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the history of the Dhulbahante Nation in da 19th century

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GutaleDulane
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the history of the Dhulbahante Nation in da 19th century

Postby GutaleDulane » Fri Sep 14, 2012 11:38 pm

After the fall of the Kingdom of the Great Boqor Wiilwaal and sun had set on the Bartire, it might be fairly claimed that the Dhulbahante emerged as the most powerful and most feared tribe in Somalia. That reputation was solidified when Dhulbahante defeated the Ogaadeen in one of the most bloody, vicious and brutal battles in Somali history. The battle took place below Kabar Ogaadeen hills(Named after the battle). The Dhulbahante were left as the undisputed masters of Northern Somalia, occupying the land from Jiidali in the north of Sanaag to Ceelcad near the Mudug border in the south. From Kiridh in the west to Xalin in the Nugaal valley where they bordered the Majeerteen.

In the middle of the nineteenth century the English sent two explorers to prepare the way for English colonization of Northern Somalia. Richard Burton landed in the western part of Northern Somalia, among the Isaaq. To the east they sent his partner in exploration, a certain Mr John Speke who landed at Laasqoray with a brief to traverse the Dhulbahante country and meet up with his fellow explorer Richard Burton in Harar. Speke's mission was not a complete success as he was not able to proceed through the Dhulbahante country on account of hostility and suspicion that greeted his journey through their land. But he made many discoveries and recorded facts that are useful to us in reconstructing the condition and circumstances of the Dhulbahante clan in the middle of the 19th century.

Speke's arrival was greeted with suspicion as he advanced towards the Dhulbahante frontier in the spring of 1855. He received many alarming reports warning him about the Dhulbahante as being a "terrible and savage nation" who were unsettled by reports of Speke's marking out the Warsangeli land with paper. Speke wrote that he was delayed for eight days while his motives for travelling through the Dhulbahante lands were being established. He was eventually allowed to proceed and he recorded the internecine warfare that split the Dhulbahante Kingdom into two factions in those years. Until that time the Dhulbahante were under the Figurehead command of the hereditary Garaadship of the Baharasame kings but a schism developed in the early to mid 19th century that saw the rise and investiture of one Cali Xaram(Maxamuud Ugaadhyahan) who formed a breakaway Garaadship for the Maxamuud Garaad. It was a natural consequence of the growing vigour and rude health of the Dhulbahante clan whose lands, wealth and population became too large for their affairs to be run by a single Garaad. These birth-pangs of a New Order led to ruinous wars between the brother lineages of the Dhulbahante that exacted a heavy toll.

Despite these discords and intestine wars, Dhulbahante presented a united front in opposing what they felt any encroachment by suspicious foreigners. The Dhulbahante made it clear to Speke that he could only proceed through their land at their sufferance and authority and he was confronted with an ultimatum that he should pay for his passage through Dhulbahante or else turn back. As a demonstration of the hostile reception he could face the Dhulbahante arranged for Speke to witness a mounted Expedition of 4000 men being assembled for one of the dreaded Dhulbahante Cavalry raids that were periodically carried out by the descendants of Siciid Harti against their neighbouring tribes, both Isaaq and Daarood; Raids that spread fear and foreboding throughout the land as the thundering hooves of the Dhulbahante horsemen presaged terrible material and human losses:

The other people I met here were some Dulbahantas arming for the fight. They said they were 4000 strong in cavalry, and were slaughtering sheep wholesale for provision on the road. Each man carried a junk of flesh, a skin of water, and a little hay, and was then ready for a long campaign, for they were not soft like the English (their general boast), who must have their daily food; they were hardy enough to work without eating ten days in succession, if the emergency required it.

It gives us a flavour of the life of the Dhulbahante at the time that Siciid Qamax, the legendary Cali Naaleeye warrior and poet, composed his famous poem when the Dhulbahante reached the Indian ocean at Illig in a bloody march through Majeerteen lands, along the way exacting terrible revenge for a previous attack by the Majeerteen on the Dhulbahante. Before they reached the ocean they succeeding in sacking the historic capital of the Cismaan Maxamuud at Noobir(between Iskushuban and Beyla).

