T O P
BOQOR

Sub Saharan Africa is too big. Going by sub-region: 1. Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea 2. Sahel (Somalis are culturally closer to some countries in this region than we are to the Xabasha) 3. MENA 4. East Africa 5. West Africa 6. Southern Africa


EagleSimilar2352

We only share Islam with Sahel countries. Every cultural similarity you may find in Senegal or Mali is because of religion. I'd feel more connection with Muslim Habeshas like Hararis or muslim Eritreans than people from the Sahel. If we are talking about countries/areas my list is 1) Gibuti 2) Ethiopia 3) Kenya/Eritrea 4) Yemen 5) Sudan 7) East Africa (Tanzania for example) 8) the rest of the Middle east and North Africa


[deleted]

[удалено]


inamukhtar

Climate, lifestyle(lots of herders who live by old cities on the niger) political history, food etc... Considering all that I'd feel more 'related' to a Fula or a Tuareg than I would an Orthodox Christian from a feudal society situated in cold mountains. I know this is a crazy concept to chronically online somalis, but 'genes' are much less relevant to culture than social proximity is. One can imagine a premodern Somali making his way all the way to Marrakech before one can imagine a premodern Somali making his way to Gondar or Mekelle. In fact, even modern migration patterns reflect this historical trend. We don't tend to go to their part of the world and they didn't tend to come to ours before Menelik and the era of colonialism. There is very much a thing called the 'muslim world' and we are very much a part of it. Highland Ethiopia is not. This is not unlike the difference between Western vs non Western.


agg_aphrophilus

Excellent comment. People also seem to forget that Zaylac, after the collapse of the Adal sultanate, was primarily a vassal state of the Ottoman empire. This in addition to historical trade with the Gulf of Aden (what is now Yemen and Oman) meant that the premodern Somali had a connection to Istanbul, Damascus, Tripoli, Cairo and Sana'. And from Cairo and Tripoli the adventurous Somali would hop on the trans-Saharan trading routes heading towards Timbuktu/Songhai and the Mali empire. Of course in the south, the Ajuuran maintained trade relations with the Kilwa sultanate and later the coastal Omani empire that stretched all the way from the strait of Hormuz to the border of Portuguese Mozambique. In fact, even if we set aside Islam here (which we can't since the one unifying factor in this straight line from the Niger river to Zanzibar via Tripoli, Zaylac and Mogadishu was in fact Islam), considering that the kingdoms of Central Africa around the great lakes were smaller, isolated and mostly interacted with eachother - how would the premodern Somali associate with them? The historical revisionism among some online Somalis, attempting to flee Arab association, is quite bewildering walaahi. And the irony is, the Arab culture they are fleeing is itself an amalgamation of Bedouin, Turkish and Persian culture. We should appreciate the complexity of our histories and our cultural interconnectedness. It is, after all, what makes us unique and interesting.


inamukhtar

💯 Unfortunately, many Somalis base their sense of identity around 23andme tests, random unsourced articles on Wikipedia, and a very shoddy/self-sabotaging understanding of Pan-africanism.


BOQOR

Modes of production create much if not most of culture. Somalis are largely nomads while the Xabasha are settled farmers. This is a huge difference in modes of production. It is why Ethiopian culture often feels alien. The Sahel contains many nomadic cultures, some of them camel nomads. This automatically makes those people culturally closer than the Xabasha.


EagleSimilar2352

According to this logic we should also feel close to Arab bedouins who are also nomad Muslims and have a clan structure that is similar to ours while people of the Sahel (may god bless them for this) are less tribalistic if I'm not mistaken. Mode of production is just one particular thing. I don't think Habesha culture is alien go us because even though it's different we had lot's of exposure to it because we are neighbors


MostafaAlSomali

Exluding Djibouti i think the most similar countries in terms of geography, climate, culture and people is sudan followed by Eritrea and then ethiopia then east africa and north africa, next west africa, next Middle east, than south africa in that order.


