Garre
The Garre. are a prominent Somali clan that traces its lineage back to Samaale, who is believed to have originated from the Arabian Peninsula through Aqiil Abu Talib. The Garre clan is considered to be a sub-clan of the Hawiye clan family, which is part of the larger Hawiye clan. However, genealogically, they are descended from Gardheere Samaale. The Garre are also categorized as southern Hawiye as well.
Garre are also classified into three major entities of the same lineage but greatly recognized for their unique linguistics characteristics which are widely believed to have developed after their wide dispersal around the Horn of Africa, Garr are speakers of Oromo whom it is believed they had a long time interaction and intermixing as nomads in southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya. Garre Marre are found around the major Ganale Doria and Dawa basins in Southern Ethiopia and are identified by their unique dialect derived from the Hawiye communities whom they interacted and settled with in permanent agrarian settlements along Ganale Doria and River Jubba.The third component of Garre which is believed to be the bearers of the original Garre language are identified as Garre Konfuur due to their dominant settlement in South Central Somalia.
The Garre region, the NFD of Kenya, and Bale province in Ethiopia before the Boorana and Warday Oromo. Garre also founded cities like Barawe, and Kismaayo
Etymology
Garre, the word Gar is derived from the Somali language, it means the strong rope that is used to tie a camel and used for transporting, i.e. the camel train. Gar, "Garrow" means also in the Somali language bearded man. Gar means just in the Maay dialect which is one of the oldest Somali language. It also means "my home" in Harla language.Genetics
According to and the Y-DNA analysis by Hirbo, around 75% of Garre carry the paternal E-M78 E-V-12 haplogroup, which likely originated in Northern Africa. The Garre are the highest carriers of the haplo-group E-V12. This genetically proves that Garre are one of the ancient and the oldest Somali clan. For instance, the TMRCA of Harti is 800yrs, the Hawiye are 2100-3100yrs but the Garre are 4500yrs. They are classified as Proto-Somali. The haplogroup E-m78 EV12* is progenitors of which is highest frequencies in Somalis and Borana and Ev-22 which is Saho and Afar.History
Introduction
The Garre are of Somali origin being descendants of Samaale tracing their lineage to Garedheere, sons of Samaale. the Garre are divided into two major clans, Garre-Tuuf who are associated with the 'Pre-Hawiye' group this was due to the fruit of nomadic life, the necessity of defense, the movement of new territory necessitated by a constant search for pasture and water have resulted over formation of new alliances and later, new clan identities. This show's indeed the Somali saying "tol waa tolaneArabs, who inhabited the Kismayu coast and islands parallel to the coast about 1660A.D, and to whom local tombs and ruins are attributed, exerted considerable influence on the formation of the present-day characteristics of the Bajuni were also routed by the Somali Garre whom the Bajuni claims as ancestors- perhaps they were at one time Garre clients.
Support for such a thesis was mainly based on the fact that the Garre group is the most widely dispersed among the Somali clans.
The Garre are a tribe of Somali origin who entering the country from the East, extended up the right bank of the Dawa as far as Galgala. This place is looked on as a tribal headquarter and is the burying place of the chiefs. According to the legend,
The first Garre ancestor, Aw Mohamed, crossed the Gulf of Aden into present day Somalia in 652AD. He was an Islamic scholar and a preacher. Because he was bearded, the Somalis named him "Garrow" or "Gardheer". He married a Hawiye woman who sired two boys and a girl. The first-born was Tuff and the second born Qur'an, and the daughter was named Makka.
Garre traditions generally recount movement southwards from the North-west corner of British Somaliland.
The scattering of Garre is also supported by the small remnants they supposedly left along the routes they took in their migration.The great Garre migration occurred after the fall of Ajuuraan empire. This is soo-called Boon Garre at the Afmadu, other Boon Garre at Gelib near the mouth of the River Jubba and still others on the RIver Tana who spoke not the dialect of their Darood neighbours rather the southern Somali dialect of the Rahanweyn speech variety because they had lived in Rahaweyn speaking area between the Jubba and Shebelle rivers, and yet other who lived around Baardhere kept their own original Somali like language.
In the 18th century during the Gobroon dynasty Garre evolved a high degree of bilingualism when they controlled trade from Luuq to Boranaland, the language of trade was Oromo language, and also when they interacted with Borana and other neighbouring community who spoke the language.
