In the 7th century Arabs and Persians developed a series of trading posts along the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. In the 10th century the area was peopled by Somali nomads and pastoral GALLA from southwest Ethiopia. For the next 900 years Somalis spread throughout the Horn of Africa. Britain and Italy occupied different parts of the territory in the 1880s, and until World War II, Somalia remained under colonial control. In 1941, Britain occupied Italian Somaliland and in 1948 gave the OGADEN region to Ethiopia, although it was populated largely by Somalis. By 1950 the United Nations had voted to grant independence to Somalia, and in 1960 the two former colonies were united to form the Somali Republic.
The rise of Marehan SultanatesImam Ahmad (GUREY) from marehan has traditionally sometimes been interpreted as being an
Arab in Ethiopia
[1], though he is more often represented as Somali native.
[2] The traditional interpretation of his ethnicity as Somali, however, has been challenged. Adal was a multiethnic state comprising
Afars and
Somalis, as well as the ancestors of the modern
Harari. Ewald Wagner postulates that, in fact, "the main population of Adal may have been of Afar stock."
[3]His ethnicity is never explicitly mentioned in the Futuh al-Habasha of
Sihab ad-Din Ahmad bin 'Abd al-Qader (otherwise known as 'Arab Faqih), the primary source for his conquests, possibly because it was not important or because the author assumed it was known to his readers. There are a number of clues in the Futuh worth considering.
Many of Imam Ahmdad's relatives are identified. His sister Fardusa is said to have been married to the cheiftain Mattan, who is identified as a Somali unlike her.
[4] Imam Ahmdad's brother was Muhammad bin Ibrahim, chieftain of the tribes of
Shewa and Hargaya before joining the Imam against Ethiopia.
[5] He had a cousin Muhammad bin Ali, whose mother was the Imam's aunt; Muhammad was the Sultan of the Somali tribe of Zarba.
[6] Last is his cousin Emir Zeharbui Muhammad, of whose background the Futuh has little to say.
[7]The Futuh mentions one Ibrahim bin Ahmad as a ruler of the
Adal Sultanate for three months, whose name suggests that he may be the Imam's father. This Ibrahim is described as one of the
Belew people and previously having been the ruler of the town of
Hubat.
[8] The possible connection between the two is strengthened by the fact that Hubat is later mentioned as one of the power bases of Imam Ahmad (the other being
Za'ka).
[9]Then there are numerous occasions where the Futuh supplies evidence for an
argument from silence. There are numerous passages in the Futuh where Imam Ahmad and the Somali people are mentioned together, and never once does 'Arab Faqih mention the ethnic connection. Further, the Somali warriors are described as having fled during the
Battle of Shimbra Kure; had the Imam been Somali, would the Futuh which otherwise praises the Imam at every turn, mention this embarrassing detail?
[10]So far these argue against the Imam being descended from Somali ancestors (although in any case there are undeniably Somali families who can claim to be his descendants). But in favor of Imam Ahmad's having been a Somali is the fact that, after disagreeing with Sultan
Umar Din over the
alms tax, he retired to live amongst the Somali.
[11]Although one could use the evidence of the Futuh to argue that Imam Ahmad was not a Somali, it is clear that he had many connections to the Somali people. Franz-Christoph Muth identifies him as Somali.
[12][
edit] Early years
Imam Ahmad was born near
Zeila, a port city located in northwestern
Somalia (then part of
Adal, a Muslim state tributary to the Christian Ethiopian
Solomonic dynasty), and married
Bati del Wambara, the daughter of
Mahfuz, governor of Zeila. When Mahfuz was killed returning from a campaign against the
Ethiopian emperor
Lebna Dengel in
1517, the Adal sultanate lapsed into anarchy for several years, until Imam Ahmad killed the last of the contenders for power and took control of
Harar.
In retaliation for an attack on Adal the previous year by the Ethiopian general Degalhan, Imam Ahmad invaded Ethiopia in
1529. Although his troops were fearful of their opponents and attempted to desert upon news that the Ethiopian army was approaching, Ahmad Gragn maintained the discipline of most of his men, defeating Emperor
Lebna Dengel at
Shimbra Kure that March.
[13][
edit] Invasion of Ethiopia
Ahmed Gurey
monument in
Mogadishu.
