# Resistance, 1890s–1945 (Banadir/Bimaal, Dervishes, Hassan Barsane, Sheikh Bashir)

> From the 1890s to 1945, Somalis resisted colonial rule in every part of their land: the Banaadir towns and the Bimaal in the south, the Dervish movement of…

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/history/resistance-1890s-1945/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## What happened

- **2 October 1893.** An Italian officer was killed at Merca, the first recorded act of resistance to Italy in the south ([Banadir resistance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banadir_resistance), citing Hess 1966).
- **November 1896, Lafoole.** Wa'daan and Bimaal fighters killed the Italian consul Antonio Cecchi and about 14 Italians near Afgooye. Different communities worked together against a common intruder ([Banadir resistance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banadir_resistance)).
- **1899 to 1920, the Dervish movement.** Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan (Mohammed Abdullah Hassan) fought Britain, Italy and Ethiopia. The Dervishes held off four major campaigns from 1900 to 1904, and Britain withdrew to the coast in 1910. In 1920 the Royal Air Force bombed Taleh, and the Sayid died of influenza in 1921 ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/10.htm); [Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/place/Somalia/Revolt-in-British-Somaliland)).
- **1904 to 1908.** Bimaal resistance, led by religious teachers, continued in the south. The Sayid wrote urging them on, a rare link between north and south ([Banadir resistance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banadir_resistance)).
- **Early 1900s to 1924.** Sheikh Hassan Barsane of Middle Shabelle refused Italy's order to disarm, citing Islamic law. He was captured in April 1924 and died in a Mogadishu prison in 1928 ([Sheikh Hassan Barsane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Hassan_Barsane), citing Cassanelli 1982).
- **1939 and July 1945.** Sheikh Bashir led protests at Burao, and was killed on 7 July 1945 ([1945 Sheikh Bashir rebellion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Sheikh_Bashir_rebellion), citing Jama Mohamed 2002).

## What this era moved forward

The banner of resistance itself. The Library of Congress calls the Dervish movement the first pan-Somali effort, and the historian Robert Hess calls the Sayid "a forerunner of modern Somali nationalism" ([Hess, Journal of African History, 1964](https://cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/mad-mullah-and-northern-somalia/64A47DB9294A878A7FC8A0AA00589029)). The historian Jama Mohamed describes the protests of 1945 as "popular nationalism".

## What the historians record

- The Library of Congress estimates that a third of the people of the north died during the Dervish war ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/10.htm)).
- Hess records that the movement drew its core from some communities more than others, and that many Somalis opposed it on religious grounds while still sympathising with resistance ([Hess](https://cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/mad-mullah-and-northern-somalia/64A47DB9294A878A7FC8A0AA00589029)).
- Rivalry between Sufi orders turned violent: in 1909 Shaykh Uways al-Barawi of the Qadiriyya was killed by followers of the rival Salihiyya ([Journal of African History, 1969](https://core-prod.cambridgecore.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/muslim-politics-and-resistance-to-colonial-rule-shaykh-uways-b-muhammad-albarawi-and-the-qadiriya-brotherhood-in-east-africa/7E6B77046CAC06E6C6C45121EF076E56)).

## Why it matters

We count our 131 years from 1895, when the Sayid began preaching in Berbera. Every one of these leaders and communities moved the work forward. Their memory belongs to all Somalis.

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