Editing Somaliland (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Somaliland}}
<!-- Paleolithic & Neolithic are prehistoric -->

=== Prehistory ===
{{Main|Caves in Somaliland}}
{{hatnote|See the [[Laas Geel]], [[Dhambalin]] and [[Dhaymoole]]}}
[[File:Dhaymoole Rock art in Somaliland.jpg|thumb|[[Wild animals]] depicted in the caves of [[Dhaymoole]], many of which have gone extinct in the region]]
The area of Somaliland was inhabited around 10,000 years ago during the [[Neolithic age]].<ref>{{Cite journal| last1=Bradley|first1=D G|last2=MacHugh| first2=D E|last3= Cunningham| first3=P| last4=Loftus|first4=R T|date=14 May 1996|title=Mitochondrial diversity and the origins of African and European cattle.|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America| volume= 93| issue=10|pages=5131–5135| doi= 10.1073/pnas.93.10.5131|issn=0027-8424|pmid=8643540|pmc=39419|bibcode=1996PNAS...93.5131B|doi-access= free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bearak |first=Max |title=Somaliland's quest for recognition passes through its ancient caves |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/02/01/somaliland-independence-laas-geel-rock-paintings/ |newspaper= Washington Post |language=en}}</ref> The ancient shepherds raised cows and other livestock and created vibrant rock art paintings. During the [[Stone Age]], the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here.<ref name="IqTdh">{{cite book|author=Peter Robertshaw|title=A History of African Archaeology|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican0000unse_j3c5/page/105|year=1990|publisher=J. Currey|isbn=978-0-435-08041-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican0000unse_j3c5/page/105 105]}}</ref> The oldest evidence of burial customs in the [[Horn of Africa]] comes from [[Cemetery|cemeteries]] in Somaliland dating back to the [[4th millennium BCE]].<ref name="DaznH">{{cite journal |title=Early Holocene Mortuary Practices and Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations in Southern Somalia|jstor=124524|pmid=16470993|pages=40–56|last=Brandt |first=S. A. |volume=20|issue=1|journal=World Archaeology|year=1988|doi=10.1080/00438243.1988.9980055}}</ref> The stone implements from the Jalelo site in the north were also characterised in 1909 as important artefacts demonstrating the archaeological universality during the Paleolithic between the East and the West.<ref name="dKhgU">{{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/stream/mananth9a10royauoft/mananth9a10royauoft_djvu.txt|title=Prehistoric Implements From Somaliland|author=H. W. Seton-Karr|journal=[[Man (journal)|Man]] |volume=9|issue=106|pages=182–183|year=1909|author-link=Henry Seton-Karr|doi=10.2307/2840281|jstor=2840281}}</ref>

According to linguists, the first [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]]-speaking populations arrived in the region during the ensuing [[Neolithic]] period from the family's proposed [[Afroasiatic Urheimat|urheimat]] ("original homeland") in the [[Nile Valley]],<ref name="0djHT">Zarins, Juris (1990), "Early Pastoral Nomadism and the Settlement of Lower Mesopotamia", (Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research)</ref> or the [[Near East]].<ref name="g0KkI">{{cite journal | last1 = Diamond | first1 = J | last2 = Bellwood | first2 = P | year = 2003 | title = Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions | journal = Science | volume = 300| issue = 5619| pages = 597–603| doi = 10.1126/science.1078208 | pmid = 12714734 | bibcode = 2003Sci...300..597D | s2cid = 13350469}}</ref>

The [[Laas Geel]] complex on the outskirts of Hargeisa dates back around 5,000 years, and has [[rock art]] depicting both wild animals and decorated cows.<ref name="nFvRY">{{cite news |last=Bakano|first=Otto|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jMNd90UAafsRNEDPyelL7Hee1ydw?docId=CNG.82196a5b15ef45a2d4e744675740cd6a.6e1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061703/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jMNd90UAafsRNEDPyelL7Hee1ydw?docId=CNG.82196a5b15ef45a2d4e744675740cd6a.6e1|archive-date=21 September 2013 |title=Grotto galleries show early Somali life |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=24 April 2011|access-date=11 May 2013}}</ref> Other [[cave painting]]s are found in the northern [[Dhambalin]] region, which feature one of the earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is in the distinctive Ethiopian-Arabian style, dated to 1,000 to 3,000 BCE.<ref name="KmKxL">{{cite journal|last=Mire|first=Sada|title=The Discovery of Dhambalin Rock Art Site, Somaliland|journal=African Archaeological Review|year=2008|volume=25|issue=3–4|pages=153–168|url=http://www.mbali.info/doc494.htm|access-date=22 June 2013|doi=10.1007/s10437-008-9032-2|s2cid=162960112|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627100400/http://www.mbali.info/doc494.htm|archive-date=27 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="vDpdF">{{cite news |last=Alberge|first=Dalya|title=UK archaeologist finds cave paintings at 100 new African sites|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/17/cave-paintings-found-in-somaliland|access-date=25 June 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=17 September 2010}}</ref> Additionally, between the towns of [[Las Khorey]] and [[El Ayo]] in eastern Somaliland lies [[Karinhegane]], the site of numerous cave paintings of real and mythical animals. Each painting has an inscription below it, which collectively have been estimated to be around 2,500 years old.<ref name="i3tZl">{{cite book |last=Hodd|first=Michael|title=East African Handbook|year=1994|publisher=Trade & Travel Publications|isbn=0-8442-8983-3|page=640|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bL8tAQAAIAAJ}}</ref><ref name="dyZtk">{{cite book |last=Ali|first=Ismail Mohamed|title=Somalia Today: General Information|year=1970|publisher=Ministry of Information and National Guidance, Somali Democratic Republic|page=295|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMVAAAAAYAAJ}}</ref>

=== Antiquity and classical era ===
{{Main|Somali architecture}}
[[File:Sheekh Isaaq.jpg|thumb|left|The tomb of [[Ishaaq bin Ahmed|Sheikh Isaaq]], the founding father of the [[Isaaq]] clan, in [[Maydh]], Sanaag]]
Ancient [[pyramid]]ical structures, [[mausoleum]]s, ruined cities and stone walls, such as the [[Wargaade Wall]], are evidence of civilisations thriving in the Somali peninsula.<ref name="Nthos">{{cite book |last=Njoku|first=Raphael Chijioke|title=The History of Somalia|year=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-37857-7|pages=29–31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FlL2vE_qRQ8C}}</ref><ref name="8J8SA">{{cite book |last=Dalal|first=Roshen|title=The Illustrated Timeline of the History of the World|year=2011|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4488-4797-6|page=131|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RO4kS1IR71sC}}</ref> Ancient Somaliland had a trading relationship with [[ancient Egypt]] and [[Mycenaean Greece]] dating back to at least the second millennium BCE, supporting the hypothesis that Somalia or adjacent regions were the location of the ancient [[Land of Punt]].<ref name="Nthos" /><ref name="TB9hR">{{cite book |first=Abdel Monem A. H. |last=Sayed|editor-first=Zahi A.|editor-last=Hawass|title=Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century: Archaeology|chapter=The Land of Punt: Problems of the Archaeology of the Red Sea and the Southeastern Delta|year=2003|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|isbn=977-424-674-8|pages=432–433|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1E13DorsFMEC}}</ref> The Puntites traded [[myrrh]], spices, gold, ebony, short-horned cattle, ivory and [[frankincense]] with the Egyptians, Phoenicians, [[Babylonia]]ns, Indians, Chinese and Romans through their commercial ports. An Egyptian expedition sent to Punt by the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|18th dynasty]] Queen [[Hatshepsut]] is recorded on the temple reliefs at [[Deir el-Bahari]], during the reign of the Puntite King Parahu and Queen Ati.<ref name="Nthos" /> In 2015, isotopic analysis of ancient baboon mummies from Punt that had been brought to Egypt as gifts indicated that the specimens likely originated from an area encompassing eastern Somalia and the Eritrea-Ethiopia corridor.<ref name="mnKa4">{{cite web|first1=Nathaniel J.|last1=Dominy|first2=Salima|last2=Ikram|first3=Gillian L.|last3=Moritz|first4=John N.|last4=Christensen|first5=Patrick V.|last5=Wheatley|first6=Jonathan W.|last6=Chipman|title=Mummified baboons clarify ancient Red Sea trade routes|url=http://meeting.physanth.org/program/2015/session45/dominy-2015-mummified-baboons-clarify-ancient-red-sea-trade-routes.html|publisher=American Association of Physical Anthropologists|access-date=18 June 2016|archive-date=30 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730055118/http://meeting.physanth.org/program/2015/session45/dominy-2015-mummified-baboons-clarify-ancient-red-sea-trade-routes.html}}</ref>

