Hargeisa was the second largest city in Somalia after the capital Mogadishu, and served as the second capital of the Isaaq Sultanate during the mid-to-late 19th century.
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10 Facts About Hargeisa
2.
Hargeisa was founded as a watering and trading stop between the coast and the interior and later became an Islamic Tariqa settlement under the leadership of Sheikh Madar and his mullahs.
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3.
Hargeisa has been a watering and trading stop between the coast and the interior, and chief amongst the goods traded were the hide skins procured from the interior to be processed in the settlement.
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4.
Hargeisa continued to grow with the arrival of Sheikh Madar Shirwa, widely considered to be the founder of Hargeisa religious commune and the modern iteration of the settlement.
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5.
Sheikh Khalil, one of the ulema of Harar, advised Sheikh Madar to establish a Qadiriyya tariqa commune in present-day Hargeisa and spread the teachings he was taught, which lead Sheikh Madar and his companions to found the Big Commune of Little Harar in circa 1860.
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6.
Stone houses and other structures would be built and Hargeisa would develop into a large permanent settlement irrespective of the caravan trade that defined it in decades prior.
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7.
Hargeisa is situated on two important caravan routes, one from Ogaden and the other from Harar.
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8.
The SNM force attacking Hargeisa was estimated at 500 men equipped with 84 vehicles, of whom only 14 were left due to vehicles being sent to the front in Adadley.
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9.
An SNM fighter who partook in the Hargeisa offensive described Somali troops dropping their uniforms on the ground and fleeing.
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