The Majeerteen, (Somali: Majeerteen, Arabic: ماجرتين; also spelled Majerteen, Macherten, Majertain, or Mijurtin)[1] alternately known as MohammedHarti,[2] are a prominent Somali sub-clan of the Harti, which falls under the Darod conglomerate of clans.[3][4] Traditionally, they inhabit extensive territories in the Bari, Nugaal, and Mudug regions of Somalia, spanning from Bosaso to Garacad, mainly in Puntland state. Additionally, Majeerteen populations are present in southern towns such as Kismayo.[5]
Overview
The Majeerteen Sultanates played an important role in the pre-independence era of Somalia.[6] The Majeerteen also held many other significant government posts in the 1960s and 1970s, and continue to play a key role in Puntland state and Somalia as a whole.
For the treaty between the Majeerteen and colonial powers, see "treaties".
Distribution
The Majeerteen are traditionally settled in Somalia's northern regions of Bari, Nugal and Mudug.[7] They can also be found in Kismayo in southern Somalia due to migrations starting in the 19th century along with their fellow members of the larger Harti subclan, the Dhulbahante, Dishiishe and Warsangeli.
The Majeerteen are traditionally settled in the land in-between Murcanyo, Bandar Siyad an ancient port town facing the Gulf of Aden, and Garacad a coastal port town, facing the Indian Ocean and all the land in between which corresponds to the area encompassing the Horn of Africa.[8] Therefore, the Majerteen are settled in what is literally considered to be 'the Horn of Africa'.
The Osman Mahmud (Cismaan Maxamuud), Omar Mahmud (Cumar Maxamuud), and Isse Mahmoud (Ciise Maxamuud) comprise the Maxamuud Saleebaan, along with Ali Saleebaan and Ugaar Saleebaan[citation needed] which all forms the major subclan of Saleebaan Maxamed (Majeerteen)[9] which a 2010 study identifies as both the main division of Majeerteen and a central and unifying entity in Puntland. During the 1960s, the Osman Mahamud, Ali Saleebaan (or Cali Saleebaan), Wadalmoge and Ciise
Maxamuud formed a powerful business class in Kismayo,[9] while Siad Barre exploited a rivalry between the Cali Saleebaan and Cumar Maxamuud in an effort to weaken the Majeerteen in general.[9] Historically, the Majeerteen formed part of a coastal trading network around the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, along with other subclans.[9]
Before the famous Majeerteen Sultanate there was the Sultanate of Amaanle (Abdirahman Awe) which was overthrown and overtaken by Osman Mahamuud who became the subsequent King and Sultan. The Majeerteen Sultanate was founded in the early-16th century and came to prominence in the 19th century, under the reign of the resourceful King (Boqor) Osman Mahamuud.[10] His Sultanate controlled Bari Karkaar, Nugaal and also central Somalia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The polity maintained a robust trading network, entered into treaties with foreign powers, and exerted strong centralized authority on the domestic front.[11][12]
Osman Mahamuud's Sultanate was nearly destroyed in the late-1800s by a power struggle between himself and his ambitious cousin, Yusuf Ali Kenadid who founded the Sultanate of Hobyo in 1878. Initially he wanted to seize control of the neighbouring Majeerteen Sultanate, ruled by his cousin BoqorOsman Mahamud. However, Yusuf Ali Kenadid was unsuccessful in his endeavour, and was eventually forced into exile in Yemen. A decade later, in the 1870s, Yusuf Ali Kenadid returned from the Arabian Peninsula with a band of Hadhramimusketeers and a group of devoted lieutenants. With their assistance, he managed to overpower the local Hawiye clans and establish the Kingdom of Hobyo in 1878.[10][13][14]
As with the Majeerteen Sultanate, the Sultanate of Hobyo exerted a strong centralized authority during its existence, and possessed all of the organs and trappings of an integrated modern state: a functioning bureaucracy, a hereditary nobility, titled aristocrats, a state flag, as well as a professional army.[11][15] Both sultanates also maintained written records of their activities, which still exist.[16]
Colonial Era
In the late 19th century, all extant northern Somali monarchs entered into treaties with one of the colonial powers, Abyssinia, Britain or Italy, except for the Dhulbahante.[17] Likewise, in late 1889, Boqor Osman entered into a treaty with the Italians, making his realm an Italian protectorate. His rival Sultan Kenadid had signed a similar agreement vis-a-vis his own Sultanate the year before. Both rulers had signed the protectorate treaties to advance their own expansionist objectives, with Boqor Osman looking to use Italy's support in his ongoing power struggle with Kenadid over the Majeerteen Sultanate. Boqor Osman and Sultan Kenadid also hoped to exploit the conflicting interests among the European imperial powers that were then looking to control the Somali peninsula, so as to avoid direct occupation of their territories by force.[18]
The relationship between the Sultanate of Hobyo and Italy soured when Sultan Kenadid refused the Italians' proposal to allow a British contingent of troops to disembark in his Sultanate so that they might then pursue their battle against Mohammed Abdullah Hassan's Dervish forces.[18] 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, the heir apparent to his throne.[19]
Following a two year resistance by Boqor Osman and Majeerteen rebels, Italian Somaliland came under the full authority of Rome by late 1927. Long-lasting Italian costal bombardments on urban settlements and naval blockades were utilized by colonial forces to suppress the rebels.[21]
Lineage
There is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures and many lineages are omitted. The following listing is taken from the World Bank's Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics from 2005 and the United Kingdom's Home Office publication, Somalia Assessment 2001.[22][23]
^ abHelen Chapin Metz, ed., Somalia: a country study, (The Division: 1993), p.10.
^ abHorn of Africa, Volume 15, Issues 1-4, (Horn of Africa Journal: 1997), p.130.
^Transformation towards a regulated economy, (WSP Transition Programme, Somali Programme: 2000) p.62.
^Lee V. Cassanelli, The shaping of Somali society: reconstructing the history of a pastoral people, 1600-1900, (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1982), p.75.
^Jardine, Douglas (1923). Mad Mullah of Somaliland. Early in 1885 Great Britain concluded separate protective treaties with all the Somali tribes now living under her protection, except the Warsangeli, who concluded a treaty in 1886, and the Dolbahanta, with whom no treaty has been made.
^Samatar, Said (1982). Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism. p. 214. ISBN9780511735370. 'Abdalla Qoriyow, the prestigious Islamic magistrate of the Dervish capital, who took part in the conspiracy. 108 Ahmad Fiqi, also a conspirator, was the Dervish expert on Qur'anic exegesis. 109 Reference to the Sayyid's brother-in-law, Faarah Mahamuud Sugulle, whose involvement in the conspiracy was particularly bad news for the Sayyid ... After a week of intense fighting, the Sayyid emerged victorious, but not before several Dervish clans, like the Reer Samatar Khalaf Majeerteen, were decimated
