# Sultanates, the coast and customary law, 1700s–1880s (Geledi, Isaaq, Majeerteen, Hobyo, Bardera, xeer)

> From the 1700s to the 1880s, Somalis ran their own sultanates, such as Geledi, Majeerteen, Hobyo and the Isaaq Sultanate, and settled disputes through xeer…

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Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## What happened

- **1695.** The Geledi Sultanate, under the Gobroon dynasty, was founded at Afgooye after the fall of Ajuran's vassals. It had central institutions but ruled through elders ([Sultanate of the Geledi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultanate_of_the_Geledi), citing Luling 2002).
- **From 1728.** After Portugal was expelled from Mombasa, Oman, and later Zanzibar, claimed the Banaadir coast. The Library of Congress calls this rule "mostly nominal": some tribute, a judge and a few guards ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/7.htm)).
- **Mid-1700s.** The northern coast fell under the sharifs of Mukha, who collected tribute on behalf of the Ottoman Empire ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/7.htm)).
- **1750.** The Isaaq Sultanate crowned Guled Abdi as sultan, with Toon and later Hargeisa as its seat. Power was shared with elders, lesser sultans and religious leaders ([Isaaq Sultanate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaaq_Sultanate), citing Lewis and Laitin).
- **1700s to 1800s.** The Majeerteen Sultanate grew strong under Boqor Ismaan Mahamuud ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/8.htm)).
- **1870s.** After a civil war of about five years, Yuusuf Ali Keenadiid founded the Hobyo Sultanate ([Library of Congress](http://countrystudies.us/somalia/8.htm)).

## Xeer: law by agreement

Among northern herders, every political unit was set up by an explicit contract between groups, called xeer. The anthropologist I. M. Lewis counted more than 360 blood-compensation groups in the British Protectorate. Colonial offices later registered these contracts and applied them as law ([Lewis, Africa, 1959](https://cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/abs/clanship-and-contract-in-northern-somaliland1/EDF65B709C7BAD3A63B3F14593F7248C)). Xeer is still used today.

## How historians see the period

Lee Cassanelli describes Somali society from 1600 to 1900 as "politically fragmented" but held together by kinship, Sufi Islam and trade ([University of Pennsylvania Press](https://www.pennpress.org/9780812278323/the-shaping-of-somali-society)).

## What this era moved forward

Working Somali institutions: sultanates that collected taxes, held courts and dealt with foreign powers, and a body of customary law that let groups settle disputes without a central ruler. These were Somali ways of governing, made by Somalis.

## What the historians record

The states were regional, and some fought each other. Geledi destroyed the religious community at Bardera in 1843, and Geledi sultans were killed fighting near Merca in 1848 and 1878 ([Sultanate of the Geledi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultanate_of_the_Geledi)). Hobyo was born from a split inside the Majeerteen ruling house. Shared faith did not stop these rivalries.

## Why it matters

Somalis governed themselves for centuries, through sultans, elders and agreed law. Those traditions are part of what every generation since 1895 has carried forward.

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