Hiraab Imamate

The Hiraab Imamate () also known as the Yacquub Dynasty was a Somali kingdom that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa during the late 17th century and 19th century until it was incorporated into Italian Somaliland. The Imamate was governed by the Yacquub Dynasty. It was founded by Imam Omar who successfully rebelled and defeated the Ajuran and established an independent kingdom.
History.
Establishment.
The Hiraab Imamate was the successor state of Ajuran Sultanate. The reason for their rebellion was the Ajuran rulers, in the end, became extremely prideful, neglected the sharia, and imposed a heavy taxation on their subjects which was the main reason for the rebellion.
The first clan to ever challenge the Ajuuraan rulers was the Darandoolle clan a section of Hiraab.
"The Ajuuraan had decreed: “At the wells in our territory, the people known as Darandoolle and the other Hiraab cannot water their herds by day, but only at night.” … Then all the Darandoolle gathered in one place. The leaders decided to make war on the Ajuuraan. They found the imam of the Ajuuraan seated on a rock near a well called Ceel Cawl. They killed him with a sword. As they struck him with the sword, they split his body together with the rock on which he was seated. He died immediately and the Ajuuraan migrated out of the country. In another variation of the story, a young Darandoolle warrior was born with a gold ring on his finger, a sign of his future preeminence. The Darandoolle then rallied around their young leader, who eventually assumed the title of imam of the Hiraab and took up residence in Muqdisho)."
After the successful rebellion of the Darandoolle, other clans began to challenge Ajuuraan hegemony. Along the upper and middle reaches of the Shabelle valley, the pastoral Gaaljecel and Xawaadle waged several unsuccessful campaigns before they eventually united to drive the Ajuran out of the area. The Habar Gidir and Duduble also drove the Ajuuraan out of Galgaduud and Mudug provinces after a hard-fought battle.
By 1700, clans of Hawiye occupied a large territory stretching the interior from the Shabelle valley to the arid lands of Mudug and coastal areas of Mogadishu all the way to Hobyo. After the immediate fall of the Ajuuraan, the Hiraab established an independent rule for at least two centuries from the seventeen hundreds and onwards.
European Incursion.
One of its first tests of strength was to defend Mogadishu in 1701 against a European incursion which saw seven ships dock at a nearby harbour and stayed for 11 days. They had planned to take the city but they were successfully repulsed. The quarters of Hamarweyn and Shingani united in the face of this threat. This history was reported by Sharif Aydurus in his 20th century book the "Bughyat Al-Amal Fi Tarikh Al-Sumal"
Administration.
The Ajuuraan predecessors had styled their leadership as an "Imamate" which was subsequently inherited by the Yacquubi family.
The Hiraab Imamate exerted a centralized authority during its existence and possessed some of the organs and trappings of a traditional integrated state: a functioning bureaucracy, a state flag, regular correspondence with neighbouring civilizations in written Arabic, taxation in the form of livestock and cash crops, as well as a professional army. 
According to local oral tradition, the Hiraab imamate administration involved with a powerful alliance of closely related groups who shared a common lineage under the Hiraab clan divisions. The alliance involved the army leaders and advisors of the Habar Gidir and Duduble, the religious roles were reserved by Sheekhaal, and the Imam was reserved for the Abgaal clan who is believed to have been the firstborn. The Imamate was not only confined to Hiraab but incorporated other Somalis such as Hawadle, Gaalje'el, Murusade, Silcis, Surre and Benadiri. Once established, the Imamate ruled the territories stretching from Mogadishu in the Banaadir province to the Shabelle valley, to Galguduud province all the way to the arid lands of Mudug, which included the ancient port of Hobyo.
The Hiraab Imamate's main capital was at Mogadishu and the House of Yacquub was the ruling hereditary dynasty of the Hiraab Imamate. The Imam would receive dignitaries in Mogadishu and correspond with leaders such as the Sultan of Zanzibar or foreign explorers and assign them patrons when they visited his territory to assist them in their business and trade.
