Puntland, 136 years ago

[Mooge]

 

The People of The Dharoor Valley (1882)

By Puntite on Tuesday, August 1, 2017

One of the first foreign travelers to make significant use of photography in Northeast Africa was the French geographer Georges Révoil, who visited the region from 1877 to 1881 and took numerous pictures of the country and its inhabitants.

In 1877, Révoil set out on an expedition to Cap des Aromates (Cape of Spices). Other European explorers had briefly visited the region, but Révoil was the first to write extensively about his journey. His first visit to the region was for purely commercial reasons, but the purpose of his second visit was to study the country from a geographical and ethnographical perspective.

Voyage to the Dharoor Valley: People, Culture, and Customs

During his second visit to modern-day Puntland, he undertook an expedition with a particular focus on the nomads of the interior of the country who were renown for their courage and ferocity. Révoil focused his study on the Dharoor Valley (Dooxada Dharoor) specifically. The valley is an important grazing terrain for nomadic pastoralists in the region. Révoil also wrote a separate book on the flora and fauna of the country.

Below are photographs from Georges Révoil‘s La vallée du Darror: voyage aux pays Çomalis (Afrique orientale), published in 1882.

[maakhiri1]

what is the thing in men's neck? headphone?

 

Amazing!

[Holac]

Thanks for posting this. 

This looks like an amazingly different world. I think that piece on their neck is xirsi (religious notes) which was a popular gadget at the time. 

 

[Che -Guevara]

They look like original rasta

[Mooge]

niyoow this is DHAROOR valley today, 70 Km greenland between qardho and boosaaso. goverment of puntland closed the valley for few months to prevent desertification and opened it again. it is famous land which shows up in lots of somali poetry. the valley also has huge gas and oil reserves. 

 

 

[Dahireeto]

Wonderful photos. Just beautiful. 

[cadnaan1]

why not use this green land as a farm...this is not the image i had from puntland region i thought it was all rocky and dry land.

[maakhiri1]

u could easily farm sesame over there, why not use it?

[Tallaabo]

Lovely place and the people in the old photo look beautiful in those dresses. 

[Dahireeto]

12 hours ago, maakhiri1 said:

u could easily farm sesame over there, why not use it?

 

12 hours ago, cadnaan1 said:

why not use this green land as a farm...this is not the image i had from puntland region i thought it was all rocky and dry land.

The people there are pastoralists not farmers. 

[Old_Observer]

I do not know why, but I immediately associated the men with the fight against Italy where their fishing boats with a gun was all they had to face an armada of cannons, heavy machine guns etc.

For some reason that is the image I associated the old pictures with.

[Mooge]

oldobserver, niyoow the Italians eventually destroyed the ports and other inland towns to subjugate the people. hersi boqor, the grandfather of former Puntland President Adde Musse led the biggest rebellion against the Italians. eritrea was there to help the Italians. it is all documented.

 

Hersi Boqor: Leader of The Rebellion

 

Hersi Boqor was the son of Boqor Osman and the heir apparent to the Sultanate of Migiurtinia. When the Italians announced their intentions to occupy Migiurtinia, Hersi Boqor united the sultanate’s forces to rebel against the colonials. Under his leadership, the forces were able to slow the Italian advance, which was additionally hurt by a rebellion in the hinterlands of Obbia, which required military attention. For three years the sultanate was in revolt and a number of fierce battles ensued.

In December 1925, led by the charismatic leader Hersi Boqor, son of Boqor Osman, the sultanate forces drove the Italians out of Hordio and Hafun, two strategic coastal towns. Another contingent attacked and destroyed an Italian communications center at Cape Guardafui, at the tip of the Horn. In retaliation, and to demoralize the rebellion, Italian warships were ordered to target and bombard the sultanate’s coastal towns and villages. In the interior the Italian troops confiscated livestock.

After a violent confrontation, Italian forces captured Eyl, which until then had remained in the hands of Hersi Boqor. In response to the unyielding situation, Italy called for reinforcements from their other colonies, notably Eritrea. With the arrival of reinforcements at the closing of 1926, the Italians began to move into the interior where they had not been able to venture since their first seizure of the coastal towns. Their attempt to capture the Dharoor Valley was resisted and ended in failure.

De Vecchi, the governor of Italian Somaliland, had to reassess his plans as he was being humiliated on many fronts. After one year of exerting full force he could not yet manage to gain total control over the sultanate. In spite of the fact that the Italian navy sealed the sultanate’s main coastal entrance, they could not succeed in stopping them from receiving arms and ammunition through it. It was only early 1927 when they finally succeeded in shutting the northern coast of the sultanate, thus cutting arms and ammunition supplies for Migiurtinia. By this time, the balance had tilted to the Italians’ side, and in January 1927 they began to attack with massive force, capturing Iskushuban, at the heart of Migiurtinia. Hersi Boqor unsuccessfully attacked and challenged the Italians at Iskushuban. Following the long and tough campaign, by the end of the 1927, the Italians had nearly taken control of the sultanate. Hersi Boqor, followed by two hundred armed men, retreated to Ethiopia in order to rebuild their forces, but were unable to retake their territories, effectively ending the Campaign of the Sultanates. Migiurtinia was the last region to fall to the Italian colonists. Hersi’s father, Boqor Osman, was arrested by the Italians at the end of 1927.

 

Below is an English translation of an excerpt of a diplomatic document from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated November 1929.

They are aware of this laborious negotiations for the rejection of the rebel Migiurtino Herzi Bogor, son of former Sultan Osman, who has fled to Ogaden. He was such a superb and ferocious man, with a group of followers he escaped  to Ethiopian territory from the fighting that destroyed the migiurtin. He had continued to be rebellious despite occasionally openings to submit. Herzi Bogor evidently hoped for Ethiopian support similarly to what had happened in the last years for other rebels.

In fact, it will not be useless to recall Ras Tafari’s attitude towards Abscir Dorre who rebelled in 1926. He was first confined at the request of Count Colli and fled to Addis Ababa. Following this, Ras promised formally to the Minister R. to closely monitor Abscir Dorre and prevent him from returning to the Ogaden. Instead, shortly thereafter, Abscir Dorre fled from the capital, obviously with the conviction of the Ethiopian authorities who did nothing to trace him. Abscir Dorre rebelled and fell into the 1927 fights with our troops

[Old_Observer]

Thank you Mooge.

I had read it a while ago that is why the pictures immediately associated with that war.

Unfortunately the Eritreans were the only ones of Italian colonies that fought in every Italian colony including Libya. They were the ones who entered Tripoli fighting against Libya nationalists.

They also fought at battle of Adwa, and king menelik cut one hand one foot of the Eritreans that were captured. For the captured Italians minelik had a mule or horse for each and servants.

 

 

[maakhiri1]

very interesting Mooge, Thanks.

 

[maakhiri1]

so Somalis have been taking a refuge in Ethiopia for many years.