The Dhulbahante, (, ) are a Somali sub-clan, part of the Harti branch of the larger Darod clan. They primarily reside in and around their traditional territories of Nugaal, as well as Doollo. The clan's progenitor is buried at Badweyn.
Overview
The current supreme Garad of the Dhulbahante is Garad Jama Garad Ali.
The extended formal name of Dhulbahante, the clan's forefather was Said Saleh Abdi Mohamed Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti whose resting place is Badweyn. According to Somali tradition, his mother hailed from the Arap clan of the Isaaq clan-family. This maternal connection has enticed a mutual affinity between the two clans.
The primary homeland of the clan straddles the Haud region and the Nugaal Valley, hence segments of the clan who settle in either plateau are colloquially referred to as the Reer Hawd and Reer Nugaaled. Currently, the clan has 13 active Garads. The most senior Garaad of these traditional leaders is Garad Jama Garad Ali who succeeded his uncle Garad Abdiqani Garad Jama. The use of the traditional hereditary title of Garad (which is most widespread among the Dhulbahante), was first inaugurated by the great ancestor Garad Shirshore who previously served as a Ughaz.
The clan boasts a history of anti-colonial resistance. In a bloody war against the British Empire the Dhulbahante along with several other clans propelled the Dervish movement to defeat the empire in a series of military expeditions. The rebellion caused the death of one-third (or 200,000) of the population of the Somaliland protectorate, most severely effecting the Dhulbahante clan with whom there was no treaty of protection. John Drysdale and Ioan M. Lewis, who had conducted research in British Somaliland in the 1950s, noted that there was not that much of an attachment of the clan to Dervish history at that time. Nevertheless, to honor the Dervish freedom fighters, the name Daraawiish is now given to almost all regional paramilitaries in Somalia.
Distribution In Somaliland, the Dhulbahante almost exclusively inhabit the Sool region. Michael Walls on the Dhulbahante and Sool says: "The residents of Sool overwhelmingly hail from a single clan grouping in the form of the Dhulbahante [...]. Sool boasts a degree of kinship homogeneity that is rare even in the Somali Horn".
The clan inhabits Taleh, most of Hudun and most of Las Anod districts, in Sool, Sanaag Toghdeer regions. In a survey conducted in 2011 of Las Anod District 92.5% of the respondents identified as Dhulbahante whilst 2.5%, 1.5% and 1.3% identified as Hawiye, Bantu and Isaaq respectively. In the Sanaag region the clan is only present in the Erigavo district along with the Habr Yonis and Habr Je'lo clans, whilst well represented in the regional capital of Erigavo. Similarly in Togdheer, the clan solely lives in the district of Buuhoodle. The district of Buuhoodle was made a region by the state of Puntland and its name was changed to Cayn in 2004. Hence, the popular abbreviation SSC which denotes the traditional Dhulbahante territories within Somaliland.
In Somalia, they inhabit the Jubaland state, where there is a long settled Dhulbahante trading community in the port city of Kismayo and its surrounding district, in southern Somalia.
In Ethiopia, the Dhulbahante clan settle in the Somali Regional State. They are present in the Dollo Zone, specifically in the woredas of Boh, Danot and Werder, in Ciid.in Ciid In Kenya, there is a small but notable Dhulbahante community in the North Eastern Province. During the Darawiish era, the Bah Udgoon, a Qayaad division had a garesa (dervish fortification) at Qollad near modern Galmudug.Ciise, Jaamac (1976). Taariikhdii daraawiishta iyo Sayid Maxamad Cabdille Xasan. p. 175 During arid soil conditions, contemporary pastoral Dhulbahante nomads likewise divagate halfway towards the Puntland coast.Didas, Muhumuza, et al. "The Political Economy of Extractives in the Borderlands." (2016).
The Dhulbahante exclusively settle in the northern Somali cities of Las Anod and Buuhoodle. Moreover, they are well represented in the cities of Erigavo and Garowe. The Baho Nugaaled, particularly the Ugaasyo Dhulbahante, are the most geographically dispersed, with towns such as Yoocada in Las Anod district and Bandar Salam in Middle Juba. According to Roy Irons, Dhulbahante were the largest subclan of the northern clans during the onset of colonialism.Somali academic Said Sheikh Samatar stated that the Nugaal, which is formed of the Nugaal plateau beneath the Cal range, and the Nugaal valley in the Sool province, is a Dhulbahante territory, and the site of the biggest Darawiish confrontations:
The climate of the Nugaal, a region which constitutes the heartlands of the Dulbahante, is highly suited for breeding and rearing ponies... The country of the Dulbahante is the prize of pastoral habitat: well-watered and well-pastured, the Nugaal valley provides a welcome sanc-tuary from the perennial twin scourges of Somali pastoralism, thirst and starvation... Demoralized and disorganized, the Dervishes were forced to disperse all over the Nugaal and the Haud after their resounding defeat by the British expeditionary force. Not only did they sustain heavy casualties (7,000 to 8,000 in dead and injured) but also the loss of 20,000 of their best war-horses
The pre-independence Nogal District partly corresponding with modern Sool, was described as "entirely Dolbahanta" by John Hunt. British Colonial Officer John Anthony Hunt, whose word was regarded by Berbera's colonial office as "The Koran, the Bible" described the Dhulbahante as the owners of the Nugaal, the head of the Nogal valley in Badwein being where the clan progenitor/ancestor is buried. History
19th century 19th-century explorer C.J Cruttenden on the Dhulbahante and their Suleiman horse breed: "The Dulbahanta are a nation who fight chiefly on horseback, their arms being two spears and a shield. Their horses are powerful and courageous; the breed descended, according to Somali tradition, from the stud of Suleiman, the son Of David, and consequently is highly valued. The Dulbahanta, as far as I have seen of them, are a fine martial race of men, second to none...either in conduct or appearance".
