Queen Arawelo: The Warrior Queen of Somalia
Queen Arawelo (Carraweelo) was a legendary proto-Somali queen who established a matriarchal society in the Sanaag region around the 1st century CE. According to tradition, Arawelo was born to Haramaanyo and raised during a time of brutal clan warfare and devastating drought. After her husband and children died in the violence, she was cast out as a widow. In the myrrh forests of the northern mountains, she gathered other outcast women and formed a warrior sisterhood. Arawelo trained her army to restore peace, believing that women must take power to end the endless cycle of male violence. She i