The first Somalis abroad: seamen and traders, 1880s to 1960

The first Somalis abroad were men who worked ships and caravans for colonial empires. From the 1880s they left mostly through Aden. They settled in port towns from Cardiff to New York, and in the trading towns of East Africa.

Somali men worked the engine rooms of British, French and German steamships from the 1880s to the 1930s (Krozewski, International Journal of African Historical Studies). They became linked with stoking coal on British tramp ships, the same study says. For the wider story of later waves, see Why did Somalis leave, and when?.

Why was Aden the gateway?

Aden was the coaling port where ships hired crews for the Suez route. Its Somali population grew from 477 in 1839 to 3,896 in 1856 (Hirsi, University of Minnesota, 2026, citing Alpers and Ewald). By the 1870s more than 700 Somalis held government licences for the port's small boats, the same study records.

Aden's 1955 census counted 10,611 Somalis (Hirsi, 2026). In 1962 the British government estimated 15,000 Somalis among Aden's 221,000 people (Hansard, 17 Jul 1962).

How many Somalis lived in Britain before 1960?

No count was ever made. In 1938 Cardiff police registered 230 Arabs and 108 Somalis, and 300 to 500 more held papers as British subjects (Hirsi, 2026, citing Glamorgan Archives DCONC/7/5/1-3). Adding Liverpool, South Shields, Sheffield, London, Birmingham and Glasgow, Hirsi estimates 3,000 to 5,000 Somalis and their children.

Hard times are on file. In June 1921 Cardiff boarding-house keepers resolved to refuse bed and food to about 1,500 unemployed "coloured" seamen (National Archives, CO 323/879/22). The file is titled "Destitute Somali seamen".

The settlements were in the docklands:

• Cardiff (Butetown, or Tiger Bay): Somali-run lodging houses and cafés grew up there, Hirsi writes (Hirsi, 2026).
• London's East End: Tower Hamlets records a community of Somali dockers from before the First World War (Tower Hamlets Council).
• South Shields: Yemeni seamen settled in the coal port from the late 19th century "along with the Somalis" (National Archives catalogue, CPA/226).
• Liverpool: the Minister of Labour confirmed rising unemployment among Somali seamen there in 1956 (Hansard, 19 Apr 1956).

Were Somali seamen British subjects?

Most were not, and this shaped their lives. Men from British Somaliland were "British protected persons", not British subjects, the Home Secretary told Parliament in 1926 (Hansard, 15 Mar 1926). Proof of birth in Somaliland therefore did not exempt a seaman from registering.

In 1938 the Home Office confirmed that Somalis visiting Britain had to register as aliens under the Aliens Order 1920 (Hansard, 14 Apr 1938). The Special Restriction (Coloured Alien Seamen) Order of 1925 also applied to seamen, making registration with the police compulsory for those who could not prove citizenship (Hirsi, 2026).

Somali seamen pushed back in writing. Colonial Office files hold their letters:

• 1931-32: a translated letter of complaint signed by unemployed Somali seamen, on status and jobs on British ships (National Archives, CO 535/94/26).
• 1934-35: their treatment under the Aliens Order, with letters from the president of the Islamic Society (National Archives, CO 535/105/6).
• 1935: a further file on the status of Somali seamen in the UK (National Archives, CO 535/111/7).

Were seamen sent home?

Some were, when work ran out. A 1931 file covers the repatriation of destitute Somali sailors, with a list of men, their clans and their discharge ships (National Archives, CO 535/93/13). The India Office handled "Repatriation of Somalis" in 1921-22 (British Library India Office Records, IOR/L/E/7/1103).

A shipping file of 1949-50 covers solicitors' letters on repatriating Somali seamen from Britain (National Archives, MT 9/5282).

What did Somali seamen do in the two world wars?

They kept ships moving. Britain's wartime labour shortage drew colonial seamen, Somalis among them, into the merchant fleet during the First World War (Hirsi, 2026). Medal cards in the shipping registers list men born in Somaliland or Aden, the same study notes.

The Second World War left its own records:

• Casualties: a pensions file titled "Mercantile marine casualties: Somali seamen", 1944-50 (National Archives, PIN 15/3694).
• Pensions: "Arab and Somali seamen", 1940-62 (National Archives, PIN 15/3225).
• Memory: a Welsh Somali museum curator recalls Butetown elders describing ships torpedoed in that war (Oral History Society, 25 Oct 2021).

After 1945 the Royal Navy added Somali seamen and stokers to its East Indies Station (National Archives, ADM 1/25262, 1953-54). A 1951-52 Colonial Office file deals with Somali seamen's savings deposits (National Archives, CO 876/178).

What changed in the 1950s?