The camel is believed to have been domesticated in the Horn region sometime between the 2nd and 3rd millennium BCE. From there, it spread to Egypt and the [[Maghreb]].<ref name="uepm3">{{Cite book |last=Richard |first=Suzanne |date=2003 |title=Near Eastern archaeology: a reader |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khR0apPid8gC&pg=PA120 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |page=120 |isbn=1-57506-083-3 |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref> During the classical period, the northern [[Barbara (region)|Barbara]] city-states of [[Mosylon]], [[Opone]], [[Heis (town)|Mundus]], [[Bulhar|Isis]], [[Malao]], [[Zeila|Avalites]], [[Essina]], [[Nikon (Somalia)|Nikon]], and [[Sarapion]] developed a lucrative trade network, connecting with merchants from [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic Egypt]], [[Ancient Greece]], [[Phoenicia]], [[Parthian Empire|Parthian Persia]], [[Sabaeans|Saba]], the [[Nabataean Kingdom]], and the [[Roman Empire]]. They used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the ''[[beden]]'' to transport their cargo.<ref name="DzFJ8">{{cite web|url=https://www.somalispot.com/threads/beden-ship.30581|title=Beden Ship, ancient Somali maritime vessel and ship|website=Somali Spot|language=en|date=11 September 2017|access-date=12 March 2020}}</ref>

After the [[Nabatea#Roman annexation|Roman conquest of the Nabataean Empire]] and the establishment of a Roman naval presence at [[Aden]] to curb piracy, Arab and Somali merchants cooperated with the Romans to bar Indian ships from trading in the free port cities of the Arabian peninsula<ref name="srJWa">{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|p=54}}.</ref> to protect the interests of Somali and Arab merchants in the lucrative commerce between the Red and Mediterranean Seas.<ref name="EHW">{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|p=229}}.</ref> However, Indian merchants continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from Roman interference.<ref name="rNe4n">{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|p=187}}.</ref>

For centuries, Indian merchants brought large quantities of [[cinnamon]] to Somalia and Arabia from [[Ceylon]] and the [[Maluku Islands|Spice Islands]]. The source of the spices is said to have been the best-kept secret of Arab and Somali merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world; the Romans and Greeks believed the source to have been the Somali peninsula.<ref name="fqoYZ">{{Harvnb|Warmington|1995|pp=185–6}}.</ref> The collaboration between Somali and Arab traders inflated the price of Indian and Chinese cinnamon in North Africa, the Near East, and Europe, and made the spice trade profitable, especially for the Somali merchants through whose hands large quantities were shipped across sea and land routes.<ref name="EHW" />

In 2007, more rock art sites with Sabaean and Himyarite writings in and around Hargeisa were found, but some were bulldozed by developers.<ref name="qDY7X">{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1007/s10437-015-9184-9|title = Mapping the Archaeology of Somaliland: Religion, Art, Script, Time, Urbanism, Trade and Empire|year = 2015|last1 = Mire|first1 = Sada|journal = African Archaeological Review|volume = 32|pages = 111–136|s2cid = 162067194|doi-access = free}}</ref>

=== Birth of Islam and the Middle Ages ===
{{Main|Somali aristocratic and court titles|Ifat Sultanate|Adal Sultanate|Isaaq migrations}}
[[File:YagbeaSionBattlingAdaSultan.JPG|thumb|A 15th-century French artist's rendering of a battle between troops of the [[Adal Sultanate|Sultan of Adal]] (right) and King [[Yagbe'u Seyon of Ethiopia|Yagbea-Sion]] and his men (left). From ''Le livre des Merveilles''.]]
The Isaaq people traditionally claim to have descended from [[Ishaaq bin Ahmed|Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed]], an [[Ulama|Islamic scholar]] who purportedly traveled to Somaliland in the 12th or 13th century and married two women; one from the local [[Dir (clan)|Dir clan]] and the other from the neighboring [[Harari people]].<ref name="Lewis3">I.M. Lewis, ''A Modern History of the Somali'', fourth edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), pp. 31 & 42</ref> He is said to have sired eight sons who are the common ancestors of the clans of the Isaaq clan-family. He remained in [[Maydh]] until his death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adam |first=Hussein M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1gMAQAAIAAJ&q=%22sheikh+isaaq%22 |title=Somalia and the World: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held in Mogadishu on the Tenth Anniversary of the Somali Revolution, October 15–21, 1979 |date=1980 |publisher=Halgan |language=en}}</ref>

As the [[Isaaq]] clan-family grew in size and numbers during the 12th century, the clan-family migrated and spread from their core area in [[Maydh|Mait]] (Maydh) and the wider [[Sanaag]] region in a southwestward expansion over a wide portion of present-day Somaliland by the 15th and 16th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abdi |first=Mohameddeq Ali |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=erprEAAAQBAJ&dq=isaaq+clan+expansion&pg=PA25 |title=Why Somalia does not get the right direction |date=2022-04-19 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-7543-5218-2 |pages=25 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The invention of Somalia |date=1995 |publisher=Red Sea Press |isbn=978-0-932415-99-8 |editor-last=Ahmed |editor-first=Ali J. |edition=1. print |location=Lawrenceville, NJ |pages=251}}</ref><ref name="The great Somali migrations">{{Cite web |title=The great Somali migrations |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Somalia/The-great-Somali-migrations |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225232716/https://www.britannica.com/place/Somalia/The-great-Somali-migrations |archive-date=25 February 2024 |access-date=2024-02-29 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=I. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5AZyEhMtbkC&dq=isaaq+clan+expansion&pg=PA94 |title=Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society |date=1998 |publisher=The Red Sea Press |isbn=978-1-56902-103-3 |pages=94 |language=en}}</ref> As the Isaaq expanded the earlier Dir communities of Mait and the wider Sanaag region were driven westwards and to the south towards their present positions.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal |last=Lewis |first=I. M. |date=1959 |title=The Galla in Northern Somaliland |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41299539 |url-status=live |journal=Rassegna di Studi Etiopici |publisher=Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino |volume=15 |pages=21–38 |jstor=41299539 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428082817/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41299539 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |access-date=28 April 2021}}</ref> In this general expansion the Isaaq split up into their present component segments, however one fraction of the Habar Yunis clan, the Muse 'Arre, remains behind in Mait as the custodians of the tomb of Sheikh Ishaaq.<ref name=":3" /> By the 1300s the Isaaq clans united to defend their inhabited territories and resources during clan conflicts against migrating clans.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Minahan |first1=James B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uwTHEAAAQBAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World |date=August 2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=979-8-216-14892-0 |pages=184–185 |accessdate=2025-01-11}}</ref>

After the war, the Isaaq clans (along with other tribes like the [[Daarood]]) grew in numbers and territory in the northeast, causing them to began to vie with their [[Oromo people|Oromo]] neighbours, who were expanding northwards themselves after the [[Oromo expansion|Great Oromo Migrations]], thus creating a general thrust toward the southwest. The Isaaq, along with Darood subclans pushed westwards into the plains of [[Jijiga|Jigjiga]] and further, beyond where they played a important role in the [[Adal Sultanate]]'s campaigns against Christian [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Asiwaju |first=A. I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Wr6GUxdelcC&dq=isaaq+migration&pg=PA159 |title=Partitioned Africans: Ethnic Relations Across Africa's International Boundaries, 1884-1984 |date=1985 |publisher=C. Hurst |isbn=978-0-905838-91-5 |language=en}}</ref> By the 16th to 17th century the movements that followed seem to have established the Isaaqs on coastal Somaliland.<ref name="The great Somali migrations2">{{Cite web |title=The great Somali migrations |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Somalia/The-great-Somali-migrations |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225232716/https://www.britannica.com/place/Somalia/The-great-Somali-migrations |archive-date=25 February 2024 |access-date=2024-02-29 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

