Borama
| Borama Boorama بوراما |
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|---|---|
| — City — | |
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 Borama
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| Coordinates: 9°55′59″N 43°10′54″E / 9.93306°N 43.18167°E | |
| Country |  Somalia |
| Region | Awdal |
| District | Borama |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Suleiman Hassan Hadi |
| Population | |
| • Total | 200,000 |
| Time zone | EAT (UTC+3) |
Borama (Somali: Boorama, Arabic: بوراما), also known as Borame, is the capital of the northwestern Awdal region of Somalia. The commercial seat of the province, it is situated near the border with Djibouti and Ethiopia.
During the Middle Ages, Borama was ruled by the Adal Sultanate. It later formed a part of the British Somaliland protectorate in the first half of the 20th century.
The city has between 180,000 and 215,000 residents.[1] It has been a leading example in community organizing, having been the first area in northwestern Somalia to adopt a self-help scheme in the wake of the civil war.[2]
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History [edit]
As with several nearby towns such as Amud, numerous archaeological finds have been discovered in the Borama area that point to an eventful past. The latter include ancient remains of tombs, houses and mosques, in addition to sherds of Oriental wares, particularly Chinese porcelain. The artefacts and structures date from various historical periods, ranging from the 12th through to the 18th centuries. Most, however, are from the 15th and 16th centuries, a time of great commercial activity in the region that is associated with the medieval Adal Sultanate.[3]
Excavations in the late 1800s and early 1900s at over fourteen sites in the vicinity of Borama unearthed, among other things, coins identified as having been derived from Kait Bey, the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. Most of these finds were sent to the British Museum for preservation shortly after their discovery.[4]
In the first half of the 20th century, Borama formed a part of the British Somaliland protectorate. It was later given district status in 1925.
In 1933, Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur, a Qur'anic teacher and son of Borama's qadi (judge), devised a new orthography for transcribing the Afro-Asiatic Somali language. A quite accurate phonetic writing system, this Borama script was principally used by Nuur and his circle of associates in the city.[5][6] The alphabet is also generally known as the Gadabuursi script.[7]
During the onset of World War II, the town was captured by the Italians. It was re-captured by the British the following year, in 1940.
In the post-independence period, Borama was administered as part of the official Awdal administrative region of Somalia. Since the 2000s, control of the town has been disputed between Awdalland, a proposed autonomous state, and Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia.
Demographics [edit]
According to local government figures, Borama has a population of 38 075 to 40000 inhabitants.[1] The Awdal region in which the city is situated is primarily inhabited by people from the Somali ethnic group, with the Gadabuursi especially well-represented.[8][9]
Education [edit]
Borama is the capital of the Awdal province. The town counts nine secondary schools, seven of them newly built: Aayatiin Secondary School, Waaberi Secondary School, Al Qalam Secondary School, Al Aqsa Secondary School, Ubaya-Ibnuka'ab Secondary School, Al Nuur Secondary School and Aadam Isaak Secondary School. The other two secondary schools in the town are the famous Sh. Ali Jowhar Secondary and Hassan Ardale Secondary School.
Amoud University is also situated in the city. It is the first post-civil war institution of higher learning in Somalia. Other local tertiary academies include EELO American University and SAW Community College.
Additionally, Borama is home to the first school for deaf children in Somalia. Borama Deaf School trains and provides educational services for hearing impaired children that extends to high school. Since the school is the first and only one of its kind, it has attracted a great number of deaf pupils from across the region and even beyond.
Geography [edit]
Borama is a mountainous and hilly city. It has green meadows and fields, and represents a key focal point for wildlife. The town's unusual fertility and greenery in largely arid Somalia has attracted many animals, such as gazelles, birds, and camels.
Climate [edit]
| Climate data for Borama | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 26.5 (79.7) |
28.5 (83.3) |
30.7 (87.3) |
28.5 (83.3) |
27.3 (81.1) |
27.0 (80.6) |
26.0 (78.8) |
26.1 (79) |
27.2 (81) |
26.5 (79.7) |
26.5 (79.7) |
26.5 (79.7) |
27.27 (81.1) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 14.5 (58.1) |
16.2 (61.2) |
17.8 (64) |
16.5 (61.7) |
15.9 (60.6) |
14.8 (58.6) |
13.0 (55.4) |
13.4 (56.1) |
14.8 (58.6) |
14.1 (57.4) |
14.3 (57.7) |
14.5 (58.1) |
14.98 (58.96) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 4 (0.16) |
21 (0.83) |
44 (1.73) |
104 (4.09) |
57 (2.24) |
27 (1.06) |
67 (2.64) |
107 (4.21) |
80 (3.15) |
19 (0.75) |
9 (0.35) |
4 (0.16) |
543 (21.37) |
| Source: Levoyageur Weather[10] | |||||||||||||
Air service [edit]
Borama International Airport is the only airport in the Awdal region. It bears the name of Somalia's first Minister of Education, Aden Isaaq.
Airlines: Djibouti Airlines and Daallo Airlines
Destinations: Hargeisa, Bosaso, Burao, Galkacyo, Mogadishu, Djibouti, Addis Ababa, Dubai, Jeddah
Sister cities [edit]
| Country | City |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom |
 Henley-on-Thames |
Notes [edit]
- ^ a b "Borama City profile". Association of Local Government Authorities of Somaliland. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
- ^ Borama Local Council, p.10.
- ^ Bernard Samuel Myers, ed., Encyclopedia of World Art, Volume 13, (McGraw-Hill: 1959), p.xcii.
- ^ Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), The Geographical Journal, Volume 87, (Royal Geographical Society: 1936), p.301.
- ^ David D. Laitin, Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience, (University Of Chicago Press: 1977), pp.86-87.
- ^ I.M. Lewis (1958), The Gadabuursi Somali Script, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 21, pp. 134–156.
- ^ Somali alphabets, pronunciation and language
- ^ Samatar, Abdi I. (2001) "Somali Reconstruction and Local Initiative: Amoud University," Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies: Vol. 1, Article 9, p. 132.
- ^ Battera, Federico (2005). "Chapter 9: The Collapse of the State and the Resurgence of Customary Law in Northern Somalia". Shattering Tradition: Custom, Law and the Individual in the Muslim Mediterranean. Walter Dostal, Wolfgang Kraus (ed.). London: I.B. Taurus. p. 296. ISBN 1-85043-634-7. Retrieved 2010-03-18. "Awdal is mainly inhabited by the Gadabuursi confederation of clans. The Gadaabursi are concentrated in Awdal...."
- ^ "Levoyageur Weather : Somalia". Retrieved 11 July 2012.
References [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Borama |
- The Statistical Abstract of Borama Municipality: Borama, Regional Capital of Awdal. Borama Local Council. 2003.
