Postby Shirib » Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:46 pm
The Omani Empire was a network of ports, held together more by shared commercial interests than by a state structure (Cooper 1977: 32) Guillan described Sa'id's authority over Banadir as 'seasonal'; it came and went with the monsoons when his ships were able to anchor (Guillan, 1856: III, 185). As far as Muqdisho was concerned, everybody knew the real power lay with Yusuf of the Geledi. Those merchants from Europe, Asia and America congregated in Zanzibar who directed their attention to the mysterious Sultan who controlled the inland trade routes.
Source: SOMALI SULTANATE. The Geledi City-State over 150 Years by: Luling, Virginia
Thus, by the latter part of the 19th century, the coastal and hinterland traditions had merged, and the centre of pressure had swung from the coast to the interior. In the north the ancient ports of Berbera and Seylac, much reduced in prosperity and importance, were now controlled by Somali nomads, and the position of the old ports of Marka, Baraawe, and Mogadishu was very similar. These towns had all been penetrated by various Somali clans, and the dominant political influence became that exercised by the Geledi clan ruling the lower reaches of the Shabeelle.Commercial and political links that provided an opening for European infiltration had, however, also been forged between these two coasts and the outside world.The southern coastal towns, on the other hand, acknowledged the overlordship of the sultan of Zanzibar, although the latter's authority was slight in comparison with that exercised locally by the Geledi Somali.
Source: Encyclopedia Britanica
"The port of Mogadishu (Mogadiscio) was practically autonomous as C. Guillian noted the Zanzibar's Sultans like his customs came and went with the monsoons. The hinterlands of Mogadhishu was controlled by the Geledi clan, who's sultan contracted alliances with many other clans in the region between Shabelle and Juba river. Through much of the century, the Geledi alliance dominated the ivory trade that ran from Luk (Lugh) on the upper Jubba to Mogadishu; the Geledi sultan also collected tribute from the agricultural clans, along the Shabelle river as far south as Brava. Only the powerful Biimaal clan situated in the hinterlands of Marka succeeded in resisting Geledi hegemony. The Sultan of Zanzibar sought to construct a fort in Mogadishu in 1870 he had to obtain approval of Sultan Ahmed Yusuf of the Geledi.
Source: General History of Africa IV. Africa in the 19th Century until the 1880's edited by J.F. Ade Ajayi
"Mogadishu, on the other hand, was really controlled by the sultan of the Geledi, and minor ports were in the hands of members of other clans"
Source: The Cambridge history of Africa: from c. 1790 to c. 1870 - Page 88
Last edited by
Shirib on Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
