Antiquity.

The city of Essina is believed to have been the predecessor state of Merca. It used to be an ancient Proto-Somali emporium city-state. It is mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Greek travel document dating from the first century AD, as one of a series of commercial ports on the Somali littoral. According to the Periplus, maritime trade already connected peoples in the Merca area with other communities along the Somali Sea coast.

 

According to 12th century author Al-Idrisi the Hawiye occupied the coastal areas between Ras Hafun and Merca, as well as the lower basin of the lower Shabelle river. Al-Idrisi's mention of the Hawiye is the first documentary reference to a specific Somali group in the Horn. Later Arab writers also make references to the Hawiye clan in connection with both Merca and the lower Shabelle valley. Ibn Sa'id (1214–74), for instance, considered Merca to be the capital of the Hawiye, who lived in fifty villages on the bank of a river which he called the nile of Mogadishu, a clear reference to the Shabelle river. Yaqut al-Hamawi, another thirteen-century Arab geographer also mentions Merca, which he says belonged to the Black Berbers considered ancestors of modern Somalis.

 

Charles Guillain (in 1856) repored that Marka had 3500 inhabitants.

 

Starting in the 13^th century (till end 17^th centuty), Merca was one of several prominent administrative centers of the Ajuran Sultanate. The Ajurans  through their royal family, the House of Garen (originally ruling in the Ogaden) came to control Merca and Brava and even Mogadishu (and many other also inland), in a patron-client relationship (so they kept their own government). The Ajuran empire formed one of the largest kingdoms in the Horn region. Various pillar tombs exist in the region, which local tradition holds were built in the 15th century, when the Sultanate's naa'ibs governed the district.

 

The Ajuran monopolized the water resources of the Shebelle and Jubba rivers. Through hydraulic engineering, it constructed many of the limestone wells and cisterns of the state that are remain in use today. The rulers developed new systems for agriculture and taxation, which continued to be used in parts of the Horn of Africa as late as the 19th century.

Many of the ruined fortifications dotting the landscapes of southern Somalia today are attributed to the Ajuran Empire's engineers, including a number of the pillar tomb fields, necropolises and ruined cities built in that era. During the Ajuran period, many regions and people in the southern part of the Horn of Africa converted to Islam because of the theocratic nature of the government. The origins of the Ajuran Sultanate are somewhat obscure. They were an oral culture, and most of what is known of them is through the oral traditions of later clans who overthrew them.

Taken from: بغية الآمال فى تاريخ الصومال للشريف عيد روس  (Bughyat al-Aamaal fi Taarikh al-Sumaal,)(For Hopes in the History of Somalia by Sharif Aydurus 1954)

 

At the beginning of the fifth century AH, corresponding to the beginning of the twelfth century AD.

After the end of the government of Abu Bakr Fakhr al-Din, Mogadishu was ruled by the governor of al-Halwani by Muhammad Shah al-Halwani (who was attributed to the country of Helwan in Iraq).

The capital was the city of Markah, and it was called by this name due to the final orders issued, and it was said to it: (Your command, O God).

However, the king (Shah) was residing in Mogadishu, which is the reason why the present capital was given this name, as previously mentioned at the beginning of the book. As for his minister: (Kandar Shah), he was residing in the place known by that name (near his market). The residents of Marka and its environs used to perform Friday prayers in Mogadishu because there was no mosque there. They came by carts drawn by seven or nine horses.

 

In the year 149/767AD arrived Arab tribes from Sana, Iraq, and from other countries to[settle] in Mogadishu. They numbered 39 tribes including 12 tribes of al-Jidata (al-Shashiyun).

 

A brief overview of the village of Warsheikh;

Warsheikh is a word made up of two words, as “war” means speech in the Somali language “Sheikh” is a title for someone who has learned noble knowledge, especially religion.

(Warsheikh): (the words of a sheikh) and the reason for calling that place Warsheikh:

(Then follows the story of four Wise men who settle in the end at Warsheikh.)

 

After that, the Ajuran tribe inhabited the place with a village, wells (1), stones, and other things. They also inhabited a place above Walzsheikh with mosques, palaces, and wells (1). They called that place (a market), and their ruins remain to this day in that place, and the ruins of the palaces and the cylinders of the mosque are visible. Warsheikh was destroyed after that, just as a market was destroyed, and the ruins of the palaces, stones, and wells (1) remained in it.

 

In the year (510 AH=1117AD). (Ajuran) ruled these lands, and his name is: Imam Isa, and he became ruler of these lands from Barawah, Al-Shubilaha, Al-Hasiyah, Batir, and Lukh.

And others, the aforementioned matter is narrated Barawih. The people of Shabila heard him that day; The creation was united, and as for Ajuran himself, he was sitting in the land of Shabila and his soldiers. It was widespread everywhere: Al-Banader and others, then they became arrogant and harsh in their rulings. And they harmed the subjects, and because of this they became weak and humiliated, and the Harab tribe fought against them in a place called Isma-Ail Awal in the land of Maghdhi. And that strife took place on a Sunday in the month of Rabi al-Akhir in the year 1191AH =1777AD. So he was killed in the presence of Al-Bakr Al-Masma Ail Aul while he was sitting on top of a large stone like Al-Kursi was killed by a sword that hit him in the head and split it in two. The sword impacted the stone and its impact remains on the stone to this day.

 

Statue of Sheikh Al-Balad.