Imam Ahmad again campaigned in Ethiopia in
1531, breaking Emperor Lebna Dengel's ability to resist in the
Battle of Amba Sel on
October 28. The Moslem army then marched northward to loot the island monastery of
Lake Hayq and the stone churches of
Lalibela. When the Imam entered the province of
Tigray, he defeated an Ethiopian army that confronted him there. On reaching
Axum, he destroyed the
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, in which the Ethiopian emperors had for centuries been crowned.
The Ethiopians were forced to ask for help from the
Portuguese, who landed at the port of
Massawa on
February 10,
1541, during the reign of the emperor
Gelawdewos. The force was led by
Christovão da Gama and included 400 musketeers as well as a number of artisans and other non-combatants. Da Gama and Imam Ahmad met on
April 1,
1542 at
Jarte, which Trimingham has identified with
Anasa, between
Amba Alagi and
Lake Ashenge.
[14] Here the Portuguese had their first glimpse of Ahmad, as recorded by Castanhoso:
While his camp was being pitched, the king of Zeila [Imam Ahmad] acended a hill with several horse and some foot to examine us: he halted on the top with three hundred horse and three large banners, two white with red moons, and one red with a white moon, which always accompanied him, and [by] which he was recognized.
[15]On
April 4, after the two unfamiliar armies had exchanged messages and stared at each other for a few days, Da Gama formed his troops into an
infantry square and marched against the Imam's lines, repelling successive waves of Moslem attacks with musket and cannon. This battle ended when Imam Ahmad was wounded in the leg by a chance shot; seeing his banners signal retreat, the Portuguese and their Ethiopian allies fell upon the disorganized Muslims, who suffered losses but managed to reform next to the river on the distant side.
Over the next several days, Imam Ahmad was reinforced by arrivals of fresh troops. Understanding the need to act swiftly, Da Gama on
April 16 again formed a square which he led against Imam Ahmad's camp. Although the Muslims fought with more determination than two weeks earlier -- their horse almost broke the Portuguese square -- an opportune explosion of some gunpowder traumatized the horses on the Imam's side, and his army fled in disorder. Castanhoso laments that "the victory would have been complete this day had we only one hundred horses to finish it: for the King was carried on men's shoulders in a bed, accompanied by horsemen, and they fled in no order."
[16]Reinforced by the arrival of the
Bahr negus Yeshaq, Da Gama marched southward after Imam Ahmad's force, coming within sight of him ten days later. However, the onset of the
rainy season prevented Da Gama from engaging Ahmad a third time. On the advice of Queen
Sabla Wengel, Da Gama made winter camp at
Wofla near Lake Ashenge, still within sight of his opponent.
[17]Knowing that victory lay in the number of firearms an army had, the Imam sent to his fellow Muslims for help. According to Abbé
Joachim le Grand, Imam Ahmad received 2000 musketeers from Arabia, and artillery and 900 picked men from the
Ottomans to assist him. Meanwhile, due to casualties and other duties, Da Gama's force was reduced to 300 musketeers. After the rains ended, Imam Ahmad attacked the Portuguese camp and through weight of numbers killed all but 140 of Da Gama's troops. Da Gama himself, badly wounded, was captured with ten of his men and, after refusing an offer to spare his life if he would convert to Islam, was executed.
[18]The survivors and Emperor
Gelawdewos were afterward able to join forces and, drawing on the Portuguese supplies, attacked Ahmad on
February 21,
1543 in the
Battle of Wayna Daga, where their 9,000 troops managed to defeat the 15,000 soldiers under Imam Ahmad. The Imam was killed by a Portuguese musketeer, who was mortally wounded in avenging Da Gama's death.
His wife Bati del Wambara managed to escape the battlefield with a remnant of the Turkish soldiers, and they made their way back to Harar, where she rallied his followers. Intent on avenging her husband's death, she married his nephew
Nur ibn Mujahid on condition that Nur would avenge Imam Ahmad's defeat.
"In Ethiopia the damage which [Ahmad] Gragn did has never been forgotten," wrote Paul B. Henze. "Every Christian highlander still hears tales of Gragn in his childhood.
Haile Selassie referred to him in his memoirs. I have often had villagers in northern Ethiopia point out sites of towns, forts, churches and monasteries destroyed by Gragn as if these catastrophes had occurred only yesterday."
[19] While acknowledging that many modern Somali nationalists consider Ahmad a national hero, Henze dismisses their claims, stating that the concept of a Somali nation did not exist during Ahmad's lifetime.