Robecchi Brichetti, an early Italian explorer who recorded many traditions of the Imamate, had made the following observation
It is a traditional custom among the Somalis, that the assumption of the title of Ugaz and Imam is always celebrated with an important ceremony attended by all the tribes with which they agree to convene. Great assemblies "(scir)" and fantasies take place to dance, eat, improvise songs, horse races and the party goes on for a month. In short, it is a real feast for which even when two tribes were at war, if a Somali assumes the title of Ugaz or Imam - the hostilities pursued - gain temporary peace. And it is in the solemnity of these assemblies that the head adorns themself with a special turban, made with filaments peeled from a tree which the Somalis call "Ghed-hadd"
Economy.
Hobyo served as a prosperous commercial center for the Imamate. The agricultural centers of El Dhere and Harardhere included the production of sorghum, maize, and beans, supplementing with herds of camels, cattle, goats, and sheep. Livestock, hides, and skin, whilst the aromatic woods and raisins were the primary exports as rice, other foodstuffs, and clothes were imported. Merchants looking for exotic goods came to the Imamate ports to buy textiles, precious metals and pearls. Harvesting along the Shabelle river where major agricultural centers were located like Beledweyne and Jowhar, large number of fruits and vegetables were produced and brought to Mogadishu and Warsheikh for trade. Also, the increasing importance and rapid settlement of more southerly cities such as Mogadishu further boosted prosperity, as more and more ships made their way down the Somali coast to trade and replenish their supplies.
The economy of the Hiraab in the interior includes nomadic pastoralism, and cultivation within agricultural settlements in the Shebelle valley and fertile plains in central Somalia, as well as mercantile commerce along the urban coast. The Hiraab ports would export various of commodities through its maritime routes included cattle skin, slaves, ivory, textiles, iron, gold, silva, pearls, ambergris, incense and numerous other exotic goods.
Explorer John Kirk arrived in southern Somalia in 1873 during a period of great economic prosperity with the region being dominated by the Imamate and the Geledi Sultanate. Kirk met the Imam Mahmood who reigned over Mogadishu. Trade between Hiraab Mogadishu and the interior Geledi led by Ahmed Yusuf was flourishing. Kirk noted a variety of other things. Roughly 20 large dhows were docked in both Mogadishu and Merka respectively filled with grain produced from the farms of the Geledi in the interior with much of the trade being destined for Zanzibar.
Military.
The Imamate had a regular force that acted as both law enforcement and a standing army with armament supplies from the coastal provinces. It also observed sharia law, protected the trade caravans, used a powerful mounted unit that policed the state, and collected taxes, or tributes of cereal and livestock. It also had a regular navy that protected its shores from piracy and the Indian Ocean trade. 
With such a strong civil administration and professional army, the Imamate experienced great peace and stability with a flourishing economy.
Decline.
By 1870, the Imamate began to decline due to internal problems which was the main reason for the complete decentralisation - in a detailed event recorded by Italy, after the death of the 9th Imam Mohamed Ahmed, the succession to become the next Imam had caused a serious dispute and a near fullscale war. The Imam had left seven sons, which saw one of them, "Ali Mohamed", usurp the remaining six and kill the senior "Mahmud Mohamed" in his house in the Hamaruein quarter of the city.
I figli di Ali Mohamed, Sciaeb, Abdurahman, Mahmud e Mahadalle mossero guerra contro i cugini Abdurahman, Achmed ed Ali. Rimasero morti Abdurahman e Mahmud, il quale lasciò tre figli, Hamir, Ali ed Omar. In seguito a questi eccidii il popolo Somalo si consultò seriamente per la nomina dell'Imam. Erano in antagonismo due partiti: che voleva Imam uno dei figli di Ali Mohamed, che uno dei figli di Mahmud Mohamed. La contesa fu accanita assai, tantochè per questa elezione successe una gran guerra fra le tribù, ove, dicesi, rimasero morti circa cinquecento persone d'ambo le parti. 
