Jijiga

History

The region around Jijiga is believed to be associated with the medieval Gidaya state which existed as early as thirteenth century. One of the earliest references to Jijiga comes from W.C. Barker in 1842 who mentions it as one of the mahalla or halting-places of the caravan route between Zeila and Harar within the Somali inhabited Ogaden (present day Somali Region). Jijiga was later mentioned by British traveler Richard Francis Burton in 1854, who reports that it was a centre of wells for pastoralists of the local Somali (Jidwaq) clan on the caravan route to Berbera. During the pre-colonial era the Ogaden was neither under Ethiopian rule, nor terra nullius, as it was occupied by organized Somali communities. Independent historical accounts are unanimous that previous to the penetration into the region in the late 1880s, Somali clans were free of residing in the Ogaden were free of the control of the Ethiopian Empire. In 1887, the Ethiopian Empire under Menelik II invaded and conquered the ancient city of Harar and soon after announced a programme of ambitious expansion and colonialism to the European powers. This marked the start of a tentative yet violent invasion into the Ogaden region. During the Abyssinian invasion of Harar, much of the population and the cities Islamic scholars were massacred. As a consequence of this some scholars moved to the town of Jigjiga, and from a Somali perspective Jigjiga then replaced Harar as a center for Islamic learning. As Emperor Menelik II continued his campaign of indiscriminate raiding and attacks against the Somalis of the Ogaden region between 1890 and 1899, Somali clans residing in the plains of Jigjiga were in particular targeted. The escalating frequency and violence of the raids resulted in Somalis consolidating behind the…

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2021-04-23
  10 km NNW of Harar, Ethiopia
• M 5 — 2011-08-02
  34 km WNW of Baki, Somalia
• M 4.1 — 2010-11-23
  77 km WNW of Baki, Somalia
• M 5 — 2007-02-26
  Ethiopia
• M 3.9 — 2007-02-22
  67 km WNW of Baki, Somalia