Men moved ashore. A second wave came to Britain in the 1950s for work in steel and coal (Tower Hamlets Council). In 1956 James Callaghan MP told Parliament of "considerable growth of unemployment" among Somali seamen in Cardiff (Hansard, 19 Apr 1956).

Butetown's mosque history is told two ways. Hirsi dates the first stand-alone mosque, Noor El-Islam, to the late 1930s (Hirsi, 2026). A 2024 account dates its founding by Somali and Yemeni seamen to 1947 (Hyphen, 2024).

Who were the first Somalis in the United States?

Sailors who left their ships. A 1920s US government document put Somali and Adeni migrants at about 2,000 (Hirsi, 2026). Hirsi estimates that 600 to 1,000 Somalis lived in the US between 1900 and 1960.

Abdirizak Haji Hussein, a prominent Somali official who lived in New York, estimated about 300 Somalis in New York in the early 1950s (cited in Hirsi, 2026). Most had worked as firemen and trimmers, then took factory jobs in Buffalo, Philadelphia, Youngstown and Detroit. Many settled in Harlem.

In May 1949, Somali Youth League envoys met supporters at Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church (Hirsi, 2026). New York Somalis helped fund their stay while they pressed the UN for independence. See The Somali Youth League.

Did Somalis organise in France?

Yes. Seamen from the French Somali Coast (now Djibouti) founded the Amicale des Originaires de la Côte française des Somalis in Marseille in 1948 (Cayla-Giraudeau, REAF 2018). It began as a union for its members' working conditions.

French intelligence watched it closely, suspecting it of seeking to rally all Somalis in France and North Africa (same source). Its contacts with committees of the Somali Youth League were recorded by the security services. The study covers its life from 1948 to 1953.

Who were the first Somalis in Kenya and East Africa?

Traders, guards and colonial staff. Nairobi's early Somalis were mainly Isaaq and Harti, who came down the coast from Aden (Whittaker, Brunel University). They worked as clerks, interpreters, soldiers, gun-bearers and livestock and ivory traders.

They were present when the railway reached Nairobi in 1899, and numbered about 300 by 1914 (Whittaker). Four Somali villages stood in central Nairobi, with a mosque and a school. In 1916 the government ordered them moved out; after years of dispute they were resettled at Pumwani in 1921.

The Isahakia of Kenya trace their arrival to the 1890s, as porters, guards and gun-bearers for Lord Delamere (The Standard, 25 Aug 2010, via CRAI). They number over 10,000 in their third and fourth generations, the same report says.

Isaaq and Harti traders in Kenya campaigned for "Asiatic" status, through petitions, lawyers and organised associations (Turton, Journal of African History, 1972). They kept contacts in British Somaliland and England. Ethnic Somali Kenyans of the north-east are citizens of Kenya with their own long history; see Kenya.

In Tanganyika, colonial police listed Somalis with Asians, Arabs and Chinese in a 1958-59 "Asian Who's Who" (National Archives, FCO 141/17862).

Where are their stories kept?

In archives and in community memory. Cardiff's Butetown History and Arts Centre recorded oral histories from about 1982 to 2014, including a Somali Elders project (Heritage and Cultural Exchange archive). Its catalogue lists 567 items and a Seafarers Group on the Second World War.

Pupils from Mount Stuart Primary School interviewed elders at Red Sea House, a Cardiff retirement home for Somali seamen (Butetown Memories). Hirsi's 2026 study adds new oral histories from Cardiff and Harlem (Hirsi, 2026).

What else has been reported?

• Aden, 1931: the 1931 census of Aden counted 3,935 Somalis in a total population of 46,638, according to the colony's administration report for 1933-34 (Administration Report of Aden, year ending 31 March 1934, Qatar Digital Library).

Related pages

• Why did Somalis leave, and when?
• London
• Somalis in other UK cities
• Yemen
• Kenya
• France
• Other US cities
• The Somali Youth League
• Colonial treaties, 1884-1897
• Carried the banner since 1895

