Omani revisionism

[Medeea]

I dont really understand why Somalis get upset when egyptians or omanis claim some of our lands as part of their empire. Not really a huge deal, it was brief and European occupation followed right after

The Egyptians/Ottomans directly ruled parts of northwestern Somalia reaching all the way Harar. Not a port town or two.


In the south, the Omani slave empire briefly took advantage of the civil war after Ajuuran’s fall, held nominal authority, and were mainly there to loot. They were quickly crushed by the Geledi, who even freed 50k slaves and brought them back south to disrupt their slave trade economy. After that, the Omanis had to pay heavy tribute just to access the ports. Completely different thing

 

[Abdixakim]

 

[Idilinaa]

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None of the quotes you’ve provided demonstrate that Omani rule over the Somali coast was direct or absolute. What they show is that Zanzibar maintained a commercial and administrative presence in some coastal towns but that presence was consistently contested, limited, and often dependent on internal Somali dynamics. Local factions (such as rival Imams or town elites) frequently invoked Zanzibar’s involvement to settle disputes, whether internal or against powerful inland forces like the Geledi or Bimaal.

This is precisely what made their control nominal: they were constantly subjected to boycotts, sanctions, and political pressure from the Somali interior.

Even Revoil, your own source, admits this when writing about Merka:

"Merka , which is in the Bimal territory, is always under siege because of the perpetual struggle between this tribe and Sultan Hamed Yousouf ad , as the Arabs do not have the slightest influence in the interior, it is to be feared that the trade of Meurka, once considerable, will be destroyed within a two or three years.

This directly illustrates how the Omanis had no meaningful influence beyond the coast and even their hold there was precarious due to pressure from Somali clans inland.

You also overlooked key evidence from the same historical period, such as this 1876 British parliamentary report, which describes how even Geledi-affiliated leaders were levying taxes on the governors and residents of Marka and Brava clearly undermining any idea of direct Omani sovereignty:

'Addormo, governed by Abobokur Yusuf , another brother, who , though nominally under the orders of the first-named Chief, levies black-mail on his own account and negotiates with the Governors of Marka and Brava direct."

''Abobokur Yusuf was accustomed to send a messengers to Brava for tribute, and he drew from thence about 2,000 dollars per annum"

As for the issue of Banyan monopolies: what you’re highlighting is more directly tied to British colonial economic expansion in the late 1800s, rather than Zanzibari dominance. Indian merchants, tied to the British East India Company, were displacing Somali merchants through predatory lending, property confiscations, and unfair trade practices.

Again, from the same 1876 source:

''and the whole coast peopled by the Somalis to be come even more unsafe than at present, and our prestige greatly suffer, and this just at the time when marka is beginning to be almost a colony of British-Indian merchants, so much so that even Hindoos talk of bringing their wives and families there.

Scott Reese and others have written more extensively on this. What you’re seeing is not an extension of Omani control, but early British economic colonization, using Indian merchant classes as a wedge to undermine Somali commercial autonomy.

This is not an example of Omani domination but of creeping British economic colonialism, which often exploited coastal merchant classes (like the Banyans) to muscle out Somali traders.

Regarding Kismayo this narrative needs to be corrected. The town simply did not exist until Somali migrants from the interior founded it themselves in 1869:

''In 1869 this town did not yet exist , but the in that year some Somali emigrants from the Upper Jubba Valley and especially the from the neighbourhoud of Bardera or Bal Tir , the chief market of the interior established themselves at this favourable point of the coast, and opened direct commercial relations with the Zanzibar. Later some members of the Mijurtin tribe (Majerteen) tribe, the most energetic traders on the whole seaboard also settled in the same place"

So the idea that Somalis were “chased out” of towns they themselves founded and built is historically inaccurate.

Even the garessa (Not quarters but forts) you mentioned were built primarily to protect foreign merchants from Somali resistance and attacks not to exclude Somalis from their own urban spaces.

 

[motivation]

None of the quotes you’ve provided demonstrate that Omani rule over the Somali coast was direct or absolute. What they show is that Zanzibar maintained a commercial and administrative presence in some coastal towns but that presence was consistently contested, limited, and often dependent on internal Somali dynamics. Local factions (such as rival Imams or town elites) frequently invoked Zanzibar’s involvement to settle disputes, whether internal or against powerful inland forces like the Geledi or Bimaal.

This is precisely what made their control nominal: they were constantly subjected to boycotts, sanctions, and political pressure from the Somali interior.

View attachment 367541

Even Revoil, your own source, admits this when writing about Merka:

"Merka , which is in the Bimal territory, is always under siege because of the perpetual struggle between this tribe and Sultan Hamed Yousouf ad , as the Arabs do not have the slightest influence in the interior, it is to be feared that the trade of Meurka, once considerable, will be destroyed within a two or three years.
View attachment 367558
View attachment 367556
This directly illustrates how the Omanis had no meaningful influence beyond the coast and even their hold there was precarious due to pressure from Somali clans inland.

