What happened to Somalia or Somalis rather, during the 1890s African rinderpest epizootic?

[MI]

The disease wiped out a third of Ethiopia and two-third of the Maasai people in Tanzania and was introduced in Eritrea, by the Italians.

Did the virus affect Greater-Somalia?

 

[Timo Jareer and proud]

Never heard of it. Probably never affected us. But wiping out one-third of Ethiopia is scary af. Somalis have historically had a really low population under a million at the time, London itself had a larger population than all of Somaliweyn back then.

 

[MI]

It seems we were probably using the same type of cattle as the virus travelled through in Ethiopia and Tanzania. The Zebu which is a Indicine cow that spread to East Africa , and the virus imported by the Italians came from India as well. The virus coming from a related species probably made for a fine vector.

 

[AIOPZ]

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012088385150037X?via=ihub

Probably, but the article I've cited doesn't make mention of whether or not it existed in Somalia during the 1890s. Most articles and pages that I've read about the outbreak mention that it devasted sub-Saharan Africa (with emphasis being placed on the Horn) so it likely did make its way in Greater Somalia.

 

[MI]

View attachment 73746

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012088385150037X?via=ihub

Probably, but the article I've cited doesn't make mention of whether or not it existed in Somalia during the 1890s. Most articles and pages that I've read about the outbreak mention that it devasted sub-Saharan Africa (with emphasis being placed on the Horn) so it likely did make its way in Greater Somalia.

How strange then that there’s no cultural memory of the famine, if it did occur, just 130 years ago. Maybe it didn’t heavily impact our food sources and cause starvation. I feel like such an event would’ve been recorded by the Italian or the British colonial administrations, even if our collective memory failed.

 

[roble]

in 1887 somalis were less than a million and probably very widely dispersed so seems it didnt affect much. cos of the desert somalis have moved out thru the centuries becoming otha ethnicities.

 

[Grant]

The disease wiped out a third of Ethiopia and two-third of the Maasai people in Tanzania and was introduced in Eritrea, by the Italians.

Did the virus affect Greater-Somalia?

I don't know about 1880s, but Cassanelli says drought and repeated rinderpest infections in the Shabelli valley from 1600 to 1800 reduced trade at the coast to a trickle.

 

[OneTouch]

Rinderpest doesn't affect camels so it is unlikely that Somalis were affected

 

[World]

It was great for the Darood, we expanded our territory tremendously and conquered most of the Juba and Tana River during this time period. Had it not been for the British who enforced a Darood-Galla line at the Tana River, we would have swept through most of Kenya.

 

[World]

in 1887 somalis were less than a million and probably very widely dispersed so seems it didnt affect much. cos of the desert somalis have moved out thru the centuries becoming otha ethnicities.

Somalis definitely numbered over a million during this time period.