Majeerteen


The Majeerteen, is a Somali sub-clan of the Harti branch of the Darod clan. Traditionally, they inhabit extensive territories in the Bari, Nugaal and Mudug regions of Puntland. Additionally, Majeerteen populations are dominant in southern towns such as Kismayo.

Overview

The [|Majeerteen Sultanates] played an important role in the pre-independence era of the Horn of Africa. The Majeerteen also held many other significant government posts in the 1960s and 1970s, and continue to play a key role in Horn of Africa politics.
For the treaty between the Majeerteen and colonial powers, see "treaties".

Distribution

The Majeerteen are traditionally settled in puntland’s regions of Bari, Nugal and Mudug. They can also be found in jubaland in southern Somalia due to migrations starting in the 19th century.
The Majeerteen are traditionally settled in the land in-between Murcanyo, Bandar Siyad an ancient port town facing the Gulf of Aden, and Garacad a coastal port town, facing the Indian Ocean and all the land in between which corresponds to the area encompassing the Horn of Africa. Therefore, the Majerteen are settled in what is literally considered to be 'the Horn of Africa'.
Many Majeerteen people also live in Ethiopia.
The Majeerteen are more commonly found in the cities of Bosaso, Garowe and Galkacyo which are all regional capitals of Bari, Somalia, Nugal, Somalia and Mudug respectively.
File:BoqorCismaan.jpg|thumb|Boqor Osman of the Majeerteen Sultanate.
The Osman Mahmud, Omar Mohamoud , and Isse Mohamoud comprise the Maxamuud Saleebaan, along with Ali Saleebaan and Ugaar Saleebaan which all forms the major subclan of Saleebaan Maxamed which a 2010 study identifies as both the main division of Majeerteen and a central and unifying entity in Puntland.
Maxamuud formed a powerful business class in Kismayo, while Siad Barre exploited a rivalry between the Cali Saleebaan and Cumar Maxamuud in an effort to weaken the Majeerteen in general. Historically, the Majeerteen formed part of a coastal trading network around the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, along with other subclans.

History

Majeerteen Sultanates

The Majeerteen Sultanate was founded in the 15-16th century and came to prominence in the 18th and 19th century, under the reign of the resourceful King Osman Mahamuud. His Sultanate controlled Bari Karkaar, Nugaal and also central Somalia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The polity maintained a robust trading network, entered into treaties with foreign powers, and exerted strong centralized authority on the domestic front.
Osman Mahamuud's Sultanate was nearly destroyed in the late-1800s by a power struggle between himself and his ambitious cousin, Yusuf Ali Kenadid who founded the Sultanate of Hobyo in 1878. Initially he wanted to seize control of the neighbouring Majeerteen Sultanate, ruled by his cousin Boqor Osman Mahamud. However, Yusuf Ali Kenadid was unsuccessful in his endeavour, and was eventually forced into exile in Yemen. A decade later, in the 1870s, Yusuf Ali Kenadid returned from the Arabian Peninsula with a band of Hadhrami musketeers and a group of devoted lieutenants. With their assistance, he managed to overpower the local Hawiye clans and establish the Kingdom of Hobyo in 1878.
File:Sultan Ali Yusuf Kenadid.jpg|thumb|Majeerteen ruler Ali Yusuf Kenadid, 2nd Sultan of the Sultanate of Hobyo.
File:Osman Yuusuf Keenadiid.gif| thumb|Osman Yusuf Kenadid, creator of the Osmanya script.
As with the Majeerteen Sultanate, the Sultanate of Hobyo exerted a strong centralized authority during its existence, and possessed all of the organs and trappings of an integrated modern state: a functioning bureaucracy, a hereditary nobility, titled aristocrats, a state flag, as well as a professional army. Both sultanates also maintained written records of their activities, which still exist.

Colonial Era

In the late 19th century, all extant northern Somali monarchs entered into treaties with one of the colonial powers, Abyssinia, Britain or Italy, except for the Dhulbahante. Likewise, in late 1889, Boqor Osman entered into a treaty with the Italians, making his realm an Italian protectorate. His rival Sultan Kenadid had signed a similar agreement vis-a-vis his own Sultanate the year before. Both rulers had signed the protectorate treaties to advance their own expansionist objectives, with Boqor Osman looking to use Italy's support in his ongoing power struggle with Kenadid over the Majeerteen Sultanate. Boqor Osman and Sultan Kenadid also hoped to exploit the conflicting interests among the European imperial powers that were then looking to control the Somali peninsula, so as to avoid direct occupation of their territories by force.
The relationship between the Sultanate of Hobyo and Italy soured when Sultan Kenadid refused the Italians' proposal to allow a British contingent of troops to disembark in his Sultanate so that they might then pursue their battle against Mohammed Abdullah Hassan's Dervish forces. Viewed as too much of a threat by the Italians, Sultan Kenadid was eventually exiled to Aden in Yemen and then to Eritrea, as was his son Ali Yusuf, the heir apparent to his throne.
Osman Yusuf Kenadid, the son of the first Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid, was a famous poet and scholar. Osman Yusuf Kenadid was the inventor of the first phonetically standard script for the Somali language in the 1920s, the Osmanya Script.
Following a two-year resistance by Boqor Osman and Majeerteen rebels, Italian Somaliland came under the full authority of Rome by late 1927. Long-lasting Italian costal bombardments on urban settlements and naval blockades were utilized by colonial forces to suppress the rebels.