TIMELINEAncient
c. 2350 BC: Egyptians establish trade with the Land of Punt
[7]1st century AD: Ports on the Somali coast are active in commerce trading with Greek, and later Roman merchants.
[1][
edit] Muslim era
700 - 1000 AD: the Port cities in Somalia trade with Arab traders and convert to
Islam1300 - 1400 AD: the prosperous Somali city states are visited by
Ibn Battuta and
Zheng he1500 - 1660: the Rise and Fall of
Adal Sultanate.
1528 - 1535: Jihad against Ethiopia led by Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, also called Ahmed Gurey or
Ahmed Gran (the Left-handed)
[1]1400 - 1700: the Rise and Fall of the
Ajuuraan Dynasty
1800 - 1900: Geledi Sultanate/Hobyo Sultanate
[
edit] Colonial era
20 July 1887 :
British Somaliland protectorate (in the north) subordinated to
Aden to 1905.
3 August 1889: Benadir Coast Italian Protectorate (in the northeast), (unoccupied until May 1893).
1900:
Mohammed AbdulLE Hassan spearheads a somali war against foreigners
16 March 1905: Italian Somalia (
Italian Somaliland) colony (in the northeast and in the south).
July 1910: Italian Somaliland a crown
colony.
1920:
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (called "the Mad Mullah" by the British) dies and the longest and bloodiest colonial resistance war in Africa ends.
15 January 1935: Italian Somalia part of Italian East Africa with Italian
Eritrea (and from 1936
Ethiopia).
1 June 1936: Part of Italian East Africa (province of Somalia, formed by the merger of the colony and the Ethiopian region of Ogaden; see
Ethiopia).
[
edit] World War II
18 August 1940: Italian occupation of British Somaliland.
February 1941: British administration of Italian Somalia.
[
edit] Independence and Cold War
1 April 1950: Italian Somalia becomes United Nations trust territory under Italian administration.
26 June 1960: Independence of British Somaliland as the State of Somaliland.
1 July 1960: Unification of Somaliland with Italian Somalia to form the Somali Republic.
1960 - 1967: Presidency of
Aden Abdullah Osman Daar1967 - 1969: Presidency of
Abdirashid Ali Shermarke; assassinated by a police officer.
21 October 1969: Somali Democratic Republic
1969 - 1991:
Mohamed Siad Barre rises to power in a coup d'etat after the assassination of Abdirashid Ali Shermarke. Remains head of state of Somalia until forced from power by General
Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Barre dies in exile of a heart attack in 1995.
23 July 1977 - 15 March 1978:
Ogaden War[
edit] Civil War
1 January 1991: Somalia collapses, no single functioning government.
1991 - 1996: General
Mohamed Farrah Aidid, leader of the
United Somali Congress (USC) and later
Somali National Alliance (SNA), is the strongest of the vying warlords. He opposes US intervention in Somalia and is the subject of the raid which led to the
Battle of Mogadishu, also known as the "Blackhawk Down" incident. In 1996 he dies of gunshot wounds while fighting against a rival faction.
18 May 1991: Secession of former British Somaliland; as
Republic of Somaliland which is proclaimed 24 May 1991 (not internationally recognized).
21 July 1991: Somali Republic
April - November 1992:
UNOSOM I is the initial UN humanitarian mission to provide relief to famine-plagued and war-torn Somalia.
3 December 1992 - 4 May 1993:
Operation Restore Hope is the name for the UN-sanctioned US military intervention in Somalia, known as
UNITAF. Friction with Mohamed Farrah Aidid culminates in the
Battle of Mogadishu.
March 1993 - March 1995:
UNOSOM II is the follow-on UN humanitarian mission.
July 1992 - 27 Aug 2000:
United Nations declares Somalia to be a country "without a government."
February 2004:
Transitional Federal Government (TFG) writes Charter and establishes framework for government in
Nairobi,
Kenya26 February, 2006: TFG first meets inside Somalia in Baidoa.
May - June 2006:
Rise of the Islamic Courts Union (2006):
Islamic Courts Union (ICU) takes control over capital in
Second Battle of Mogadishu defeating the
ARPCTDecember 2006:
IGASOM approved by UN Security Council,
War in Somalia (2006–present),
Battle of Baidoa to
Fall of Mogadishu
The Somali Youth League (SYL) was the first political party of Somalia. It played a key role in Somalia's road to independence during the 50's and 60's.
