Borama ( so, Boorama, ar, بورما) is the Second capital city of Somaliland and the largest city of the northwestern

Awdal Awdal ( so, Awdal, ar, أودَل) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in western Somaliland. It was separated from Woqooyi Galbeed and became a province in 1984 and is the most northwesterly province of Somaliland. To the east it borders ...

region of Somaliland The commercial seat of the province, it is situated near the border with

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. During the Middle Ages, Borama was ruled by the

Adal Sultanate The Adal Sultanate, or the Adal Empire or the ʿAdal or the Bar Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate, ''Adal ''Sultanate'') () was a medieval Sunni Muslim Empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din II ...

. It later formed a part of the British Somaliland

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...

in the first half of the 20th century. According to the UNDP in 2014, the city had a population of around 398,609 making it one of the largest cities inside Somaliland. It has been a leading example in community organizing, having been the first area in Somaliland to adopt a self-help scheme in the wake of the civil war.

History

As with several nearby towns such as Amud, numerous archaeological finds have been discovered in the Borama area that point to an eventful past. The latter include ancient remains of

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

s, houses and

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s, in addition to sherds of Oriental wares, particularly Chinese

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

. The artefacts and structures date from various historical periods, ranging from the 12th through to the 18th centuries. Most, however, are from the 15th and 16th centuries, a time of great commercial activity in the region that is associated with the medieval

.Bernard Samuel Myers, ed., ''Encyclopedia of World Art'', Volume 13, (McGraw-Hill: 1959), p.xcii. Excavations in the late 1800s and early 1900s at over fourteen sites in the vicinity of Borama unearthed, among other things, coins identified as having been derived from Kait Bey, the eighteenth Burji

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

Sultan of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. Most of these finds were sent to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

for preservation shortly after their discovery.Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), ''The Geographical Journal'', Volume 87, (Royal Geographical Society: 1936), p.301. In the first half of the 20th century, Borama formed a part of the British Somaliland

. It was later given district status in 1925. In 1933, Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur, a

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

ic teacher and son of Borama's ''

qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...

'' (judge), devised a new orthography for transcribing the Afro-Asiatic

Cushitic The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...

Somali language. A quite accurate phonetic

writing system A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...

, this Borama script was principally used by Nuur and his circle of associates in the city.David D. Laitin, ''Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience'', (University Of Chicago Press: 1977), pp.86-87.I.M. Lewis (1958)
The Gadabuursi Somali Script
''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'',

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, Vol. 21, pp. 134–156. The alphabet is also generally known as the ''Gadabuursi script''. During the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the Italians captured the town. It was re-captured by the British the following year, in 1940. In the post-

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

period, Borama was administered as part of the official

administrative region of Somalia. During the Ogaden War in the late 1970s, Borama was one of several northern cities aerially bombarded by Ethiopian forces.

Geography

Location and habitat

Borama is situated in a mountainous and hilly area. It has green

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

s and

fields Fields may refer to: Music * Fields (band), an indie rock band formed in 2006 * Fields (progressive rock band), a progressive rock band formed in 1971 * ''Fields'' (album), an LP by Swedish-based indie rock band Junip (2010) * "Fields", a song b ...

and represents a key focal point for wildlife. The town's unusual fertility and greenery in the largely arid countryside have attracted many faunas, such as

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s, and camels.

Climate

The prevailing climate in Borama is known as a hot semi-arid climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''BSh''). The hottest month of the year is June, with an average temperature of , whilst the coolest month is January, whose average temperature is . The difference in rainfall between the driest month and the wettest month is . The average temperatures vary during the year by .

Demographics

As of 2014, Borama had a population of around 398,609 inhabitants. The

region in which the city is situated is inhabited by people from the Somali ethnic group, with the Gadabuursi subclan of the Dir especially well represented and considered the predominant clan of the region. Federico Battera (2005) states about the

Region:

"Awdal is mainly inhabited by the Gadabuursi confederation of clans."

A UN report published by Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (1999), states concerning

"The Gadabuursi clan dominates Awdal region. As a result, regional politics in Awdal is almost synonymous with Gadabuursi internal clan affairs."

Roland Marchal (1997) states that numerically, the Gadabuursi are the predominant inhabitants of the

Region:

"The Gadabuursi's numerical predominance in Awdal virtually ensures that Gadabuursi interests drive the politics of the region."

Marleen Renders and Ulf Terlinden (2010) both state that the Gadabuursi almost exclusively inhabit the

Region:

"Awdal in western Somaliland is situated between Djibouti, Ethiopia, and the Issaq-populated mainland of Somaliland. It is primarily inhabited by the three sub-clans of the Gadabursi clan, whose traditional institutions survived the colonial period, Somali statehood and the war in good shape, remaining functionally intact and highly relevant to public security."

There is also a sizeable minority of the Issa subclan of the Dir who mainly inhabit the Zeila district.

Education

Annalena Deaf School - Borama, Somaliland

Currently, there are 52 primary and secondary schools in Borama. These schools can be divided into three main categories:

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

primary and secondary schools, private primary and secondary schools and Religious schools. Total number of students in Borama is 15,314.

Transportation

For air transportation, Borama is served by the Borama International Airport. It is the only airport in the Awdal region. The facility was named in honor of Aden Isaaq, Somalia's first Minister of Education. The airport is not in use; however, there are plans to rejuvenate it.

Notable residents

* Yussur A.F. Abrar – former Governor of the Central Bank of Somalia * Hassan Sheikh Mumin - Somali poet, playwright, broadcaster, actor and composer. *

Suleiman Ahmed Guleid Suleiman Ahmed Gulaid ( so, Saleebaan Axmed Guuleed, ar, سليمان احمد جوليد) is a Somali educator and the president of Amoud University Amoud University ( so, Jaamacada Camuud) is a comprehensive public university, located in t ...

- President Of

Amoud University Amoud University ( so, Jaamacada Camuud) is a comprehensive public university, located in the city of Borama in Somaliland. The university started in 1998 with 66 students in two faculties (Education and Business Administration), and three tea ...

* Sh. Abdillahi Sh.Ali Jawhar - Son of Sh. Ali jawhar and religious leader

Notes

References

*{{cite book , author = Borama Local Council. Economic and Project Management Committee , title = The Statistical Abstract of Borama Municipality: Borama, Regional Capital of Awdal , publisher = Borama Local Council , year = 2003 , url = http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOMALIAEXTN/Resources/Boroma_Statistical_Abstract.pdf Populated places in Awdal Cities of the Adal Sultanate British Somaliland in World War II

History

Geography

Location and habitat

Climate

Demographics

Education

Transportation

Notable residents

See also

Notes

References