Various Somali Muslim kingdoms were established in the area in the early Islamic period.<ref name="Lewispohoa">{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=I.M.|title=Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho|year=1955|publisher=International African Institute|page=140|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd0mAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> In the 14th century, the [[Zeila]]-based [[Adal Sultanate]] battled the forces of the Ethiopian emperor [[Amda Seyon I]].<ref name="qGEXu">{{cite book|last=Pankhurst|first=Richard|title=The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpYBD3bzW1wC&pg=PA45|year=1997|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=978-0-932415-19-6}}, page 45</ref> The [[Ottoman Empire]] later occupied [[Berbera]] and environs in the 1500s. [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]], [[Pasha]] of [[Egypt]], subsequently established a foothold in the area between 1821 and 1841.<ref name="Clifford">{{cite journal |last=Clifford |first=E.H.M. |date=1936 |title=The British Somaliland-Ethiopia Boundary |journal=Geographical Journal |volume=87 |issue=4 |pages=289–302 |doi=10.2307/1785556 |jstor=1785556|bibcode=1936GeogJ..87..289C }}</ref>

The Sanaag region is home to the ruined Islamic city of [[Maduna]] near [[El Afweyn]], which is considered the most substantial and accessible ruin of its type in Somaliland.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dev |first=Bradt Guides |title=Maduna ruins |url=https://www.bradtguides.com/destinations/africa/somaliland/madana-ruins/ |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=Bradt Guides |date=16 March 2020 |language=en-GB |archive-date=4 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304224300/https://www.bradtguides.com/destinations/africa/somaliland/madana-ruins/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Addis Ababa">{{Cite book |last=Briggs |first=Philip |title=Somaliland: with Addis Ababa & Eastern Ethiopia |date=2012 |publisher=Bradt Travel Guides |isbn=978-1-84162-371-9 |location=Chalfont St. Peter, Bucks, England |pages=128–129 |oclc=766336307}}</ref> The main feature of the ruined city is a large rectangular mosque, its 3-metre high walls still standing, which include a mihrab and possibly several smaller arched niches.<ref name="Addis Ababa" /> Swedish-Somali archaeologist [[Sada Mire]] dates the ruined city to the 15th–17th centuries.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |title=Somaliland: archaeology in a breakaway state {{!}} Sada Mire |url=https://www.sadamire.com/somaliland-archaeology-in-a-breakaway-state/ |access-date=4 March 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Early modern sultanates ===
{{Main|Dervish movement (Somali)|Isaaq Sultanate|British Somaliland}}
[[File:Isaaq Flag.svg|thumb|A banner used by the Adal Sultanate and later the Isaaq on key religious shrines]]

==== Isaaq Sultanate ====
In the [[early modern]] period, successor states to the Adal Sultanate began to flourish in Somaliland. These included the [[Isaaq Sultanate]] and [[Habr Yunis Sultanate]].<ref name="8ot6e">British Somaliland by Ralph E. Drake-Brockman. Drake-Brockman, Ralph E. (Ralph Evelyn), 1875–1952. p. 275</ref> The [[Isaaq Sultanate]] was a [[Somali people|Somali]] kingdom that ruled parts of the [[Horn of Africa]] during the 18th and 19th centuries. It spanned the territories of the [[Isaaq]] clan, descendants of the [[Banu Hashim]] clan,<ref name="Lewisapd">I. M. Lewis, ''A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa'', (LIT Verlag Münster: 1999), p. 157.</ref> in modern-day Somaliland and [[Ethiopia]]. The sultanate was governed by the Rer Guled branch established by the first sultan, Sultan [[Guled Abdi (Sultan)|Guled Abdi]], of the [[Eidagale]] clan. The sultanate is the pre-colonial predecessor to the modern Republic of Somaliland.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Taariikhda Beerta Suldaan Cabdilaahi ee Hargeysa |work=Somali Diaspora News|url=http://www.qurbejoog.com/taariikhda-beerta-suldaan-cabdilaahi-ee-hargeysa/|access-date=9 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="auto3">{{cite book|title=Genealogies of the Somal|date=1896|publisher=Eyre and Spottiswoode (London)|language=english}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Taariikhda Saldanada Reer Guuleed Ee Somaliland.Abwaan:Ibraahim-rashiid Cismaan Guure (aboor)|work=Togdheer News Network|url=http://togdheernews.com/articles/31/05/2016/taariikhda-saldanada-reer-guuleed-ee-somaliland-abwaanibraahim-rashiid-cismaan-guure-aboor/|access-date=9 August 2021|archive-date=11 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111020220/http://togdheernews.com/articles/31/05/2016/taariikhda-saldanada-reer-guuleed-ee-somaliland-abwaanibraahim-rashiid-cismaan-guure-aboor/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to oral tradition, prior to the Guled dynasty the [[Isaaq]] clan-family were ruled by a dynasty of the Tolje'lo branch descending from Ahmed nicknamed Tol Je'lo, the eldest son of [[Ishaaq bin Ahmed|Sheikh Ishaaq]]'s [[Harari people|Harari]] wife. There were eight Tolje'lo rulers in total, starting with Boqor Harun ({{Langx|so|Boqor Haaruun}}) who ruled the Isaaq Sultanate for centuries starting from the 13th century.<ref>{{Cite web|date=7 October 2017|title=Degmada Cusub Ee Dacarta Oo Loogu Wanqalay Munaasibad Kulmisay Madaxda Iyo Haldoorka Somaliland|url=https://www.hubaalmedia.net/degmada-cusub-ee-dacarta-oo-loogu-wanqalay-munaasibad-kulmisay-madaxda-iyo-haldoorka-somaliland/|access-date=11 August 2021|website=Hubaal Media|archive-date=11 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811205734/https://www.hubaalmedia.net/degmada-cusub-ee-dacarta-oo-loogu-wanqalay-munaasibad-kulmisay-madaxda-iyo-haldoorka-somaliland/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Taariikhda Toljecle|url=https://www.tashiwanaag.com/toljecle-taariikh-ahaan.html|access-date=9 August 2021|website=Tashiwanaag}}</ref> The last Tolje'lo ruler [[Garad]] Dhuh Barar ({{langx|so|Dhuux Baraar}}) was overthrown by a coalition of Isaaq clans. The once strong Tolje'lo clan were scattered and took refuge among the [[Habr Awal]] with whom they still mostly live.<ref>{{Citation|title=Taariikhda Boqortooyadii Axmed Sheikh Isaxaaq ee Toljecle 1787| date=23 February 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MfB4XvREbI| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/6MfB4XvREbI| archive-date=11 December 2021 | url-status=live|language=en|access-date=15 August 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>Guido Ambroso, "Pastoral society and transnational refugees: population movements in Somaliland and eastern Ethiopia 1988–2000", ''New Issues in Refugee Research'', Working Paper No. 65, Table 1, p. 5</ref>

The Sultan of Isaaq regularly convened ''shirs'' (meetings) where he would be informed and advised by leading elders or religious figures on what decisions to make. In the case of the [[Dervish movement (Somali)|Dervish movement]], Sultan [[Deria Hassan]] had chosen not to join after receiving counsel from [[Sheikh Madar]]. He addressed early tensions between the Saad Musa and Eidagale upon the former's settlement into the growing town of Hargeisa in the late 19th century.<ref>F.O.78/5031, Sayyid Mohamad to the Aidagalleh, Enclosed Sadler to Salisbury. 69, 20 August 1899</ref> The Sultan was also responsible for organising grazing rights and, in the late 19th century, new agricultural spaces.<ref>Elia Vitturini, ''The Gaboye of Somaliland: Legacies of Marginality, Trajectories of Emancipation'', p. 129</ref> The allocation of resources and sustainable use of them was also a matter that Sultans concerned themselves with and was crucial in this arid region. In the 1870s, at a famous meeting between [[Sheikh Madar]] and Sultan Deria, it was proclaimed that hunting and tree cutting in the vicinity of Hargeisa would be banned,<ref>{{cite book|last=WSP Transition Programme|first=War-torn Societies Project|title=Rebuilding Somaliland: Issues and Possibilities, Volume 1|publisher=Red Sea Press|year=2005|page=214}}</ref> and that the holy relics from [[Aw Barkhadle]] would be brought and oaths would be sworn on them by the Isaaqs in the presence of the Sultan whenever internal combat broke out.<ref>{{cite web|year=1849|title=The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society Volume 19 p.61-62|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCBDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA62}}</ref>

Aside from the leading Sultan of Isaaq there were numerous Akils, Garaads and subordinate Sultans alongside religious authorities that constituted the Sultanate; occasionally these would declare their independence or simply break from its authority.

