Editing Somaliland (section)

==== 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>