Region
Baardheere (Bardhere, Bardera)
Baardheere (Bardera) is a farming town on the Jubba River in Gedo, about 250 km west of Baidoa, at a crossroads linking Kismaayo, Baidoa, Baraawe and the Kenyan border towns. It was a centre of Islamic learning and the ivory trade, the seat of a religious community that the Geledi Sultan destroyed in the 1840s, and later Somalia's first commercial onion-growing area.
Where it is
Baardheere lies on the Jubba River in the Gedo region of Jubaland, about 250 km west of Baidoa, at about 2.34°N, 42.28°E and 97 m above sea level (Wikipedia: Bardere; Wikidata). It stands where roads meet from Elwak and Mandera on the Kenyan border, and from Kismaayo, Baidoa, Baraawe and Diinsoor (Wikipedia: Bardere). It is described as Gedo's second-largest city (Wikipedia: Bardere).
The name is read as bar, palm tree, and dheere, tall, after the palms that line the river banks and farms (Wikipedia: Bardere).
History
- Middle Ages: Baardheere was a farming and trading town on the Jubba within the lands of the Ajuran state, linked by road to the Benadir ports, and a centre of Islamic learning (Wikipedia: Bardere).
- 1800s: under Geledi rule it was a walled town and the main ivory market of the southern Horn (Wikipedia: Bardere).
- 1830s and 1840s: a religious community (jama'a) based in Baardheere began imposing its teaching on the region and took Baraawe in 1840. Sultan Yusuf Mahamud of Geledi led a coalition against it, besieged the town and burned it (Wikipedia: Bardere; Cassanelli, via Google Books).
- 1860s: the German explorer Karl Klaus von der Decken was killed near the town after his steamer was wrecked in the rapids (Wikipedia: Jubba River).
- After 1960: Baardheere became the seat of Baardheere district (Wikipedia: Bardere).
Farming and trade
Baardheere was the first place in Somalia where onions were grown for market, and output grew fast before falling in the 1980s (Wikipedia: Bardere). The fertile soil lies in a narrow strip along both banks, where pumps water private farms. Away from the river, families farm in the two rainy seasons, growing sorghum, maize and beans (Wikipedia: Bardere). Crops include sorghum, maize, onions, beans, sesame, tobacco, bananas, watermelon, oranges, papayas and mangoes. Herding for meat, milk and butter is also important (Wikipedia: Bardere).
Mogadishu's market once had a section for Baardheere onions. Since the civil war, much of the produce goes instead to Kenyan markets in Wajir, Garissa, Mombasa and Nairobi (Wikipedia: Bardere). ACTED has worked with farmers in the area on farming that can withstand drought (ACTED), and aid agencies have given cash support to displaced families in the town (ReliefWeb).
Schools
Baardheere has long been known for the study of Islamic law (Wikipedia: Bardere). It has 20 elementary schools and 17 primary and secondary schools. Bardera Polytechnic College opened in July 2008 for vocational training for people aged 16 to 60; it includes the Juba Valley Agricultural Institute and the Juba Valley Veterinary Institute (Wikipedia: Bardere). Norway's aid agency evaluated secondary and vocational schooling in Gedo for 2013 to 2015 (Norad, 2016).
Climate
Baardheere is hot and humid, with a hot arid climate (Wikipedia: Bardere; Deutscher Wetterdienst).
Sources
Sources
- Wikipedia: Bardere · en.wikipedia.org
- Wikidata · wikidata.org
- Cassanelli, via Google Books · books.google.com
- Wikipedia: Jubba River · en.wikipedia.org
- ACTED · acted.org
- ReliefWeb · reliefweb.int
- Norad, 2016 · norad.no
- Deutscher Wetterdienst · dwd.de
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