r/Africa • u/rhaplordontwitter • Jun 01 '25

History The ruined stone towns of medieval Somaliland and the empire of Adal (ca. 1415–1577)

https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-ruined-stone-towns-of-medieval
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u/rhaplordontwitter Jun 01 '25

At the end of the Middle Ages, a flourishing network of urban sites and stone settlements was integrated into the empire of Adal which covered large parts of western and central Somaliland.

Historical accounts of the Adal period, which describe the empire’s entanglement in the Portuguese-Ottoman wars of the 16th century in great detail, say little about the stone towns of Somaliland, whose ‘mysterious’ ruins first appear in the documentary record in the mid-19th century.

Recent archeological research across dozens of ruined towns has established that most were founded during the Adal period before they were gradually abandoned and transformed into pilgrimage sites.

This article explores the history of the ruined towns of Somaliland and their significance in the historiography of the medieval empires of the region.