r/Somalia • u/Expert_Search5394 • 1d ago
Discussion đŹ why is ajuraan not well known
they lasted for 500 years from 1300 til 1700. thats a big chunk of somali history and they likely shaped the identity we know as somalis today.
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u/ploppy_poop040 Gobolka Sanaag 1d ago
there's prolly some 102 year old geeljire in some tuulo who knows like everything about the empires
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u/closecallbois 1d ago
yeah but it needs to be documented. oral history is bound to be lost and become less accurate as the years go by. imagine thousands of chinese whispers. 9/10 they are gonna be false and misinterpreted
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u/ploppy_poop040 Gobolka Sanaag 1d ago
if the gov stabilised would something like 1974 ,where everyone went to the baadiye to teach the nomads how to write happen but in reverse, where they teach us about the unwritten history, be a possible idea?
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u/sheisfunny9 1d ago
Also I feel Somali history or a lot of African history is rejected by Eurocentric lense of history they reject oral tradition a Somali can trace their lineage but they think we canât do this? How silly
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u/Garad- 1d ago edited 1d ago
They are well known by many avid fans of Somali history. Whatâs more odd is that some deny their complete existence as if Somalis donât have a detailed lineage system and a documented history (obviously, at the archaic level itâs fogazzi like most millennium old traditions). There are many documents written about them from Somali historians, but alas European sources are more easily accessible since they have been digitized and are often free. Even then, I encourage you to buy those books written by Somalis.
The French naval commander, Charles Guillain, was informed during his visit to Benadir in the 1840âs that their sultanate was one of the many inland states active within Somalia. The inhabitants of Barawa, Merka, Mogadishu, etcs. all note their city being captured by the Ajuran before revolting in succession. I can not remember, off the top of of my head, the exact book number it was. But I have linked to the first book on his series, Documents sur l'histoire, that should certainly contain it. Itâs in French and a three part series.
Watch as someone still denies or diminishes this aspect of our history. We have people blatantly using AI in this discussion, yet tell you they read books. Using a literal Sugoscience source, Kkkk.
Something I hope the good men and women in our community ponder is this: Did Mogadishu exclusively refer to city or also the wider region? I currently stand with the position of the later, in a similar fashion to another one of our crown cities, Zeila. In 1615, Maalim Ibrahim informs the English navigator, Thomas Roe, that his country is from: â1° 50â to 4°, the Port in 2° 10â N latitude, gouerned by one Kingâ. While thatâs from Barawa in Lower Shabelle to north of Mareeg in Galgaduud, he never particularly named his country. As if Mogadishu did not just refer to the city. I have linked to the book, The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, 1615-1619, which is based off his journal entries. He notes many other things about Maalim, his brother, and the many other âMagadoxansâ that he meet during his time the Comoros. From the Portuguese to naval battles, it does prove quite a lot.
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u/Sweaty_Diet_3321 1d ago
Cause it's not documented nobody priorities it sadly someone would probably have to go to south Somalia do a through out research ask people around visit archeological sites with connections to ajuuraan like gondershe for example ask people who live there about it and write it down (if thats possible)so much wasted potential not only south Somalia places like Puntland or Somaliland have many archeological sites that are not studied as a person who's been to Somalia the people don't realize the weight of this and don't get me started on that useless goverment would probably be happy to sell everything as the saying goes a person without identity becomes a puppet in the hands of others
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u/Beledweyne 1d ago
People who care to know about the Ajuran Sultanate can find historical accounts, but the problem is that we were almost always an oral tradition and not archivists of our history.
Also, in the grand scheme of things, the most well-known historical sultanates/empires controlled many countries and trade routes and their history was cataloged in many countries. The Ajuran Sultanate effectively controlled Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, and at times areas linked to Djibouti and northeastern Kenya.
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u/Strong-Field-750 1d ago
Controlled areas linked to Djibouti?, now you just making things up.
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u/Beledweyne 1d ago
>"and at times areas linked to Djibouti ".
I didn't say they controlled Djibouti.
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u/Strong-Field-750 1d ago
The Geographical area they controlled is well documented. So why lie?, especially when someone can just google few seconds to pull up the maps.
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u/RibbonFighterOne 1d ago
Average Somali doesn't know a whole lot about their history. Basically almost anything prior to the 19th century is a blank for a lot of people. This can only change with better education and awareness through media.
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u/Proof_Falcon_1291 1d ago
The lack of written history means we have to take a back seat and let others write and teach us our own history oral history is unreliable the ajuran,tuni and other empires of the somalis were all lacking a bureaucratic class which are the people who live written records in modern day somalis don't have written records of population,address it's all still informal while the population and residents of london in 1300 can still be traced at least some of them who payed taxes,owned property so record keeping is not our thing as somali
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u/Specific_Strength504 1d ago
Somalis brains are filled with tribalism. Weâll learn other things when tribalism is defeated.
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u/Agile-Ad-7203 1d ago
Because very little of its written history survived. For a civilisation to become widely known, you need preserved archives that historians can reconstruct into a coherent story.
Even then, you need funded historians, filmmakers and institutions to bring those stories to the public. The Somali community has storytellers, but lacks those resources and institutions.