[deleted]

[удалено]


MostafaAlSomali

>Sudanese culture is indistinguishable from Egyptian/Arab culture Wallahi go say that on the r/sudan sub or to any sudani person they'll that you're retarded.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Kooky-Statistician92

>deeply intertwined Egyptian and Sudanese are Yup basically since day one


inamukhtar

So it's safe to assume you speak Arabic and have lived or stayed around enough Sudanese/Egyptians to have a 'basic cultural understanding' of them? Is there anywhere I can read your anthropological publications? Because, surely they exist.


inamukhtar

Go stick the 'horn' up your ass. I ain't got shit in common with a xabashi that I wouldn't with a Tuareg


Lazy-Dependent6316

Meh difficult to say because of how big sub Saharan africa is. I mean realistically wtf do we have in common with someone from Guinea Bissau? If I had to rank it, it would be: 1) Horn countries (Not including Ethiopia) 2) MENA ppl (Not including UAE) 3) Sub Saharan Africa ( Not Including Kenya) Plus not including religion is difficult because it is a massive factor


takeda_cav

As a curious Ethiopian, what do you guys have in common with Eritrea that you don't with Ethiopia?


Xidig6

Lol we have equally common things with Ethiopia And Eritrea culture wise. Politics wise, we’re more friendly with Eritrea. I think this person is excluding politically unfriendly countries (hence UAE, Ethiopia, and Kenya being removed)


takeda_cav

Yeah Haha, I figured from the other comments.


inamukhtar

Modern political history mostly. But, places like Massawa and Assab were part of a 'circuit' that some Somalis would've travelled. Wouldn't be unreasonable to find a few premodern Somalis there(especially those based in coastal areas) , but there's no way in hell any Somali in older eras would've ever even known about wollega or gojjam let alone been there.


takeda_cav

Yeah I see your point, thank you!


EagleSimilar2352

There was also an Eritrean community in Somalia because of colonialism. There are quite a few half Somali half Eritreans out there


inthetrenches0

This poll result is kinda crazy. I guess if SSA includes Eritrea/Ethiopia/Sudan sure. But we have almost nothing in common with Nigerians/Congolese/South Africans other than skin color.


AtmosphereKitchen279

But we don’t have any cultural commonality we have overlapping history as enemy


tikitikitenbo

i guess it would included eritrea and ethiopia minus galbeed, sudan is mena though


inamukhtar

Lol at 'religion aside'. No big deal, it's only shaped our culture and sense of self for centuries Also, if you'd worded it as 'muslim world' or 'non-muslim' Africa the question would've been a no brainier for me. But 'subsaharan' is a nebulous term that incorporates too many people who are very different


SomeAli

MENA easy. We have little in common with those outside the horn. We also wouldve controlled a much larger area if Euros didnt show up.


stillloveyatho

>We have little in common with those outside the horn. Yes and horn is SSA lol


tikitikitenbo

i’m assuming they mean non somali parts of the horn, outside that the horn isn’t really similar to us


stillloveyatho

>outside that the horn isn’t really similar to us You think that other cushites are further away from you than the people on the other side of the sea?


SomeAli

MENA are also Muslims, have traded with us for 1000s of years, etc but what I will say is I will only trust Somalis. Our ancestors were right to be suspicious of ajanabi. Neither group have really helped us.


stillloveyatho

>MENA are also Muslims, have traded with us for 1000s of years So are horn of Africans, Afars and Hararis are also 99% muslim, as well as half the Oromo population (in fact we spread Islam to them). And you talk about trade but do you really think that a few ships coming and going in a few towns is any way near as important as the people we shared and routinly fought over grazing territory lol? Simply put they were our neighbors, MENA wasn't.


