Postal and Monetary History of British Somaliland
by Marc Van Daele
Like Hadhramaut and Dhofar, Somaliland was a producer of incense for
centuries. In the seventh century, an Arab sultanate was established by
Yemenites in Zeilah. This settlement was the center of the Audel Empire of the
13th century. It was in the 13th and 14th centuries that the populations of
South Arabia immigrated to Somaliland in order to slowly drive back the gallas
who lived in the territory previously.
In the 16th century, the Audel
established itself in Harar before breaking up into several emirates and
sultanates following the pressure from the Galla populations.
In 1827
following the pillaging of a British ship off Berbera, an initial treaty was
signed with a local chief. In 1840, the British signed various agreements with
the Sultan of Tadjoura and the Emir of Zeilah in order to navigate along the
coast.
After 1867, Abd Al Qadir Pacha, the Egyptian governor of the Eastern
coast and Africa planted the Ottoman flag in Berbera. Egypt under Ottoman
sovereignty pursued political control from the African coast to the Red Sea. In
1875, Zeilah was occupied by the Egyptians who in September and October of the
same year would occupy the Emirate of Harar in Ogaden that was actually
Ethiopian. Before being deposed in June 1879 by the Ottoman Sultan in a struggle
for power, Khedive Ismail had given Sudan, the coast from the Red Sea and Harar
to Egypt. Egyptian forces would occupy Tadjura, Zeilah, Bulhar and Berbera. From
1876 to 1884, an Egyptian postal service was set up in Zeilah and Berbera. The
Madhiste revolt in Sudan brought about the evacuation of forces and Egyptian
officials from the south of the Red Sea. After 1884, the British would replace
the Egyptians and occupy Zeilah, Berbera and Bulhar. In 1887, the would pass
various protectorate treaties with several coastal tribes.
2. From Protectorate to the Italian Invasion
The British Somaliland coast was put under the control of the Resident in
Aden who himself received orders from British India. Somaliland was therefore a
colony of India. The agreements regarding the borders were concluded with France
in 1888, Italy in 1894 and Ethiopia in 1897. British Somililand was thus
surrounded by the French Somali Coast, the Abyssinian kingdom of Menelik II and
Italian Somalia.
In 1898, the administration of British Somaliland was
transferred to the British Foreign Office in London.
At the close of 1905,
it received orders from the Colonial Office.
Indian currency was used. Along
with the Maria Theresa Thaler, the Indian rupee was circulated in the region for
a long time. British Somaliland would never have its own currency and nor issue
coins or bank notes. When the Egyptian postal service was discontinued in 1884,
the British established an Indian postal service in Zeilah and Berbera which
used unaltered Indian stamps. It was not until June 1, 1903 that Indian stamps
bearing remembrance to Queen Victoria would be adapted. In 1904, Indian stamps
commemorating King Edward VII would also be adapted. The adaptation was made in
Calcutta to carry the name "British Somaliland". Stamps would be issued in this
way for a long time. The manual changes were normally fake. One must wait until
July 1905 in order to witness the protectorate's own stamps. They commemorate
King Edward VII. The protectorate issued no more than 135 postage stamps plus 15
service stamps (5 of which were ultimately not issued) before 1960.
In fact,
the territory was not one to be conquered easily.
From 1899, Sheik Mohamed
Abdulle Hassan, who the British nicknamed "The Mad Mullah", took charge of a
religious, political and military resistance movement. From 1901 to 1904, four
military expeditions would not bring about an end to Mohamed Abdulle Hassan's
resistance. The fourth expedition only succeeded in placing them provisionally
back in Italian Somalia, which did not sit well with the Italians. In 1910, the
British withdrew to the coast leaving the interior the country beyond their
control. This policy was kept until 1913. In effect, Mohamed Abdulle Hassan
again threatened the stability of the protectorate. Established in Illig along
the Italian Somalian coast at the end of 1905, he was to return to Gherrowey in
Italian Somalia, but on the border of the protectorate in July 1910, and in
Talen in the protectorate's own territory in 1913. The guerrilla movement
continued until 1920. The same year, a widescale operation was mounted by the
British with help from the air. They were also helped by a smallpox epidemic
that ravaged the protectorate. They managed to bring calm to the country without
succeeding in capturing Mohamed Abdulle Hassan who died from a flu in the first
days of 1921.
There then followed 19 years of peace, during which time the
post offices were created in Hargeisa and Burao.
