Omani theft of anicent books from fakhr din mosque

[Barkhadle1520]

whats your evidence they took over only in mid 18th century, isn't this too late and wouldn't make sense with the overall timeline as the the yacqubi takeover is dated to the fall of the ajuraan and their allied muzaffar? Or do you think the ajuraan and muzaffar rule ended in the 18th century?

Too long to explain, you still believe in muzaffar dynasty and ajuran so your whole understanding of the timeline is wrong

 

[Step a side]

There was a famine and drought in southern Somalia affecting Xamar in the 1800s that caused the town to shrink, the Europeans had also gained a foothold in Yemen, Egypt and Zanzibar by 1830 which meant further economic turmoil. Xamar was infact bombed by an Omani ship in 1828 under British auspices. So unless the Somalis at the time could overcome the huge odds of uniting in the face of growing colonial ambitions, it was easier for us to splinter and everyone cut deals where they saw fit. The Abgaal had a civil war in 1860, as did the Majeerteen and the Geledi-Biimaal schism had gotten worse, this meant the Benadir Coast from Kismayo to Xamar was under disputing local leadership.

 

[Idilinaa]

I waa thinking more of a figure who coukd unify all of Somalia like menelik did with ethiopia.

What makes the situation difficult is that unlike agriculture. Pastoralism, when its commercialized like the later 19th century Majerteen and hobyo sultans did eventually exceeds the environments carrying capacity. Since as the profit increases you keep larger and larger herds and you need more pastures since it degrades the land.

They didn’t commercialize pastoralism in the way it occurred in the late 1800s and early 1900s, which was largely driven by colonial demand. Camels weren’t exported wholesale, and livestock exports were minimal mostly small numbers of sheep. Horses, on the other hand, were traded more frequently; there was even a horse market in Harar.

You can check the export records from Majerteenia and Zayla that I previously shared Burton’s and other travelers’ accounts from Berbera also confirm this.

In practice, rural communities traded and harvested a variety of products: milk, butter, honey, myrrh, frankincense, woven mats from plant fibers, grains, coffee, hides, leather, building timber, and textiles (Berbera sourced from Harar, and Luuq/Mogadishu as well). On the Majerteen coast, coastal villagers/towns also fished, dived for pearls, and practiced small-scale subsistence farming in nearby hills.

From all this, they generated substantial revenue without needing to export camels or cattle in large numbers.

The commercial activity in the past was significant this is documented. You can take Majerteen coast for example. They owned a dozen large merchant fleets called ''Dooni'' in Somali that was capable of carrying large cargo spread out across different ports and earned lot of revenue from seaborn trade.

Fishing via for example beden which means fishing-boat in Somali was particularly lucrative

For instance, Berbera’s early to mid-1800s revenue came from those types of products not camel exports

This seems to be a general trend across Somali regions. That’s why, when Ibn Battuta visited Mogadishu, he noted mass camel slaughtering. It was part of a deliberate strategy to cull herds and avoid overgrazing.

There were clear land use protocols and restrictions against environmental degradation

In the Majerteen Sultanate, this was especially evident they would bring herds into enclosures and slaughter them en masse:

Also, it's worth noting that farming doesn’t automatically lead to centralized statehood. What really drives the formation of states is when leadership consolidates control over production or trade and begins taxing it. Urban growth, in turn, is usually tied to surplus rural production and the expansion of trade.

 

[Afrax]

There was a famine and drought in southern Somalia affecting Xamar in the 1800s that caused the town to shrink, the Europeans had also gained a foothold in Yemen, Egypt and Zanzibar by 1830 which meant further economic turmoil. Xamar was infact bombed by an Omani ship in 1828 under British auspices. So unless the Somalis at the time could overcome the huge odds of uniting in the face of growing colonial ambitions, it was easier for us to splinter and everyone cut deals where they saw fit. The Abgaal had a civil war in 1860, as did the Majeerteen and the Geledi-Biimaal schism had gotten worse, this meant the Benadir Coast from Kismayo to Xamar was under disputing local leadership.

It goes even further than that. It all starts with Columbus’s voyage when he discovered the Americas. Hard to believe something happening so far away could end up changing not just the Banadir coast, but every major trading hub along the Indian Ocean. That discovery shifted the center of global trade from the Indian Ocean to the North Atlantic.

Things only got worse with Vasco da Gama’s trip around the Cape of Good Hope.

Europeans ended up taking control of the most profitable trade routes, cutting out middleman economies like ours. That’s what led to our steady decline—and played a big role in the instability you mentioned earlier. Even the spike in instability we saw in the late 18th century ties back to the opening of the Suez Canal.

You can see the same pattern of decline all across the Indian Ocean.

1. Calicut (Kozhikode, India)​

• Peak (c. 1500): ~100,000
• By c. 1700: ~50,000–60,000
• Estimated Decline: 40–50%
• Causes: Portuguese disruption, trade diversion to Cochin and later Bombay.

2. Cambay (Khambhat, India)​

• Peak (c. 1500): ~80,000
• By c. 1700: ~30,000–40,000
• Estimated Decline: 50–60%
• Causes: Harbor silting, loss of regional trade, rise of Surat and later Bombay.

