Warsangali

The Warsangali (Somali: Warsangeli, Arabic: قبيلة ورسنجلي)[1] is a major Somali sub clan, part of the Harti clan which itself belongs to one of the largest Somali clan-families - the Darod.[2][3] In the Somali language, the name Warsangali means "bringer of good news."[1] The Warsangeli primarily inhabit the Sanaag,[4]

Warsangali
ورسنجلي
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Somali
Religion
Islam (Sunni)
Related ethnic groups
Dishiishe, Majeerteen, Dhulbahante, Ogaden, Leelkase, Marehan

Overview
Map of Somalia showing distribution of the Warsangali tribe in the north eastern Somalia
Sultan Mohamoud Ali Shire of the Warsangali[5]
Ruins in the coastal town of Las Khorey

In 1848, C. J. Cruttenden reported that the Warsangali and Majeerteen territories were the most commercially valuable in the Nugaal Valley, and that Banians from India had become successful exporters.[6] The Cal Madow chain of mountains, which is partially inside the clan's territory, extends to the cities of Bosaso (the capital of the Bari region) and Ceerigaabo (the capital of the Sanaag region) both in an east and west direction.

Traditional territory inhabited by the various Somali clans shown[7]

An article titled "Seychellois rekindle ties with Sultan of Somaliland" which was featured in one of the newspapers of the Republic of Seychelles captures a glimpse of Warsangeli history. It writes, "the Warsengeli Sultanate has been in existence for the last hundred six hundred years."[8]

Indian Ocean Diplomacy

As mentioned, the Warsangali Sultanate placed high value on maintaining diplomatic ties with rulers in Europe and South Arabia as evidenced by archival files in Arabic text containing such correspondence. John Hanning Speke wrote when he visited the Warsangeli country in 1855, “the United Kingdom would hold the Sultan Mohamed (21st Sultan) accountable” if his safety were compromised. Lidwien and Spaulding (2002) described two important documents that signify how the Sultanate administered its affairs and guarded its independence. Lidwien and Spaulding mention  a laissez-passer document issued by Sultan Mohamed to a French physician, Gerges Revoil, on 12 December 1889. The laissez-passer  instructs the French to observe the protocol of entering the country. Any foreign visitor or dignitary would enter the Warsangeli country via its sea port of Las Qoray. However, given the traveler’s unfamiliarity with the established rules and customs of the land, the sultan makes a rare exception and allows the French to enter by land through Bandar Mura’aya.[9][10]

The Conquest of Abyssinia

Gerad Ali Gerad Mohamoud (Ali Dable), was the 13th Sultan of the Warsangali Sultanate, reigning from 1491 to 1503. He earned the nickname Ali Dable (the word “Dable” in the Somali language means "the one armed with fire"),  After returning from an exile in Yemen, Sultan Ali  brought along with him a shipload of small guns and cannon fire.  Sultan Ali Dable first managed to invade the Dhulbahante territory, and allied himself with Dhulbahante rebels to defeat the Gerad of Dhulbahante's troops in the Battle of Garadag. In 1540, the sultan sent a contingent of 300 troops to Abyssinia to participate in the conquest. The Arab chronicler, Sihab ad-Din, who was an eyewitness in many of the battles to conquer Abyssinia, compares the 300 Harti army to a famous Arab knight whose name was Hamzah al-Jufi.[11]

“On the left was the Somali tribe of [Warsangeli] Harti, from the people of Mait (Sanaag); a people not given to yielding. There were three hundred (300) of them, famous among the infantry as stolid as swordsmen.....One of the Arabs called Hamzah al-Jufi engaged in a battle to the death in front of the Imam of the Muslims. He was one of the footsoldiers and stood his ground and stood the test, confronting war with a full heart. He never struck one infidel whom he did not unhorse, dead. He killed so vast a number of them in the middle of the river, that the river water was turned red by the blood. The whole tribe of Harti was like him (Sihab ad Din, p. 78).

