According to localcollegeexplorer, the importance of British Somalia is political rather than economic. Great Britain, especially through its officials and officers of India, signed treaties with the Somali leaders of the Gulf of Aden from the beginning of the century. XIX, but he did not settle in Zeila, Berbera and Bulhar until 1884, when these ports were abandoned by the Egyptians, after the defeats of the war with the Mahdi in Sudan. In 1888 the work of influence with respect to the finite French possession was delimited; in 1894 with respect to Italian Somalia (which was followed by a precise confinement in 1929-30), and in 1897 a similar agreement was established with the Ethiopian Empire, with respect to which the delimitation of the border was in progress in 1934, when the accident broke out by Ual Ual, which gave rise to the Italo-Ethiopian tension which later resulted in the war. Administratively, British Somalia passed in 1898 from the dependencies of Aden to those of the Foreign Office, then in 1905 the Colonial Office. In 1899 a movement of rebellion began, led by Mohammed ben Abdulla, of the Bah Gheri (Ogadēn) tribe, whom the British called the Mad Mullah (Mad Mullah) for his insane ferocity.

This excited the fanaticism of the natives, especially Dulbahanta, proclaimed himself Mahdi and occupied Burao, which was reconquered by Colonel Swayne only the following year, while the Mullah took refuge in Italian territory, among the Migiurtini. Back around Burao, in 1902 he was again driven back by Colonel Swayne and pursued, with the permission of Italy, into the territory of Mudug; but there was no lack of adverse events for the English, who suffered serious losses at Erigo, and had to retire. In 1903, by agreement with Italy, the British took Obbia as their base of operations, from where General Manning marched to occupy Galadi and Bohotle, while a corps of Abyssinian troops operated in the SW.; but English units were repeatedly overwhelmed around Gumburu, and eventually the Mullah with the most daring maneuver, slipping between those two centers held by the English troops, he passed to N. in the Nogal valley, where he occupied the village of Ilig. In the new campaign (1903-04), under the command of General Egerton, the armies of the Mullah were severely tried and beaten in Gidbali; and for some time the English naval forces kept Ilig occupied. To avoid the damage and dangers of these campaigns fought between the Mullists and the English in Italian territory, the Italian government, which had granted the English the greatest facilities, offered its mediation; and the negotiations with the Mullah, concluded in 1905 in Ilig, led to an agreement (see Italian Somalia), whereby the Mullah obtained an area of ​​Italian territory (Territorio del Nogal) and promised to refrain from further disturbing the peace. This lasted in fact three years; but in 1909, as the Mullist raids in the hinterland resumed, it was decided to withdraw the English administration to the centers of the coast. This led to very serious disorders of the tribes, who used the weapons given to them against each other to defend themselves against the Mullah: it is estimated that no less than 1/3 of adult males perished in these fratricidal struggles. Meanwhile the Mullah moved inland, first to Gorrahei, then to Bohotle, finally (1913) to Taleh. In 1913 hostilities were resumed, and the English under Corfield’s orders were bitterly beaten at Dul Medove in the middle Nogal. it is estimated that no less than 1/3 of adult males perished in these fratricidal fights. Meanwhile the Mullah moved inland, first to Gorrahei, then to Bohotle, finally (1913) to Taleh. In 1913 hostilities were resumed, and the English under Corfield’s orders were bitterly beaten at Dul Medove in the middle Nogal. it is estimated that no less than 1/3 of adult males perished in these fratricidal fights. Meanwhile the Mullah moved inland, first to Gorrahei, then to Bohotle, finally (1913) to Taleh. In 1913 hostilities were resumed, and the English under Corfield’s orders were bitterly beaten at Dul Medove in the middle Nogal.

In March 1914 a small group of dervish knights (as they were called) descended from the plateau through the pass of Meraya and up to the gates of Berbera, returning soon to their base of Shimber Berris without being able to damage the city, but destroying the villages they crossed. and slaughtering its residents. This episode, which some supposed simulated, to force the hand of the London government, induced the new Commissioner Archer to begin the reorganization of the military forces, and after various events the forts of Shimber Berris were conquered. During the World War the Mullah was in contact with the negus Ligg Iasu, who, stirred up by Turkish and German advisers, intended to place himself at the head of a great Muslim dominion, and in all those years the struggles between the English and the dervishes continued, occasionally, until these in 1916 came to take by surprise a part of the city of Lasgorè, which was soon liberated from the siege by an English ship arrived from Aden. Then the dervishes fortified themselves at Boran on the Carcar. Finally, after various actions, among which especially noteworthy those of the Endow pass (1917) and the Ok pass (1919), in 1920, with the help of the aviation and the navy, a short campaign that culminated in the bombing of Taleh, allowed the English to free themselves from the Mullah, who fled with a few trusted first to Gorrahei in the Ogadēn, then in the middle Scebeli to Imi, where he died of flu on November 23, 1920, the movement that he had captained. For the Italian action against the Mullah, see Italian Somalia: History above.