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El-Sheikh
El-Sheikh () is a coastal settlement in the western edge of the Sahil region of Somaliland. History El-Sheikh was also known historically as ''Buurta Almis'' or جبل ألمس ''Jebel Amis'' after the nearby Mount Almis just south of the settlement. It was a well known landmark to navigators and legendary Arab explorer Ahmad ibn Mājid wrote of El-Sheikh and a few other notable landmarks and ports of the northern Somali coast, including Berbera, Siyara, the Sa'ad ad-Din islands aka the Zeila Archipelago near Zeila, Alula, Maydh, Ruguda, Heis and El-Darad. Richard Burton visited the settlement and noted the mountain in his map. After the Habr Awal massacre of Richard Burton's travel party and death of a number of British officers in 1854 led the Royal Navy to blockad the Ciise Muuse coast. The blockade was established from Mount Almis to Siyara and crippled trade in Berbera and Bulhar with a settlement being reached in 1856. El-Sheikh remained a well used by the Habr Awal Ci ...
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Siyara
Siyara () was a historic coastal settlement and fort located in the Sahil region of Somaliland. It served as the first capital of the Adal Sultanate following the Muslim resurgence spearheaded by Sabr ad-Din II.Pankhurst, Richard. ''The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century'' (Asmara, Eritrea: Red Sea Press, 1997), pp.56 Etymology The name of Siyara derives from the Somali word ''Siyaaro'', a term used to describe a localized annual pilgrimage to a holy site where the ancestor of a clan or a saint is buried. The Somali word ultimately derives from the Arabic word of the same meaning: ''ziyārah'' (زيارة). History Medieval Siyara was the site of the return of the Walashma dynasty. Sa'ad ad-Din II the last Sultan of Ifat had been slain in Zeila after losing the city to Emperor Dawit I after a siege. His sons had fled to Yemen and would soon return led by Sultan Sabr ad-Din II. Sabr crossed the Gulf of Aden ...
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Berbera
Berbera (; , ) is the capital of the Sahil, Somaliland, Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. It also served as a major port of the Ifat Sultanate, Ifat, Adal Sultanate, Adal and Isaaq Sultanate, Isaaq sultanates from the 13th to 19th centuries. In antiquity, Berbera was part of a chain of commercial port cities along the Somali seaboard. During the early modern period, Berbera was the most important place of trade in the Somali Peninsula. It later served as the capital of the British Somaliland protectorate from 1884 to 1941, when it was replaced by Hargeisa. In 1960, the British Somaliland protectorate gained independence as the State of Somaliland and united five days later with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somalia) to form the Somali Republic.Encyclopædi ...
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Maydh
Maydh (also transliterated as Maedh, Mette, Mait or Meit) (, ) is an ancient port city in the eastern Sanaag region of Somaliland. History Antiquity According to Augustus Henry Keane, Maydh represents an early center of dispersal of the Somali people. National genealogies collected by the scholars Cox and Abud assert that many clan patriarchs are buried in or nearby the town.A.H. Keane, Man, Past and Present', (Cambridge University Press: 1920), p.485. Medieval The city of Maydh was home to Sheikh Isaaq ibn Ahmed Al Hashimi (''Sheekh Isaxaaq''), who moved to Somaliland from the Arabian Peninsula in the 12th or 13th century CE. He is considered to be the founding father of the large Somali Isaaq clan family that predominantly inhabits Somaliland, as well as parts of Djibouti and Ethiopia. Sheikh Isaaq's domed tomb is also located here.I.M. Lewis"The Somali Conquest of the Horn of Africa", ''Journal of African History'' 1 (1960), pp. 219-220 According to tradition, the old town ...
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El-Darad
El-Darad () was a historic coastal settlement and fort located in the Sahil region of Somaliland. History Legendary 15th century Arab explorer Ahmad ibn Mājid wrote of El-Darad and several other notable landmarks and ports of the northern Somali coast, including Berbera, the Sa'ad ad-Din islands (aka the Zeila Archipelago near Zeila), Alula, Ruguda, Maydh, Heis, Siyara and El-Sheikh. In the 19th century, El-Darad was a seasonal coastal trading settlement with a fort made of adobe (earth) and stone masonry, which was surrounded by Somali Aqal and Areesh (traditional nomadic and coastal dwellings respectively). The fort was erected in circa 1826 and was owned by Muhammad Diban, a Habr Je'lo ( Adan Madobe) pirate and slave trader based in El-Darad who garrisoned the fort with slaves armed with matchlock rifles. Muhammad Diban also had cordial relations with Sharmarke Ali Saleh – governor and ruler of Zeila, Berbera and Tadjoura – who provided Muhammad with five cannons ...
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Habr Awal
The Habr Awal, alternately known as the Zubeyr Awal (, , Full Name: '' Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ash-Ishaaq bin Ahmed, Shaykh Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad)'' is one of the largest subclans of the wider Isaaq clan family, and is further divided into eight sub-clans of whom the two largest and most prominent are the Issa Musa and Sa'ad Musa sub-clans. Its members form a part of the Habar Magadle confederation. The Habr Awal traditionally consists of Nomadic pastoralism, nomadic pastoralists, coastal people, merchants and farmers. They are historically viewed as an affluent clan in the horn Africa that played a huge part for Somaliland's independence. The Habar Awal are politically and economically influential in present-day Somaliland as well as the Horn of Africa at large, and they reside in strategic coastal and fertile lands. Distribution The Habr Awal clan make up the majority in Maroodi Jeex region which is considered the most populous region in Somaliland and the second most populat ...