History

Today, the influence of Sultans and other traditional leaders has waned with the advent of independence and the establishment of a central government in Somalia that has to exercise national sovereignty. However, the longest surviving Muslim sultanate ever established in the Somali peninsula is the Warsangali Sultanate. It  has been in existence for the last six hundred years.[12]

The  Warsangali Sultanate  has a long history of civilization, characterized by defined population, defined territory, and organized political structure. The Warsangeli inhabit a large territory extend to the west of Erigavo from Bosaso (Bari region), straddling from the shore of Laaso Suurad, (“Ras Surad”), bordered in the North by the Gulf of Aden to the plateaus of Sool Haud (a land mass the size of Sool and Awdal regions combined).[13]

The Sultanate produced many seafarers who made their mark in the field of social science. Ibrahim Isma’il’s book, An Early Autobiography of a Somali (1919), a Warsangeli seafarer himself,  describes a judgment issued by the Sultan and in compliance with a decision by the royal court. The sultan ordered a boat-making project as a redress to an incident at the port. To maintain the region’s  lucrative trade ties with the Arabian peninsula, the Sultan ruled that preserving its integrity as a place where traders have guarantees for the value and protection of their merchandise was important. Murrayat’s travels (1848) in the interior of the Warsangeli Country shows a similar observation.[14] Murrayat observed a widespread practice of good moral precepts in safeguarding the rights of private property and in deference to the law of the land. During his stay, not an article of his belongings was stolen. He states, “In this land, to call a man a thief is a deadly insult only to be washed by blood alone.” [15]

Until 1920, the sultanate had  maintained its independence after its illustrious sultan, Mohamoud Ali Shire, was exiled into the islands of Seychelles. The sultan was fiercely independent and detested foreign presence in his country. A newspaper as cited by Seychelles Nation, states,  “His independent policy, strength and indifference to the powers surrounding him, including the British has vexed London and led to his arrest and deportation to Seychelles.[16]

The Sultan was described as a sovereign ruler of immense influence and a man of mercurial image by the historian I.M. Lewis. He was the 24th sultan in  a long line of Gerads (a Somali royal court).[17] In 1920, the sultan was exiled along with the two African Kings, King Prempeh of Ashanti (Ghana) and king Kabarego of Bunyoro (Uganda), and a former Prime Minister of Egypt, Sa'ad Zaghlul Pasha, as well as other luminaries of leaders in the wars of African resistance to the British colonialism were also there as exiles. He was the descendent of a six-hundred-year-old tradition (please see ‘What led to the discovery of the Nile’ by John Hanning Speke). In the 1940 and 50s, the Warsangeli leadership formed the United Somali Party (USP) following a three month convention chaired by the Sultan himself following his return from exile. The USP was instrumental in Somalia’s long and painful road to freedom and independence from colonial powers.[18]

Lineage
Warsangeli sultanate
The full clan Tree of Warsnageli Harti Darod

The structures of the clans and sub clans are not clearly agreed upon. The divisions and subdivisions as they are presented here are condensed and incomplete. Numerous lineages are absent. See the African Royal family groups for a comparison of several perspectives on clan-lineage formations.[19]

  • Aadan Siciid
  • Adan Yaqub
  • Ahmed Dhegawayn
  • Bah Habar Osmaan
  • Bah Habar Hasan
  • Bah Idoor
  • Bah Ogeyslabe
  • Bah Yabare
  • Bihina Guuleed
  • Aamir Of Garad Mohamoud
  • Cawramale
  • Colmarabe
  • Dubeys
  • Garad Liban (Tuure)
  • Garwayne
  • Gobyawuud
  • Ahmed Omar
  • Hinjiye
  • Idamoge
  • Jibrell Saiid
  • Muhumud
  • Ogeyslabe [Ugaaslabe]
  • Raage Ali
  • Reer Garaad [Royal Family]
  • Reer Omar
  • Reer Faatax
  • Reer Mohamed
  • Reer Saalah
  • Reer Haaji
  • Reer Yaasuf of Omar [Yasif Omar]
  • Reer Yusuf of Garad Mohamoud
  • Riighaye
  • Waqadsiinye
  • Warlabe
  • Husein Iise