The Isaaq Sultanate had 5 rulers prior to the creation of [[British Somaliland]] in 1884. Historically, Sultans would be chosen by a committee of several important members of the various Isaaq subclans. Sultans were usually buried at [[Toon, Somaliland|Toon]], south of Hargeisa, which was a significant site and the capital of the Sultanate during [[Farah Guled]]'s rule.<ref>''Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society'' 1850, Volume 9, p.133</ref>

==== Battle of Berbera ====
{{Main|British attack on Berbera (1827)}}

The first engagement between Somalis of the region and the British was in 1825 and led to hostilities,<ref name="d4IlR">{{cite book|title=Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience|year=1977|page=70|isbn=978-0-226-46791-7|publisher=9780226467917|first=David D.|last=Laitin}}</ref> ending in the [[Battle of Berbera 1827|Battle of Berbera]] and a subsequent trade agreement between the [[Habr Awal]] and the United Kingdom.<ref name="b6sTC">{{cite book|title=Royal Naval Biography: Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-officers, Superannuated Rear-admirals, Retired-captains, Post-captains, and Commanders, Whose Names Appeared on the Admiralty List of Sea Officers at the Commencement of the Present Year, Or who Have Since Been Promoted, Illustrated by a Series of Historical and Explanatory Notes ... with Copious Addenda: Captains. Commanders|year=1832|author=James Marshall|page=438|publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown}}</ref><ref name="jFVbI">Hertslet's Commercial Treaties: A Complete Collection of the Treaties and Conventions, and Reciprocal Regulations, at Present Subsisting Between Great Britain and Foreign Powers, and of the Laws, Decrees, and Orders in Council, Concerning the Same, So Far as They Relate to Commerce and Navigation, to the Repression and Abolition of the Slave Trade, and to the Privileges and Interests of the Subjects of the High Contracting Parties, Volume 13, pg 5</ref> This was followed by a British treaty with the Governor of [[Zeila]] in 1840. An engagement was then started between the British and elders of [[Garhajis|Habar Garhajis]] and [[Habr Je'lo|Habar Toljaala]] clans of the [[Isaaq]] in 1855, followed a year later by the conclusion of the "Articles of Peace and Friendship" between the Habar Awal and [[East India Company]]. These engagements between the British and Somali clans culminated in the formal treaties the British signed with the henceforth 'British Somaliland' clans, which took place between 1884 and 1886 (treaties were signed with the Habar Awal, Gadabursi, Habar Toljaala, Habar Garhajis, Esa, and the Warsangali clans), and paved the way for the British to establish a [[protectorate]] in the region referred to as [[British Somaliland]].<ref name="vsQPx">Hugh Chisholm (ed.), ''The Encyclopædia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information'', Volume 25, (At the University press: 1911), p.383.</ref> The British garrisoned the protectorate from [[Aden Settlement|Aden]] and administered it as part of [[British Indian Empire|British India]] until 1898. British Somaliland was then administered by the [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office|Foreign Office]] until 1905, and afterwards by the [[Colonial Office]].<ref name="6ot4n">{{cite web|url=https://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/britishsomaliland.htm|title=British Somaliland Protectorate|website=British Empire|access-date=19 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025062635/https://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/britishsomaliland.htm|archive-date=25 October 2019}}</ref>

=== British Somaliland ===
{{Main|Somaliland campaign|Somaliland campaign (1920)|Italian conquest of British Somaliland}}
[[File:Corriere Della Sera - 17 agosto 1940 - Offensiva in Africa - titolo.JPG|upright|thumb|left|{{centre|The Italian newspaper ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'' covering the start of the [[British Somaliland]] offensive}}]]
The Somaliland Campaign, also called the Anglo-Somali War or the Dervish War, was a series of military expeditions that took place between 1900 and 1920 in the [[Horn of Africa]], pitting the [[Dervish state|Dervishes]] led by [[Mohammed Abdullah Hassan]] (nicknamed the "Mad Mullah") against the [[British Empire|British]].<ref name="RdDPF">Nicolle (1997), 5.</ref> The British were assisted in their offensives by the [[Empire of Ethiopia|Ethiopians]] and [[Kingdom of Italy|Italians]]. During the [[First World War]] (1914–1918), Hassan also received aid from the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], [[German Empire|Germans]] and, for a time, from the Emperor [[Iyasu V of Ethiopia]]. The conflict ended when the British [[Somaliland campaign (1920)|aerially bombed]] the Dervish capital of [[Taleh]] in February 1920.<ref name="zwS5A">{{cite web|url=https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=249|title=Italian Invasion of British Somaliland|website=WW2DB.com|date=10 February 2017|access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref>

The Fifth Expedition of the [[Somaliland campaign]] in 1920 was the final [[British Empire|British]] expedition against the [[Dervish State|Dervish]] forces of [[Mohammed Abdullah Hassan]], the [[Somali people|Somali]] religious leader. Although most of the combat took place in January of the year, British troops had begun preparations for the assault as early as November 1919. The British forces included elements of the [[Royal Air Force]] and the [[Somaliland Camel Corps]]. After three weeks of battle, Hassan's Dervishes were defeated, bringing an effective end to their 20-year resistance.<ref name="Baker">{{cite book |title=From Biplane to Spitfire |last=Baker |first=Anne |author-link=Anne Baker (author) |year=2003 |publisher=[[Pen And Sword Books]] |isbn=0-85052-980-8 |pages=161–162}}</ref> It was one of the bloodiest and longest militant movements in sub-Saharan Africa during the colonial era, one that overlapped with World War I. The battles between various sides over two decades killed nearly a third of Somaliland's population and ravaged the local economy.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Richard H. Shultz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NswzCgAAQBAJ|title=Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary Combat|author2=Andrea J. Dew|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-231-12983-1|pages=67–68}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Michel Ben Arrous|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4PQK68LNtjcC|title=African Studies in Geography from Below|author2=Lazare Ki-Zerbo|publisher=African Books|year=2009|isbn=978-2-86978-231-0|page=166}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Robert L. Hess|year=1964|title=The 'Mad Mullah' and Northern Somalia|journal=The Journal of African History|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=5|pages=415–433|doi=10.1017/S0021853700005107|jstor=179976|number=3|s2cid=162991126}}</ref>

The Italian conquest of British Somaliland was a military campaign in East Africa, which took place in August 1940 between forces of [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] and those of several British and [[British Commonwealth|Commonwealth]] countries. The Italian attack was part of the [[East African campaign (World War II)|East African campaign]].<ref name="hG8Mf">{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/raf-caps/air-power-in-british-somaliland-1920-the-arrival-of-gordons-bird-men-independent-operations-35cd9191f445|title=Air Power In British Somaliland, 1920: The Arrival Of Gordon's Bird-Men, Independent Operations And Unearthly Retributions|website=Medium.com|date=18 October 2019|access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref>

