Sultanate of Hobyo

Sultanate of Hobyo 𐒈𐒚𐒐𐒆𐒖𐒒𐒖𐒊𐒖 𐒔𐒙𐒁𐒕𐒙 (Somali) Suldanadda Hobyo (Somali) سلطنة هوبيو (Arabic)
1878–1925
Flag
Status	Somali Sultanate Protectorate of Italy (1888–1927)
Capital	Hobyo
Common languages	Somali · Arabic
Religion	Islam
Government	Monarchy
Sultan
• 1884–1912	Yusuf Ali Kenadid
• early 1912–1925	Ali Yusuf Kenadid
History
• Established	1878
• Disestablished	1925
Preceded by Succeeded by Majeerteen Sultanate Hiraab Imamate Italian Somaliland
Today part of	Somalia

The Sultanate of Hobyo (Somali: Saldanadda Hobyo, Arabic: سلطنة هوبيو), also known as the Sultanate of Obbia,^[1] was a 19th-century Somali Sultanate in present-day northeastern and central Somalia and eastern Ethiopia. It was established in 1878 by Yusuf Ali Kenadid.

As with the Majeerteen Sultanate, the Sultanate of Hobyo was a sultanate limited to the desolate town of hobyo and its outskirts after signing a treat with the encroaching British colonisers. The sultanate was fully backed and funded by colonialists who seeked to extend their influence in Somalia.

The sultanate of Hobyo originated from a rift within the Majeerteen. However, he quickly lost in this disagreement and was exiled from Alula in northern Somalia. He left the area and set up post in another Majeerteen settlement called Hobyo mostly settled by the Mohamud Soliman, Omar mohamud subclan.^[2][3]

A decade later, in the 1870s, Kenadid returned from the Arabian Peninsula with a band of Hadhrami and Mehri fighters, after signigng a treaty with italy in Zanzibar, he managed to get weapons and establish a desolate sultanate in the village of Hobyo.

In the late 19th century, all extant Somali monarchs entered into treaties with one of the colonial powers, Abyssinia, Britain or Italy, In late 1888, Sultan Kenadid entered into a treaty with the Italians, making his realm an Italian protectorate. In signing the agreements, the rulers also hoped to exploit the rival objectives of the European imperial powers so as to more effectively assure the continued independence of their territories.^[4]

The terms of each treaty specified that Italy was to steer clear of any interference in the sultanates' respective administrations even though Italy would later crush both the sultanate of Hobyo and Majerten.^[4] In return for Italian arms and an annual subsidy, the Sultans conceded to a minimum of oversight and economic concessions.^[5] However, the Italians and british colonialists didn't hold their end of the deal and arrested Yusuf kenadid in 1903 for not being a good enough stooge after he failed to fight the mad mullah effecitvely.^[6][7] Viewed as too much of a threat by the Italians, Sultan Kenadid was eventually exiled to Aden in Yemen and then to Eritrea, as was his son Ali Yusuf, who would later be re-imposed into the sultnate.^[8]

After many years of being in bed with the encroaching colonialists the colonialsts reached their goal and were ready to get rid of their helpers. A campaign to destroy the Obbia Sultanate and Majerten sultanate was designed and underway. In the year of 1925 a large scale mission was started with 20,000 dubats to seize the sultanates of Obbia and Majerten.[1] by 1927 both sultanates had been ransacked and forcefully brought under Italian colonial rulership.

• Yasin Osman Kenadid
• Yusuf Ali Kenadid
• Boqor Osman Mahmud
• Osmanya script
• List of Sunni Muslim dynasties

• Issa-Salwe, Abdisalam M. (1996). The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy. London: Haan Associates. ISBN 187420991X.
• Hess, Robert L. (1964). "The 'Mad Mullah' and Northern Somalia". The Journal of African History. 5 (3): 415–33. doi:10.1017/s0021853700005107. S2CID 162991126.
• Sheik-ʻAbdi, ʻAbdi ʻAbdulqadir (1993). Divine madness: Moḥammed ʻAbdulle Ḥassan (1856-1920). Zed Books. ISBN 0-86232-444-0.
• The Majeerteen Sultanates, mudugonline.com
• Emblem & Flag, ethnia.org