The region around Jijiga is believed to be associated with the medieval
Gidaya state which existed as early as thirteenth century. One of the earliest references to Jijiga comes from W.C. Barker in 1842 who mentions it as one of the
mahalla or halting-places of the caravan route between
Zeila and
Harar within the Somali inhabited
Ogaden (present day
Somali Region). Jijiga was later mentioned by British traveler
Richard Francis Burton in 1854, who reports that it was a centre of wells for pastoralists of the local Somali (
Jidwaq) clan on the caravan route to
Berbera. During the pre-colonial era the Ogaden was neither under Ethiopian rule, nor
terra nullius, as it was occupied by organized Somali communities. Independent historical accounts are unanimous that previous to the penetration into the region in the late 1880s,
Somali clans were free of residing in the Ogaden were free of the control of the
Ethiopian Empire. In 1887, the Ethiopian Empire under
Menelik II invaded and conquered the ancient city of
Harar and soon after announced a programme of ambitious expansion and colonialism to the European powers. This marked the start of a tentative yet violent invasion into the
Ogaden region. During the Abyssinian invasion of Harar, much of the population and the cities Islamic scholars were massacred. As a consequence of this some scholars moved to the town of Jigjiga, and from a Somali perspective Jigjiga then replaced Harar as a center for Islamic learning. As Emperor
Menelik II continued his campaign of indiscriminate raiding and attacks against the Somalis of the Ogaden region between 1890 and 1899, Somali clans residing in the plains of Jigjiga were in particular targeted. The escalating frequency and violence of the raids resulted in Somalis consolidating behind the
Dervish movement under the lead of Sayyid
Mohamed Abdullah Hassan. As the Ethiopian Empire began expanding into Somali territories at the start of the 1890s, the town of Jigjiga came under intermittent
military occupation until 1900. An imperial garrison was established at Jijiga in 1891, which later became a base for Ethiopian military campaigns into the Somali-inhabited lowlands. British hunter Colonel Swayne, who passed through Jijiga in February 1893, where he described seeing stockaded fort with a garrison. During 1895, it was observed that the fort set up in the town was often abandoned by the Abyssinians, who usually occupied it to carry out raids on the Somalis of the Ogaden.
Abdullah Tahir was appointed governor of Jigjiga in 1896, this would be the emergence of Jigjiga's urban development. In this period Abyssinian settlers began arriving in the town from nearby garrisons. Sayid
Mohameds Dervish attack greatly shook the Ethiopians, and resulted in them coordinating large scale joint military operations with the
British Empire against the Somalis fighters. Governor Tahir set up a native security forces to protect the town which consisted mainly of
Somalis and
Harari people as the
Dervish fighters had begun its activities in the region. The Ethiopian control in the Ogaden at the start of the 20th century was tenuous as administrators and military personnel only resided in Jijiga and
Harar. During the summer of 1916, After Lij Lyasu's overthrowal and the subsequent tensions in the town, the Somali population abandoned Jigjiga, leaving behind only Amhara settlers, who were mostly soldiers. During the 1920s and 1930s, Somalis began returning to the town. Two days later, while inspecting a ruined Ethiopian Orthodox church in the city, Marshal
Rodolfo Graziani fell into a concealed hole, which he was afterwards convinced was a mantrap; Anthony Mockler suggests this mishap contributed to his murderously paranoid mindset which led to
the atrocities that followed the attempt on Graziani's life 19 February 1937. During Italian rule of the city, mosques were built by the new rulers Under the rule of the Ethiopian Empire, the construction of mosques had been stifled. Under Italian rule, Islam was given official recognition by the new ruling administration and mosques were constructed in Jigjiga. Arabic was also introduced in the schools set up for
Italian East Africa's Muslim subjects. In 1948, the
British Military Administration, which had been in control of the Ogaden since WWII, commenced a withdrawal. This transition saw the replacement of British officials with Ethiopian counterparts between May and July of that year in a significant handover process. In the town of Jijiga, incoming Ethiopian authorities instructed the
Somali Youth League (SYL) to remove their flag, as they had declared both the party and its emblem as unlawful. The SYL defied this directive, leading to the flag being machine-gunned by an armored vehicle. This event escalated following the killing of a police officer after a grenade was thrown of the roof of the SYL headquarters. The police responded by firing into a crowd of protesters killing 25. Following this incident, Ethiopian administration resumed in Jijiga for the first time in 13 years. Then, on 23 September 1948, following the withdrawal of British forces and the appointment of Ethiopian district commissioners, areas east of Jijiga were placed under Ethiopian governance for the first time in history.
Handover Germame Neway, one of the leaders of the unsuccessful
1960 coup, served as governor over Jijiga in 1959. He had been transferred there for his civic responsibility and concern for the underprivileged while administering a district in
Sidamo Province. The obstruction he encountered, not only in Sidamo but in Jijiga, convinced him of the need for radical measures. In the early stage of the
Ethiopian Revolution individual units from the
Third Division put the local governor under house arrest around 13 April 1974. On 28 May 2007, during the celebration of
Ginbot 20 (celebrating the downfall of the
Derg), Jijiga and Degehabur were the scenes of attacks on civilians and government officials. At least 16 people were killed and 67 injured, including
Abdulahi Hassan Mohammed, president of the Somali Region, who was speaking at the ceremony. The Ethiopian government blamed the attack on the
Ogaden National Liberation Front.On 29 May 2008, following a heavy downpour the
Jijiga River broke its banks and flooded several
kebeles in the town and the vicinity. The flooding killed 29 people and displaced 350 households. On 27 September of that year, a bomb exploded outside a hotel in Jijiga killing four and wounding 20.
Local police apprehended a suspect whom they claimed was a member of
Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya. ==Demographics==