Resumen
Between the 13th to the 16th centuries, the Horn of Africa went through a series of major transformations which made of this zone one of the most dynamic regions in the continent. These historical processes included the consolidation of Muslim principalities in the region, the expansion of Islam among the Somali nomads, the development of an urban network and the strengthening of existing political and trade links with the rest of the world. Throughout all these changes, Islam and its material expressions –the mosque being the most obvious one- became one of the key factors of cohesion and stability in an increasingly conflictive world. Based on six years of archaeological fieldwork in Somaliland, this paper will analyse the characteristics - style, architectural features, orientations - of the mosques of the different communities that lived in the region during the medieval period –urban dwellers, nomads, foreign traders. It will also analyse them within their wider context (either urban centres, religious settlements or nomadic territories), and it will compare them with examples of neighbouring regions in the Horn of Africa like Ethiopia or Djibouti. It will also discuss the role of the mosques as a physical space which could be acknowledged by groups with very different lifestyles, leading to shared religious but also social and political identities. A special attention will be paid to mosques among the Somali nomads, whose conversion to Islam took place later than expected and for whom these buildings became not just a religious space, but a key part of their symbolic landscape.
Palabras clave
Mosque. Horn of Africa. Somaliland. Archaeology. Medieval period.