Rahanweyn


The Rahaweyn is a Somali clan that is part of the wider Digil clan family. It is one of the major Somali clans residing in the Horn of Africa whom are native to South West and Jubaland.

Overview

The Digil sub-clan mainly consists of farmers and coastal people, while the Mirifle are predominantly nomadic pastoralists.
According to our constitutional law, Somalis are linguistically grouped into Mai Terreh and Maxaa Tiri. The vast majority of the Somalis who speak Mai Terreh are the Rahanweyn, while the speakers of Maxaa Tiri belong to other clans.

Distribution

The Digil and Mirifle are mainly concentrated in the South West gobols of Bay, Bakool, and Lower Shebelle, but are also found in adjacent regions such as Mogadishu, Hiiraan, Gedo, Middle Juba. They are also found in the Somali Region of Ethiopia and the North Eastern Province of Kenya.

History

The Rahanweyn clan were mentioned as the people of Reewing who lived in the fertile lands and coastal provinces and were very wealthy and powerful people during the antiquity period in southern Somalia. They were said to be a sub group of Barbara or Barbaroi people ancestors of the Somali people.
Along with Hawiye, Rahanweyn clan also came under the Ajuran Empire control in the 13th century that governed much of southern Somalia and eastern Ethiopia, with its domain extending from Hobyo in the north, to Qelafo in the west, to Kismayo in the south.
At the end of the 17th century, the Ajuran Sultanate was on its decline, and various vassals were now breaking free or being absorbed by new Somali powers. One of these powers was the Geledi Sultanate who was established by Ibrahim Adeer, who was an Ajuran general at that time, successfully pushed back the imperial Ajuran army out of Afgooye. He subsequently established the Geledi sultanates ruling house, the Gobroon dynasty, after having first defeated the Ajuran vassal state, the Silcis Kingdom.
Geledi Sultanate was a Rahanweyn Kingdom ruled by the noble Geledi clan which controlled the entire Jubba River and extending parts of Shebelle River and dominating the East African trade. The Geledi Sultanate had enough power to force the southern Arabians to pay tribute to the noble Geledi Rulers like Ahmed Yusuf.
The Geledi Sultanate was eventually incorporated into Italian Somaliland Protectorate in 1908 by the Geledi ruler: Osman Ahmed who signed multiple treaties with the Italian colonials and the Kingdom ended with the death of Osman Ahmed in 1910.
At the turn of 1991 when the Somali central government collapsed, the Rahanweyn clan formed their own autonomous state known as South West State of Somalia which was able to establish its own government, economy, army and flag. The Southwest state was able to successfully keep the stability in southern Somalia.

Clan tree

There is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures and many lineages are omitted. The following listing is taken from the World Bank's Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics from 2005 and the United Kingdom's Home Office publication, Somalia Assessment 2001.
In the south central part of Somalia the World Bank shows the following clan tree:
Christian Bader lists the principal Digil and Rahaweyn subclans as follows: