HISTORY OF HARRAWI
The area that is now called Harrawi used to be an important trade link between the Mediterranean civilisations, Africa and India. The present day Harrawi people are believed to be descendants of a people related to the Hittites (Hatti) that at some point moved south and settled in the Horn of Africa. The Harrawi language is mostly considered to be Indo-European, of the otherwise extinct Anatolian branch, although it developed in its own way during many centuries.

UNTIL 1702
It is believed that the ancestors of the present-day Harrawi people settled in the current location of the democratic republic of Harrawi in the first century CE at the latest. Between the fifth and seventh centuries, they established a small empire based on trade between the western civilisations (Roman empire(s)) and the east and probably ruled an area that reached to halfway Eritrea in the north and Puntland in the east. Some scholars think that the empire must also have brought parts of present-day Yemen under its influence, but no evidence has been found to confirm this. The empire came to its end some decades before the area was converted to the islam.

Although the area remained independent for some time, the success of the former empire was never restored. In the 13th century, the Harrawi became part of the Ifat sultanate and were ruled from the city of Zeila (present-day Heleg in western Harrawi); in the fifteenth century, the Ifat declined and were succeeded by the Adal sultanate. In 1543, when the sultanate was weakened in a war against Ethiopia, the Harrawi formed a sultanate of their own under Ibreu I Fayatabon ('Jibril ibn Fayyad' in Arabic) and his successors. Sultan Ibreu I is considered a founding father of Harrawi and his tomb in the city of Hurunn is still visited by many Harrawi who wish to pay him respect. Initially the sultans used Hurunn as their residence, but in 1569 the city and present capital Oryaa was founded by sultan Aluwam Ibrilabon.

In the seventeenth century, Harrawi was slowly surrounded by the Ottoman Empire. From 1680 on, several attempts were made by the latter to conquer Harrawi, until it finally succeeded in 1702. Sultan Tusaly II was killed in battle three years earlier and his fourteen year old son and successor, sultan Aames, was taken from Oryaa by the Ottomans to be brought to Constantinople but he disappeared during the voyage.

1702 TO 1978
From 1702 to 1788, Harrawi was part of the Ottoman empire, after many centuries during which the Harrawi were at times independent or ruled by neighbouring peoples. In 1788 Harrawi regained independence under sultan Brayim I and his successors. In 1875 nine years of Egyptian rule followed, after which it was more or less liberated by the British, who turned Harrawi into a protectorate. The sultans remained in power as puppet rulers.

From 1940 to 1941, the country was briefly occupied by Italian forces, but the country was quickly reconquered by the British. In 1960 British Somaliland, with which Harrawi had been forming one administrative area for some time, became independent, but Harrawi remained under British rule until 1978. In that year Harrawi became an independent sultanate.

SINCE 1978
The ruling family gained a lot of power in the young nation, especially under sultan Brayim IV, who established some sort of absolute monarchy. In 2001 Brayim IV died and a year later his son, sultan Faysau, was overthrown during a short revolution, after which the republic was proclaimed. Sultan Faysau was forced to leave the country; he and his family have reportedly been living in Egypt since.

The new republic adopted a very strict constitution, giving a lot of power to the parliament, the Yeshaa Eengatare, which was able to appoint and sack the president and the government. The most important person in this system became Maamus Abdurashiabon, who served as chairman of parliament between 2002 until his sudden death in 2011. Because Abdurashiabon had become the most influential politician in Harrawi during the nine years of his tenure, the vacuum that he left was significant and the two largest parties in parliament, I.A.A. and O.I.D., which were also in the government coalition together, finally settled on another I.A.A. candidate, Yaron Hagasheu, although the O.I.D. accepted only because I.A.A. threatened to look for another coalition partner. In 2012 the coalition was however ended after a dispute over a government portfolio reshuffle, and I.A.A. saw itself end up in opposition. Yaron Hagasheu was replaced by Aames Sanoraabon as parliament chairman. In general, power shifted noticeably from the Yeshee Eengatare to the government between 2011 and 2015.

In external relations, Harrawi joined the international organisation FICT in 2011, but left it in 2012 together with several other member states who were unhappy with the structure of FICT, in order to found a new organisation; this became the Exumbran Convention, which was founded in 2012. In 2015 however Harrawi rejoined FICT.