SomeAli

The Afars backed gaalo France instead of Somalis and have worked with habesha to kill Somalis even now, Oromos appeared a few hundred years ago and have been killing and stealing Somali lands, Habesha are our nemises, Hararis are Somalis or are mixed with Somalis, what else? Few ships? Lol


EagleSimilar2352

I think you are confusing having friendly relations with being culturally similar. Ukrainians and Russians are definitely culturally and ethnically similar but they can't stand each other. Serbians, bosnians, Croatians etc are pretty much the same people with different religions but they have issues among themselves. The fact there was conflict between us and the Afars or Oromos doesn't mean we aren't similar. If you meet an Afar or an Oromo from hararghe you would get Somali vibes immediately.


stillloveyatho

>The Afars backed gaalo France instead of Somalis Yemen supported the USSR and Mengistu in 1977 and fought a war against us. But all that bullshit has nothing to do with cultural or linguistic proximity. We're not discussing politics here. But historical and cultural closeness >Hararis are Somalis or are mixed with Somalis, what else? No they're not lmao >Few ships? Lol Yeah, do you really think that thousands of ships used to come to Zeila esch year 1000 years ago lol? Trust me, trade and travel was limited back then


inamukhtar

I agree with the Afar and Harari bit but definitely not Oromos. I don't think you understand the scope of people that name includes. Many of them aren't any 'closer' than xabashis are. Also, most Oromos converted relatively recently and they don't generally see their land as part of Dar Al Islam Also, volume of trade may be less important than significance attached to it. Sorts of Somalis who had contacts overseas tended to be 'big men'(scholars or traders) who shaped our cultural ideologies today. Most of the interactions you speak of, especially Afar, would've been hyper-localized. Sure, some subclans of cisse brushed up against them but news of a few stock herders in sitti and their feuds with cafar wasn't likely spreading past their immediate locales.


AtmosphereKitchen279

Come on now we have been fighting afars and oromos for centuries we have never had close ties with them


stillloveyatho

We've been fighting them BECAUSE we were close. Somali clans, Oromos and Afars were neighbors. Meaning that they founght and lived together. You can see it in how close our languages are. We never had such a relationship with Arabs because they were on the other side of the red sea. Geographic proximity is the number 1 factor to consider here


BOQOR

Not close, at least not genetically. The distance between Somalis and Afars/Oromos is roughly equal to the distance between Portuguese and Russians.


[deleted]

[удалено]


AtmosphereKitchen279

We have never lived together we fought against each other.


stillloveyatho

Except we literally did? Hell even when we fought, usually the losing side usued to get their women taken by the winner and got married off among. BUT the resulting children were always considered equal to the rest of the population lol


SomeAli

This must be a troll. Somalis have traded with Arabs, NA, Iranians, Indians, Chinese, even Euros more than SSA including East Africans.


inamukhtar

Yes, I think I feel more cultural affinity to desert bedouins than I would to a Sidama who lives in tropical mountains and eats tree bark. The problem is lots of you have a very strange conception of 'cultural familiarity'


Hareeri

If we exclude Islam & the Greater Somalia Territories(including 🇩🇯) we share absolutely nothing with SSA nor MENA. However, I would rank MENA higher than SSA because they(some SSA nations)were historically and are more of close threat to us. Anybody who believes the “cushitic family unity” outside of our current & future political interests are delusional & historically uneducated.


Somali_empowerment4

It’s literally hard to tell an oromo or afar or somalk apart from outsiders, our languages are similar and we even have similar cultures. U have nothing in common with ayrabs except islam


AlSaul

The sad truth is MENA, not sad to me but the rest of the world. Apart from bits and pieces of similarities with Oromo/Amhara, we have 0 relations and similarities with the rest of Africa, infact we should be angry at many African countries for what theyve done/doing. We may not look like MENA, but we should be closer rather than looking like SSA who have wronged us


noob-phile

Somalis have a shame based culture, most other African nations have fear based cultures. Which makes somali culture far more Asian than African


[deleted]

[удалено]


noob-phile

Am not lying I lived in Africa long enough to see the differences


[deleted]

[удалено]


noob-phile

Who ever made that is amateur to say the least. It would mean Africans and Asians having similar cultures which is obviously not true. Second you can see it in things like attitudes towards sex. And children born out of wedlock. Other Africans are not bothered by it and aa such also have high rates of aids while somalia seems to have very low rates of aids especially historically speaking. You must not know Africans or somali if you think we are anything alike


Free-mind99

Since 1974 We’ve been a respected member of the Arab league even as a failed state. In contrast the African Union worked to divide the Somali people by giving legitimacy to Somaliland as its own state and sent their Amison troops to the capitol of Somalia for the interests of western hegemony. There’s No doubt in my mind who I feel closer too and it’s the people that see me as their “Arab” brother while technically not being Arab.