On August 4, 1940, the
territory was suddenly invaded by the Italians. The held Italian East Africa
when the last British troops left Berbera on August 18, 1940. The counterattack
would come on March 16, 1941 when the English took Berbera. The territory was
quickly liberated.
3. From military administration to the establishment of a Legislative Council
British Somaliland was placed under military administration from 1941 to 1948
where its administration was once again placed under the control of the Colonial
Office in London. Indian independence posed a pressing problem for the usage of
the currency in the protectorate. The East African shilling (divided into 100
cents) was introduced and it was not until October 1951 that the Indian rupee
was discontinued as in Aden. From April 2, 1951, a series of stamps changed into
shillings and cents was issued. The transition between the two currencies was
thus very flexible and organized as in Aden.
The two currencies were for a
time use simultaneously.
The question of the border with Ethiopia had become
more complex.
In 1930, Ethiopia and Great Britain had decided to arrange the
land around the border from 1897. The work that ended could not be ratified due
to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Italy placed Ogaden in Somalia. After the
war the British would occupy Somalia until 1950. The Somali tribes were still
nomadic in Ogaden and considered the land as their own, while under Italian
sovereignty.
Haud represented the northern part of Ogaden to the border of
British Somaliland. The tribes of the protectorate had hoped not to lose this
land in order to keep power and lead their herds. The English had kept a tight
guard of this region in Ogaden. They would stay there when Somalia was placed in
Italian hands under United Nations mandate in 1950.
On November 29, 1954, an
Anglo-Ethiopian agreement gave Haud to Ethiopia which had recognized the right
of Somali tribes within the protectorate to look after the land. After the war,
the use of air travel brought the capital of the protectorate to Hargeisa.
In May 1957, a non-elected Legislative Counsel was inaugurated.
The
protectorate's budget was mostly financed from London.
The protectorate then
had a population of between 450,000 and 650,000, but this second number might be
exaggerated. Exports from the territory were limited to livestock, animal skins,
as well as gums and resins. At the end of 1959, Somaliland had only 415
telephones.
During this period, the protectorate counted 9 post and
telegraph offices namely located in Berbera, Zeilah, Burao, Hargeisa, Sheikh,
Las Anod, Borama and Erigavo.
4. From the unification of Somalia to the attempt at succession
On July 26, 1960, Somalia became independent.
It united as Somalia on
July 1 of that year.
From June 25, stamps from the protectorate were
discontinued from circulation. From June 26 to 30, Somali stamps were used.
Three stamps from Italian Somalia were changed to "Somaliland Independence 26
June 1960" (10 cent., 50 cent.aerial and 1.20 somalo aerial).
After
unification, the common currency became the Somalo or Shilling divided into 100
cents. The ex-Somaliland had become a province of Somalia. Somalia would very
quickly dispute its borders with Kenya, seek to regain French Somalia and, above
all, Ogaden under Ethiopian control. In October 1950, Major General Mohamed Siad
Barre took power in Mogadiscio and aligned with the Soviet Union to place more
pressure on pro-American Ethiopia from Negus. The 1974 Ethiopian Revolution
reversed foreign support. In July 1977, Ogaden rebelled against Ethiopian power
but in in March 1978 Somalia had to recall its troops and the Somalian defeat
would be a source of chronic instability in the country.
President Barre
stayed in power until January 1991. Following his departure, chaos had become
full-scale. On May 18, 1991, the National Somalian Movement whose forces were
based in ex-Somaliland declared independence from the Republic of Somaliland.
The secession was led by President Abdurahman Ahmed Ali and supported by the
Issak clan, the majority in ex- British Somaliland. Its flag is red, white and
green. Meanwhile, in December 1991, fighting broke out in Burao, as was the case
in the former Italian Somalia, the rule of the new interim President, Ali Madhi,
is precarious.
Bibliography
The Somaliland Protectorate - May 1960 - 18pp -COI - London.
The
Somaliland Protectorate - May 1960 -4pp - Fact Sheets -COI - London.
Somaliland - report for the years 1958 & 1959 - 1960 -78pp - HMSO -
London.
Mohamed Abdulle Hassan - 1979 - 203pp - N. Lecuyer-Samantar -
Afrique Biblio Club - Paris.
Yearbook and Guide to East Africa - Union
Castle Mail Steamship Cy Ltd:
1953: British Somaliland pp. 20, 21, 159, 160.
1950: British Somaliland pp. 20, 159, 160.
1932*: British Somaliland pp.
649, 650, 650A.
(*The South & East Africa Yearbook)
The Somalian
Peninsula - 1965 -222pp. Somalian Information Service - Paris.
June 1992
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