History of Somaliland

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History of Somaliland
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The history of Somaliland, a country in the eastern Horn of Africa bordered by the Gulf of Aden, and the East African land mass, begins with human habitation tens of thousands of years ago. It includes the civilizations of Punt, the Ottomans, and colonial influences from Europe and the Middle East.

Islam was introduced to the area early on by the first Muslims of Mecca fleeing prosecution during the first Hejira with Masjid al-Qiblatayn in Zeila being built before the Qiblah towards Mecca. It is one of the oldest mosques in Africa.[1] In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard.[2] Various Somali Muslim kingdoms were established in the area in the early Islamic period.[3] In the 14th to 15th centuries, the Zeila-based Adal Sultanate battled the Ethiopian Empire,[4] at one point bringing the three-quarters of Christian Abyssinia under the control of the Muslim empire under military leader Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi[5]

In the early modern period, successor states to the Adal Sultanate began to flourish in the region, including the Isaaq Sultanate led by the Guled dynasty.[6][7][8] The modern Guled Dynasty of the Isaaq Sultanate was established in the middle of the 18th century by Sultan Guled.[9] The Sultanate had a robust economy and trade was significant at the main port of Berbera but also eastwards along the coast, with the Isaaq controlling various trade routes into the port cities.[10][6][8]

In the late 19th century, the United Kingdom signed agreements with the Gadabuursi, Issa, Habr Awal, Garhajis, Habr Je'lo and Warsangeli clans establishing the Somaliland Protectorate,[11][12][13] which was formally granted independence by the United Kingdom as the State of Somaliland on 26 June 1960. Five days later, on 1 July 1960, the State of Somaliland voluntarily united with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somalia) to form the Somali Republic.[14][11]

The union of the two states proved problematic early on,[15] and in response to the harsh policies enacted by Somalia's Barre regime against the main clan family in Somaliland, the Isaaq, shortly after the conclusion of the disastrous Ogaden War,[16] a group of Isaaq businesspeople, students, former civil servants and former politicians founded the Somali National Movement in London in 1981, leading to a 10 year war of independence that concluded in the declaration of Somaliland's independence in 1991.[17]

  1. ^ Briggs, Phillip (2012). Somaliland. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-84162-371-9.
  2. ^ Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 25. Americana Corporation. 1965. p. 255.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lewispohoa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. The Red Sea Press. ISBN 978-0-932415-19-6., page 45
  5. ^ Saheed A. Adejumobi, The History of Ethiopia, (Greenwood Press: 2006), p.178
  6. ^ a b Ylönen, Aleksi Ylönen (28 December 2023). The Horn Engaging the Gulf Economic Diplomacy and Statecraft in Regional Relations. Bloomsbury. p. 113. ISBN 9780755635191.
  7. ^ "Somali Traditional States". www.worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  8. ^ a b J. A. Suárez (2023). Suárez, J. A. Geopolítica De Lo Desconocido. Una Visión Diferente De La Política Internacional [2023]. p. 227. ISBN 979-8393720292.
  9. ^ "Maxaad ka taqaana Saldanada Ugu Faca Weyn Beesha Isaaq". irmaannews.com. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  10. ^ Lewis, I. M. (3 February 2017). I.M Lewis: Peoples of the Horn of Africa. Routledge. ISBN 9781315308173.
  11. ^ a b Cana, Frank Richardson (1911). "Somaliland" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 378–384.
  12. ^ Laitin, David D. (1977). Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-226-46791-7.
  13. ^ Issa-Salwe, Abdisalam M. (1996). The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy. London: Haan Associates. pp. 34–35. ISBN 1-874209-91-X.
  14. ^ "Somalia". Archived from the original on 9 February 2006. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  15. ^ Salih, Mohamed Abdel Rahim Mohamed; Wohlgemuth, Lennart (1 January 1994). Crisis Management and the Politics of Reconciliation in Somalia: Statements from the Uppsala Forum, 17–19 January 1994. Nordic Africa Institute. ISBN 9789171063564.
  16. ^ Kapteijns, Lidwien (18 December 2012). Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-0758-3.
  17. ^ Richards, Rebecca (24 February 2016). Understanding Statebuilding: Traditional Governance and the Modern State in Somaliland. Routledge. ISBN 9781317004660.