 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 Somalia | |
| Languages | |
| Somali | |
| Religion | |
| Islam (Sunni) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Tunni, Garre other Rahanweyn |
The Geledi are a Somali clan that live predominantly in the environs of Afgooye city. They are a sub-clan of the Rahanweyn and led the Geledi sultanate during the late 17th to early 20th century. [1] They are divided into two main lineage groups: the Tolweyne and the Yabadhaale.
The nobles within the Geledi claim descent from Omar al-Din (Abadir) who arrived from Harar. [2] He had 3 other brothers, Fakhr and with 2 others of whom their names are given differently as Shams, Umudi, Alahi and Ahmed. Together they were known as Afarta Timid , 'the 4 who came', indicating their origins from Arabia. However the Geledi people like the other Rahanweyn are of true Somali stock and like the Darod and Isaaq claiming Arab lineage was a phenomenon. [3] Aw Kalafow a descendant of Omar is stated to be the first to use the title Garad . [4]
The Geledi and their Wacdaan allies were under the rule of the Ajuran client Silcis. [5] The grandfather of Ibrahim Adeer was an Ajuran general who inflicted a large defeat on invading Oromo at Lafagaale. Following the weakening of the Ajuran the two notable rebellions came from the Geledi and Hiraab with Ibrahim Adeer carving out his own sultanate and defeating the Silcis. [6]
The new Geledi Sultanate rose to become a powerful state that ruled large parts of the Horn of Africa exerting heavy influence on the Banaadir coast and dominating trade on the Jubba and Shabelle rivers. The sultanate grew to encompass nearly all of the Rahanweyn under the reign of Mahamud Ibrahim reaching its apex under Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim. [7] The sultanate conducted foreign policy with neighbors on the Swahili Coast and was connected with rulers of southern Arabia. Facing two jihadist insurrections the state was able to defeat and resubjugate lost territory on its western frontier as a result of these wars. [8] Ultimately failing to end a rebellion in the key city of Merca the sultanate declined steadily but still managed to fend off the Ethiopian Empire before the death of its last final ruler Osman Ahmed. [9]
Following the end of the Sultanate and its incorporation into Italian Somaliland, the Somali Republic would soon be born in 1960. The Geledi people had gone from one of the most dominant subclans in all of Southern Somalia to humble farmers in the wake of illegal land grabbing and marginalization by the Somali government. Large scale movement into Afgooye by Somalis not native to the city and the grants of land traditionally reserved for Geledi cultivation caused significant tension in the community. [10]
New Years celebrations in the town of Afgooye are well marked by the Geledi people and they continue until this day. With men and women donning traditional white cloth a man wielding a wooden trumpet or buun leads the people in procession. They are marked in certain lines behind the trumpeter and poets lead chants and people break into song. Like other Rahanweyn the Geledi speak the maay dialect but their close proximity to maaxa or standard Somali speakers has marked them. [11]
The Istunka Afgooye or isgaraac is an annual stick fight performed in the city by its inhabitants stretching back hundreds of years. It first began in the Ajuran period but was later formalized with teams and rules by Geledi Sultan Ahmed Yusuf. The festival coincides with the harvest being a joyous time in the city [12] The event itself consists of a mock fight between the people residing on each side of the river bed in the town of Afgooye. Symbolizing the defence of one's community and honor, it coincides with the start of the main harvest season. Istunka was originally performed in full combat gear, with battle-axes, swords and daggers. However, for safety reasons, performers later replaced those weapons with large sticks or batons. [13]
The Geledi retained their rich oral tradition and evocative poetry that differed from the more well known northern style. In southern Somalia the poet and reciter would be one and the same. British ethnologist Virginia Luling noted during her visit to the town that poetry was to be conceived and recited simultaneously with no prior preparation. The poets or Laashin relied on their wit and memory to construct beautiful poems and entertain the audience. It is important to note as the Geledi are Rahanweyn they speak Af Maay and not Af Maaha which is sometimes classified as a separate language from Af Maaha or the ubiquitously known 'Standard Somali'. [14] [15]
Geledi Laashins during Luling's 1989 stay in Afgooye sang about the ever present issue of land theft by the Somali government. The Sultan in these poems was asked to help the community and reminded of his legendary Gobroon forefathers of the centuries prior. [16]
The poem The law then was not this law was performed by the leading Laashins of Afgooye, Hiraabey, Muuse Cusmaan and Abukar Cali Goitow alongside a few others, addressed to the current leader Sultan Subuge. [17]
Here the richest selection of the poem performed by Goitow
Ganaane gubow gaala guuriow Gooble maahinoo Geelidle ma goynin | You who burnt Ganaane and chased away the infidels |
| —Abubakr Cali Goitow The law then was not this law [18] |
Baidoa is the largest city of the South West State of Somalia.
