This book is about the biography of Haji Shermarke Ali Saleh (1776-1861), a remarkable person with astounding career, who wielded wide political and economic influence in the northern coast of the present day Somaliland and the nearby regions during the first half of the nineteenth century. European travelers and administrators sometimes dubbed him as 'the Political Boss of the Somali Coast' and 'the Principal Native Authority'. He was the ruler of Zeila during Richard Burton's perilous trip to Harar whereby he hosted him in Zeila. He was a man of great charisma, valor, and possessed shrewdness in business and sagacity in political affairs. He is remembered, among many other things, for his bravery in coming to the rescue of the crew of Brig Mary Ann in 1825 near Berbera, after it ran adrift, and was plundered by locals. During that distant past in the Somali history, he established a form of governance admired by many which had no parallel in the Somali coast. The book also analyses the circumstances that led to the end of his rule and his mysterious disappearance. The book also touches on some important historical and sociopolitical developments in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East during the 19th Century and earlier, and how the competing colonial powers reshaped the geopolitical sphere of the region.
