Dir (clan)The Dir (Dir) is one of the largest and most prominent Somali clans in the Horn of Africa. They are also considered to be the oldest Somali stock to have inhabited the region. Its members inhabit Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia (Somali, Harar, Dire Dawa, Oromia and Afar regions), and northeastern Kenya (North Eastern Province). Like the great majority of Somali clans, the Dir trace their ancestry to Aqil ibn Abi Talib (580 – 670 or 683), a cousin of the prophet Muhammad (570 – 632) and an older brother of Ali ibn Abi Talib (600 – 661) and Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (590 – 629).
DarodThe Darod (Daarood, دارود) is a Somali clan. The forefather of this clan was Sheikh Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, more commonly known as Darood. The clan primarily settles the apex of the Horn of Africa and its peripheries, the Somali hinterlands up to Oromia, and both sides of the Kenya–Somalia border. The Darod clan is the largest Somali clan family in the Horn of Africa.
JijigaJijiga (Jigjiga, ጅጅጋ, Jijiga) is the capital city of Somali Region, Ethiopia. It became the capital of the Somali Region in 1995 after it was moved from Gode. Located in the Fafan Zone with 70 km (37 mi) west of the border with Somalia, the city has an elevation of 1,634 metres above sea level. Jigjiga is traditionally the seat of the Bartire Garad Wiil-Waal of the Jidwaaq Absame. The International airport is named after him. The region around Jijiga is believed to be associated with ancient Gidaya state which existed as early as thirteenth century.
GadabuursiThe Gadabuursi (Somali: Gadabuursi, Arabic: جادابورسي), also known as Samaroon (Arabic: قبيلة سَمَرُون), is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family. The Gadabuursi are geographically spread out across three countries: Ethiopia, Somaliland and Djibouti. Among all of the Gadabuursi inhabited regions of the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is the country where the majority of the clan reside. In Ethiopia, the Gadabuursi are mainly found in the Somali Region, but they also inhabit the Harar, Dire Dawa and Oromia regions.
Ajuran (clan)The Ajuran (Somali: Ajuuraan, Beesha Ajuuraan, Morshe, Arabic: أجران) is a Somali clan, part of the Jambelle clan which itself belongs to the largest Somali clan-family — the Hawiye. Ajuran members largely inhabit Kenya as well as southern east Ethiopia; considerable numbers are also found in southern Somalia. Some Ajuran members settled in Mogadishu. The Ajuran clan's origins are found in the Ajuran Sultanate, a Somali Muslim sultanate that ruled over large parts of the Horn of Africa in the Middle Ages.
SamaaleSamaale, also spelled Samali or Samale (Samaale) is traditionally considered to be the oldest common forefather of several major Somali clans and their respective sub-clans. His name is the source of the ethnonym Somali. As the purported ancestor of most pastoralist clans living in the northern part of Somalia, Samaale lies at the basis of the largest and most widespread Somali lineage (the second largest lineage belonging to Samaale's brother Sab, the purported progenitor of most southern, cultivating clans).
RahanweynThe Rahanweyn (Reewin Northern Somali: Raxaweyn, رحنوين), also known as the Digil and Mirifle (Digil iyo Mirifle) are a major Somali clan. It is one of the major Somali clans in the Horn of Africa, with a large territory and densely populated fertile valleys of the Jubba and Shebelle rivers and the area between are mainly inhabited by settlers from the Digil and Mirifle lineages. Anthropologists and northern Somalis have helped coin the term Rahanweyn.
Issa (clan)The Issa (also spelled Eesah, Esa, or Aysa) (Ciise, Reer Sheikh Ciise, Osmanya: 𐒋𐒕𐒜𐒈, عيسى) are a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family. As a Dir sub-clan, the Issa have immediate lineal ties with the Akisho, Gadabuursi, the Surre (Abdalle and Qubeys), the Biimaal (who the Gaadsen also belong to), the Bajimal, the Bursuk, the Madigan Dir, the Gurgura, the Garre (the Quranyow sub-clan to be precise as they claim descent from Dir), Gurre, Gariire, other Dir sub-clans and they have lineal ties with the Hawiye (Irir), Hawadle, Ajuran, Degoodi, Gaalje'el clan groups, who share the same ancestor Samaale.
KismayoKismayo (Kismaayo, كيسمايو, Kīsmāyū; Chisimaio) is a port city in the southern Lower Juba (Jubbada Hoose) province of Somalia. It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region. The city is situated southwest of Mogadishu, near the mouth of the Jubba River, where the waters empty into the Indian Ocean. According to the United Nations Development Programme, the city of Kismayo had a population of around 89,333 in 2005.
Somali RegionThe Somali Region (Deegaanka Soomaalida, Sumalē Kilil, المنطقة الصومالية), also known as Soomaali Galbeed (Western Somalia) and officially the Somali Regional State, is a regional state in eastern Ethiopia. Its territory is the largest after Oromia Region. The regional state borders the Ethiopian regions of Afar and Oromia and the chartered city Dire Dawa to the west, as well as Djibouti to the north, Somalia to the northeast, east and south; and Kenya to the southwest. Jijiga is the capital of the Somali Region.