The Ajuran is a Somali clan, part of the Jambelle clan which itself belongs to the largest Somali clan-family — the Hawiye. Ajuran members largely inhabit Kenya as well as southern east Ethiopia; considerable numbers are also found in southern Somalia. Some Ajuran members settled in Mogadishu.
Merca is the capital city of the Lower Shebelle province of Somalia, a historic port city in the region. It is located approximately 109 km (68 mi) to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home territory of the Major Bimal clan and was the center of the Bimal revolt.
Barawa, also known as Barawe and Brava, is the capital of the South West State of Somalia. It functions as a port town in the southwestern Lower Shebelle region of Somalia. Facing the Indian Ocean, Barawa serves as the main port of the South West State.
The Rahanweyn, also known as the Digil and Mirifle are a major Somali clan. It is one of the major Somali clans in the Horn of Africa, with a large territory and densely populated fertile valleys of the Jubba and Shebelle rivers and the area between are mainly inhabited by settlers from the Digil and Mirifle lineages.
The Ajuran Sultanate, also natively referred-to as Ajuuraan, and often simply Ajuran, was a Somali Empire in the Middle Ages in the Horn of Africa that dominated the trade in the northern Indian ocean. They belonged to the Somali Muslim sultanate that ruled over large parts of the Horn of Africa in the Middle Ages. Through a strong centralized administration and an aggressive military stance towards invaders, the Ajuran Empire successfully resisted an Oromo incursion from the west and a Portuguese incursion from the east during the Gaal Madow and the Ajuran-Portuguese wars. Trading routes dating from the ancient and early medieval periods of Somali maritime enterprise were strengthened or re-established, and foreign trade and commerce in the coastal provinces flourished with ships sailing to and coming from many kingdoms and empires in East Asia, South Asia, Europe, the Near East, North Africa and East Africa.
The Silcis are a Somali subclan. They are part of the Gorgarte subclan of the Hawiye clan, which is one of the major clans of Somali people. The Silcis inhabit the traditional coastal region of Benadir in the southern part of Somalia. This region should not be confused with the much smaller present day Banaadir administrative region (gobol) which contains Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. Silcis live, or have historically lived, along the Shabeelle River in towns such as Afgooye and Jowhaar, as well as along the coast, especially in Mogadishu and Warsheekh.
Somali literature is the literature used by the ethnic Somalis of Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, Yemen, Eritrea, Ogadenia, and Kenya.
Mai-Mai, commonly spelled Maay Maay, is a dialect of the Somali language of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. It is mainly spoken in Somalia and adjacent parts of Ethiopia and Kenya. In Somalia, it is spoken in South West state, Jubaland state, and Banadir. It is one of the dialects of the Somali language.
Afgooye is a town in the southeastern Somalia Lower Shebelle region of Somalia. It is the center of the Afgooye District. Afgooye is the third largest city of Southwest State. Afgooye is one of the oldest towns on the lower Shebelle valley, 30 kilometers north of Mogadishu. Afgooye is the site of Lafoole college, the first college of education in Somalia, built on the site of the battle of Lafoole of 1896. Afgooye is also known for the Istunka, the annual "stick fight" carnival commemorating the New Year in the riverine region. It was a trade center for the Silcis Dynasty in the medieval period then fell under Ajuran rule. Around the late 17th century, Afgooye became the capital of Geledi Sultanate.