Lineage

There is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures and many lineages are omitted. The following listing is taken from the World Bank's Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics from 2005 and the United Kingdom's Home Office publication, Somalia Assessment 2001.
  • Darod
  • *Isse Darod
  • *Yusuf Darod
  • *Ahmed Darod
  • *Hussein Darod
  • *Mohamed Darod
  • *Kuumade Mohamed
  • **Abdi Mohamed
  • ***Harla Koombe
  • ***Geri Koombe]
  • ***Jiran Kombe
  • ***Hayle Koombe
  • ***Salah Koombe
  • ****Abdirahman Harti
  • ****Sead Harti
  • ****Liban Harti
  • ****Ali Harti
  • ****Ahmed Harti
  • *****Ismail Ahmed
  • ******Mohamoud Ismail
  • ****Mohamoud Harti
  • *****Hinjiye Mohamoud
  • *****Mohamed Mohamoud
  • ****Mohamed Harti
  • *****Mohamoud Mohamed
  • *****Taballe Mohamed
  • *****Ahmed Mohamed
  • *****Aawe Mohamed
  • ******Omar "sorore"
  • *******Nuux Omar
  • *******Abdirahman Omar
  • *******Ismail Omar
  • *******Nolays Omar
  • ********Muse Nolays
  • ********Abdikarim Nolays
  • ********Abdalle Nolays
  • ********Mohamed "Walal Yabare" Nolays
  • *********Hijijle Mohamed "Walal Yabare"
  • **********Ahmed Hijile
  • **********Shiehk Sead Hijile
  • **********Yusuf Hijijle
  • **********Ali Hijiijle
  • **********Talorer Hijijle
  • ***********Mohamed Talorer
  • ***********Hussein Talorer
  • ***********Hassan "Nebidor" Talorer
  • ************Mohamed Hassan
  • ************Abdullahi "Toljecle" Hassan
  • *************Mohamed "Umadnebi" Abdullahi
  • **************Ali Mohamed "Umadnebi"
  • **************Ishaq Mohamed "Umadnebi"
  • **************Omar Mohamed "Umadnebi"
  • **************Jibrahil Mohamed "Umadnebi"
  • ***************Ali Jibrahil
  • ***************Salah Jibrahil
  • ***************Isamil Jibrahil
  • ***************Adam Jibrahil
  • ***************Yusuf Jibrahil
  • ***************Ibrahim Jibrahil
  • ****************Ismail Ibrahim
  • ****************Adam Ibrahim
  • ****************Ahmed Ibrahim
  • *****************Abdirahim Ahmed
  • ****************Ali Ibrahim
  • ****************Hassan "Kaba alif" Ibrahim
  • ****************Mohamud Ibrahim
  • ****************Abdullahi Ibrahim
  • ****************Mohamed Ibrahim
  • *****************Yahye Mohamed
  • *****************Adam Mohamed
  • *****************Ismail Mohamed
  • *****************Sead Mohamed
  • *****************Ishaq Mohamed
  • *****************Saleban Mohamed
  • ******************Jibrahil Saleban
  • ******************Omar saleban
  • ******************Abdirahim Saleban
  • ******************Muse "Ugaar" Saleban
  • ******************Ismail Saleban
  • ******************Ali Saleban
  • ******************Mohamoud Saleban
  • *******************Osman Mahmoud
  • *******************Omar Mahmoud
  • *******************Isse Mahmoud
  • *******************Nuh Mohamoud
  • *******************Xariir Mohamoud
  • *******************Muse Mohamoud
  • *******************Yahye Mohamoud

    Groups

  • Taargooye, an exclusively Majeerteen Darawiish administrative division and disbanded in 1910 when its constituents became mutinous
  • The Somali Salvation Democratic Front was a predominantly Majeerteen political group from the 1980s to 1990s

    Notable people

Royalty