Battle of Zeila (1841)

Battle of Zeila (1841)
Zeila after the battle
Date 1841 Location Zeila, Ottoman Zeila Result Isaaq victory Sharmarke Ali Saleh becomes governor and ruler of Zeila. [1] [2] [3] Beginning of the Sheikhdom of Zeila [4]
Belligerents
Isaaq Sultanate Sharmarke Ali Saleh’s forces	Sayyid Mohamed El-Barr's forces
Commanders and leaders
Sharmarke Ali Saleh Mohamed Diban	Sayyid Mohamed el-Barr
Strength
2 battleships 4 cannons 50 musketeers	40 Yemeni matchlock men
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Battle of Zeila (1841) was an armed confrontation between the Ottoman governor of Zeila and 50 Somali musketmen led by Sharmarke Ali Saleh who would end up succeeding Sayyid Mohamed el-Barr as governor of Ottoman Zeila. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8]}

Background

See also: Sharmarke Ali Saleh, Ottoman Zeila, and Yemen Vilayet

As a tributary of Mocha, which in turn was part of the Ottoman possessions in Western Arabia, the port of Zeila. ^{[9] [10] [7]} The Ottomans based in Yemen held only nominal authority of Zeila when Haji Sharmarke Ali Saleh, a successful and ambitious Somali merchant, purchased the rights of the town from the Ottoman governor of Mocha and Hodeida. However, the previous governor was not eager to relinquish his control of Zeila, which lead to Sharmarke mobilizing troops in order to plan an assault on the city. ^{[11] [6] [7]}

Battle

With the town rights bought by Sharmarke, and Syed Mohammed refusing to give up his power, Sharmarke sailed two ships equipped with two to four cannons and with fifty Somali musketmen. ^[12] Sayyid, then based at Al-Hudaydah, confirmed his authority, and sent to Zeila a small garrison of about 40 matchlockmen from Yemen. ^{[13] [14]} Sharmarke reached Zeila and tried to negotiate with Syed Mohammed, but this failed. Instead Sharmarke started to prepare for an assault on the city ^[15]

Sharmarke initially only directed his cannons at the city walls, which frightened some of Al Barr's followers into fleeing. When Sharmarke actually fired his cannons, the rest of Al Barr's troops fled. ^{[16] [17]} The remaining fighters were defeated and routed after a short battle and Sharmarke immediately deposed the defeated governor, claiming the city for himself. ^{[15] [14] [18]}

Aftermath

During Sharmarke Ali Saleh's governorship of Zeila, Sharmarke's pre-existing trading activities with Southern Arabia and India continued unabated. Out of the twenty local vessels docked in Zeila, ten were owned by Sharmarke himself, with two of the ships being "large trading dhows which convey yearly, about 300 tons of coffee and other goods" to Bombay. ^[19]

Afar merchant Abu Bakr, rival of Sharmarke for control of Zeila

In the year 1855, Sharmarke was deposed by his Danakil rival, Abu Bakr, who gained control of Zeila with the support of the French. However, Sharmarke was restored to power in 1857 and became the governor of Zeila again, ruling the historic port town until his death in 1861 ^[8]

Downfall

See also: Assassination of Henri Lambert and Sharmarke Ali Saleh

Following the assassination of Henri Lambert preumably by Sharmake Ali Saleh a French Consul and naval officer Fleuriot de Langle launched a complex into the matter as Commander of the Naval Station for the East African Coasts. ^{[20] [21] [22] [23] [24]}

De Langle proposed Aboubakr Pasha as Provisional Governor. In a secret meeting with de Langle, Aboubeker requested ratification of prior negotiations with France regarding territorial occupation. He also clarified the origins of Tadjoura's customs payments to Zeila, tracing them back to agreements under Yemeni Imams and later Turkish oversight, detailing the overthrow of Sayyid Mohammed Al Bar. ^{[25] [26] [27]}

Sharmarke and some of his supporters were arbitrarily arrested and handed to the French navy for a trial in Constantinople (although the trial was later moved to Jeddah). ^[28] However, Sharmarke died during the journey, and whether foul play was involved or not remains unknown. ^[29]