=== Anti-colonial resistance ===
==== Burao Tax Revolt and RAF bombing ====
{{main|1922 Burao tax revolt}}
[[File:Captainallangibb.jpg|thumb|Captain Allan Gibb]]
The people of Burao clashed with the British in 1922. They revolted in opposition to a new tax that was imposed upon them, rioting and attacking British government officials. This led to a shootout between the British and Burao residents in which Captain Allan Gibb, a Dervish war veteran and district commissioner, was shot and killed. The British requested Sir [[Winston Churchill]], then [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]], to send troops from [[Aden]] and Air Force bombers Burao the revolting clans' livestock.<ref>Colonial Office, 11 April 1922</ref> The RAF planes arrived at Burao within two days and proceeded to bomb the town with incendiaries, effectively burning the entire settlement to the ground.<ref>The British Empire as a Superpower By Anthony Clayton pp.223</ref><ref>Public Record Office file CO 1069/13 Part 1, by the first officer commanding "B" (Nyasaland) Company SCC.
</ref><ref>The King's African Rifles by H. Moyse-Bartlett</ref><ref name="corr 1922">Correspondence between Governor of British Somaliland and Secretary of State for the Colonies. Colonial Office, 26 March 1922.</ref>

Telegram from [[Geoffrey Archer (colonial administrator)|Sir Geoffrey Archer]], Governor of British Somaliland to [[Sir Winston Churchill]] the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]]:
<blockquote>I deeply regret to inform that during an affray at Burao yesterday between Rer Sugulleh and Akils of other tribes Captain Gibb was shot dead. Having called out Camel corps company to quell the disturbance, he went forward himself with his interpreter, whereupon fire opened on him by some Rer segulleh riflemen and he was instantly killed..Miscreants then disappeared under the cover of darkness.
To meet the situation created by the Murder of Gibb, we require two aeroplanes for about fourteen days. I have arranged with resident, Aden, for these. And made formal application, which please confirm. It is proposed they fly via Perim, confining sea crossing to 12 miles. We propose to inflict fine of 2,500 camels on implicated sections, who are practically isolated and demand surrender of man who killed Gibbs. He is known. Fine to be doubled in failure to comply with latter conditions and aeroplanes to be used to bomb stock on grazing grounds.<ref>Correspondence between Governor of British Somaliland and Secretary of State for the Colonies. Colonial Office, 28th February, 1922</ref></blockquote>

Sir Winston Churchill reporting on the Burao incident at the [[House of Commons]]:

<blockquote>On 25th February the Governor of Somaliland telegraphed that an affray between tribesmen had taken place at Burao on the previous day, in the course of which Captain Allan Gibb, D.S.O., D.C.M., the District Commissioner at Burao, had been shot dead. Captain Gibb had advanced with his interpreter to quell the disturbance, when 1954 fire was opened upon him by some riflemen, and he was instantly killed. The murderers escaped under cover of falling darkness.
Captain Gibb was an officer of long and valued service in Somaliland, whose loss I deeply regret. From the information available, his murder does not appear to have been premeditated, but it inevitably had a disturbing effect upon the surrounding tribes, and immediate dispositions of troops became necessary to ensure the apprehension and punishment of those responsible for the murder. On 27th February the Governor telegraphed that, to meet the situation which had arisen, he required two aeroplanes for purposes of demonstration, and suggested that two aeroplanes from the Royal Air Force Detachment at Aden should fly over to Berber a from Aden. He also telegraphed that in certain circumstances it might become necessary to ask for reinforcements of troops to be sent to the Protectorate.<ref>1922 Commons sitting. HC Deb 14 March 1922 vol 151 cc1953-4</ref></blockquote>

James Lawrence author of ''Imperial Rearguard: Wars of Empire'' writes

<blockquote>[Gibb]..was murdered by rioters during a protest against taxation at Burao. Governor Archer immediately called for aircraft which were at Burao within two days. The inhabitants of the native township were turned out of their houses, and the entire area was razed by a combination of bombing, machine-gun fire and burning.<ref>Imperial Rearguard: Wars of Empire, 1919–1985 pp.168</ref></blockquote>

After the RAF aircraft bombed Burao to the ground, the leaders of the rebellion acquiesced, agreeing to pay a fine for Gibb's death, but they refused to identify and apprehend the accused individuals. Most of the men responsible for Gibb's shooting evaded capture. In light of the failure to implement the taxation without provoking a violent response, the British abandoned the policy altogether.<ref>British Somaliland: An Administrative History, 1920–1960 pp.110</ref><ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tW_eEVbVxpEC&q=Gibbs&pg=PA991|title=Dictionary of battles and sieges P-Z, p.991|isbn=978-0-313-33539-6|last1=Jaques|first1=Tony|year=2007|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref><ref name="corr 1922"/>

==== 1945 Sheikh Bashir Rebellion ====
{{main|1945 Sheikh Bashir Rebellion}}
[[File:Sheikh Bashir praying.jpg|thumb|300px|Sheikh Bashir praying [[Sunnah prayer]], 1920]]
The 1945 Sheikh Bashir Rebellion was a rebellion waged by tribesmen of the [[Habr Je'lo]] clan in the former [[British Somaliland]] protectorate against British authorities in July 1945 led by [[Sheikh Bashir]], a [[Somalis|Somali]] religious leader.<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis|title=Constructing colonial hegemony in the Somaliland protectorate, 1941–1960|url=https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/14169|date=1996|degree=Thesis|language=en-US|first=Jama|last=Mohamed}}</ref>

On 2 July, Sheikh Bashir collected 25 of his followers in the town of [[Wadamago]] and transported them on a lorry to the vicinity of [[Burao]], where he distributed arms to half of his followers. On the evening of 3 July, the group entered Burao and opened fire on the police guard of the central prison in the city, which was filled with prisoners arrested for previous demonstrations. The group also attacked the house of the district commissioner of [[Burao District]], Major Chambers, resulting in the death of Major Chamber's police guard before escaping to Bur Dhab, a strategic mountain south-east of Burao, where Sheikh Bashir's small unit occupied a fort and took up a defensive position in anticipation of a British counterattack.<ref>{{Cite book|last=of Rodd|first=Lord Rennell|title=British Military Administration in Africa 1941–1947|publisher=HMSO|year=1948|page=481}}</ref>

The British campaign against Sheikh Bashir's troops proved abortive after several defeats as his forces kept moving from place to place and avoiding any permanent location. No sooner had the expedition left the area, than the news travelled fast among the Somali nomads across the plain. The war had exposed the British administration to humiliation. The government came to a conclusion that another expedition against him would be useless; that they must build a railway, make roads and effectively occupy the whole of the protectorate, or else abandon the interior completely. The latter course was decided upon, and during the first months of 1945, the advance posts were withdrawn, and the British administration confined to the coast town of [[Berbera]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Taariikhdii Halgamaa: Sheekh Bashiir Sh. Yuusuf. W/Q: Prof Yaxye Sheekh Caamir {{!}} Laashin iyo Hal-abuur|date=11 January 2018 |url=https://laashin.com/taariikhdii-halgamaa-sheekh-bashiir-sh-yuusuf-wq-prof-yaxye-sheekh-caamir/|access-date=31 May 2021|language=en-US}}</ref>

Sheikh Bashir settled many disputes among the tribes in the vicinity, which kept them from raiding each other. He was generally thought to settle disputes through the use of Islamic [[Sharia]] and gathered around him a strong following.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Sheekh Caamir|first=Yaxye|date=11 January 2018|title=Taariikhdii Halgamaa: Sheekh Bashiir Sh. Yuusuf|journal=Laashin}}</ref>

The British administration recruited Indian and South African troops, led by police general James David, to fight against Sheikh Bashir and had intelligence plans to capture him alive. The British authorities mobilised a police force, and eventually on 7 July found Sheikh Bashir and his unit in defensive positions behind their fortifications in the mountains of Bur Dhab. After clashes Sheikh Bashir and his second-in-command, Alin Yusuf Ali, nicknamed Qaybdiid, were killed. A third rebel was wounded and was captured along with two other rebels. The rest fled the fortifications and dispersed. On the British side the police general leading the British troops as well as a number of Indian and South African troops perished in the clashes, and a policeman was injured.<ref name=":1" />

After his death, Sheikh Bashir was widely hailed by locals as a martyr and was held in great reverence. His family took quick action to remove his body from the place of his death at Geela-eeg mountain, about 20 miles from [[Burao]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Akyeampong|first1=Emmanuel. K|title=Dictionary of African Biography, Volumes 1–6|date=2012|publisher=OUP US|page=107|language=english}}</ref>

=== State of Somaliland (Independence) ===
{{Main|State of Somaliland|Independence Day (State of Somaliland)}}

[[File:Somaliland Flying for the first time The White and Blue Somali Flag at the Independence Celebrations on 26 June 1960.jpg|thumb|upright|Somaliland flying the [[Somali Flag]] at the [[Independence Day (State of Somaliland)|Independence]] ceremony on 26 June 1960. The then Prime Minister of the State of Somaliland [[Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal]] salutes the flag.]]

