Battle of Omdurman from the BBC
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In the late nineteenth century, many European nations sought to conquer lands in Africa and extract its rich resources for the benefit of the European economy. Britain and Italy in particular were interested in the lands of the Horn of Africa, including modern-day Somalia. This did not sit well with Hajji Hafiz Sayyid Mohammad Abdallah al-Hasan (1856-1920), who fought for his entire life against these colonial forces. In the process of defeating the British and Italians on multiple occasions, he established the Dervish state in the region of Somalia. Mohammed Abdullah Hassan also made strategic alliances with the Ottoman and German Empires, which helped his Dervish state become the only African Muslim government to remain independent through World War I (1914-1918). It was only after Hassan’s death in 1920 that the Dervish state in Somali collapsed and the areas that it controlled were conquered by the Italians and then the British. Despite the collapse of his state, though, Mohammad Abdullah Hassan remains a symbol of resistance to colonial power and some even consider him to the “Father of Somalia.”
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