3. Malacca (Melaka, Malaysia)​

• Peak (before 1511): ~100,000 (including transient population)
• By c. 1700: ~30,000
• Estimated Decline: 70%
• Causes: Portuguese conquest, diversion of trade to Batavia (Jakarta) by the Dutch.

4. Mombasa & Kilwa (East Africa)​

Mombasa:

• Peak (early 1500s): ~20,000–25,000
• By 1700s: ~10,000 or less
• Estimated Decline: 50–60%

Kilwa:

• Peak (14th–15th century): ~15,000–20,000
• By 1700s: <5,000
• Estimated Decline: 70–80%
• Causes: Portuguese naval destruction, trade decline, internal political fragmentation.

5. Hormuz (Iran)​

• Peak (c. 1500): ~50,000
• Post-1622 (after Safavid conquest): ~10,000–15,000
• Estimated Decline: 70–80%
• Causes: Shift of trade to Bandar Abbas and Basra, Portuguese expulsion, decline of transit trade.

6. Aden (Yemen)​

• Peak (15th century): ~60,000–70,000
• By 18th century: ~20,000 or less
• Estimated Decline: 60–70%
• Causes: Decline of Red Sea trade routes, Ottoman control, British-Anglo trade bypassing the area.

7. Surat (India)​

• Peak (late 17th century): ~100,000–120,000
• By 1800s: ~40,000–50,000
• Estimated Decline: 50–60%
• Causes: Rise of Bombay, repeated Maratha attacks, East India Company shifting trade bases.

Aside from Aden and Bani Yacqub-controlled Mogadishu, pretty much every major commercial center in the region ended up under European control during the 16th century.

Given everything the region was going through, the Bani Yacqub did quite well. Not just maintaining stability, but also holding onto their independence, like @Idilinaa pointed out. That’s something most other major trading hubs couldn’t manage.

 

[Idilinaa]

It goes even further than that. It all starts with Columbus’s voyage when he discovered the Americas. Hard to believe something happening so far away could end up changing not just the Banadir coast, but every major trading hub along the Indian Ocean. That discovery shifted the center of global trade from the Indian Ocean to the North Atlantic.

Things only got worse with Vasco da Gama’s trip around the Cape of Good Hope.

Europeans ended up taking control of the most profitable trade routes, cutting out middleman economies like ours. That’s what led to our steady decline—and played a big role in the instability you mentioned earlier. Even the spike in instability we saw in the late 18th century ties back to the opening of the Suez Canal.

You can see the same pattern of decline all across the Indian Ocean.

1. Calicut (Kozhikode, India)​

• Peak (c. 1500): ~100,000
• By c. 1700: ~50,000–60,000
• Estimated Decline: 40–50%
• Causes: Portuguese disruption, trade diversion to Cochin and later Bombay.

2. Cambay (Khambhat, India)​

• Peak (c. 1500): ~80,000
• By c. 1700: ~30,000–40,000
• Estimated Decline: 50–60%
• Causes: Harbor silting, loss of regional trade, rise of Surat and later Bombay.

3. Malacca (Melaka, Malaysia)​

• Peak (before 1511): ~100,000 (including transient population)
• By c. 1700: ~30,000
• Estimated Decline: 70%
• Causes: Portuguese conquest, diversion of trade to Batavia (Jakarta) by the Dutch.

4. Mombasa & Kilwa (East Africa)​

Mombasa:

• Peak (early 1500s): ~20,000–25,000
• By 1700s: ~10,000 or less
• Estimated Decline: 50–60%

Kilwa:

• Peak (14th–15th century): ~15,000–20,000
• By 1700s: <5,000
• Estimated Decline: 70–80%
• Causes: Portuguese naval destruction, trade decline, internal political fragmentation.

5. Hormuz (Iran)​

• Peak (c. 1500): ~50,000
• Post-1622 (after Safavid conquest): ~10,000–15,000
• Estimated Decline: 70–80%
• Causes: Shift of trade to Bandar Abbas and Basra, Portuguese expulsion, decline of transit trade.

6. Aden (Yemen)​

• Peak (15th century): ~60,000–70,000
• By 18th century: ~20,000 or less
• Estimated Decline: 60–70%
• Causes: Decline of Red Sea trade routes, Ottoman control, British-Anglo trade bypassing the area.

7. Surat (India)​

• Peak (late 17th century): ~100,000–120,000
• By 1800s: ~40,000–50,000
• Estimated Decline: 50–60%
• Causes: Rise of Bombay, repeated Maratha attacks, East India Company shifting trade bases.

Aside from Aden and Bani Yacqub-controlled Mogadishu, pretty much every major commercial center in the region ended up under European control during the 16th century.

Given everything the region was going through, the Bani Yacqub did quite well. Not just maintaining stability, but also holding onto their independence, like @Idilinaa pointed out. That’s something most other major trading hubs couldn’t manage.

I've shared this study multiple times before:

European Piracy in the Indian Ocean

"European Piracy in the Indian Ocean" published on by Oxford University Press.

oxfordre.com

European piracy in the Indian Ocean thus rose and fell in various cycles from the 16th to early 19th centuries.

