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The Harla, also known as Harala, were an ethnic group that once inhabited Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti. They spoke the Harla language, which belonged to either the Cushitic or Semitic branches of the Afroasiatic family.
Tradition states one of Harla's main towns was Metehara and the area between Harar and Dire Dawa is still referred to as Harla. The Harla inhabited Chercher and various other areas in the Horn of Africa, where they erected various tumulus. According to historian Richard Wilding, tales indicate Harla lived in the interior of Ogaden and by the seashores prior to Somali and Oromo people movements into these regions.
The Harla Kingdom existed as early as the sixth century; it would later be influenced by Islam sometime in the eighth century. Archaeological sites associated with the Harla reveal camel bone remains in the oldest layers, suggesting an initial foundation of the settlements by a camel-herding pastoralist population. A lowland orientation for Harlaa is further indicated by the food remains recovered at the site, which show a lack of reliance on highland staples such as injera and kisra. In the ninth century, the earliest known Muslim kingdom in the Horn of Africa, the Maḥzūmī dynasty sprang up in Harla country. The Maḥzūmī capital of Walale was in Northern Hararghe. Harla state leaders were commonly known as Garad and their religious elite carried the honorific title Kabir.
According to folklore, the Harla reportedly had a queen named Arawelo, who ruled much of the eastern parts of the Horn of Africa. In Zeila, a clan called Harla claims to be related to the ancient people. Locals in Zeila also attested that the old town of Amud was built by the Harla.
The influx of Arab immigrants such as Ābadir ʻUmar Āl-Rida into Harla territory would lead to the development of the town of Harar, known then as Gēy. Harar would become the leading center of Islam in the Horn of Africa. Archaeologist Timothy Insoll discovered stoneware in Harla town resembling that found in Harar.
According to the Harari language chronicle, Abadir led prayer as Imam and inquired about the states grim condition.
According to Ethiopian accounts, in the 14th century, the Harla led by their Imam Salih allied with the Ifat Sultanate and battled the forces of emperor Amda Seyon I in what is now Somalia. In the 15th century, Emperor Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia sold several Abba Estifanos of Gwendagwende supporters to Harla slave traders of Adal as punishment for joining the Stephanite sect labelled heretic by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. A power struggle had developed in the early 16th century between Harla/Karla emirs of Harar and Walashma dynasty in which Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi would assume power by executing the Walashma Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad.
According to Adal writer Arab Faqīh, in the middle of the 16th century, the Adal Sultanate led by Harla and their Somalis allies invaded Abyssinia. Harla were part of Adal's elite military unit called the Malassay. The Ethiopian–Adal War was in response to the death of Harla leader of Adal, Imam Mahfuz, killed in single combat, by the warrior-monk Gebre Andrias in the early reign of Emperor Dawit II. According to Chekroun, during the war the Harla clans were organized in a manner similar to the Somali clans. In the wars against Emperor Sarsa Dengel, the Harla were led by the Sultan Muhammad ibn Nasir.
The late sixteenth century saw the Oromo people penetrate portions of Ethiopia and Somalia, expansively invading upward from the Jubba River eventually incorporating Harla territory. The Harla would move the Adal capital to the oasis of Asaita in 1577, and later establish the Imamate of Aussa before being overthrown by the Afar dynasty of Mudaito dynasty in the eighteenth century. In 1893 British led expeditions, came across an ancient town in Nugaal Valley, Somalia, the local Dhulbahante clan alleged the Harla had lived in the area before the Oromo invasions. In 2017, a Harla town that produced jewelry was discovered by archaeologists. The architecture of a mosque found affirmed Harla had ties with Islamic centers in Tanzania and Somalia. The Harla tribe's disappearance could have been due to the Ethiopian–Adal War in the sixteenth century, destitution, or assimilation.
Strong evidence suggests that during the Oromo migrations, the remaining Harla retreated behind the walls of Harar and were able to survive culturally. Local folklore from the Harla village near Dire Dawa, however, claim the Harla were farmers from the Ogaden and went extinct because of their arrogance, refusing to fast in Ramadan, and attempts to have the Quran written in Harla, hence were cursed by God. (2025). 9782821882652, Centre français des études éthiopiennes.