The Bimaal or Bimal, is a sub-clan of the major Dir clan family. This clan is widely known for leading a resistance against the colonials in southern Somalia for decades which can be -in a little way- compared to the war of the Sayyid in Somaliland. The Biimaal mainly lives in southern Somalia, the Somali region of Ethiopia, which their Gaadsen sub-clan mainly inhabits and in the NEP region of Kenya.
Ibrahim Adeer was a Somali ruler. He founded the Sultanate of the Geledi. He subsequently established the Geledi sultanate's ruling house, the Gobroon dynasty, after having to successfully rebel and expel the Ajuran Sultanate and ruled large parts of Horn of Africa.
Mahamud Ibrahim Adeer sometimes referred to as Aw Maxamuud was a Somali ruler. He was the second Sultan of the Sultanate of the Geledi. He defeated early challengers to the new Sultanate and incorporated some Rahanweyn and Hawiye subclans under Geledi rule.
Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim was a Somali ruler. He was the third and most powerful Sultan of the Geledi sultanate, reigning from 1798 to 1848. Under the reign of Sultan Yusuf, his kingdom entered its apex, he managed to modernize his economy and his kingdom quickly became one of the wealthiest states in East Africa. Yusuf frequently toured the sultanate and built rapport with his many clients and allies. He successfully consolidated Geledi power during conquest of Bardera and expelling extremist ideology from his region. It was under his rule he manage to establish many trading partners and allies such as the Sultanate of Witu. He also exacted tribute from Sultan Said of the Omani Empire starting from 1843.
Ahmed Yusuf Mahamud was a Somali ruler. He was the fourth Sultan of the Geledi sultanate, reigning from 1848 to 1878 and succeeded his father Yusuf Mahamud after his demise at the battle of Adaddey Suleyman. Ahmed's rule marked a period of great prosperity in the Sultanate and with his death in 1878 the Geledi decline began. The sultan was credited as having brought over 20,000 Somali troops to free the slaves of Zanzibar.
Istunka, also known as isgaraac, is a festival held annually in Afgooye, Somalia on the Somali new year. The tournament was developed during the medieval Ajuran period, and was centralized in the 19th century under the Sultanate of the Geledi. Consisting of several teams engaging each other in mock combat, it is celebrated alongside other ceremonies such as Dabshiid.
The Sultanate of the Geledi also known as the Gobroon dynasty was a Somali kingdom that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa during the late-17th century to the early 20th century. The Sultanate was governed by the Gobroon dynasty. It was established by the Geledi soldier Ibrahim Adeer, who had defeated various vassals of the Ajuran Sultanate and elevated the Gobroon to wield significant political power. Following Mahamud Ibrahim's consolidation, the dynasty reached its apex under Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim, who successfully modernized the Geledi economy and eliminated regional threats with the Conquest of Bardera in 1843, and would go on to receive tribute from Said bin Sultan the ruler of the Omani Empire. Geledi Sultans had strong regional ties and built alliances with the Pate and Witu Sultanates on the Swahili coast. Trade and Geledi power would continue to remain strong until the death of the well known Sultan Ahmed Yusuf in 1878. The sultanate was eventually incorporated into Italian Somaliland in 1911.
Osman Ahmed was a Somali ruler. He was the fifth and final Sultan of the Geledi Sultanate. Osman Ahmed is considered less illustrious than his predecessors and Gobroon power weakened considerably under his rule. He was the son of Sultan Ahmed Yusuf and succeeded his father after his death. Although, considerably weaker than his forebears he was still the most powerful ruler in the region and was credited for defending the Rahanweyn territory by repulsing an invasion from the Ethiopian Empire and Dervish State.
The Tunni are a Somali clan that make up part of the wider Digil-Rahanweyn branch. It is one of the major clans that inhabit in the South West State of Somalia and can also be found in Jubbaland.
The Tunni Sultanate was a Somali Muslim Sultanate located in southwestern Somalia, south of the Shabelle river. It was ruled by the Tunni people, who spoke the Af-Tunni. The historical Tunni area corresponds to the modern-day Lower Shabelle region.