As newcomers to the region, Europeans inserted themselves, often violently, into a complex long-distance trade system that had functioned relatively smoothly for centuries before the Portuguese arrival in 1498. Divergent cultural norms, particularly long-standing religious differences, were a central issue for the militantly Catholic Iberians, as they did not accept nor respect claims of sovereignty from local Muslim and Hindu rulers.

 

[Emir of Zayla]

We could reconstruct the Sultan’s palace of Mogadishu as a statement of cultural revival and have it be a museum for Somali history & culture. Much like how Malaysia made a replica of the Malaccan Sultanate’s palace in 1986 which was burned by the Portuguese in the 16th century which was almost entirely based off of the descriptions provided by the “Malay Annals” a historical chronicle.

Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

They used the descriptions gave in the chronicle like how the Malacca palace had three stories and seven-tiered floors or how the Sultan’s court-proceedings had his brothers and ministers sitting across and the sides beside him.

Somalis could take notes on this, we have descriptions by Arab & European travelers who wrote how the city, palace, and court could’ve looked like..

Ibn Battuta said that every scholar and theologians were to first meet the Sultan and his court in his palace whenever they arrived to the city. The Sultan was surrounded by ministers, sheikhs and merchants in his court.

In the 1700s, a European traveler visited the Mogadishan Sultan’s court, they describe him sitting on a matted floor dressed in a royal manner (purple silk, long mantle of silk, and a big white turban) and his officials sat in his presence.

Vasco Da Gama, a Portuguese explorer who visited Mogadishu commented on how the large city was filled with houses, stories high, big palaces (said to be vast and lordly) in the center of the city and high city-walls and four defensive towers surrounded the city

We know the Sultan palace of Mogadishu was still around in 1824, which European traveler Joseph Jean De Smet saw during a yearly fair in the city, it might be possible the Omanis or a civil war destroyed it?

There might be more information of Mogadishu in the future if the old-manuscripts written in the Benadir and neighboring regions are found.

 

[Emir of Zayla]

We could reconstruct the Sultan’s palace of Mogadishu as a statement of cultural revival and have it be a museum for Somali history & culture. Much like how Malaysia made a replica of the Malaccan Sultanate’s palace in 1986 which was burned by the Portuguese in the 16th century which was almost entirely based off of the descriptions provided by the “Malay Annals” a historical chronicle.

More on the idea of making this to be a new museum, the Italians used a Garesa estate as a museum for Somali history. I don’t know its state after the civil war but this is a good time to rebuild this type of cultural revival and doing it how the Malaysians did.

They can take architectural inspiration from the traditional Somali coastal-city architecture with whitewashed coral-stone buildings.

 

[Barkhadle1520]

We could reconstruct the Sultan’s palace of Mogadishu as a statement of cultural revival and have it be a museum for Somali history & culture. Much like how Malaysia made a replica of the Malaccan Sultanate’s palace in 1986 which was burned by the Portuguese in the 16th century which was almost entirely based off of the descriptions provided by the “Malay Annals” a historical chronicle.

Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

They used the descriptions gave in the chronicle like how the Malacca palace had three stories and seven-tiered floors or how the Sultan’s court-proceedings had his brothers and ministers sitting across and the sides beside him.
View attachment 365822

Somalis could take notes on this, we have descriptions by Arab & European travelers who wrote how the city, palace, and court could’ve looked like..

Ibn Battuta said that every scholar and theologians were to first meet the Sultan and his court in his palace whenever they arrived to the city. The Sultan was surrounded by ministers, sheikhs and merchants in his court.
View attachment 365823
In the 1700s, a European traveler visited the Mogadishan Sultan’s court, they describe him sitting on a matted floor dressed in a royal manner (purple silk, long mantle of silk, and a big white turban) and his officials sat in his presence.
View attachment 365824View attachment 365825
Vasco Da Gama, a Portuguese explorer who visited Mogadishu commented on how the large city was filled with houses, stories high, big palaces (said to be vast and lordly) in the center of the city and high city-walls and four defensive towers surrounded the city
View attachment 365826
View attachment 365827
View attachment 365828
We know the Sultan palace of Mogadishu was still around in 1824, which European traveler Joseph Jean De Smet saw during a yearly fair in the city, it might be possible the Omanis or a civil war destroyed it?View attachment 365829
There might be more information of Mogadishu in the future if the old-manuscripts written in the Benadir and neighboring regions are found.

The palace was behind a the market between Hamarwey and Shangani but theres no ruins today and foundations were built over

 

[Barkhadle1520]

More on the idea of making this to be a new museum, the Italians used a Garesa estate as a museum for Somali history. I don’t know its state after the civil war but this is a good time to rebuild this type of cultural revival and doing it how the Malaysians did.View attachment 365831
They can take architectural inspiration from the traditional Somali coastal-city architecture with whitewashed coral-stone buildings. View attachment 365832View attachment 365833View attachment 365834View attachment 365835

Do you have other examples of the this style of arch ? like that bargaal door