Siyara Siyaara | |
|---|---|
 Dilapitdated remains of Siyara's fort | |
  Siyara Location in Somaliland  Siyara Siyara (Somaliland) | |
| Coordinates: 10°36′10″N45°16′31″E / 10.60278°N 45.27528°E | |
| Country |  Somaliland |
| Region | Sahil |
| District | Berbera District |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EAT) |
Siyara (Somali : Siyaara) was a historic coastal settlement and fort located in the Sahil region of Somaliland. It served as the first capital of the Adal Sultanate following the Muslim resurgence spearheaded by Sabr ad-Din II. [1]
The name of Siyara derives from the Somali word Siyaaro, a term used to describe a localized annual pilgrimage to a holy site where the ancestor of a clan or a saint is buried. The Somali word ultimately derives from the Arabic word of the same meaning: ziyārah (زيارة).
Siyara was the site of the return of the Walashma dynasty to Somali lands. Sa'ad ad-Din II the last Sultan of Ifat had been slain in Zeila after losing the city to Emperor Dawit I after a siege. His sons had fled to Yemen and would soon return led by Sultan Sabr ad-Din II. Sabr crossed the Gulf of Aden and established a base in Siyara. [2] At Siyara many of the former followers of Saad Ad Din regrouped and joined Sabr Ad Din. Despite his army's smaller size, he was able to defeat his Ethiopian opponents in battles at Serjan and Zikr Amhara (Memory of the Amhara) and consequently pillaged the surrounding areas. [1] As a result, Emperor Yeshaq I sent to the region the Ethiopian general Najt Bakal who had under him 10 chiefs, each the head of 20,000 soldiers. The new invigorated kingdom led by the Walashama would be called the Sultanate of Adal. The Adalites fled from this initial Ethiopian push, which then occupied the region for a year. Sabr ad-Din sent his brother Muhammad, aided by the Christian apostate and Ethiopian defector Harb Jaush, defeated Najt Bakal's forces in Retwa, resulting in the general's death, along with many soldiers and Christian leaders. Sabr ad-Din II pillaged the region and was able to defeat Yeshaq's imperial headquarters in Adal and retired to his capital, while instructing his followers and commanders to continue to fight. [1] He entrusted his brother Muhammad with taking an imperial fort at Barut and ordered his commander Umar to take Jab from the Christians. However, the region was well defended by numerous imperial soldiers and the attack was a failure, resulting in the deaths of all of Umar's men, according to Al-Maqrizi. Sabr ad-Din barely escaped capture due to the speed of his horse, but died soon after of a natural death in 1422-3. [3] [4]
Legendary 15th century Arab explorer Ahmad ibn Mājid wrote of Siyara and several other notable landmarks and ports of the northern Somali coast, including Berbera, the Sa'ad ad-Din islands (aka the Zeila Archipelago near Zeila), Alula, Ruguda, Maydh, Heis, El-Darad and El-Sheikh. [5]
In early modern times Siyara was a seasonal trading post located some 30 km east of Berbera, where the local Makahil branch of the Sa’ad Musa, Habr Awal operated a fort there and derived a regular revenue from ships calling at Siyara to replenish their fresh water reserves on the way to the Berbera trading fair:
Siyareh, a fort and small village belonging to the Makahil branch of the Habr Awal, is the watering-place of Berbera, and derives a small revenue from the boats which touch there en route to, and returning from, the Berbera fair. [6]
In the year 1845, Sharmarke Ali Saleh – who was by then the Governor of Zeila – chartered four Somali ships from Siyara with men and building material for the erection of his tower forts to solidify his takeover of Berbera, which lasted from 1845 to 1852. [7] [8]
The Habr Awal massacre of Richard Burton's travel party and death of a number of British officers in 1854 led the Royal Navy to blockade the Habr Awal coast. The blockade was established from Mount Almis/El-Sheikh to Siyara, which adversely affected trade in Berbera and Bulhar. A settlement was finally reached in 1856 that allowed trade to continue moving again. [9] In 1869 the Royal Navy was enforcing a ban on slave trading in the Gulf of Aden and intercepted over 100 Galla slaves that were illegally shipped to Aden from Berbera. Soon after more slaves were discovered at Siyara and Lieutenant Colonel Playfair with the steamer 'Lady Canning' implored the Makahil elders to surrender the slaves. Upon their refusal the Lady Canning would open fire shooting deliberately near the important fort of Siyara. This act of intimidation led the elders to oblige and free the slaves held in the area. [10]
The port town was later on described as being under the possession of the Habr Je'lo: [11]
“The last branch of the Western tribes is the Haber el Jahleh, who possess the sea-ports from Seyareh to the ruined village of Rukudah, and as far as the town of Heis. Of these towns, Kurrum is the most important, from its possessing a tolerable harbour, and from its being the nearest point from Aden, the course to which place is N.N.W., consequently the wind is fair, and the boats laden with sheep for the Aden market pass but one night at sea, whilst those from Berbera are generally three. What greatly enhances the value of Kurrum however is its proximity to the country of the Dulbahanta, who approach within four days of Kurrum, and who therefore naturally have their chief trade through that port.
