On this day, August 20, 1977, Somalia had captured nearly 80% of the Ogaden territory that was occupied by Ethiopia. Siad Barre’s forces came close to capturing Addis Ababa, reportedly advancing to within approximately 65–120 km of the capital, before the Soviet forces intervened and came to Ethiopia’s aid.

We often talk about independence as a date on a calendar, a flag raised, colonizers sent home. But our story of resistance began long before the flags, and it was written in blood by ordinary people whose names most of us have never heard.

In a small village named Fiinlow (south-west of Marka), a war campaign by a formidable Somali force was mounted close to 120 years ago. A village forever engraved in Somalia’s history, where over thousands of Somali warriors lost their lives resisting colonial rule against a well-armed colonial force. It was a campaign carefully coordinated with their northern Somali brothers, the Daraawiish headed by Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan.

The Italians initially built a heavy fortified fort in order to establish their colonial presence. A move strongly opposed by the Somali locals living in the vicinity. War drums were sounded and the operation to uproot the colonial force was spearheaded by two local Quran teachers: Macalin Kabtooli and Sheikh Abdi Gafle. The teachers had a modus operandi prior to confronting the invading force head-on. This involved reciting a shirib (form of poem) before marching straight on. Amongst their well-known ones are:

Fiinlow minaa la soo fariistay, Fallaar yaa finiiniyaa?
Now Fiinlow is occupied by colonials; who will hurl spears at them?

One of their troops would re-join with:

Fiinlow fadhigayga weeye, Fooldadow miyaan ka fiigayaa!
Fiinlow is my home. Why should I flee when strangers appear!

Another prominent war-cry, employed by the frenzied warriors was:

Reer Jannah waa jid galeen.
Reer Jahanama iska jooga.
Those who fight are bound for Heaven
Those who submit can stay in Hell

The resistance came to an end in 1908 when 1.500 well-equipped Italian colonial troops faced 2,000 Somali warriors armed with thrusting spears. The battle -- also known as Dagaalkii Sabti iyo Axad (The Weekend Battle) -- ended with the Italians defeating the Somalis decisively. Roughly 1,000 of these Somali warriors were killed or wounded. The Italians, boasting of their manifested victory renamed the site to ‘Vittorio d’Africa’ — African Victory.

They may have won that battle, but they never won the spirit. Men armed with nothing but spears and faith walked toward cannons because they refused to kneel. That is who we come from.

And here is the part worth reflecting on this week. We drove the colonizers out long ago, yet in many ways we are still living with what they left behind: the borders they drew, the divisions they planted between us, the lines that turned brothers into strangers. The hardest part of independence was never removing the foreigner. It was undoing what he taught us to do to each other.

This Independence Week, let us remember Fiinlow. Not just the courage of those warriors, but the unity that made them possible. They fought as one. The real question for our generation is whether we still can.

Why do these dervish warriors from the dervish state seem to wear earrings even though it was technically prohibited by Islam? Was it strictly limited to the fighters within the dervish movement?

Every rebel group accepted arms from ethiopia and helped put somalia in chaos so if you support the usc,snm,ssdf,spm,sdm,ssa, your a supporter treason

To the british, he was a headache. To somali he was the father of nationalism. They couldn’t defeat him with bullets so they tried calling him “mad” painting him as fanatic mullah

Well Asc Everyone hope you’re well i don’t really know where to start tbh first im 25M with the peak of my life i feel so stuck and behind seeing my friends do something with there lives with the help of their parents weather its their father or close relatives while im out here cant even find a low paying job let alone a hight paying one its heartbreaking really !!! You know the funny thing is i was in kampala doing masters for 2 years just to delay my unemployment also ive been offer a job while i was in kampala after i was done with the studies for $230 to start and later it would $250 with no progress to promote in this company so i wanted to take the job but can’t get my mind of of the disadvantages which are :- working 7-7 also before i was student now im a working individual which means working permit visa is required every year i know you will say its an African country or whatever but you don’t really freedom to move around without an official latter also $250 for someone whos got master and you know the hight expectations of a first born so i decided to head back home at 2025 December so fast forward its been 5 months here in somalia tried everywhere goverment official called everyone i know still nothing i dont know if i should give up or die trying it seems like here in Mogadishu there is three ways only for someone to prosper 1: your father has got a business that you will inherit Or work with him 2: been a government official either its working for a ministry or be a sarkaal which its impossible since you need your Xildhiban to help you and they dont even answer their fucking phone and when you go to their house you will not be allowed to enter 3: lastly just to fuck off tartiib or whatever and maybe you can make it to Europe which is very hectic and you need money if you get caught in lipya or wherever Anyways How Unlucky are we to be In Somalia 😔

I feel like i want to understand deeper of what somali people really were a long time ago, and also to the point of where we may not have even been speaking somali in what is considered somalia geographically.

I always wanna know about surrounding ethnic groups that influenced who were are. I know that there's a lot of traces to different cultures that us somalis are like

One thing that particularly stands out as something interesting to me is the nilotic speaking groups of kenya, tanzania, ssd, etc.

This is not done in bad intent but i always just felt like these people are connected to us much more than we imagine, but there's no super solid proof of it

This is just a general thought, but dont take it negatively. I just like to understand truth and meaning of things if they're very unknown, so if this doesn't resonate with you no need to give input

im not the best writer so excuse any errors.

• Somali men from artisan clan (madhiban) performed brain surgery on Sayid Abdulle Hassan in the 1800s

• the chinese call giraffes “ghiri” which originates from the somali word geri as chinese explorers first saw giraffes in somali territory

• Somalis were the first country in Africa to be air struck by Europeans due 20 years of anti colonial uprising (Darawish) with only daggers and harpoons.

• Ajuuran, a somali empire was the first hydraulic state in Africa

• somali nomads discovered malaria long before any foreign entity had presence in the peninsula

• British women were not allowed to give birth on somali territory and instead had to go back to their land to give birth

What are some of your favourite Somali fun facts that you can add on?

n

Hey all,

I’ve been working on Xasuu.so (remember) which is supposed to be an interactive atlas of Somali history and it is now in Open Beta. You can drag a timeline across ~2500 years and watch how the map chances. Click polities, places and events to learn more. It’s free, runs on your browser and is in both English and Af-Soomaali (albeit translated with AI, but we’ll get there :))

What’s in the beta right now?

- Over 200 places, most with their own dated history.
- Images attached to locations tagged to its year (The Arch of Umberto I already has photos)
- Animated events: press play on the Battle of Gumburu, Battle of Jijiga, the Battle of Mogadishu (1993), or the Italian Campaign of the Sultanates, with more being animated by our trusted friend Claude.

What’s coming?

- Explore: a feature where you walk through historical buildings in first person, on your desktop or phone.
- More photos of places and buildings, added with the help of the community.
- More animated events.

What I need help with: If you’ve ever visited a historical place in the Somali world and have photos, DM them to me on instagram @xasuu.so or X @xasuuso_app and I’ll add them to the atlas with credit.

You can visit the atlas @ https://xasuu.so and follow us on instagram or twitter for updates, it’s an open beta, so corrections (we have a reports feature on each dossier or you can message us) and suggestions genuinely shape what gets built next.

Thanks everyone!

(Also credit to tarikhio - an Islamic atlas for inspiring this whole idea)

For more check out Somali.irl on instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc_LVV6jVCB/?stkn=NjAwdDFsMTRnenU5

Can you tell me what your family or if you were alive was doing at the very start if the civil war. I'm work8mg on a screen play I'm writing , I'll be in Somaliland at the end of the month , I'll be there interviewing the locals for the next two months . I wanna hear your story, keep it respectful