page_title: History of Mogadishu
section_title: Geledi Sultanate - Omani collaboration
hierarchical_section_title: History of Mogadishu / Early Modern Period / Geledi Sultanate - Omani collaboration
caption_attribution_description: English: The walls of Mogadishu, before it being demolished by the Italians. The picture reads Mura di Mogadiscio, which translates to Walls of Mogadishu.
context_page_description: Mogadishu is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Somali Sea, the city has served as an important port for centuries.
context_section_description: By the end of the 19th century Mogadishu was under the joint control of the Somali Sultanate of the Geledi and the Omani Sultanate of Zanzibar. The Geledi Sultans were at the height of their power. They dominated the southern ivory trade, and also held sway over the Jubba and Shebelle valleys in the hinterland. The Omani Sultans' shared with the Geledi Sultans power over Banadir in a delicate equilibrium, thus when sultan Barghash ibn Sa'id sought to build the Fort of Garessa in Mogadishu in the year 1870, it had to be with the agreement and assistance of the Sultan Ahmed Yusuf of the Geledi. The Sultan of Geledi however did not dispute Zanzibari suzerainty and both were friends rather than rivals.
  In the southern part of the Banadir along Kismayu, the rule was more direct that when Darod reinforcements from the North arrived to increase the Darod trust in the interior into the south against the Galla's they did so with the authority and approval of the Sultan of Zanzibar. The Sultan of Zanzibar constructed a fort in Kismayo in 1869.
  
  The Sultan of Zanzibar later leased and then sold the infrastructure that he had built to the Italians, although not the land which is wrongfully stated by some accounts. The fort served as a residence (called Garesa) for the then Governor of Mogadishu, Suleiman bin Hamed. Eventually it was turned into The National Museum of Somalia.
  To read more about the Geledi Sulatanate visit the following:
caption: The walls of Mogadishu, before it being demolished by the Italians. The picture reads ''Mura di Mogadiscio'', which translates to ''Walls of Mogadishu''.
exif: {"Image Artist": "Mohamed Chamy", "Image ExifOffset": "2136", "Image XPAuthor": "Mohamed Chamy", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}