See also

• Ottoman Zeila
• Habesh Eyalet
• Richard Francis Burton
• Sharmarke Ali Saleh

References

1. Johnston, Charles (1844). Travels in southern Abyssinia : through the country of Adal to the kingdom of Shoa. London: J. Madden. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.59208.
2. Making Sense of Somali History: Volume 1 - Page 63
3. Omar, Mohamed Osman (2001). The scramble in the Horn of Africa: history of Somalia, 1827-1977. Somali Publications. ISBN   9781874209638.
4. Foreign Department of the Government of India (1874). Precis of Papers Regarding Aden 1838–1872. Government of India.
5. Rayne, Henry (1921). Sun, sand and Somals; leaves from the note-book of a district commissioner in British Somaliland. Witherby, London. pp. 15–16.
6. Omar, Mohamed Osman (2001). The Scramble in the Horn of Africa: History of Somalia, 1827-1977. Somali Publications. pp. Page 12 and page 40. ISBN   978-1-874209-63-8.
7. Burton, Richard (2011-07-07). First Footsteps in East Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139004107. ISBN   978-1-108-03030-4.
8. Graham, Gerald S.; Marston, Thomas E. (1962). "Britain's Imperial Role in the Red Sea Area, 1800-1878" . The Economic History Review. 15 (2): 123. doi:10.2307/2599015. ISSN   0013-0117. JSTOR   2599015.
9. Marston, Thomas E. (1961). Britain's Imperial Role in the Red Sea Area, 1800-1878. Shoe String Press. pp. Page 123 and page 103. ISBN   978-0-608-32506-4.
10. Making Sense of Somali History: Volume 1 - Page 63
11. Rayne, Henry (1921). Sun, sand and Somals; leaves from the note-book of a district commissioner in British Somaliland. Witherby, London. pp. 15–16.
12. Rayne, Henry A. (1921). Sun, sand and Somals; leaves from the note-book of a district commissioner in British Somaliland. University of California Libraries. London : Witherby. p. 15.
13. Abir, Mordechai (1968). Ethiopia: the Era of the Princes: The Challenge of Islam and Re-unification of the Christian Empire, 1769-1855. Praeger. pp. 14–16. ISBN   978-0-582-64517-2.
14. Ingiriis, Mohamed Haji (2017-07-03). "Making Sense of Somali History: Volume One" . African Historical Review. 49 (2): 119–122. doi:10.1080/17532523.2017.1402856. ISSN   1753-2523.
15. "Sun, Sand, and Somals: Leaves from the Notebook of a District Commissioner in British Somaliland" . Nature. 108 (2708): Page 14 to page 16. September 1921. Bibcode:1921Natur.108R.112.. doi:10.1038/108112b0. ISSN   0028-0836.
16. Burton, Richard (2011). First Footsteps in East Africa: Or, An Exploration of Harar. Cambridge Library Collection - African Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 16–30. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139004107. ISBN   978-1-108-03030-4.
17. Rayne, Henry (1921). Sun, sand and Somals; leaves from the note-book of a district commissioner in British Somaliland. Witherby, London. pp. 15–16.
18. Kirk, John (1869). "Letter from Dr. Kirk to C. Gonne, Esq., Secretary to the Government, Bombay" . Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London. 14 (1): 16–18. doi:10.2307/1799603. ISSN   1478-615X. JSTOR   1799603.
19. Jama, Mohamed (1996). Constructing colonial hegemony in the Somaliland protectorate, 1941-1960 (Thesis). University of Toronto. p. 49.
20. Salima Machamba, Queen of Mohéli and farmer in Cléry, Archives départementales de la Côte d'Or, 2016.
21. Anne Etter, "À Salima de Mohéli, dernière reine comorienne, la fidélité d'une petite-fille," Éditions Komedit, 2012.
22. Roglo (27 December 2020). "Relationship between Alphonse Fleuriot de Langle and Suzanne Armande de La Monneraye". Roglo. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
23. "{Title}". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
24. Joint-Daguenet, Roger (1992-01-01). Aux origines de l'implantation française en Mer Rouge: Vie et mort d'Henry Lambert, consul de France à Aden. 1859 (in French). Editions L'Harmattan. p. 209. ISBN   978-2-296-27042-8.
25. Indian Office Records (IOR): R/20/A/226 Aden, p. 12, Captain Paqué to Playfair, April 16, 1861.
26. Indian Office Records (IOR): R/20/A/226 Aden, p. 14, Lejeune at Playfair, April 17, 1861.
27. Indian Office Records (IOR): R/20/A/226 Aden, pp. 39-40, Hassan Ali at Playfair, April 22, 1861.
28. Marston, Britain's Imperial Role, pp. 256-257,
29. Charton, Edouard (1862). Le tour du monde: nouveau journal des voyages, Volume 2; Volume 6 (in French). Libraires Hachette. p. 78.