[deleted]

Arabs do not see you as there “Arab brother” what are you on lmao.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Free-mind99

A tiktocker asked random Arabs are Somalis arab?. All of them said yes how’s is that possible?


goshaaa77

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂


[deleted]

Getting your info from TikTok is wild.


[deleted]

What bs? That Arabs don’t see you as “brothers”? Keep dreaming.


Xidig6

In real life, Arabs have shown me nothing but respect and love when they find out I’m Somali. Same thing can be said about other Horn Africans, we get along very well in reality… just not politically (excluding Djibouti and Eritrea who we are allies with)


[deleted]

Of course they would you show respect in your face but without you there most Arabs don’t respect or like Somalis or in general black people. See what happens whenever you try to marry on of there daughters etc.


Xidig6

The thing is, we don’t want to marry them either. We Somalis prefer our own. Arabs have every right to marry within their ethnic groups just like we do, that doesn’t make them racist. We get along as friends and that’s it. My parents told my brothers and sisters to never bring an Arab man/woman home to marry, only Somali.


[deleted]

I never said we did. Also there’s a difference between wanting to marry within ethnic groups and forbidding your child to marry someone because of there race and the stereotypes that you think they carry. Ones a preference and the other is racism.


Super_War_432

Inferioty complex assuming what people think ab you without knowing🤦🏿‍♂️ why would i want to marry a arab girl? n why would i give my daughter to an arab man? am i racist now lol


[deleted]

Nigga who’s talking to you? I don’t care what you think lmao. Only people with a inferior complex are the ones who think that Arabs likening you is somehow good.


Super_War_432

Typically no manners you made a statement saying 100+ millions off a group looks down on you if that aint a inferioty complex what is. This the diff betwen normal humans n your kins we dont care ab what others think behind closed doors grow some balls n stop crying for validation.


[deleted]

Again who’s talking to you? A inferiority complex would be me sucking up to Arabs and saying I hate being Somali. That’s not what I said. Learn how to read and stop being illiterate. I don’t care about validation unlike you who keeps defending people who don’t know you. Dickriding them isn’t going to help you. “Grow some balls” learn to write and read before talking.


Super_War_432

No a inferioty complex is by assuming how other people view you, a self hater sucks up to others group for validation. Im not defendin no group im just tryna help you out so maybe u can grow up n be confident.


[deleted]

??? Bro do you know how to read. Your second sentence is word for word what I said. Inferiority complex for starters not inferiory, is when someone hates themselves race,ethnicity etc and wants to or looks up to other groups of people. Not assuming how others view you. Your defending Arabs, grow up? Bro I’m not 12. And your a random person on the internet.


goshaaa77

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂


[deleted]

This poll has been done for horn Africans too many times, yet the answer has been the same for each poll. We have things in common with Middle Easterners. It’s wrong to say that we don’t have any similarities with them do to thousands of years of trade between the horn and other Indian Ocean polities. Yet is alot that we don’t have in common with them. We’re similar but we’re our own thing. I have more in common with an Afar, Oromo, and Muslim Habeshas then I do with a Muslim from MENA. The other thing is that sub Saharan Africa is a broad and poor term. It automatically makes the assumption that the divide between the north and the south and means that everyone south of the Sahara desert is the same. Sub Saharan Africans don’t have a lot in common with one another. The difference between different groups is the same difference between someone from east Asia vs someone from west Asia ( Middle East) or Siberia vs South Asia. Africa is too diverse for a binary distinction. To answer your question it’s Sub Saharan Africa. The people we have most in common with are from the Horn which is in Sub Saharan Africa.