Waa loo shuhuud NOOBIR inay shaxi ka jeexnayde.
Badda shaqafka inaan soo darsaday sheegyay aadmiguye.
Iidoorku waa midaan shidiyo midaan shiddeeyaaye.
Shan haddaan ka dilo, waa anoo neef shidhow qalaye
Turki baan u shoolaye nin kale shuufay hadalkiise


Speke eventually turned back after his fate was spelled out to him in the starkest terms by his native guides:

They (the Dhulbahante) did not fear guns. The English could not reach them; besides, their fathers had driven Christians from these lands; and if an army was to attack them, they would assemble so many cavalry, and ride in such rapidity around them, that their gunners could not take aim in consequence of the clouds of dust which this feat would occasion!

Shortly thereafter Speke turned back and made his way to Harar by some alternative route. He and Burton ran into a hot reception from the Habar Awal and their mission ended acrimoniously amid bitter recriminations between the two explorers.

Another explorer who had a better time of it in Dhulbahante country was the man sent by the Royal Geographic society to survey the northern part of the land of the Somalis. He also noted the bitter intestine warfare that was ravaging the Dhulbahante Kingdom amid the schism between the two great Lineages of the tribe. But his impressions were in similar vein to Speke, highlighting the overwhelming martial nature of the tribe and their superiority as fighting force occassioned by their use of Cavalry charges that gave them great mobility and an irresistible battlefield presence. Cruttenden wrote:

Dhulbahante are a nation who fight chiefly on horseback their arms being 2 spears and a shield. Their horses are powerful and courageous; the breed descended, according to Somali tradition, from the stud of Suleiman, the son of David, and consequently highly valued. The Dulbahante, as far as I have seen them, are a fine martial race of men, second to none of the branches of Darrood either in conduct or appearance, and they are described as being courteous and hospitable to the stranger who visits them.

The abundance of horses in the Dhulbahante country and the prowess of the Dhulbahante as horsemen is recurring theme. Drake-Brockman, a colonial civil servant during the Darwiish wars remarks on this in his book, British Somaliland:

Previous to the expeditions against the Mullah, the tribes which were, in all probability, the best off in horses were the Dulbahanta. At all events, most of those in a position to speak are agreed that the Dulbahantas are the best horsemen among the Somalis.

The next visitor to the Dhulbahante country was one Harold Swayne in the 1870s. He wrote extensively about Northern Somalia in his books Seventeen Trips through Somaliland. Swayne wrote that "of the Somali tribes I have met on different expeditions those having the most ponies are the Dhulbahante, . In the Dolbahante country we saw enormous number, one man sometimes owning 150"! This abundance of horses gave the Dhulbahante great strategic advantage which they pressed relentlessly. It allowed them to cover huge distances. Swayne records that the Dhulbahante were a tribe addicted to raiding and their horsemen rampaged down the coast molesting the coastal trade centres of Bullaxaar and Berbera. They also harried and looted the trade caravans coming from Mudug and Ogaadeeniya. When Swayne visited Caynaba then occupied by the powerful Ararsame lineage of Axmed Garaad he witnessed large number of caravans that were Ararsame Magan. The caravans were afraid to venture towards Berbera fearful of Maxamuuud Garaad horsemen.

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Re: the history of the Dhulbahante Nation in da 19th century

Postby X.Playa » Sat Sep 22, 2012 7:03 am

It gives us a flavour of the life of the Dhulbahante at the time that Siciid Qamax, the legendary Cali Naaleeye warrior and poet, composed his famous poem when the Dhulbahante reached the Indian ocean at Illig in a bloody march through Majeerteen lands, along the way exacting terrible revenge for a previous attack by the Majeerteen on the Dhulbahante. Before they reached the ocean they succeeding in sacking the historic capital of the Cismaan Maxamuud at Noobir(between Iskushuban and Beyla).

Waa loo shuhuud NOOBIR inay shaxi ka jeexnayde.
Badda shaqafka inaan soo darsaday sheegyay aadmiguye.
Iidoorku waa midaan shidiyo midaan shiddeeyaaye.
Shan haddaan ka dilo, waa anoo neef shidhow qalaye
Turki baan u shoolaye nin kale shuufay hadalkiise

That line was altered and it doesn't belong in this poem at all, its the Mullah's line:

Somali waa midaan shido iyo midaan shideeyaaye
Adna shirshooraad ka tahay sharada maantaase.


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