The city of Marka was inhabited in Ghad (Ajuran) by Prince Omar Al-Imam, who arrived in this land.

And this is the family of whom you see the descendants, Abd al-Kurdam ibn al-Wadi, among the princes of the Abbas family, who emigrated from Egypt in the year (517AH =1123AD) during the days of strife of the family’s state: and with him his mother, Al-Sunifah, Aisha, and with him a tambourine for war, and a group of his followers. He passed through Sudan until he arrived in the land of Tasmeem and married there a woman named Fatima bint Junbal who gave birth to a boy whom he named Abdullah. And his father died there. Then his branches increased after him and they moved after that to the land of Dar Ndula (in Somaliland) and its environs. Then a fight took place between them. They defeated their enemy and established a great state that they called the Ajuran mentioned from then on:

 

Abdullah's children dispersed; Among them was the aforementioned Prince Omar, the Imam, who founded Mungiyah (2), which was outside the city of Marka, and in the city of Marka, as mentioned previously, they built stone houses there. They dug many wells (1) and their lives are cultivated and the descendants of this prince who ruled this country exist until now and are called: (Al-Qamid) or Al-Hamdani who joined them and then the tribes continued to settle in the city of Marka, including the tribe known as Sheikh Othman, the Marki who came from the land of Bali and were affiliated with Sheikh Hussein bin Malkai Al-Bali, may God Almighty have mercy on him. Among them were the nobles from the descendants of Abdullah Baalawi. And from the family of Al-Nadhi and from the family of Jamal Al-Layl and from the family of Al-Ahdal and other ancient Arabs and from them is a tribe from Al-Jamati (the Shashis) and from them is the Al-Uqabiyyin and from the family of Ba Mukhtar and the family of Al-Hawatim and the tribe of the Ubaidis, now known as the Al-Khatib and other tribes who inhabited the city of Markah. It is known that the state (Al-Ajuran) ruled the country for a long time until the land of Marka and its environs came to the tribe called (Bimal), then the Harrab tribe, as we will mention now.

 

This section is called: Identity.

That is the Al-Hawiyah: These people are famous for their fanaticism towards their religion and their ease of submitting to the sheikhs of the Sufi orders that are widespread among them, and the Hawiyah tribes inhabit the Ogaden between Bar Shabelle and the land of Nogal. And they are among the most important tribes.

Identity: The Ajuran tribe, which lives between the Jub River and the area known as Shabelle. The Ajuran tribe came into contact with the Zaidis, and its lineages were mixed with theirs. Among the Ajuran tribe was Sultan Muhammad al-Ajurani Madukh of Abyssinia.

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The Hawiya in Merca.

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Taken from: The Origins of the Galla and Somali by Herbert S. Lewis; The Journal of African History, Vol. 7, No. 1 (1966), pp. 27-46

 

This recent reconstruction was not based entirely on linguistic evidence, but also on a reexamination of the literary sources and oral traditions. According to H. S. Lewis, early written sources suggest a picture that is entirely compatible with population stability and the hypothesis that the Somali were the main inhabitants of the Horn. The reference in Al-Idrisi (1150) to the Hadiye and in Ibn Sa’id (1250) to the Hawiye, on both occasions associated with the Benadir port of Merca, where the Hawiya live today, suggests that they have been in this area for at least 700 years. The references slightly later in the Futuh al-Habasha to Somali groups in north-western Somaliland indicates that the population in this area has also remained substantially unchanged since the sixteenth century, when the work was written. At the same time it is impossible to find any early work suggesting that the Galla inhabited the Horn of Africa.

 

Note: Hawiya: In south Somalia mentioned by Ibn Said (1250); Ahmad ibn Al Harrani (1300); Al Idris Ouns al Moubhadj (1192); Idrisi (1150) has El Hadye; Abulfida (1331); Haouiya; Dimashqi (1325) Hawiah; Al Wardi (1456) Haouina.

 

(1) A need description of these wells is given by a visiting Chinese translator: Fei-Hsin (1436)

(Hsing-ch'a Sheng lan) (Marvelous visions from the Star Raft):

(The land of Thou-pou (Jubba close to Kisimaya)): There is no cultivation in the mountains and the land is vast, it hardly ever rains. (Irrigation water comes out of holes) from deep pumped up with dented wheels.

(When describing the land of Mogadishu): ‘The soil is poor the crops sparse. Rain might not fall for a period of several years. They make very deep wells and draw up the water in sheep-skin bags by means of cog-wheels. They also feed their camels, horses, cattle and sheep on them.’

(2) Mungiyah: See my webpage of the BOOK OF THE ZENGI where is mentioned:

And the news of the movement of the Zengi from the Giuba to the place said Giryama after Mugiya: and that because of the Galla, ……

Note: It might look like these wars had something to do with the demise of the Ajuran empire. 

Taken from: HISTORICAL TEXTS FROM THE SWAHILI COAST by DEREK NURSE 1994

At a period long before the sixteenth century, a considerable Bantu settlement existed near Barawa on the southern Somali coast This 'pre-Shungwaya' period is mentioned in, inter alia, Mijikenda and Bajuni traditions, and in the Kitab al Zanuj. Details are not well remembered and often contradictory: this period is not represented as important Later, as the result of Arab incursions (?), most of the Bantu communities moved further south into the general area between the Juba River in Southern Somalia and the Tana River in northern Kenya: this is the area refered to as Shungwaya, …