Everything about Hobyo totally explained
Hobyo is an ancient harbor city in the
Mudugh region of
Somalia. Hobyo means "has water", and the plentiful fresh water to be had from the wells in and around Hobyo (a rarity in that region of the world) has been the driving force behind Hobyo's ancient status as a favorite port-of-call for sailors.
Other spellings and pronunciations are Obbia and Hobyaa.
Hobyo's history began as a place for sailors and
caravans to get fresh water, thus its name. It only became a town of importance when the
Moslem pilgrims departing for
Mecca on their
Hajj and the sea captains who would take them there began favoring the town as a point of departure because of its fresh water. This sea and land traffic soon led to Hobyo becoming something of a commercial centre.
Opone, the once-great
entrepot which had been the center of commerce, began its decline into obscurity.
The increasing importance and rapid settlement of cities further south (such as
Mogadishu,
Mombasa,
Malindi and
Kilwa Kisiwani) further increased the prosperity of Hobyo as more and more ships made their way down the
East African coast and stopped in Hobyo to trade and replenish their water.
Hobyo was the commercial centre of the
Ajuran Sultanate, based in
Qalafo (located today in the Somali region of
Ethiopia). Commercial goods harvested along the
Shabelle River (especially around the agricultural centers of Harardheere and El-Dheer) were brought to Hobyo for trade. The Ajuraan rulers collected their tribute from the town in the form of
sorghum (durra).
Hobyo's Ajuuraan rulers were allies (and occasionally overlords) of the
Mogadishu Sultanate, and trade between Hobyo and the Banaadir coast flourished for some time. So vital was Hobyo to the prosperity of the
Ajuran Sultanate that when the
Hiraab (a lineage of closely related Hawiye clans) successfully revolted against the Ajuran and established an independent
Hiraab Imamate, which included Hobyo, the Ajuran's might dwindled rapidly. This wasn't the only fragmentation of the Ajuran state, as the
Majerteen also broke away to form their own sultanate in the north, and the
Warsangeli Sultanate shook off centuries of Ajuran hegemony. The Ajuran remained in their power base in Qalafo, but were a shadow of their former power, and were conquered along with the rest of
Ogaden by the
Empire of Abyssinia two centuries later, some time after 1896 (exact date unclear).
A Majerteen pretender to the throne,
Yusuf Ali Kenadid, who had been exiled to Arabia by sultan
Boqor Isman Mahamud after a failed
coup d'etat, returned from Arabia and invaded Hobyo with an army of mercenaries from
Hadramut in
1878. After conquering Hobyo from the
Hiraab Imamate, he established himself as the
Sultan of Hobyo.
The Hiraab Imam had become too involved in the politics and conflicts with other Hawiye clans, with the Sultan of Oman and with the Portuguese, which had drawn his attention south to Mogadishu, and little resistance to Yusuf Ali Kenadid could be mustered.
The rest of the
Hiraab Imamate was rapidly snapped up by the Italians, though the Imam remained a powerful force due to his influence over Hiraab communities, and plays an important part in politics right up to the present day.
The people in and around Hobyo grew mainly sorghum and
beans as their staple foods, supplementing this with herds of
camels,
cattle,
goats and
sheep. Livestock, hides and skin,
aromatic woods and
raisins were the primary exports, while
rice, other
foodstuffs and clothes were imported. Merchants looking for exotic goods came to Hobyo to buy
textiles,
precious metals and
pearls.
Modern Hobyo (20th century to the present day)
With the defeat of the Sultanate of Hobyo at the hands of
Fascist Italy 50 years later, Hobyo was annexed into
Italian East Africa.
After its annexation by Italy, Hobyo's lifeblood, the trade routes that had passed through the town for 10 centuries, moved permanently south to Mogadishu. The town never recovered. The majority of the populace, who had been involved in said mercantile activities, followed the trade down to Mogadishu, establishing the link between these cities that has existed to this day, and the town has played no major role in any of the ensuing conflicts with Ethiopia either as part of
Italian East Africa or independent
Somalia. The governments of both have actively encouraged the town's decline in fact, as they increasingly centralized Hobyo's historical roles within Mogadishu. Hobyo is a shadow of its former importance and wealth.
Hobyo was captured by the
Islamic Court Union (ICU) on
August 16th 2006, after several days negotiation with leading figures in the town. ICU armed pickup trucks, or "
Technicals" surrounded the town several days before, and sent in delegates to negotiate Hobyo's surrender. The city was apparently taken without firing a shot, as the unnamed warlord of Hobyo had fled days earlier upon hearing of the ICU's approach.
The ICU had taken the town in order to fulfill its promise to end piracy on the Benadir Coast, and Hobyo was the last remaining major port south of Puntland (which, being a coherent state, had a handle on piracy on their coast).
Hobyo chose to join the newly formed
Galmudug State as an alternative to annexation by the ICU, creating a buffer between the ICU and Puntland, but with the rise in conflict between Galmudug and the ICU, ICU forces took the city again on November 1st.
Hobyo's present status is somewhat unclear, as the clans controlling Hobyo broke away from the ICU just before the Ethiopian offensive to the coast.
Further Information
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