fai4636

Yea I have more of a problem with Subharan Africa lol. It’s a term than completely generalizes the most ethnically and genetically diverse part of the world. I‘ve got a lot more in common w some one from Arabia than I do with someone from the DRC, Nigeria, or Benin. Whereas I’ve got a lot in common with other peoples in the horn than I do with someone from Saudi or Egypt Doesn’t mean I can’t find commonalities with someone from those countries in west and South Africa, just that historically we’ve damn near had nowhere near as much contact as we’ve had with the Middle East and Asia


tikitikitenbo

what do you really have in common with horners that aren’t somali? i look at habesha and oromo culture and it seems pretty alien to ours tbh


Patient-Ad6073

Somalia's biggest enemies historically are other sub saharan Africans. We have more in common culturally with Middle eastern people.


Free-mind99

These people are clueless Somali territory has been taken by our so called African brothers with the help of the British and America


Patient-Ad6073

They are all brainwashed. They would gladly support the eradication of their own people to fit in with the woke agenda.


Free-mind99

And even dumber they think we have something against sub Saharan Africa when it’s the opposite they need to give our lands back and send their atmis troops back home


Cryptic-Z

How are we more culturally closer to Middle Eastern people than other Horn Africans?


Patient-Ad6073

Our culture is shaped by our religion which we share. We also don't eat raw meat or do any of the weird stuff other Africans do.


Cryptic-Z

We also share our religion with other SSA. Is religion the only thing that you’re basing your closeness to MENA? If so, then you’re biased


Somali_empowerment4

Just remember if we weren’t stubborn powerful and arrogant ppl we would’ve been enslaved by arabs and colonised badly by the whites


[deleted]

[удалено]


Somali_empowerment4

So they examined peoples faces to see their bone structure and were like “nah this ones caucasian”? Ur really funny 🤣🤣


[deleted]

[удалено]


Somali_empowerment4

I dont claim pan africa nor do i claim pan arab because we don’t in any of those


[deleted]

[удалено]


Somali_empowerment4

We relate to horn of africans only and maybe a little bit with sudan no one else. If u love arabs alot go marry an arab woman and move to arabia. What do we share with arabs except religion? Let me tell u the truth arabs, africans will never claim to be related to u but u fight so hard to lick their shoes it shows ur inferiority complex and how u can’t accept the bitter truth 🤷🏾‍♂️


[deleted]

[удалено]


Somali_empowerment4

I dont see a point in this discussion it’s stupid


[deleted]

[удалено]


Somali_empowerment4

Which gaalos? Oromo are 50% muslim afar are 100% Muslim while arabs are 30% muslim. Arabs that feel superiority to me and deport my somali people from their countries and fund terrorist groups in my country are not my people shame on u


Patient-Ad6073

This is just dumb. Slavery affected people of all races, it just so happened that Bantus were the easiest to capture due to their low iq.


TheMightyNomad

The four people who chose the first option are greatly lying to themselves.


stillloveyatho

Lol what? The closest people to Somalis are easily other people's of the horn. Whether it be linguistically, culturally, historically or even phenotypically. It's insane that you think you are closer to arabs than them. Hell we fucking share folklore tales grandmas tell children lol


goshaaa77

Somali guys despise African people for some strange reason, they always try to distance themselves away from other Africans.


TheMightyNomad

I despise Africans because I feel Somalis have more in common with Arabs? Bold of you to assume that.


lebron181

It's sad seeing this many Arab bootyclappers


Somali_empowerment4

Somalis have more in common with other horners. We have similar culture, similar phenotype, similar folklore what do we have in common with arabs apart from islam and nomadism?