In 2016 and again in 2020, the Incipit (Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio) Spanish-lead archaeological team surveyed the site of Siyara and made a number of new archeological finds, including stone buildings made of coral masonry and several hundred Muslim burial graves and tumuli. The team also uncovered amounts of imported and local potteries, glass, stone vessels and accumulations of bones and ashes (which indicates large feasts and gatherings). [12]
Previously inhabited by the Sa'ad Musa sub-division of the Habr Awal Isaaq, the town is nowadays inhabited by members of the Mohamed Abokor subdivision of the Habr Je'lo Isaaq. [13]
Berbera is the capital of the Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. It also served as a major port of the Ifat, Adal and Isaaq sultanates from the 13th to 19th centuries.
The Isaaq is a major Somali clan. It is one of the largest Somali clan families in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territory.
Zeila, also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland.
The Habr Garhajis also contemporarily known as the Garhajis is a major clan of the wider Isaaq clan family. They are the traditional holders of the Isaaq Sultanate and Habr Yunis Sultanate since the 18th century. As descendants of Ismail bin Sheikh Isaaq, its members form a part of the Habar Magaadle confederation, and they constitute one of the largest sub-clans of the Isaaq. The Garhajis are divided into two major sub-clans: the Habr Yunis and Eidagale. They are traditionally nomadic pastoralists, merchants and skilled poets.
The history of Somaliland, a country in the eastern Horn of Africa bordered by the Gulf of Aden, and the East African land mass, begins with human habitation tens of thousands of years ago. It includes the civilizations of Punt, the Ottomans, and colonial influences from Europe and the Middle East.
The Awal, also contemporarily known as the Habr Awal, Subeer Awal, and alternately known as the Zubeyr Awal is one of the largest subclans of the wider Isaaq clan family, and is further divided into eight sub-clans of whom the two largest and most prominent are the Isamusa and Sa'ad Musa sub-clans. Its members form a part of the Habar Magadle confederation.
Maydh is an ancient port city in the eastern Sanaag region of Somaliland.
Heis is a historic coastal town located in the Sanaag region of Somaliland. The town was important for trade and communication with the Somali interior and was used to export frankincense to Arabia.
The Sa'ad ad-Din Islands, also Romanized as Sa'ad-ed-din and known as the Zeila Archipelago, are a group of islands off the northwestern coast of Somalia. They are situated near the ancient city of Zeila.
El-Sheikh is a coastal settlement in the western edge of the Sahil region of Somaliland.
The Habr Je'lo, Arabic: هبر جعلو, Full Name: Mūsa ibn ash-Shaykh Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad, historically known as the Habr Toljaala is a major Northern Somali clan of the wider Isaaq family. Its members form the confederation along with the Ibran, Sanbuur and Tolje’lo.
Sharmarke Ali Saleh was a leading 19th century Somaliland leader, captain, and merchant. He was known as "The African Rothschild " which indicates he was one of the richest men living on the African continent at that time and also the 'Political Boss of the Somaliland coast', a title which is a testament to his political influence in the region. He was the governor and ruler of Zeila and Berbera between 1841 and 1861, and for a time was known as the richest man along the Somaliland coast. His descendants would go on to become the traditional leaders of the Musa Arreh sub-clan of the Habr Yunis clan.
The Mohamed Abokor is a Somali clan, and a major sub-division of the muuse sh isxaaq clan of the Isaaq.
Karin is a historic coastal settlement located in the Sahil region of Somaliland.
Ruguda, also known as Rakudah is a historic coastal port town located in the Sanaag region of Somaliland, near Heis.
The Musa Abokor is a Somali clan, and a 2 major sub-division of the muuse sh isxaaq clan of the Isaaq clan-family.
El-Darad was a historic coastal settlement and fort located in the Sahil region of Somaliland.
The Isaaq Sultanate was a Muslim sultanate that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. The kingdom spanned the territories of the Isaaq clan in modern-day Somaliland. It was governed by the Rer Guled branch of the Garhajis clan and is the pre-colonial predecessor to the modern Republic of Somaliland.
The Sa'ad Musa or Saad Musa is a northern Somali clan. Its members form a part of the Subeer Awal sub-clan of the Isaaq clan family. The Sa'ad Musa traditionally consists of nomadic pastoralists, coastal people, merchants and farmers. The clan inhabits Somaliland, including Maroodi Jeex,Awdal and Sahil as well as Djibouti, the Somali Region of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania.
The Sanbur is a major clan of the wider Isaaq clan family. Its members form part of the larger Habr Habusheed confederation along with the Habr Je'lo, Ibran and Tol Je'lo clans. Politically however, the Sanbur fall under the Habr Je'lo clan.