Groups
  • Shacni-cali was the smallest of the 13 Darawiish administrative divisions, and was exclusively composed of Warsangeli.
  • Garbo Darawiish was a second-smallest segment of the 13 Darawiish administrative divisions, and was half Warsangeli, half Dhulbahante.
  • Burcadde-godwein was the seventh largest of the dozen Darawiish administrative divisions, and was half Warsangeli, half Dhulbahante.[20]
  • Maakhir was a proto-state during the 2000s chiefly inhabited by Warsangeli.

Notable members

References
  1. Cruttenden, C. J. "Memoir on the Western or Edoor Tribes, inhabiting the Somali Coast...", Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 19 (1849), pp. 72-73
  2. "Somalia: Minorities and indigenous peoples". Minority Rights Group International. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  3. Lewis, Ioan M (1999). A Pastoral Democracy: A Study of Pastoralism and Politics Among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa. James Currey Publishers. p. 12. ISBN 9780852552803. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  4. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Somalia: Update to SOM23731.E of 24 April 1996 on the situation of the Warsangeli (Darod)". Refworld. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  5. Beachey, R. W. (1990). The Warrior Mullah: The Horn Aflame, 1892-1920. Bellew. ISBN 978-0-947792-43-5. Sultan of the Warsangali since 1905, he displayed much capacity for duplicity and double dealing .
  6. Cruttenden, C.J. (1848). "On Eastern Africa", London: Royal Geographical Society. Vol. 18, pp. 137-138.
  7. "Somalia Maps - Perry-Castañeda Map Collection - UT Library Online". Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  8. Seychellois rekindle ties with Sultan of Somaliland Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Virtual Seychelles. 10 Oct 2005.
  9. Baruah, Darshana M. "What Is Happening in the Indian Ocean?". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  10. "Competition in the Indian Ocean". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  11. Shaw, Jeffrey M. (2021). The Ethiopian-Adal War, 1529-1543: the conquest of Abyssinia. From retinue to regiment series--warfare c. 1453-1618. Warwick: Helion & Company. ISBN 978-1-914059-68-1.
  12. "Sultan of Warsangeli, Somalia - THE AFRICAN ROYAL FAMILIES". theafricanroyalfamilies.com. 2022-06-02. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  13. Team, Editorial (2018-12-06). "Kingdom of Warsangali (1218-1886AD) | African History | ThinkAfrica". Think Africa. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  14. "Our Migration Story: The Making of Britain". www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  15. Johnston, Alexander Keith (1882). Cabinet atlas of the actual geography of the world, with a complete index ... University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Edinburgh : W. & K. Johnston.
  16. "Saldanada Maakhir | allsanaag". Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  17. Durrill, Wayne K. (1986). "Atrocious Misery: The African Origins of Famine in Northern Somalia, 1839-1884". The American Historical Review. 91 (2): 287–306. doi:10.2307/1858135. ISSN 0002-8762.
  18. Hoehne, Markus Virgil (2014). "Resource conflict and militant Islamism in the Golis Mountains in northern Somalia (2006–2013)". Review of African Political Economy. 41 (141): 358–373. ISSN 0305-6244.
  19. "Sultan of Warsangeli sultanate, Somalia - THE AFRICAN ROYAL FAMILIES". theafricanroyalfamilies.com. 2023-05-22. Retrieved 2023-06-03.
  20. Taariikhdii daraawiishta iyo Sayid Maxamad Cabdille Xasan, Jaamac Cumar Ciise · 2005 - PAGE 173
  21. Guignard, Didier; Seri-Hersch, Iris (18 September 2019). "Spatial Appropriations in Modern Empires, 1820-1960: Beyond Dispossession". ISBN 9781527540156.
  22. "Somalia: Kuwaiti Company to construct Airport, University in Puntland". Garowe Online. 14 April 2014. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
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