Initially the [[British government]] planned to delay [[protectorate]] of [[British Somaliland]] independence in favour of a gradual transfer of power. The arrangement would allow local politicians to gain more political experience in running the protectorate before official independence. However, strong pan-Somali nationalism and a landslide victory in the earlier elections encouraged them to demand independence and unification with the [[Trust Territory of Somaliland| Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian Administration]] (the former [[Italian Somaliland]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=Central Intelligence Bulletin 26th Feb 1960 |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79T00975A004900470001-6.pdf |website=CIA |access-date=19 April 2021}}</ref>

In May 1960, the British government stated that it would be prepared to grant independence to the then [[protectorate]] of British Somaliland, with the intention that the territory would unite with the Italian-administered Trust Territory of Somaliland.<ref name="0JY3U">{{cite web|url=http://www.somalilandlaw.com/Somaliland_Act_of_Union.htm|title=SOMALILAND & SOMALIA: THE 1960 ACT OF UNION – An early lesson for Somaliland|website=Somaliland Law|access-date=19 February 2018}}</ref> The Legislative Council of British Somaliland passed a resolution in April 1960 requesting independence and union with the Trust Territory of Somaliland, which was scheduled to gain independence on 1 July that year. The legislative councils of both territories agreed to this proposal following a joint conference in [[Mogadishu]].<ref name="wardheernews.com">{{cite web |url=http://wardheernews.com/Articles_09/June/Roobdoon_Forum/29_Independence_week_series.html |title=Somali Independence Week – Roobdoon Forum June 21, 2009 |access-date=25 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928052641/http://wardheernews.com/Articles_09/June/Roobdoon_Forum/29_Independence_week_series.html |archive-date=28 September 2011 }}</ref>
On 26 June 1960, the former British Somaliland protectorate briefly obtained independence as the State of Somaliland, with the Trust Territory of Somaliland following suit five days later.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica 2002 p.835" /> During its brief period of independence, the [[State of Somaliland]] garnered recognition from thirty-five sovereign states.<ref name="Kaplan257">{{cite journal|last1=Kaplan|first1=Seth|title=The Remarkable Story of Somaliland|journal=Journal of Democracy|date=July 2008|volume=19|issue=3 |page=257|doi=10.1353/jod.0.0009 |s2cid=153442685 |url=http://www.sethkaplan.org/doc/JOD,%20Democratization%20in%20Africa%20chapter%203.10.pdf|access-date=6 August 2017|archive-date=7 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807065437/http://www.sethkaplan.org/doc/JOD,%20Democratization%20in%20Africa%20chapter%203.10.pdf}}</ref> However, the United States merely acknowledged Somaliland's independence:

<blockquote>The United States did not extend formal recognition to Somaliland, but Secretary of State Herter sent a congratulatory message dated June 26 to the Somaliland Council of Ministers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v14/d62 |title=Editorial Note |work=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Africa, Volume XIV |publisher=United States Department of State |access-date=30 March 2022}}</ref></blockquote>

The following day, on 27 June 1960, the newly convened Somaliland Legislative Assembly approved a bill that would formally allow for the union of the State of Somaliland with the Trust Territory of Somaliland on 1 July 1960.<ref name="wardheernews.com" />

=== Somali Republic (union with Somalia) ===
{{Main|Somali Republic|Greater Somalia}}
{{further|1961 revolt in Somalia}}

On 1 July 1960, the [[State of Somaliland]] and the [[Trust Territory of Somaliland]] (the former [[Italian Somaliland]]) united as planned to form the [[Somalia|Somali Republic]].<ref name="buluugleey.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.buluugleey.com/warkiidanbe/Governance.htm|title=The dawn of the Somali nation-state in 1960|publisher=Buluugleey.com|access-date=25 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116055005/http://www.buluugleey.com/warkiidanbe/Governance.htm|archive-date=16 January 2009|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="Tmotss">{{cite web|url=http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htwin/articles/20060809.aspx|title=The making of a Somalia state|publisher=Strategy page.com|date=9 August 2006|access-date=25 February 2009}}</ref> Inspired by [[Somali nationalism]], the northerners were initially enthusiastic about the union.{{sfnp|Richards|2014|pp=84–85}} A government was formed by [[Abdullahi Issa]], with [[Aden Adde|Aden Abdullah Osman Daar]] as [[List of presidents of Somalia|President]] and [[Abdirashid Shermarke|Abdirashid Ali Shermarke]] as [[List of prime ministers of Somalia|Prime Minister]] (later becoming president, from 1967 to 1969). On 20 July 1961 and through a popular [[referendum]], the Somali people ratified a new constitution, which was first drafted in 1960.<ref name="y4Fnm">Greystone Press Staff, ''The Illustrated Library of The World and Its Peoples: Africa, North and East'', (Greystone Press: 1967), p.338</ref> The constitution had little support in the former Somaliland and was believed to favour the south. Many northerners boycotted the referendum in protest, and over 60% of those who voted in the north were against the new constitution. Regardless, the referendum passed, and Somaliland became quickly dominated by southerners. As result, dissatisfaction became widespread in the north, and support for the union plummeted. British-trained Somaliland officers attempted a [[1961 revolt in Somalia|revolt to end the union in December 1961]]. Their uprising failed, and Somaliland continued to be marginalised by the south during the next decades.{{sfnp|Richards|2014|pp=84–85}}

In 1967, [[Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal]] became Prime Minister, a position to which he was appointed by Shermarke. Shermarke was assassinated two years later by one of his own bodyguards. His murder was quickly followed by a military coup d'état on 21 October 1969 (the day after his funeral), in which the [[Somali Armed Forces|Somalian Army]] seized power without encountering armed opposition. The putsch was spearheaded by Major General [[Siad Barre|Mohamed Siad Barre]], who at the time commanded the army.<ref name="Myswenvwp">Moshe Y. Sachs, ''Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations'', Volume 2, (Worldmark Press: 1988), p.290.</ref> The new regime would go on to rule Somalia for the next 22 years.<ref name="Mr87M">{{cite web|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/dictator-siad-barre-flees-somalia-ending-his-22-year-rule|title=Dictator Siad Barre flees Somalia ending his 22 year rule|website=SAHO|date=28 January 2019|access-date=18 February 2018}}</ref>

=== Somali National Movement, Barre persecution ===
{{Main|Somali National Movement|Isaaq genocide|Somaliland War of Independence|Page 4 = 1988 Hargeisa-Burao offensive}}
[[File:Somaliland, fighters of the Somali National Movement (SNM), 1980s.jpg|thumb|250px|right|

