Harla people
[8] According to historian Richard Wilding, tales indicate Harla lived in the interior of Ogaden and by the seashores prior to Somali and Oromo movements into these regions.
[10] In the ninth century, the earliest known Muslim kingdom in the Horn of Africa, the Maḥzūmī dynasty sprang up in Harla country.
[15] 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.
[21] According to Ethiopian accounts, in the 14th century, the Harla led by their Imam Salih allied with the Ifat Sultanate[22] and battled the forces of emperor Amda Seyon I in what is now northern Somalia.
[23][24] 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.
[28] 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.
[32][33][34] The late sixteenth century saw the Oromo people penetrate portions of Ethiopia and Somalia, expansively invading upward from the Lower Jubba eventually incorporating Harla territory.
[36][37][38] 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.
[41] Strong evidence suggests that during the Oromo migrations, the remaining Harla retreated behind the walls of Harar and were able to survive culturally.
[43] 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.
[55] According to historian Ali Jimale Ahmed, the surviving Harla dwelling in the Harari kingdom were absorbed by Darod Somalis after the sixteenth century.
[65] In Afar region, clans named after Harla are still found among farmers in Aussa, and Awash district between Dubti and Afambo.
[66] According to historian Richard Wilding Harla were ancient Cushitic[2] however ethnologist Ulrich Braukämper suggests a Semitic variation which he labels "Harala-Harari" later developed in the Islamic period.
[68] 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."