[deleted]

[удалено]


Neat_Television853

The sarcasm 😂🙌🏽


Warya10

We are more similar to MENA in terms of religion, language, culture, etc, we have also been trading with them for thousands of years. People who say we are more similar to SSA are simply uninformed.


stillloveyatho

Dumb poll, even dumber answers 💀


Cryptic-Z

I don’t know how MENA has that many votes lmao


Warbreaker01

Lmao


[deleted]

Religion is more important than color


Somali_empowerment4

Whats ur point?


lebron181

I feel ashamed how much Arab jaceels are in this thread.


abdalahaaa

Can we say sub-sub mena sahran African?


Cryptic-Z

Sub Saharan Africans easily, especially the other ethnicities in the Horn


goshaaa77

Of course my fellow sub Saharan Africans I feel very close to them, what do I have in common with any MENA person ?


prince_of_bari

Religion and cultural norms.


goshaaa77

OP says religion as side then I have nothing in common with them. We have more in common with our fellow black brothers and sisters


prince_of_bari

What are those things you are in common with? Carab naceyb killing our ppl


[deleted]

[удалено]


prince_of_bari

I don’t hate Africans but anybody saying we have more in common with sub-saharan Africans is just straight foolishness. Everything when it comes to norms and societal values, Somalis align more with their Muslim brothers/sisters of MENA.


Somali_empowerment4

Our ppl love ayrabs too much tf are u talking bout 💀


Somalias-Very-Own

Those black “brothers and sisters” would turn on you soooo quick and they’ve proven to do that already. They don’t see you as a “brother” they see you as an enemy and will use you for their own benefit and won’t do a thing for you


goshaaa77

How much MENA people are racist towards africans you think they see you as a brother more than other africans ? Get serious dude I feel more comfortable around my black bros than any other race. As i mentioned above you guys have this disdain towards other africans that i just can't understand. Its always the guys never somali women who dislike other africans.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

[удалено]


Somali_empowerment4

We don’t have anything in common with ayrabs or Africans only horn Africans thats it


Known-Strength7652

I’m black American and just cruising African subs looking to visit next year. And have a few Somali and Eritrean friends and always looked at you guys as black lol. Obviously it’s a cultural difference but some of us are Muslim as well. Definitely didn’t see them as Arab.


Somalias-Very-Own

You share nothing with SSA’s then skin color and living on the same continent


Lampings

Crazy results lmao


noob-phile

You know I would've liked to further continue to debate with you, but you are so rude.


EagleSimilar2352

In general i would say i feel closer to SSA countries and I'd feel stupid to say I'm closer to MENA nations when they mostly don't share the same feeling for us. Besides Yemenis most Arabs don't know much about Somalia It also depends on which subsaharan country and Wich MENA country. To me Senegal and Morocco are the same, we share religion but that's it. To me the MENA countries i feel some kind of connection (besides Islam) are Yemen because of many shared cultural features and history etc and Sudan(northern part) because they kinda look like us and have a few similarities (not that much though.) The subsaharan countries i feel close to are Ethiopia and Kenya but mostly because of their Somali population and maybe Eritrea but that's only because we "kinda" look similar.The truth is we somalis are pretty unique, there's no country that we could say is very close to us except Djibouti but that's because their are also majority Somalis


Known-Strength7652

Damn as a black American this is a mess. Just here to learn tho. Always seen you guys as black and that’s the American in me to boil it down to black and white I know.


ooooouuuue

We literally have nothing in common with black people.


Known-Strength7652

I don’t care bro lol


ooooouuuue

There’s seriously not one thing. We have more in common with an Indian than a black person.


Known-Strength7652

🍪 made your point in the first reply. I have more in common with white person in Alabama than I do with you or probably anyone In Africa so whatever. You sound pressed like you got a issue.


Super_War_432

You defo got more in common with ur fellow american than a Somali u share same religion as them, same language hence i think this ”black” identity is dumb. An identity must have meaning and your culture is very diff to mine so black for me is what the afro americans yardies etc has created. Just havin melanin dont mean people need to group us together.


Known-Strength7652

I agree. But the person that responded had a weird response like I care that much. I’m not pressed for a Somali to identity as black. You don’t have to double down on distancing your self from a black person. I made a incorrect assumption and that’s cool now I know. I’m in these subs to learn.