Why do you think we never took the step to fully write down somali and develop a written literary form . That we could have used to better doucment. Our history. Do you have any speculations on this.

 

[Idilinaa]

Considering there was an urban class developing over several centuries. Why do you think we never took the step to fully write down somali and develop a written literary form . That we could have used to better doucment. Our history. Do you have any speculations on this.

They had no need for it, Somalis were pretty much bilingual in both Arabic and Somali. So they wrote things down in Arabic, that also acted as both a written and a liturgical language.
Not much different than what Latin was for Europeans during the early middle ages, Aramaic for Nabatean Arabs (Pre-Islam) ''a written language'' and Geez was for Ethiopians, the only difference is that literacy was not restricted to a small clergy via a learning system called ''Laqbo''

They didn't just learn writing and reading the quran. There was an indigenous system of teaching Arabic known as ''Laqbo'' that developed over centuries in Somalia. This was done in both the rural and urban areas. Students pretty much became bilingual.

Coming out of a decline in the period i spoke of in the mid-late 1800s-1900s where they was experiencing a food production boom and population increases , there was an increase in literary production accompanying it. As well as much of the collection history on Somalis was based on those written sources.

You can read more about how widely spread Arabic, learning , literacy was in the rural areas in the 19th century in this piece : Tradition to Text: Writing Local Somali History in Mid 19th century

Not only that Somalis started to mass producing arabic books via publishing houses in East Africa and Cairo during this period, started to form a print culture

 

[Aseer]

We should be wary of sources made by Ioan Lewis and Enrico cerulli those men lied alot about our tariikh.

 

[Idilinaa]

We should be wary of sources made by Ioan Lewis and Enrico cerulli those men lied alot about our tariikh.

Btw i've been meaning to ask , who is the guy in your profile pic? he looks kinda familiar to me idky

 

[Aseer]

Btw i've been meaning to ask , who is the guy in your profile pic? he looks kinda familiar to me idky

An unknown somali soldier. Who knows he might be related to you if you look like him

 

[Step a side]

it's hilarious how u always mention u qabil, doesn't matter the topic

opp: so guys we talking about landheere hilib karbaashe aboriginal

@Step a side : you see karankle,murursade,hawiye
View attachment 333857

How we discussing “Banaadir” and “trade” without mentioning Murusasde or Hawiye? It’s like discussing Dervishes without mentioning Dhulbahante.



For over 900 years Murusade was on the Banaadir coast (Baraawe to Xamar) and its hinterlands conducting business and trade.

Here are some more trade links of karanle with berbera zeila and Xamar

^french source on african history in 1962

Big towns like Imey, Babile, Baarey, Ceelbuur etc flourished with this cross country trade

 

[Idilinaa]

An unknown somali soldier. Who knows he might be related to you if you look like him

How do you have his photo then?

 

[Aseer]

How do you have his photo then?

Saw it on some random somali tiktok and I thought "Oh he looks cool!" and put him on as my profile pic.

 

[Idilinaa]

How we discussing “Banaadir” and “trade” without mentioning Murusasde or Hawiye? It’s like discussing Dervishes without mentioning Dhulbahante.



For over 900 years Murusade was on the Banaadir coast (Baraawe to Xamar) and its hinterlands conducting business and trade.

Here are some more trade links of karanle with berbera zeila and Xamar
View attachment 333884
View attachment 333885

View attachment 333886View attachment 333883
^french source on african history in 1962

View attachment 333887

View attachment 333888

Big towns like Imey, Babile, Baarey, Ceelbuur etc flourished with this cross country trade

I must say it does kinda make sense why Hawiye/Murusade/Karanle is dispersed between Hararghe and Benadir, they were following a trade route up and down the webi shabelle river.

Dir/Isaaq and perhaps darood was probably following the other route from Hararghe to up Zeyla/Berbera.