SNM fighters, late 1980s]]
[[File:4z2.jpg|upright|thumb|left|200px|Up to 90% of Hargeisa (2nd largest city of the [[Somali Republic]]) was destroyed by the [[Somali government]].]]
The [[moral authority]] of Barre's government was gradually eroded, as many Somalis became disillusioned with life under military rule. By the mid-1980s, resistance movements supported by Ethiopia's communist [[Derg]] administration had sprung up across the country, which led to the [[Somaliland War of Independence]]. Barre responded by ordering punitive measures against those he perceived as locally supporting the guerrillas, especially in the northern regions. The clampdown included bombing of cities, with the northwestern administrative centre of Hargeisa, a [[Somali National Movement]] (SNM) stronghold, among the targeted areas in 1988.<ref name="Locsg">{{cite web|title=Somalia{{snd}}Government|url=http://countrystudies.us/somalia/65.htm|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=15 February 2014}}</ref><ref name="IYEz3">{{cite web |url=http://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2013/10/22/state-sponsored-violence-and-conflict-under-mahamed-siyad-barre-the-emergence-of-path-dependent-patterns-of-violence/ |title=State-sponsored violence and conflict under Mahamed Siyad Barre: the emergence of path dependent patterns of violence |last1=Compagnon |first1=Daniel |date=22 October 2013 |publisher=[[World Peace Foundation]], [[The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]] |access-date=7 October 2014 |archive-date=2 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002022805/https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2013/10/22/state-sponsored-violence-and-conflict-under-mahamed-siyad-barre-the-emergence-of-path-dependent-patterns-of-violence/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The bombardment was led by General [[Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan]], Barre's son-in-law.<ref name="UKPZE">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1747697.stm#mshm |title=Analysis: Somalia's powerbrokers |date=8 January 2002 |work=BBC News |access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref>

In May 1988, the SNM launched a [[1988 Hargeisa-Burao offensive|major offensive]] on the cities of Hargeisa and [[Burao]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Refugees|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|title=Refworld {{!}} Pastoral society and transnational refugees: population movements in Somaliland and eastern Ethiopia 1988 – 2000|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/4ff3fa8b2.html|access-date=14 January 2022|website=Refworld|page=6|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":04">{{Cite book|last=Abdullahi|first=Mohamed Diriye|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Nu918tYMB8C&pg=PA37|title=Culture and Customs of Somalia|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2001|isbn=978-0-313-31333-2|page=37|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Waller|first=David|title=Rwanda: which way now?|date=1993|publisher=Oxfam|isbn=0-85598-217-9|location=Oxford|pages=10–12|oclc=29513928}}</ref> then the second and third largest cities of [[Somalia]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Binet|first=Laurence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LboiAQAAQBAJ|title=Somalia 1991-1993: Civil War, Famine Alert and a UN "Military-Humanitarian" Intervention|date=3 October 2013|publisher=Médecins Sans Frontières|page=214|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":21">{{Cite book|last=Tekle|first=Amare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xbQTEF0rd7wC&pg=PA152|title=Eritrea and Ethiopia: From Conflict to Cooperation|date=1 January 1994|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=978-0-932415-97-4|page=152}}</ref> The SNM captured Burao on 27 May within two hours,<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|title=Somalia : a government at war with its own people: testimonies about the killings and the conflict in the north.|date=1990|publisher=Africa Watch Committee |isbn=0-929692-33-0|location=New York |page=128|oclc=24108168}}</ref> while the SNM entered Hargeisa on 29 May, overrunning most of the city apart from its airport by 1 June.<ref name=":04" />

According to Abou Jeng and other scholars, the Barre regime rule was marked by a targeted brutal persecution of the [[Isaaq]] clan.<ref name="bzPKm">{{cite book|author=Abou Jeng|title=Peacebuilding in the African Union: Law, Philosophy and Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUKxfDKkKi0C&pg=PA245 |year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-01521-0|page=245}}</ref><ref name="DeSRJ">{{cite book|author=Marleen Renders|title=Consider Somaliland: State-Building with Traditional Leaders and Institutions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wPlgycWcpzAC&pg=PA59 |year=2012|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-90-04-21848-2|pages=59–60}}</ref> Mohamed Haji Ingiriis and [[Chris Mullin (politician)|Chris Mullin]] state that the clampdown by the Barre regime against the Hargeisa-based Somali National Movement targeted the Isaaq clan, to which most members of the SNM belonged. They refer to the clampdown as the [[Isaaq Genocide]] or "Hargeisa Holocaust".<ref name="TQ11H">{{Cite journal |last= Ingiriis |first= Mohamed Haji |date= 2 July 2016 |title= "We Swallowed the State as the State Swallowed Us": The Genesis, Genealogies, and Geographies of Genocides in Somalia|journal= African Security |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages= 237–258 |doi= 10.1080/19392206.2016.1208475 |s2cid= 148145948 |issn=1939-2206}}</ref><ref name="0CBv8">{{Cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/viewfromfoothill0000mull|url-access= registration|page= [https://archive.org/details/viewfromfoothill0000mull/page/504 504]|title=A View From The Foothills: The Diaries of Chris Mullin |last=Mullin |first= Chris |date= 1 October 2010 |publisher= Profile Books |isbn= 978-1-84765-186-0 |language=en}}</ref> A United Nations investigation concluded that the crime of genocide was {{qi|conceived, planned and perpetrated by the Somali Government against the Isaaq people}}.<ref name="Mburu">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7w8VAQAAIAAJ |title=Past human rights abuses in Somalia: report of a preliminary study conducted for the United Nations (OHCHR/UNDP-Somalia)|last1=Mburu|first1=Chris|last2=Rights|first2=United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human|last3=Office|first3=United Nations Development Programme Somalia Country|date=1 January 2002|publisher=s.n.|language=en}}</ref> The number of civilian casualties is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000 according to various sources,<ref name="Peifer">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOgOwSXB164C&pg=PA23 |title=Stopping Mass Killings in Africa: Genocide, Airpower, and Intervention|last=Peifer|first=Douglas C.|date=1 May 2009|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-1-4379-1281-4|language=en}}</ref><ref name="taQH4">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mKWiBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT149 |title=Making and Unmaking Nations: The Origins and Dynamics of Genocide in Contemporary Africa|last=Straus|first=Scott|date=24 March 2015|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-5567-4|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Jones">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZybbAAAAMAAJ|title=Genocide, war crimes and the West: history and complicity|last=Jones|first=Adam|date=22 January 2017|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=978-1-84277-191-4|language=en}}</ref> while some reports estimate the total civilian deaths to be upwards of 200,000 Isaaq civilians.<ref name="eeDVy">{{Cite news|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2014/2/6/investigating-genocide-in-somaliland|title=Somaliland massacre|first=James|last=Reinl|website=www.aljazeera.com}}</ref> Along with the deaths, Barre regime bombarded and razed the second and third largest cities in Somalia, Hargeisa and [[Burao]], respectively.<ref name="Eaf0N">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xbQTEF0rd7wC&pg=PA152 |title=Eritrea and Ethiopia: From Conflict to Cooperation|last=Tekle|first=Amare|date=1 January 1994|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=978-0-932415-97-4|language=en}}</ref> This displaced an estimated 400,000 local residents to [[Hart Sheik]] in Ethiopia;<ref name="BXq6o">{{Cite report |title=Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics |url=https://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSOMALIA/Resources/conflictinsomalia.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326060340/https://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSOMALIA/Resources/conflictinsomalia.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2019 |work=The World Bank |page=10}}</ref><ref name="LbREj">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-s0VcsSW2rAC&pg=PA154 |title=The New Africa: Dispatches from a Changing Continent|last=Press|first=Robert M.|date=1 January 1999|publisher=University Press of Florida|isbn=978-0-8130-1704-4|language=en}}</ref><ref name="4ZCBy">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WV0TAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 |title=The Early Morning Phonecall: Somali Refugees' Remittances|last=Lindley|first=Anna|date=15 January 2013|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78238-328-4|language=en}}</ref> another 400,000 individuals were also internally displaced.<ref name="sh6vy">{{cite book|last1=Gajraj|first1=Priya|title=Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics|date=2005|publisher=World Bank|page=10|url=https://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSOMALIA/Resources/conflictinsomalia.pdf}}</ref><ref name="chsTS">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52m9OsGODRUC&pg=PA227 |title=Racism and Ethnicity: Global Debates, Dilemmas, Directions|last=Law|first=Ian|date=1 January 2010|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-1-4058-5912-7|language=en}}</ref><ref name="LQiHc">{{cite journal|title=Africa Watch|journal=Volume 5|date=1993|page=4}}</ref>