You also overlooked key evidence from the same historical period, such as this 1876 British parliamentary report, which describes how even Geledi-affiliated leaders were levying taxes on the governors and residents of Marka and Brava clearly undermining any idea of direct Omani sovereignty:

'Addormo, governed by Abobokur Yusuf , another brother, who , though nominally under the orders of the first-named Chief, levies black-mail on his own account and negotiates with the Governors of Marka and Brava direct."

''Abobokur Yusuf was accustomed to send a messengers to Brava for tribute, and he drew from thence about 2,000 dollars per annum"
View attachment 367559

As for the issue of Banyan monopolies: what you’re highlighting is more directly tied to British colonial economic expansion in the late 1800s, rather than Zanzibari dominance. Indian merchants, tied to the British East India Company, were displacing Somali merchants through predatory lending, property confiscations, and unfair trade practices.

Again, from the same 1876 source:

''and the whole coast peopled by the Somalis to be come even more unsafe than at present, and our prestige greatly suffer, and this just at the time when marka is beginning to be almost a colony of British-Indian merchants, so much so that even Hindoos talk of bringing their wives and families there.
View attachment 367560

Scott Reese and others have written more extensively on this. What you’re seeing is not an extension of Omani control, but early British economic colonization, using Indian merchant classes as a wedge to undermine Somali commercial autonomy.
View attachment 367561
View attachment 367563View attachment 367562
This is not an example of Omani domination but of creeping British economic colonialism, which often exploited coastal merchant classes (like the Banyans) to muscle out Somali traders.

Regarding Kismayo this narrative needs to be corrected. The town simply did not exist until Somali migrants from the interior founded it themselves in 1869:
View attachment 367570


''In 1869 this town did not yet exist , but the in that year some Somali emigrants from the Upper Jubba Valley and especially the from the neighbourhoud of Bardera or Bal Tir , the chief market of the interior established themselves at this favourable point of the coast, and opened direct commercial relations with the Zanzibar. Later some members of the Mijurtin tribe (Majerteen) tribe, the most energetic traders on the whole seaboard also settled in the same place"
View attachment 367569

So the idea that Somalis were “chased out” of towns they themselves founded and built is historically inaccurate.

Even the garessa (Not quarters but forts) you mentioned were built primarily to protect foreign merchants from Somali resistance and attacks not to exclude Somalis from their own urban spaces.

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[Saleh]

My response @Idilinaa

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[MaliMohamed]

Lmao all these niggas larping are either bug eyed ethios or Landers with an agenda.

 

[Cartan Boos]

I dont really understand why Somalis get upset when egyptians or omanis claim some of our lands as part of their empire. Not really a huge deal, it was brief and European occupation followed right after

Funny enough, landers were also booty clapping for Omani in the comment section, always trying shit on southerners, u guys have inferiority complex bc u never had anything worthwhile, it was nominal and sacking doesn’t mean u control the place
We also sacked their capital and beheaded them, does that mean we control them?

 

[Cartan Boos]

Did you even read your own sourceView attachment 367527
You just proved me right

You should take the time to read instead of regurgitating sources you see shared by others

Nigga doesn’t know what nominal means, illiterate khat head nominal means I can claim I rule Shanghai but that just nominal rule, me we wazzing

 

[Zak12]

Oman probably had some influence in the coast but its way more complex than you guys make it out to be. They needed permission to built forts by the local leaders and recognized the authority of the Geledis. It wasn't as if Benadir was under complete control from Oman and by the very late 19th century, they no longer exercised any time of influence.

The maps you online that show the Omani Empire ruling as deep as juba/shabelle valley are also BS. This is the most accurate map I could find.

None of the quotes you’ve provided demonstrate that Omani rule over the Somali coast was direct or absolute. What they show is that Zanzibar maintained a commercial and administrative presence in some coastal towns but that presence was consistently contested, limited, and often dependent on internal Somali dynamics. Local factions (such as rival Imams or town elites) frequently invoked Zanzibar’s involvement to settle disputes, whether internal or against powerful inland forces like the Geledi or Bimaal.

This is precisely what made their control nominal: they were constantly subjected to boycotts, sanctions, and political pressure from the Somali interior.

View attachment 367541

Even Revoil, your own source, admits this when writing about Merka:

"Merka , which is in the Bimal territory, is always under siege because of the perpetual struggle between this tribe and Sultan Hamed Yousouf ad , as the Arabs do not have the slightest influence in the interior, it is to be feared that the trade of Meurka, once considerable, will be destroyed within a two or three years.
View attachment 367558
View attachment 367556
This directly illustrates how the Omanis had no meaningful influence beyond the coast and even their hold there was precarious due to pressure from Somali clans inland.

