The Sultanate of Hobyo (Somali: Saldanadda Hobyo, Arabic: سلطنة هوبيو), also known as the Sultanate of Obbia,[1] was a 19th-century Somali Sultanate in present-day northeastern and central Somalia and eastern Ethiopia. It was established in 1878 by Yusuf Ali Kenadid.
Sultanate of Hobyo | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1878–1925 | |||||||||||
 Flag | |||||||||||
| Status | Somali Sultanate Protectorate of Italy (1888–1927) | ||||||||||
| Capital | |||||||||||
| Common languages | Somali · Arabic | ||||||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
| Sultan | |||||||||||
• 1884–1912 | Yusuf Ali Kenadid | ||||||||||
• early 1912–1925 | Ali Yusuf Kenadid | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 1878 | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1925 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Today part of | Somalia | ||||||||||
Administration
editAs with the Majeerteen Sultanate, the Sultanate of Hobyo was a sultanate limited to the desolate town of hobyo and its outskirts after signing a treat with the encroaching British colonisers. The sultanate was fully backed and funded by colonialists who seeked to extend their influence in Somalia.
History
editRise of the Sultanate
editThe sultanate of Hobyo originated from a rift within the Majeerteen. However, he quickly lost in this disagreement and was exiled from Alula in northern Somalia. He left the area and set up post in another Majeerteen settlement called Hobyo mostly settled by the Mohamud Soliman, Omar mohamud subclan.[2][3]
A decade later, in the 1870s, Kenadid returned from the Arabian Peninsula with a band of Hadhrami and Mehri fighters, after signigng a treaty with italy in Zanzibar, he managed to get weapons and establish a desolate sultanate in the village of Hobyo.
In the late 19th century, all extant Somali monarchs entered into treaties with one of the colonial powers, Abyssinia, Britain or Italy, In late 1888, Sultan Kenadid entered into a treaty with the Italians, making his realm an Italian protectorate. In signing the agreements, the rulers also hoped to exploit the rival objectives of the European imperial powers so as to more effectively assure the continued independence of their territories.[4]
The terms of each treaty specified that Italy was to steer clear of any interference in the sultanates' respective administrations even though Italy would later crush both the sultanate of Hobyo and Majerten.[4] In return for Italian arms and an annual subsidy, the Sultans conceded to a minimum of oversight and economic concessions.[5] However, the Italians and british colonialists didn't hold their end of the deal and arrested Yusuf kenadid in 1903 for not being a good enough stooge after he failed to fight the mad mullah effecitvely.[6][7] 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, who would later be re-imposed into the sultnate.[8]
The fall of the Sultanate
editAfter many years of being in bed with the encroaching colonialists the colonialsts reached their goal and were ready to get rid of their helpers. A campaign to destroy the Obbia Sultanate and Majerten sultanate was designed and underway. In the year of 1925 a large scale mission was started with 20,000 dubats to seize the sultanates of Obbia and Majerten.[1] by 1927 both sultanates had been ransacked and forcefully brought under Italian colonial rulership.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ New International Encyclopedia, Volume 21, (Dodd, Mead: 1916), p.283.
- ^ Bollati, Ambrogio (1938). Somalia italiana (in Italian). Unione editoriale d'Italia. p. 23.
- ^ Map by Régnauld de Lannoy de Bissy, Richard de (1844-1906) Cartographe; scientifique, France Service géographique de l'armée Éditeur (1886). "Carte de l'Afrique à l'échelle de 1:2 000 000. 38, Mouqdicha : Afrique (région équatoriale) / dressé et dessiné par... Régnauld de Lannoy de Bissy". Gallica. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Issa-Salwe (1996:34–35)
- ^ Hess (1964:416–417)
- ^ Bollati, Ambrogio (1938). Italian Somalia (1st ed.). Italy: Unione editoriale d'Italia. p. 45.
- ^ The Majeerteen Sultanates
- ^ Sheik-ʻAbdi (1993:129)
Notes
edit- Issa-Salwe, Abdisalam M. (1996). The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy. London: Haan Associates. ISBN 187420991X.
- Hess, Robert L. (1964). "The 'Mad Mullah' and Northern Somalia". The Journal of African History. 5 (3): 415–33. doi:10.1017/s0021853700005107. S2CID 162991126.
- Sheik-ʻAbdi, ʻAbdi ʻAbdulqadir (1993). Divine madness: Moḥammed ʻAbdulle Ḥassan (1856-1920). Zed Books. ISBN 0-86232-444-0.
- The Majeerteen Sultanates, mudugonline.com
- Emblem & Flag, ethnia.org