The Sultanate of the Geledi also known as the Gobroon dynasty, was a Somali kingdom that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa during the late-17th century to the early 20th century. The Sultanate was governed by the Gobroon dynasty. It was established by the Geledi soldier Ibrahim Adeer, who had defeated various vassals of the Ajuran Sultanate and elevated the Gobroon to wield significant political power. Following Mahamud Ibrahim's consolidation, the dynasty reached its apex under Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim, who successfully modernized the Geledi economy and eliminated regional threats with the Conquest of Bardera in 1843, and would go on to receive tribute from Said bin Sultan, the ruler of the Omani Empire. Geledi Sultans had strong regional ties and built alliances with the Pate and Witu Sultanates on the Swahili coast. Trade and Geledi power would continue to remain strong until the death of the well known Sultan Ahmed Yusuf in 1878. The sultanate was eventually incorporated into Italian Somaliland in 1911.
View of the Bardera Citadel in the mid 1800s by Baron Karl Klaus von der Decken.
Sultan Osman Ahmed (mounted) and his mamluk soldiers
Barawa was the chief port and Islamic center for the Geledi Sultanate.
Traditional weapons and tools of the Geledi/Rahanweyn
The Somali people are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The East Cushitic Somali language is the shared mother tongue of ethnic Somalis, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, and they are predominantly Sunni Muslim. Forming one of the largest ethnic groups on the continent, they cover one of the most expansive landmasses by a single ethnic group in Africa.
A Somali man in a traditional Koofiyad
Ruins of the Adal Sultanate in Zeila, a kingdom led in the 16th century by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi (Ahmed Gurey).
Queen Ati of Land of Punt as depicted on the walls of Deir el-Bahari
The Citadel of Gondershe was an important site in the medieval Ajuran Empire.