You also overlooked key evidence from the same historical period, such as this 1876 British parliamentary report, which describes how even Geledi-affiliated leaders were levying taxes on the governors and residents of Marka and Brava clearly undermining any idea of direct Omani sovereignty:

'Addormo, governed by Abobokur Yusuf , another brother, who , though nominally under the orders of the first-named Chief, levies black-mail on his own account and negotiates with the Governors of Marka and Brava direct."

''Abobokur Yusuf was accustomed to send a messengers to Brava for tribute, and he drew from thence about 2,000 dollars per annum"
View attachment 367559

As for the issue of Banyan monopolies: what you’re highlighting is more directly tied to British colonial economic expansion in the late 1800s, rather than Zanzibari dominance. Indian merchants, tied to the British East India Company, were displacing Somali merchants through predatory lending, property confiscations, and unfair trade practices.

Again, from the same 1876 source:

''and the whole coast peopled by the Somalis to be come even more unsafe than at present, and our prestige greatly suffer, and this just at the time when marka is beginning to be almost a colony of British-Indian merchants, so much so that even Hindoos talk of bringing their wives and families there.
View attachment 367560

Scott Reese and others have written more extensively on this. What you’re seeing is not an extension of Omani control, but early British economic colonization, using Indian merchant classes as a wedge to undermine Somali commercial autonomy.
View attachment 367561
View attachment 367563View attachment 367562
This is not an example of Omani domination but of creeping British economic colonialism, which often exploited coastal merchant classes (like the Banyans) to muscle out Somali traders.

Regarding Kismayo this narrative needs to be corrected. The town simply did not exist until Somali migrants from the interior founded it themselves in 1869:
View attachment 367570


''In 1869 this town did not yet exist , but the in that year some Somali emigrants from the Upper Jubba Valley and especially the from the neighbourhoud of Bardera or Bal Tir , the chief market of the interior established themselves at this favourable point of the coast, and opened direct commercial relations with the Zanzibar. Later some members of the Mijurtin tribe (Majerteen) tribe, the most energetic traders on the whole seaboard also settled in the same place"
View attachment 367569

So the idea that Somalis were “chased out” of towns they themselves founded and built is historically inaccurate.

Even the garessa (Not quarters but forts) you mentioned were built primarily to protect foreign merchants from Somali resistance and attacks not to exclude Somalis from their own urban spaces.

I found these texts a while ago that details the Zanzibaris getting some taxes from benadir. What are your thoughts on it?

 

[Idilinaa]

Oman probably had some influence in the coast but its way more complex than you guys make it out to be. They needed permission to built forts by the local leaders and recognized the authority of the Geledis. It wasn't as if Benadir was under complete control from Oman and by the very late 19th century, they no longer exercised any time of influence.

The maps you online that show the Omani Empire ruling as deep as juba/shabelle valley are also BS. This is the most accurate map I could find.

View attachment 367581


I found these texts a while ago that details the Zanzibaris getting some taxes from benadir. What are your thoughts on it?

View attachment 367582

View attachment 367583

The same source i gave earlier , this even talks about Yacuub Imam collecting taxes from the Mogadishu trade but it confirms that the so called ''Governors'' were mostly costum duties officers.

My response @Idilinaa

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Your own source actually disproves your claim. The excerpt about the Omani garrisons makes it clear they were under siege conditions, not exercising sovereign control:

'''However these troops cannot leave these three garrisons without risking being assasinated by the Comalis(Somalis)"
[

How can you argue they were governing Somali cities when they literally couldn’t step outside their forts without risking death from the locals?

That’s not direct rule that’s a precarious and isolated presence, confined to fortified quarters, unable to exert authority beyond the safety of their own compounds.

Your claim about Omani authority extending to Warsheikh also falls apart.

The 1876 British Foreign Office report makes it explicit:

''Washeikh, I believe His Highness the Sultan lays claim to this town, whose Sultan and people , however in no way recognize him, neither has he any representative in the district."

So, not only did Zanzibar have zero administrative presence in Warsheikh, the people there didn’t even recognize his claim. That’s not direct rule , it’s wishful thinking on the part of the Omanis.

This matches the broader pattern we see across the coast: Zanzibar’s influence was often nominal or symbolic, and their presence when it existed was heavily dependent on the cooperation (or invitation) of local factions. That’s why in places like Brava, Merka, Kismayo, and Mogadishu, the Omanis were only ever allowed in when called upon by Somali elites as a counterweight in local power struggles.

