| Official Name: | Jowhar |
| Native Name: | جوهر |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Map Caption1: | Somalia |
| Pushpin Map: | Somalia#Horn of Africa#Africa |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within Somalia##Location within the Horn of Africa##Location within Africa |
| Pushpin Relief: | 1 |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Somalia |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Hirshabelle |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Middle Shabelle |
| Government Type: | Mayor-Council-Commission |
| Leader Name: | mayor |
| Leader Name1: | Axmed Meyre Makaran |
| Area Total Km2: | 25 |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Population As Of: | 2018 |
| Population Total: | 170,000 |
| Coordinates: | 2.7833°N 75°W |
| Timezone: | EAT |
| Utc Offset: | +3 |
| Area Code: | 061 |
| Elevation M: | 100 |
Jowhar (Somali: Jowhar, Arabic: جوهر, Italian: Giohar) is the capital city of Hirshabelle state of Somalia. Jowhar is also the administrative capital of Middle Shabelle region of Somalia.
Along with Baidoa, it used to form the joint administrative capital of the Transitional Federal Government, which it captured from the Islamic Courts Union.
The city lies 90 km (50 mi) along a major road north of the national capital of Mogadishu.
During the Middle Ages, Jowhar and much of the surrounding area in southern Somalia was governed by the Ajuran Empire.[1] The town later came under the administration of the Hiraab Imamate in the late 17th century after the collapse of the powerful Ajuran Empire. At the turn of the 20th century, Jowhar was incorporated into Italian Somaliland. After independence in 1960, the city was made the center of the official Jowhar District.
The Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi was founded by a senior member of the Italian Royal Family, H.R.H. Principe Luigi Amedeo, Duca degli Abruzzi in 1920, who first came to the African continent in 1905 and liked the place. The Duke raised funds to build dams, roads, a railway, schools, hospitals, a church and a mosque.[2]
The village called Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi (or Villabruzzi) was founded as an agricultural settlement in Italian Somalia experimenting with new cultivation techniques. In 1926, the colony comprised 16 villages, with some 3,000 Somali and 200 Italian inhabitants. It was commonly known as Villabruzzi.
Starting around 1911, Italians like the Duca degli Abruzzi started to take the local farmers and resettle them in specific new villages in an attempt to improve the economy of Italian Somalia. The area around Villabruzzi was the most agriculturally developed of Somalia before World War II and had some food industries.[3]
As part of a 2004 agreement, Jowhar and the town of Baidoa were to form a joint administrative capital of the Transitional Federal Government, sited away from Mogadishu for security reasons. Continued fighting threatened to derail the peace process. However, in July 2005, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed relocated to the town from his base in Bosaso, moving the process forward and joining Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi, who had already been resident in the town for a month. Part of the parliament became based in Jowhar, while some ministries were established in Mogadishu.[4] By February 2006, despite Ghedi's security concerns, the two leaders had left to Baidoa, where it was decided the parliament would convene.[5]
The district had estimated population of 269,851 as of 2014, a survey was done by (UNDP) in 2014 and it is primarily inhabited by Abgal clan.[6]
During the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, the city was captured from the Islamic Courts Union during the Battle of Jowhar on December 27, 2006.[7] ICU insurgents recaptured Jowhar on 12 July 2008 and took over the towns administration.[8]
On May 17, 2009, the Islamist al-Shabab militia took the town,[9] and imposed new rules, including a ban on handshaking between men and women.[10] TFG and ICU paramilitary forces were dispatched to seize back the town.[11]
On December 9, 2012, Somali National Army forces assisted by AMISOM troops re-captured the city from the militants.[12]