Sources

1. Gerold Krozewski. "Hidden Seamen from East Africa: Somali Firemen, European Steamers, and Global Labor Markets, 1880s-1930s". International Journal of African Historical Studies. https://www.bu.edu/phpbin/ijahs/publications/?pid=757. Checked 2026-11-12.
2. Ibrahim Hirsi. "The First Somali Diaspora: A Transnational History of Migration, Race, and Colonialism". PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota, July 2026. https://conservancy.umn.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/e55f591b-f183-4b83-aaef-5e9433da9155/content. Checked 2026-11-12.
3. UK Parliament. HC Deb 17 Jul 1962 vol 663 cc216-7, "Population" (Aden). Hansard. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1962/jul/17/population. Checked 2026-11-12.
4. UK Parliament. HC Deb 15 Mar 1926 vol 193 cc40-2, "Coloured British seamen". Hansard. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1926/mar/15/coloured-british-seamen. Checked 2026-11-12.
5. UK Parliament. HC Deb 14 Apr 1938 vol 334 cc1288-9, "British Somalis". Hansard. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1938/apr/14/british-somalis. Checked 2026-11-12.
6. UK Parliament. HC Deb 19 Apr 1956 vol 551 cc1149-50, "Somali seamen". Hansard. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1956/apr/19/somali-seamen. Checked 2026-11-12.
7. The National Archives. CO 323/879/22, "Destitute Somali seamen", June 1921. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9387820. Checked 2026-11-12.
8. The National Archives. CO 535/93/13, "Repatriation of destitute Somali sailors", 1931-32. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8940603. Checked 2026-11-12.
9. The National Archives. CO 535/94/26, status of British protected persons and employment of Somali seamen, 1931-32. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8941591. Checked 2026-11-12.
10. The National Archives. CO 535/105/6, "Status of Somali seamen in the United Kingdom and their treatment under the Aliens Order", 1934-35. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8946732. Checked 2026-11-12.
11. The National Archives. CO 535/111/7, "Status of Somali seamen in the UK", 1935. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8951492. Checked 2026-11-12.
12. British Library. IOR/L/E/7/1103, File 8230, "Repatriation of destitute seamen ... Repatriation of Somalis", 1921-22. Via National Archives Discovery. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/831815fb-05e5-49d1-93c8-d0d71967a736. Checked 2026-11-12.
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14. The National Archives. PIN 15/3694, "Mercantile marine casualties: Somali seamen", 1944-50. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C208410. Checked 2026-11-12.
15. The National Archives. PIN 15/3225, "Arab and Somali seamen", 1940-62. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C207941. Checked 2026-11-12.
16. The National Archives. ADM 1/25262, "East Indies Station: addition to complement of Somali seamen and stokers", 1953-54. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4846374. Checked 2026-11-12.
17. The National Archives. CO 876/178, "Saving deposits of Somali seamen", 1951-52. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3768186. Checked 2026-11-12.
18. The National Archives. FCO 141/17862, Tanganyika "Asian Who's Who (including Arabs, Somalis and Chinese)", 1958-59. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14088059. Checked 2026-11-12.
19. Catalogue entry CPA/226, "Yemeni seamen settled in the coal port of South Shields ... along with the Somalis", Coalfield Stories commission, 2000-2006. Via National Archives Discovery. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/5a4e9f83-5f4d-443d-8a17-1c7d240b13e3. Checked 2026-11-12.
20. Tower Hamlets Council. "Somali Task Force" report. https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Community-safety-and-emergencies/TH_Somali_Task_Force.pdf. Checked 2026-11-12.
21. Clément Cayla-Giraudeau. "L'Amicale des originaires de la Côte française des Somalis, une proto-diaspora djiboutienne à Marseille (1948-1953)". REAF 2018. https://reaf2018.sciencesconf.org/197108/197108.pdf. Checked 2026-11-12.
22. Hannah Whittaker. "A new model village?: Nairobi development and the Somali question in Kenya, c. 1915-1917". Brunel University London repository. https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/11836/1/FullText.doc. Checked 2026-11-12.
23. E. R. Turton. "Somali Resistance to Colonial Rule and the Development of Somali Political Activity in Kenya 1893-1960". Journal of African History 13(1), 1972, 119-143. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/somali-resistance-to-colonial-rule-and-the-development-of-somali-political-activity-in-kenya-18931960/4C145E9BBE5B153DC4CB2EBA52B82F09. Checked 2026-11-12.
24. Antony Gitonga. "Kenya: One hundred years of solitude and sufferance". The Standard, 25 Aug 2010, via Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative. https://citizenshiprightsafrica.org/en/kenya-isahakia-from-somaliland-one-hundred-years-of-solitude-and-sufferance/. Checked 2026-11-12.
25. Beth Thomas. "Black history is Welsh history". Oral History Society, 25 Oct 2021. https://ohs.org.uk/regions/wales/black-history-is-welsh-history/. Checked 2026-11-12.
26. The Heritage and Cultural Exchange. "Oral history interviews" (Butetown History and Arts Centre collection). https://www.hcearchive.org.uk/collections/show/1. Checked 2026-11-12.
27. Britain from Above. "Butetown Memories" group. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/groups/butetown-memories. Checked 2026-11-12.
28. Hyphen. "In focus: the roots of Cardiff's thriving Somali community", 30 Oct 2024. https://hyphenonline.com/2024/10/30/in-focus-the-roots-of-cardiffs-thriving-somali-community/. Checked 2026-11-12.
29. Government of Aden. "Administration Report of Aden for the year ending 31 March 1934". British Library, via Qatar Digital Library. https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100151780576.0x00000d. Checked 2026-11-12.