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Zeila
Zeila (, ), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland. In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila with the Biblical location of Havilah. Most modern scholars identify it with the site of Avalites mentioned in the 1st-century Greco-Roman travelogue the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' and in Ptolemy, although this is disputed. The town evolved into an early Islamic center with the arrival of Muslims shortly after the Hijrah. By the 9th century, Zeila was the capital of the early Adal (historical_region), Adal Kingdom and Ifat Sultanate in the 13th century, it would attain its height of prosperity a few centuries later in the 16th century. The city subsequently came under Ottoman Empire, Ottoman and British Empire, British protection in the 18th century. Up until recently Zeila was surrounded by a large wall with five gates: Bab al Sahil and Bab al-jadd on the North. Bab Abdulqadir on the Ea ...
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Alula, Somalia
Alula (, ), also spelled Aluula, is a coastal town in the northeastern Ra'as Aseir region and is part of the state of Puntland, on the coast of the Guardafui Channel. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it served as the main capital of the Majeerteen Sultanate. It is ten miles east of Ras Filuk and 100 nautical miles from Bosaso. History The Majeerteen Sultanate was established possibly around 1600s by Somalis from the Majeerteen Darod clan. It reached prominence during the 19th century, under the reign of the resourceful Boqor (King) Osman Mahamuud.Helen Chapin Metz, ed., ''Somalia: a country study'', (The Division: 1993), p.10. In the mid-17th to early 20th centuries, the city was the main capital city of the Majeerteen Sultanate Migiurtinia. Later forming a part of Italian Somaliland.S. B. Miles, ''On the Neighbourhood of Bunder Marayah'', Vol. 42, (Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the institute of British Geographers): 1872), p ...
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Ruguda
Ruguda, also known as Rakudah () is a historic coastal port town located in the Sanaag region of Somaliland, near Heis. Overview Ruguda is a coastal town approximately 38km away from the larger Heis town nearby. Other nearby cities and towns include Erigavo (134km), Burao (389km), and Xagal (108km). History Ruguda was a well known landmark to navigators and legendary Arab explorer Ahmad ibn Mājid wrote of Ruguda and a few other notable landmarks and ports of the northern Somali coast, including Berbera, the Sa'ad ad-Din islands aka the Zeila Archipelago near Zeila, Siyara, Maydh, Alula, El-Sheikh, Heis and El-Darad. John Hanning Speke, an English explorer who made an exploratory expedition to the area in an attempt to reach the Nugaal Valley, described the port town: Demographics Ruguda is populated by the Sanbuur sub-division of the Habr Je'lo Isaaq The Isaaq (, , ''Banu Ishaq'') is a major Somali clans, Somali clan. It is one of the largest Somali clan familie ...
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Heis (town)
Heis (, ) is a historic coastal town located in the Sanaag region of Somaliland. The town was important for trade and communication with the Somali interior and was used to export frankincense to Arabia. History Antiquity The site said to be identical with the ancient trading post of Mundus () that is described in the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'', an anonymous account by a Greek Alexandrian salesman from the 1st century CE. A large collection of cairns of various types lie near the city. Excavations here have yielded pottery and sherds of Roman glassware from a time between the 1st and 5th centuries. Among these artefacts is high-quality millefiori glass. Dated to 0-40 CE, it features red flower disks superimposed on a green background. Additionally, an ancient fragment of a footed bowl was discovered in the surrounding area. The sherd is believed to have been made in Aswan (300-500 CE) or Lower Nubia (500-600 CE), suggesting early trading ties with kingdoms in the Nile Va ...
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Isaaq
The Isaaq (, , ''Banu Ishaq'') is a major Somali clans, Somali clan. It is one of the largest Somali clan families in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territory. The Isaaq people claim in a traditional legend to have descended from Ishaaq bin Ahmed, Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed, an Ulama, Islamic scholar who purportedly traveled to Somaliland in the 12th or 13th century and married two women; one from the local Dir (clan), Dir clan.I.M. Lewis, ''A Modern History of the Somali'', fourth edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), pp. 22–23. He is said to have sired eight sons who are the common ancestors of the clans of the Isaaq clan-family. He remained in Maydh until his death. Overview Somali genealogical tradition places the origin of the Isaaq tribe in the 12th or 13th century with the arrival of the Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed, Ishaaq Bin Ahmed (Sheikh Ishaaq) from Arabian Peninsula, Arabia. Sheikh Ishaaq settled in the coastal town of Maydh in mode ...
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Sacad Muuse
The Sa'ad Musa or Saad Musa (, , Full Name:'' Saad ibn Musa ibn Zubayr ibn Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ash- Shaykh Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad'') is a northern Somali clan. Its members form a part of the Habr Awal sub-clan of the Isaaq clan family. The Sa'ad Musa traditionally consists of nomadic pastoralists, coastal people, merchants and farmers. The clan inhabits Somaliland, including Maroodi Jeex, Awdal and Sahil as well as Djibouti, the Somali Region of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Distribution The Sa'ad Musa clan make up a significant percentage of the population in Maroodi Jeex region, which is considered the most populous region in Somaliland, forming a sizeable majority of the population in the national capital Hargeisa as well as exclusively dominating the agricultural towns and settlements of Gabiley, Wajaale, Arabsiyo, /nowiki> Primary schools * Number of Pr ..., Kalabaydh">/nowiki> Primary schools * Number of Pr ..., Kalabaydh, Agabar, El Bardale">Kalabaydh, Agabar">Kalaba ...
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British Somaliland
British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate (), was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia (Italian Ethiopia from 1936-1941). From 1940 to 1941, it was part of Italian East Africa. On 26 June 1960, British Somaliland was formally granted independence by the United Kingdom as the State of Somaliland. 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. The government of Somaliland, an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised independent state that is internationally Diplomatic recognition, recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia, regards itself as the successor state to British Somaliland. History Treaties and establishment In the late 19th century, the United Kingdom signed agreements with the Gadabuursi, Issa (cl ...
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