The Garre are also mentioned in the Futuh Al Habasha : Conquest of Abyssinia as source dating back as far as the 16th century, by author: Shihabudin Ahmad bin Abd al-Qadir 'Arab Faqih'' or Arab Faqih. It is recorded that the Imam Mataan Bin Uthmaan Bin Khalid As-Somali - He was a Garre-Sultan who headed the Somali tribe during the invasion of Abyssinia by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.
The Pre-Hawiye
The Pre-Hawiye, a much-reduced tribal-family, trace descent from an ancestor collateral to Irir, and are accordingly genealogically anterior to the Hawiya. Their traditions show them to have preceded the Hawiya in the general expansions of the Northern Somali towards the south. For these reasons Colluci has coined the term 'Pre-Hawiya' to distinguish them from the Hawiya to whom they are closely related. The term "Pre-Hawiye", invented by Colluci, is used to describe any clan that is descended from one of the brothers of irir son of Samaale.. They also seen as quasi-ancestors of the Hawiye clan.Garre pre-Hawiye group was the first group to occupy the land between the Jubba and Tana Rivers prior to the Oromo.
The term pre-Hawiye is useful since there is no Somali equivalent; the Somali people divide the ancient Somalis into the Dir and Hawiya -, thus the pre-Hawiya Garre, for example, regard themselves as more closely related to the Hawiye than to the Dir. The largest pre-Hawiye clans are the Garre, Hawdle, Degodia, Galjaal and the Garre are the most ancient of all the pre-Hawiya clans. They occupied most of southern Somalia before the arrival of the Digil/Rahaweyn confederacy. Also, Bale province and Kenya's N.F.D. was inhabited by the Garre before the Oromo Boran and Warday entered the region.
According to the Garre that inhabit the southern Ethiopia there ancestors originally came from Merca, on the Somali coast. Evidence for this comes from the fact that Garre tribesmen are found on the islands of Bajun, just off the Southern Somalia coast, and they are also found in the strength near Merca.
Examination of ancient Muslim graves found in the Garre country were found to be identical to those found in the North-Western Somalia; A.I. Curle made the following observation in 1933:
...around the mosque oat Au Bakadleh in the Hargeisa District of the British Somaliland, there are many graves of this type, exact replicas of those on the Dawa some found some 500 miles distance in the Garre country.
The History of the Garre appears to be similar to that of the Gurgura. Both of these tribes were involved with trades; the Garre traded products from the southern Ethiopia to the Bajun Islands and Merca, while the Gurgura brought goods from the Hawash region to Zeila.
Gerald Hanleys's description of the Somalis is extremely accurate. During the Second World War Hanley was in charge of Somali troops. His description of Mohamed, a Garre from El Wak, is fascinating:
"The Garre are even harder, fierce, more emotional than the Somalis, but this lad, Mohamed, was like a quivering black harp which burst into flames during emotional stress. He turned out to be the most savage, hysterical, loyal and dangerous human being i ever had with me in the bush. If he felt rage he acted upon it at once, with a knife, or with his nails and teeth, if he felt generous he gave everything away in sight, most of it your"
Distribution
The pre-hawiye tribe comprises seven families excluding Irir:- Gardhere, Garjante, Yahabur, Meyle, Magarre, Hariire, Karuure. The largest pre-Hawiye clans are the Garre, Hawadle, Degodia, Galjaal.The Hawadle live north of the river Shebelle, adjacent to the Marehan Darod and just north of the Abgaal Hawiye. The Galjaal live next to the Hawadle, they are also found further south near the River Jubba. The Degodia inhabit northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia.The Garre are the most important tribe of the pre-Hawiye family. They occur in four large autonomous groups: on the lower reaches of the Shebelle in Audegle District around Dolo on the upper jubba, between the Webi Gestro and the in contact and to some extent intermixed with the Arsi Oromo, and to the south-west between the Ajuran and Degodia Somali and the Boran Galla of the Northern Frontier Province of Kenya. The northernmost group adjacent to the Arsi Oromo have acquired some features of Borana Oromo culture; Galla and Somali are both spoken. Arsi Oromo villages are intermixed with those of the Garre but are kept separate from those of the Somali. The Garre of this region have traditions similar to those of the other Garre groups and consider themselves Somali rather than Galla. Garre traditions generally recount movement southwards from the North-west corner of British Somaliland. As a whole, the Garre are nomadic pastoralists with large numbers of camels, sheep, goats and where the habitat is suitable, they settle and domesticate their cattle.