Books about Somalis, 1884 to 1960: the colonial era

What these books are

After the partition of the Somali lands from 1884 (Partition, 1884 to 1926), the number of books about Somalis grew fast. Most were written by people working for the colonial powers.

• Explorers' and officers' journals. Harald Swayne's Seventeen Trips through Somaliland (1895) and Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti's Somalia e Benadir (1899) describe the land, routes and people (Swayne, Internet Archive).
• The wars against the Dervishes. The British War Office published an Official History of the Operations in Somaliland, 1901 to 1904 (1907), and Douglas Jardine's The Mad Mullah of Somaliland (1923) gave the colonial government's account of the Sayyid's movement (Official History, Internet Archive). The movement itself is on The Dervish movement, 1899 to 1920.
• Language and law. Leo Reinisch (1900 to 1903) and J. W. C. Kirk (1905) wrote early grammars of Somali (Kirk, Internet Archive). Massimo Colucci (1924) wrote on customary law in the south.
• Scholarship on history and Islam. Enrico Cerulli's studies, collected in three volumes from 1957, include Arabic chronicles of Mogadishu and the Sufi orders. J. Spencer Trimingham's Islam in Ethiopia (1952) covers the Somali and Adal.
• The first Somali literature in English. Margaret Laurence's A Tree for Poverty (1954) was the first book of Somali poems and stories in English translation (Margaret Laurence, Wikipedia). Andrzejewski and Musa Galaal published Hikmad Soomaali in 1956.

How they are read today

These books record names, places, poems and the workings of colonial rule. Later scholars, Somali and non-Somali, have also written about how the colonial view shaped them, for example in Ali Jimale Ahmed's The Invention of Somalia (1995), listed on Books about Somalis, 1991 to 2005. More on this period is on British Somaliland, 1884 to 1960 and Fascist rule and the war, 1923 to 1941.

The books, oldest first

Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas (1893-1896)

Philipp Paulitschke · German

Two-volume ethnography of the Somali, Afar and Oromo.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Read free on HathiTrust · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Seventeen Trips through Somaliland (1895)

Harald G. C. Swayne · English

British officer's hunting and survey trips in the north, 1885-1893.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Read free on HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Il Giuba esplorato (1895)

Vittorio Bottego · Italian

Expedition of 1892-1893 up the Juba river.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Somalia e Benadir (1899)

Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti · Italian

First European crossing of the Somali peninsula from Obbia to Berbera (1891).

Where to read: Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Die Somali-Sprache (1900-1903)

Leo Reinisch · German

Somali texts, grammar and dictionary from the Viennese expedition.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

In Pursuit of the Mad Mullah (1902)

Malcolm McNeill · English

British officer's account of the 1901 campaign against the Dervishes.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Lugh: emporio commerciale sul Giuba (1903)

Ugo Ferrandi · Italian

Life and trade at Luuq on the Juba in the 1890s.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Read free on HathiTrust · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

A Grammar of the Somali Language (1905)

J. W. C. Kirk · English

Grammar with Somali texts and poems collected in the north.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Read free on HathiTrust · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Official History of the Operations in Somaliland, 1901-04 (1907)

War Office (General Staff) · English

Official British military history of the first four campaigns against the Dervishes.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Nel Benadir: la citta di Merca (1910)

Gherardo Pantano · Italian

Life in Marka under early Italian rule.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Somaliland (1911)

Angus Hamilton · English

Journalist's account of British Somaliland and the Dervish wars.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

British Somaliland (1912)

Ralph E. Drake-Brockman · English

Colonial medical officer's survey of peoples, customs, plants and animals.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Ai confini meridionali dell'Etiopia (1913)

Carlo Citerni · Italian

Survey of the Ethiopia-Italian Somalia border in 1910 to 1911.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Mad Mullah of Somaliland (1923)

Douglas Jardine · English

British colonial secretary's history of the Dervish state and the wars of 1899-1920.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Read free on HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Principi di diritto consuetudinario della Somalia italiana meridionale (1924)

Massimo Colucci · Italian

Customary law (xeer) in the south.

Where to read: Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Major Dane's Garden (1925)

Margery Perham · English

Novel set in British Somaliland, written after her 1922 stay.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Ferro e fuoco in Somalia (1931)

Francesco Saverio Caroselli · Italian

The Dervish wars as seen from Italian Somalia, published by the Ministry of Colonies.

Where to read: Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Orizzonti d'impero: cinque anni in Somalia (1935)

Cesare Maria De Vecchi · Italian

Fascist governor's own account of 1923-1928 in Somalia.

Where to read: HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Somalia italiana (1937)

Guido Corni (ed.) · Italian

Two-volume official survey of Italian Somalia.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Ex-Italian Somaliland (1951)

Sylvia Pankhurst · English

The British administration years and the debate over the former Italian colony.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Islam in Ethiopia (1952)

J. Spencer Trimingham · English

History of Islam in the Horn, with long chapters on the Somali, the Sufi orders and Adal.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

A Tree for Poverty: Somali Poetry and Prose (1954)

Margaret Laurence · English

First collection of Somali poems and stories in English translation, made in British Somaliland.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho (1955)

Ioan M. Lewis · English

Ethnographic survey for the International African Institute.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Somalia: scritti vari editi ed inediti (1957-1964)

Enrico Cerulli · Italian

Three volumes of Cerulli's studies of Somali history, law, Islam, clans and literature, including Arabic chronicles.

Where to read: Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Somalia (International Conciliation no. 522) (1959)

A. A. Castagno · English

The country on the eve of independence.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Prophet's Camel Bell (1963)

Margaret Laurence · English

Memoir of living in British Somaliland, 1950-1952.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · HathiTrust · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Warriors and Strangers (later Warriors: Life and Death among the Somalis) (1971)

Gerald Hanley · English

British officer's memoir of service with Somali soldiers in the 1940s.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Related pages

• Books about Somalis, 1500 to 1884
• Books about Somalis since 1960: history and research
• Books about Somalis: every era