"Ali Mohamed's sons, Sciaeb, Abdurahman, Mahmud and Mahadalle waged war against their cousins ​​Abdurahman, Achmed and Ali. Abdurahman and Mahmud remained dead and left behind three sons, Hamir, Ali and Omar. Following these massacres, the Somali people seriously consulted for the appointment of the Imam. Two parties were in antagonism: those wanting as Imam the sons of Ali Mohamed, those for the sons of Mahmud Mohamed. The dispute was very fierce, so much so that for this election there was a great war between the tribes, where, it is said, about five hundred people were killed on both sides"
Si assicura, che finalmente uno della tribù degli Abgal, chiamato Omar Egalle, proponesse la pace, offrendosi di accomodare l'affare per l'elezione dell'Imam. E molto si affacendò infatti per quetare i tumultuosi partiti, non riuscendo a sedarli in parte se non con la definitiva divisizione del territorio: assegnando il tratto della costa da Ras Elhur sino a Merka sotto la protezione dei figli di Ali Mohamed, ed a principiare da Uarsciek per l'interno, sotto la protezione dei figli di Mahmud Mohamed. Questi venivano così ad occupare un territorio parallelo ai primi, ma più nell'interno. 
"It was finally entrusted to the Abgal tribe, called Omar Egalle, to propose peace, offering to settle the deal for the election of the Imam. In fact, they worked hard to quell the tumultuous parties, failing to quell them in part if not within the definitive division of the territory: assigning the stretch of the coast from Ras Elhur to Merka under the protection of the sons of Ali Mohamed, and starting from Uarsciek for the interior, under the protection of the sons of Mahmud Mohamed. These thus came to occupy a territory parallel to the former, but more inland"
The Imamate also began to face challenges from Imperialist kingdoms, the Zanzibari Sultan from the coast, the Geledi Sultanate and Hobyo Sultanate from the interior from both directions.
By then, a young ambitious rebel of the Majeerteen called Yusuf Ali Kenadid's managed to invade Hobyo with an army band of Hadhrami musketeers and a group of devoted lieutenants. With their assistance, he managed to overpower the local Hawiye clans and establish the Hobyo Sultanate in the historically contested central Mudug Area in 1878.
The European partitioning of the Peninsula saw the many clans begin to break off from the Imamate leading to its fragmentation and the most prominent one being the Hawadle Sultanate ruling the Hiran region. The Hiraab Imamate was now a traditional and conceptual polity of Mudulood territory and exclusively governed Middle Shabelle region including their capital Mogadishu.
In an unprecedented event, an aide of the Imam who ruled the Itala-Meregh corridor, had signed the first protectionate treaty of Italian Somaliland on the 7th of January 1889, attempting to achieve favourable recognition with the new Colonial Power. Italy had endeavored to make Itala the first Capital of its Colony by renaming the town from its Somali name "Athaleh" to "Itala" in connotation to Italy itself following an official landing in 1891.
Sultan Abiker was killed shortly thereafter by his clan for what had been deemed a betrayal of the highest order.
Questi riferiva che Abubaker, Sultano di Itala e a buon amico dell'Italia, era stato ucciso a tradimento ai primi di marzo da alcuni somali della sua stessa tribù (Abgal) a poche ore di distanza dalla stazione di Itala.
"He reported that Abubaker, Sultan of Itala and a good friend of Italy, had been killed treasonously in early March by some Somalis of his own tribe (Abgal) a few hours away from the Itala station" 
The Italians had divided the Peninsula into a number of Administrative zones, defining the borders of the main Hawiye clan as the Benadir Territory. This often led to disputes over pasture, water wells and regular renewals of conflict, attempts were made by the Colonial Administrator to draw up contractual agreements between the clans. 
Tra le popolazioni che , per la loro normale dislocazione verso i limiti interni del retroterra del Benadir e dei Sultanati , erano da considerarsi « genti di confine » , andavano annoverate , oltre quelle già dette : - le tribù degli Hauia, insediate nella zona a cavallo.
"Among the populations that, due to their normal location towards the internal limits of the hinterland of Benadir and the Sultanates, were to be considered "border peoples", in addition to those already mentioned: - the Hauia tribes, settled in the area on Horseback" 
After the Fascist takeover in the 1920s, the region was snapped up by the Italians under Italian Somaliland and this eventually led to the birth of a Modern Somalia. The Hiraab hereditary leadership, however, has remained intact up to this day and enjoys a dominant influence in national Somali affairs.
Rulers.
The first Imaam of Hiraab was Imaam Yacquub. His descendants ruled a small kingdom centered at Golol (in modern day Galmudug) until the Imamate rapidly expanded in the 17th century, conquering Mogadishu from the Ajuuraan and the important Ajuuraan town of Hobyo, both of which are majority Hiraab today.