According to the Gadabursi clan, the Harla committed major sins through excessive pride. According to another local tradition from the Harar region, the Harla were decimated by a combination of famine and plague. Enrico Cerulli and others state Harla were a distinct group originating from the Harari region; however, due to the collapse of Adal, they were assimilated by Somalis as well as Afars. According to Pavel Červíček and Ulrich Braukämper, local tradition from the Harar region indicates that the Harla had already met their demise prior to the Oromo incursions into the area.
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The Silte people are also believed to be the descendants of the Harla people. Harari, Silte and Zay are the only people who speak a language that is related to Harla.
The Hadiya people, associated with the Hadiya Sultanate, have been connected with the Harla people in some sources, but this remains unsubstantiated.
Many Somali clans mention they are of Harla descent. Most particularly the Issa subclan of the Dir. Within the Issa, the Harla are found within 2 clan divisions. The first being the Horroone clan division, where they are called Harla, and they are also found within the Eeleye clan division as Bah Harla and Harla Muse. Nonetheless, the Harla segments amongst Issa retain a geneaology tracing them not to Issa or Dir but to Koombe Darood. The Issa traditions regarding the induction of the Harla groups revolve around saint Aw Barkhadle and the Wardiq sub clan.
Sihab ad-Din Ahmad bin Abd al-Qader's Futūh al-Habaša describes a distinct ethnic origin of the Harla, and according to Ulrich Braukämper; there is not enough evidence to suggest that they were of Somali descent. Although modern traditions connect Harla to Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti and the Darod, forefathers of the Ogaden clan. The Darod sub clan Harti and Geri Koombe are furthermore according to tradition, the brothers of Harla. In the modern era, the Harla people have been reduced to insignificance under the Somali Darod clan. According to historian Ali Jimale Ahmed, the surviving remnants of the Harla dwelling in the Harar region were absorbed by Darod Somalis after the sixteenth century.
According to some sources, the Karrayyu and Ittu clans are regarded as Oromos with Harla descent.Bernhardt Lindahl, Kaa Iyesus, p. 17, https://nai.uu.se/download/18.39fca04516faedec8b249038/1580830940347/ORTKAA.pdf. Ittu had occupied the Chercher region from the Harari people and perhaps also Harla. It is believed the extinct Harla were incorporated into Karrayyu and Ittu in eastern Shewa as well as west Hararghe.
The Afar people also have tribes linked to Harla descent called Kabirtu. The Kabirtu Afar, descended from the Harla, maintain a Somali genealogy linking them to the Kablallah Kombe Darod.IslHornAfr 6th Field Mission Report. 2017. University of Copenhagen Faculty of Humanities, Copenhagen, p. 24. In the seventeenth century the Harla of Afar Region were assimilated by Afar people following the collapse of Adal Sultanate. In Afar region, clans named after Harla are still found among farmers in Asaita, and Awash district between Dubti and Afambo. The moniker of clans proposes a fusion between native and immigrating tribes. (2025). 9782821882652, French center for Ethiopian studies.
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Nicholas Tait proposes Harla language was indistinguishable with Argobba language and Harari linguistic classifications. Ewald Wagner believes Harla were Semitic speakers related to Harari and Silte languages.
Field research by Enrico Cerulli identified a modern group called the "Harla" living amongst the Somali in the region between the cities of Harar and Jijiga. Encyclopaedia Aethiopica suggests that this population "may be a remnant group of the old Harla, that integrated into the Somali genealogical system, but kept a partially separate identity by developing a language of their own." Cerulli published some data on this Harla community's language, called af Harlaad, which resembled the Somali languages spoken by the Yibir and Madhiban low-caste groups. According to Barbara Wenger, the dialect's core vocabulary is Somali, and as Swadesh notes, core vocabulary is rarely borrowed from a foreign language.Swadesh, Morris. 1952. "Lexico-Statistical Dating of Prehistoric Ethnic Contacts." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 96: 452–463.
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