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Burgeesoole first.





But this --->

(Looks like above map was Raqo, so this is Burgeesoole)



But above pics were Burgeesoole, so this is Raqo --->





I'll add Golwayn, Ceel Baxay, and Ceel Dibir later.

Btw, I should also add these are places I have been to recently and where I, upon visiting, developed the idea to geocode and update the geographical information of this area---notoriously bad, even purposely and politically intended to be kept unaddressed by successive of Somali Regional state of Ethiopia administrations.

The majority of places here I either passed by or was immediately close to.

They are all localities primarily or singularly inhabited by people of Marehan descent.

I transposed those 5 volcanic escarpments devoted to by the topic over an unfinished and still in edit general base map of the area in question.

Golwayn



This --->

Probably the most fascinating aspect of the history of this land is the injustice in representation.

This is a map from 1949 I transposed over the same 5 locations of volcanic ridges yielding primary water and grazing resources for people of Marehan descent to this day.




The territory of "Warder" is still, to this day, settled disproportionately by people of Marehan descent---yet, they have been completely disenfranchised from representation in any Somali region of Ethiopia administrations.

There are folks right this second sitting on seats representing these constituencies who are not from, probably have never been to, certainly have never been elected by or chosen from the local inhabitants and have no basis or justification for any claim to represent these constituencies.

It is an incredible story crossing every aspect of post-colonial Africa's political powder kegs; colonial era contestation of boundaries, territorial gain and loss measured on the sociological identity of local inhabitants, capitulation vs dispossession as reward and punishment, competition for grazing and resources exacerbated by manipulation of regional politics, etc etc etc.

Yet, despite everything, neither the land has changed and nor the people still in.



The land between Ceel-Cad, Biyo-Cad, and Bali-Cad deserves justice.

Goohweyne, iyo Laasocaano cagtaan kasoo dhigey, Axmed gurey qariirada kama arkee?

FADHIGAARLE WKUSOO NASTEY.

Shiidal my nigga we want our cut. We have history in Ethiopia

Ceel Dibir ("Doldol")



This --->

Manshallah beautiful Makahiil Ogaden lands

I am afraid only God can take this land away from its inhabitants and if 80 years of the worst clamity ever to befall its inhabitants could not disinherit them from their land, then 800 years of similar or worse clamity cannot disinherit them.

People imagine Caabudwaaq and Balanbale are the heart of Marehan country. No, they are work offices in the central business district. This is the home of Marehan, their private residence, the property where their ancestral name is based, the place where their camels freely graze, thousands of them without chaperone or being watched, the place where their children reared and their families are "at home."

This is the heart of Marehan Country ("Carro Mareexaan").

And these are my own recent pictures of this land in one picture with two of my blood cousins living in this very landscape;

Goohweyne, iyo Laasocaano cagtaan kasoo dhigey, Axmed gurey qariirada kama arkee?

FADHIGAARLE WKUSOO NASTEY.

Maya walaal, qariiradee qayb ayaad ka aragtaa ee intaa way ka balaaran tahay. Hadaad eegto inta aan soo bandhigay waxaad arki karaysaa degmooyin wayn baa maqan sida Yamaarugley, Ramalo, Hananwaylood, Jeed, Balanbale, Xodayga, etc.

Marka gunaanadkeedu wax yar sug bal.

Ceel Baxay (Gurearagu)



This ---->

At Ceel Baxay (Gurearagu) took place one of the most famous and important moments in Marehan oral history which gave way to the following idiom legendary within the clan.

Mashallah very beautiful land, truly a forest within a desert. Solving the lack of information on these places is winning one front of the multi-layered war that's being waged on us. Can you show us the extend of our border on all sides?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... hiopia.png

This is the map of the somali region, i'd appreciate it if you approximately highlight the region marehan settle.

Mashallah very beautiful land, truly a forest within a desert.

And there it goes! That word "forest."

Do you know the first time I became curious about the Marehan land of the central plateaus is when I came across that word "forest" used by Robecch Brichetti to describe the land of Marehan when he passed through them in in his travel from the coast at Hobyo to the Shabelle River at Barri (Khelafo) )in 1880's.



According to Robecchi, "Marehan" was anything WEST or NORTHWEST of "Sinadogo" (today literal Dhusamareb town). Essentially the same eastern boundary of Marehan in central Somalia today. And he traveled from Mogadishu to Hobyo and from the coast heading west to Marehan and through Marehan.




Yet, as soon as he got to Marehan, he started using the word "forest." In fact, he titled the chapter introducing Marehan as the "Marehan Forest!"



Quite literally, as soon as he crossed the "boundary" between Habar Gidir and Marehan, what we would imagine was an invisible boundary is described by Robecchi as a metaphysical boundary because all of a sudden the description of the land is different as if an actual boundary holding two different environments was crossed.



There is an entire history that I realized that was being testified to by the very land Marehan had advantageously taken over north of the Shabelle River and this forming thought was fortified intensely when I started to understand the water resources of Somali nomads above the Shabelle River.

I will get back to you on the question of the settlement boundaries because it needs a clear response.

What Robecchi was describing was what I saw for myself in 2022; heading west, through a desolate landscape and all of a sudden I behold magnificent Burgeesoole, the first of the 5 prime Marehan herding locations in the central plateau.



He saw a forest, incredibly and surprisingly, because I saw a forest, incredibly and surprisingly.

The land of the 5 prime Marehan herding and resource zones north of the Shabelle R is called "Buuro" (Hill Country) by it's inhabitants and "Buuro Mareexaan" (Marehan Hilltops) by their neighbors.

There are exactly 11 outcrops of which the furthest West is Elanle (Cilaanle), the furthest east is Burgeesoole, and the most prominent is Raqo.



And these basalt formations chosen as their equity by Marehan Somalis, intensely and jealously guarded over by them since memorable history, are now being discovered to be uniquely interesting and important to the study, understanding, and knowledge of the geology, geomorphology, tectonic development, volacanics, and rifting of the entire Somali and Ethiopian landscapes.








They are very interesting alright.

http://pandrpurcell.com/projects/VolcanicLandforms