The counterinsurgency by the Barre regime against the SNM targeted the rebel group's civilian base of support, escalating into a genocidal onslaught against the Isaaq clan. This led to anarchy and violent campaigns by fragmented militias, which then wrested power at a local level.<ref name="yEPtQ">{{cite journal|first1=Alex|last1=de Waal|first2=Jens|last2=Meierhenrich|first3=Bridget|last3=Conley-Zilkic|title=How Mass Atrocities End: An Evidence-Based Counter-Narrative|journal=Fetcher Forum of World Affairs|volume=36|issue=1|pages=15–31|year=2012|url=http://www.fletcherforum.org/home/2016/9/14/how-mass-atrocities-end-an-evidence-based-counter-narrative}}</ref> The Barre regime's persecution was not limited to the Isaaq, as it targeted other clans such as the [[Hawiye]].<ref name="hWrRd">{{cite book|author=Mohamed Haji Ingiriis|title=The Suicidal State in Somalia: The Rise and Fall of the Siad Barre Regime, 1969–1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vzi6CwAAQBAJ |year=2016|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-7618-6720-3|pages=236–239}}</ref><ref name="Richards2016p98">{{cite book|author=Rebecca Richards|title=Understanding Statebuilding: Traditional Governance and the Modern State in Somaliland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vz6gCwAAQBAJ |year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-00466-0|pages=98–100 with footnotes}}</ref> The Barre regime collapsed in January 1991. Thereafter, as the political situation in Somaliland stabilised, the displaced people returned to their homes, the militias were demobilised or incorporated into the army, and tens of thousands of houses and businesses were reconstructed from rubble.<ref name="oksO0">{{cite book|title=Somaliland: Democratisation and Its Discontents|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UmoWAQAAIAAJ |year=2003|publisher= International Crisis Group| page= 6| access-date= 15 May 2017}}</ref>

=== Restoration of sovereignty (end of the unity with Somalia) ===
{{Main|Somaliland Peace Process|Somaliland Declaration of Independence}}

[[File:Hargeisa War Memorial 2012.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Hargeisa War Memorial|MiG monument in Hargeisa]] commemorating Somaliland's breakaway from the rest of Somalia in 1991]]
Although the SNM at its inception had a unionist constitution, it eventually began to pursue independence, looking to secede from the rest of Somalia.<ref name="Sqfirhbmsscf">{{cite web|url=http://wardheernews.com/Articles_2010/June/Buh/29_Somaliland_recognition_&_the_HBM-SSC_Factor.html|title=Somaliland's Quest for International Recognition and the HBM-SSC Factor|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528122058/http://wardheernews.com/Articles_2010/June/Buh/29_Somaliland_recognition_%26_the_HBM-SSC_Factor.html|archive-date=28 May 2012}}</ref> Under the leadership of [[Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur]], the local administration declared the northwestern Somali territories independent at a conference held in [[Burao]] between 27 April 1991 and 15 May 1991.<ref name="boAu1">{{cite web|url=http://www.somalilandlaw.com/Somaliland_Constitution/body_somaliland_constitution.htm#Chapter1|title=Somaliland Constitution|access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref> Tuur then became the newly established Somaliland polity's first President, but subsequently renounced the separatist platform in 1994 and began instead to publicly seek and advocate reconciliation with the rest of Somalia under a power-sharing [[Federalism|federal]] system of governance.<ref name="Sqfirhbmsscf" /> A brief armed conflict had begun in January 1992 against rebels against Tuur in the period that he was in power, lasting until August 1992, when it was settled by a conference at the town of Sheikh.<ref name="prunierwritenet">{{Cite web|title=Somalia: Civil War, Intervention and Withdrawal 1990 – 1995|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a6c98.html|access-date=13 April 2023}}</ref>

[[Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal]] was appointed as Tuur's successor in 1993 by the Grand Conference of National Reconciliation in [[Borama]], which met for four months, leading to a gradual improvement in security, as well as a consolidation of the new territory.<ref name="wRrOl">Lewis, ''A Modern History'', pp. 282–286</ref> Another armed conflict between the Somaliland government, now under Egal, and rebels began, as militias of the Eidagalley clan occupied Hargeisa airport for some time. Conflict re-erupted when troops of the government attacked the airport to drive out the Eidagalley militias in October 1994, sparking a new war that would spread out of Hargeisa and last until around April 1995, with a rebel defeat. Around the same time, Djiboutian-backed forces of the Issa-dominated United Somali Front attempted and failed to carve out Issa-inhabited areas of Somaliland.<ref name="prunierwritenet"/> Egal was reappointed in 1997, and remained in power until his death on 3 May 2002. The vice-president, [[Dahir Riyale Kahin]], who was during the 1980s the highest-ranking [[National Security Service (Somalia)|National Security Service]] (NSS) officer in [[Berbera]] in Siad Barre's government, was sworn in as president shortly afterward.<ref name="Albla">Human Rights Watch (Organization), Chris Albin-Lackey, ''Hostages to peace: threats to human rights and democracy in Somaliland'', (Human Rights Watch: 2009), p.13.</ref> In 2003, Kahin became the first elected president of Somaliland.<ref name="3qgvQ">{{cite web|url=https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2012/somaliland|title=FREEDOM IN THE WORLD – Somaliland Report|date=18 May 2012|access-date=19 February 2018|archive-date=10 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110061308/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2012/somaliland}}</ref>

The [[War in Somalia (2006–present)|war in southern Somalia]] between [[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|Islamist insurgents]] on the one hand, and the [[Federal Government of Somalia]] and its [[African Union]] allies on the other, has for the most part not directly affected Somaliland, which, like neighbouring [[Puntland]], has remained relatively stable.<ref name="HUSwk">{{cite web|url=http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Somaliland_appeals_for_cooperation_with_Puntland_a_second_time.shtml|title=Somalia: Somaliland appeals for 'cooperation with Puntland' a second time|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140131003947/http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Somaliland_appeals_for_cooperation_with_Puntland_a_second_time.shtml|archive-date=31 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="TAE8S">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b082x79f|title=BBC Radio 4 – Start the Week, Rewriting the Past: from Empire to ivory|website=BBC}}</ref>

=== 2001 constitutional referendum ===
{{Main|2001 Somaliland constitutional referendum}}
In August 2000, Egal's government distributed thousands of copies of the proposed constitution throughout Somaliland for consideration and review by the people. One critical clause of the 130 individual articles of the constitution would ratify Somaliland's self-declared independence and final separation from Somalia, restoring the nation's independence for the first time since 1960. In late March 2001, Egal set the date for the referendum on the Constitution for 31 May 2001.<ref name="1IyKy">{{Cite web|url=https://www.c-r.org/accord/somalia/making-somaliland-constitution-and-its-role-democratisation-and-peace|title=Making the Somaliland constitution and its role in democratisation and peace &#124; Conciliation Resources|website=www.c-r.org}}</ref><ref name="zxHzV">{{Cite news|date=14 December 2017|title=Somaliland profile|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14115069|access-date=20 June 2020}}</ref> 99.9% of eligible voters took part in the referendum and 97.1% of them voted in favour of the constitution.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Elections in Somaliland|url=http://africanelections.tripod.com/somaliland.html#2001_Constitutional_Referendum|access-date=20 June 2020|website=africanelections.tripod.com}}</ref>

=== 2023 Las Anod conflict ===
{{main|Las Anod conflict (2023–present)}}

On 6 February 2023, the [[Dhulbahante]] clan elders of [[Las Anod]] declared their intent to secede from Somaliland and form a state government named [[Khatumo State|"SSC-Khatumo"]] within the [[Federal Government of Somalia]], triggering armed conflict.

During November 2024, [[Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi]] 'Irro' won the [[2024 Somaliland presidential election|Somaliland presidential election]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 November 2024 |title=Somaliland opposition leader Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi 'Irro' wins presidential vote |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvzxg3n3dmo |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=[[BBC News]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>