Zeila’s Somali governor governed with a light hand and forty mercenaries
Evidence
In 1854, Burton records that Haji Shirmarke, tall and, despite his sixty-odd years, strong and active, had not forgotten the military exploits of his youth and contemplated the conquest of Berbera and Harar. He lived modestly, however, in an indifferent mud and wattle ‘arish, and not in one of the grander double-storeyed stone houses of the town. His ‘secretary’ was a Swahili slave; and although he was himself illiterate, his eldest son Muhammad, married to an Arab woman, had been educated at Mukha and proved to be something of a scholar. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 119 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: A Somali captain rose to govern Zeila through wealth, reputation, and British favor; Zeila’s Somali governor Shirmarke lived modestly and was illiterate despite grand ambitions — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 119
Related
- Zeila’s Somali governor Shirmarke lived modestly and was illiterate despite grand ambitions (similarity 0.93)
- A Somali captain rose to govern Zeila through wealth, reputation, and British favor (similarity 0.92)
- Zeila in 1854 was a small thriving trade town with a dilapidated wall (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Zeila’s Somali governor Shirmarke lived modestly and was illiterate despite grand ambitions
#expands(0.75) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 119