And let’s be real Omanis claiming to govern places where they couldn’t even safely walk the streets, or had no presence at all (like Warsheikh), is no different from the kind of exaggerated maps you still see circulated today. They claimed dominion where they had no recognition or control.

Calling a handful of customs agents or garrison troops, holed up for their own protection, “governors” is laughable and again, your own sources say as much.


The bottom line is this: Omani rule was highly conditional, heavily contested, and at times purely notional. There is no historical basis for calling it direct or absolute rule not in the cities, and certainly not beyond them.

 

[Saleh]

'''However these troops cannot leave these three garrisons without risking being assasinated by the Comalis(Somalis)"
[

“These three garrisons” revoil is referring to are the garrisoned walls of barawa, marka, and xamar (at the top of the paragraph). They could not leave the confines of the walls into the interior because they risked attack from Somalis, I actually acknowledged this if you read my response

Once again, it says they have no influence in the interior. In the actual city of Marka there was Omani military personnel and a fort garrisoned by the sultan of zanzibar himself. The soldiers never ventured beyond the walls at risk of attack from nomads, but they ruled over the Somalis within the confinements of the city

Observe ^

How can you argue they were governing Somali cities when they literally couldn’t step outside their forts without risking death from the locals?

Once again I claimed they controlled the coast they were only at risk when they left the confines of magaalada xeebta for miyiga

And let’s be real Omanis claiming to govern places where they couldn’t even safely walk the streets, or had no presence at all (like Warsheikh), is no different from the kind of exaggerated maps you still see circulated today. They claimed dominion where they had no recognition or control

They walked the streets more than safely they had hundreds of soldiers stationed in said streets, its when they left the city to the interior they were at risk

 

[Cartan Boos]

I would be mad too if I had no history kkk, opp is hilarious

 

[Neptune]

Omanis did briefly exercise authority over the benadir coast down to the Swahili coast. Revoil writes about it in his book voyages au cap des aromates. Similar to the short Egyptian occupation of somaliland’s coast into harar. Its not really a big deal, they werent enslaving people or anything

First of all who brang up Benadir this is about Lamu museum being hijacked. Secondly, the Omanis were engaging in slavery across the Swahili coast, what are you talking about?

 

[Neptune]

View attachment 367581

What is the emirate of Tabwa and Ulungu lol. This map seems like an exaggeration.

 

[Idilinaa]

“These three garrisons” revoil is referring to are the garrisoned walls of barawa, marka, and xamar (at the top of the paragraph). They could not leave the confines of the walls into the interior because they risked attack from Somalis, I actually acknowledged this if you read my response

Observe ^


Once again I claimed they controlled the coast they were only at risk when they left the confines of magaalada xeebta for miyiga

They walked the streets more than safely they had hundreds of soldiers stationed in said streets, its when they left the city to the interior they were at risk

Revoil was referring specifically to three garrisons , not city walls , stationed in Mogadishu, Barawa, and Marka. These were fortified compounds built for the protection of Zanzibari troops, not symbols of control over the cities themselves. The quote literally states:

"However these troops cannot leave these three garrisons without risking being assassinated by the Somalis."

That’s not a matter of leaving a city to go into the countryside , it’s leaving a building inside the city. If they were truly in control of the city, they wouldn’t need to barricade themselves in and fear for their lives the moment they stepped outside. That alone undermines any claim of “direct rule.”

Also, your claim that they “walked the streets more than safely” is directly contradicted by that same passage. You’re suggesting they had hundreds of soldiers patrolling the city, but if that were the case, why the need to remain confined inside garrisons?

Let’s also talk about Warsheikh, which you still haven’t addressed. According to the British Office report from 1876:

"Washeikh — I believe His Highness the Sultan lays claim to this town, whose Sultan and people, however, in no way recognize him, neither has he any representative in the district."

That clearly shows zero presence or recognition of Zanzibar’s authority there. Claiming dominion over places where neither the leadership nor the population acknowledge you is not “direct rule” it’s wishful thinking and inflated cartography, which the Omanis were known for.

Again, stationing a few customs officials or guards inside a coastal fort does not equate to ruling over the surrounding population. Most of the time, their presence was invited by local factions for leverage in internal disputes, not imposed from above.

 

[Idilinaa]

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Yeah he literally DMed me saying this , admitted he trolled too much and got banned from the history section

So yeah, not exactly someone worth taking seriously

 

[Zak12]

What is the emirate of Tabwa and Ulungu lol. This map seems like an exaggeration.

No clue but if you saw the other Omani empire maps they are far worse lol

 

[Saleh]

I would be mad too if I had no history kkk, opp is hilarious

You should be mad in that case

 

[Saleh]

Yeah he literally DMed me saying this , admitted he trolled too much and got banned from the history section
View attachment 367593

So yeah, not exactly someone worth taking seriously

Woww I sent that in confidence