The clan boundary between the Habr Je'lo, a clan of the Isaaq clan-family, and the Dhulbahante clan during the 19th century was traditionally in Laba Garday, a pass in the Buurdhaab mountain chain situated between War Idaad and Wadamago.
The Dhulbahante traditionally had two adjacent kingdoms:
Markus Hoehne described the 19th century existence of a northern Dhulbahante kingdom and a southern Dhulbahante kingdom as follows:Political orientations and repertoires of identification : state and identity formation in northern Somalia, p. 254, 2011
Dervish Period
Dervish forces mostly hailed from the Dhulbahante. The Dhulbahante in Buuhodle were particularly the first and most persistent supporters of the Dervish Movement. Höhne on the Dhulbahante and the Dervish Movement states:
"The majority of them came from the Dhulbahante clan. Members of this clan were camel herders and renown warriors (Cruttenden 1849). The British had not concluded a ‘treaty of protection’ with them, as they had done with the inhabitants of the coast, who belonged to various Isaaq or Dir clans."
Along with the Dhulbahante, the Ogaden, and segments of the Isaaq such as the Habr Je'lo and eastern sections of the Habr Yunis clan loyal to Sultan Nur were part of the Movement.Official History of the Operation Volume 1, p. 49 The Dervish Movement resisted colonial occupation, especially the British who were aided by Isaaq troops.
The Achilles heel of the British empire in the Somaliland Protectorate was the un-administered east, inhabited by the Dhubahante, Warsangali and a few sections of the Isaaq. In this light Douglas Jardine explains that British priority was to keep the former two clans neutral, as the British administration and its allied clans would not be able to resist them without outside aid.
The British found it exceptionally difficult to administer the hinterland in the east, as Jess reports "in 1901 a joint Anglo-Ethiopian expedition of almost 17,000 men failed to accomplish anything other than to drive the Mullah temporarily across the border into the Mijertein". In later years, the British increased their engagement with the hinterland to suppress the movement, yet the previously "insignificant corner of the Empire" proved to be exasperating and costly both financially and in human life.
The British consistently intended the demise and destruction of the Dhulbahante who were avid Dervishes. In this Regard, British Commissioner Eric Swayne was delighted in their slaughter of the Dhulbahante clans. Sessional Papers - Volume 69 - Page 7
The Ali Gheri clan were the first tribe to adopt the Dervish (Daraawiish) identity.* ** Colonial administrator Douglas Jardine, stated the following about Dervish demographics:Douglas Jardine, 1923, p. 48, "It is difficult to estimate accurately the number of his sincere converts, but it would be generous to say that there were not less than 2,000 or more than 4,000. Chiefly drawn from the wilder and more remote sections of the Dolbahanta tribe, they represented the true Dervishes, most of whom fell on the field of battle during the earlier expeditions"
Dervish raids on the Dhulbahante
In July 1901, the British made attempts to expel the Dervish Movement out of the Dhulbahante territory, to achieve this they devised a plan to crush "the Dhulbahante who willingly and persistently assisted" the dervishes. A British colonial Officer, Roy Irons believed the Dhulbahante joined the Dervish movement more out of fear rather than ideological devotion and in order to demonstrate British supremacy and power over these clans it was necessary to crush them. Roy Irons, the author of Churchill and the Mad Mullah of Somaliland notes: Sections of the Dhulbahante like the Reer Hagar of the Farah Garad and other sections inhabiting Buuhoodle fought alongside the British against the Dervishes after being raided by the Mullah's forces. Dhulbahante friendlies would also sometimes raid the Dervishes, looting their livestock as well as weapons. The book A Fine Chest of Medals: The Life of Jack Archer reports:
In 1904 the Dervishes attacked the Jama Siad sub-division of the Mohamoud Garad clan. The Dervishes looted 400 camels while killing two men.The London Gazette, September 2, 1904. The Parliamentary Debates (official Report).: House of Commons in 1913 notes:
The British War Office similarly notes that apart from the Farah Garad sub-division the rest of the Dhulbahante clan joined out of fear of the Mullah or by personal gain:Official History of the Operations in Somaliland, 1901-04. (1907). United Kingdom: H. M. Stationery office.
In 1908 the Dhulbahante once again raided the Dervish and looted their camels. Hassan sent a letter to the British Commissioner Cordeaux, requesting his camels be returned and blood money be paid.
An excerpt from Hassan's letter to Cordeaux reads:Your people, the Dolbahanta tribe, have killed fifteen of our men and looted eighty-four camels. I do not know if Abdulla Shahari reported this to you: if he did the fault lies with you; if not, I do hereby acquaint you of it. You are requested to restore to us our camels and the blood shed by your people The Mad mullah of Somaliland, p.162
In 1912 the Dervish army compelled friendly segments of the Dhulbahante clan to retire to the British controlled territory to gain protection. This was after the Mullah had constantly launched raids that took a heavy toll on the clan. World War 1 at Sea - Contemporary Accounts reports: