RECONFIGURATION OF THE SOMALI SOCIETY: THE IMPACT OF SUFI ORDERS AND COLONIALISM (original) (raw)

The modern history of Somalia began in the 18th century, about two centuries after the collapse of the Ajuran sultanate and before the European scramble for Africa. This period is characterized by the ascendency of segmented clan-based sultanates, city-states, and the revival of Sufi orders. The geography of Somalia has been strategic since the ancient times and remains so in the contemporary period. The people were mainly pastoral nomads bestowed with rare uniformity of belief in the Islamic religion and language. The region has an abundance of arable land and a long coast along the Indian Ocean, which is rich in natural resources. Alas, Somalis did not develop a national state in the precolonial period, which could have protected its territories and unified its segmented clans. With such a precarious state of affairs, the advent of colonialism in the late nineteenth century created new, pervasive conditions for change that reshaped the cosmology and the lifestyle of the Somali people.