Jijiga (Somali: Jigjiga, Amharic: ጅጅጋ, Jijiga) is the capital city of Somali Region, Ethiopia. It became the capital of the Somali Region in 1995 after it was moved from Gode. Located in the Fafan Zone with 75 km (37 mi) west of the border with Somaliland, the city has an elevation of 1,634 metres above sea level. Jigjiga is traditionally the seat of the Bartire Garad Wiil-Waal of the Jidwaaq Absame. The International airport is named after him.

The name Jigjiga is said to come from the onomatopoeic word jig-jig, representing the rumbling sounds made by an earthquake, or the noise from water wells on the outskirts of the city. Jigjiga is an example of many onomatopoeic words in Somali.

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.

During early 1900, Abyssinian troops began a permanent occupation of the town with the construction of a military fort in the outskirts. Subsequently, the anti-colonial Dervish Movement led by Sayid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan had its first major battle when it attacked the Ethiopian forces occupying Jigjiga several to free livestock that had been looted from the local population during Abyssinian raids. 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.

After reportedly adopting the Islamic faith, uncrowned Emperor Lij Iyasu had a close relationship with the Muslim Somalis. In Jigjiga he built several mosques and sent military aid to the Somali Dervish movement. During the summer of 1916, Lysau travelled to Jigjiga to organize an army of Somali fighters to follow him in a jihad against the Christians. When he left for Jigjiga, the Shewan imperial elite revolted against him. 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. Due to widespread Somali hostility in the Ogaden, the town marked the effective boundary of imperial presence in the region. Succeeding governors such as Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam, had the town methodically organized in a square grid of streets, built a fort, dug several wells, encouraged agriculture, and set a fixed land tax. Actions which Richard Pankhurst claims won the hearts of the Ogaden Somalis. During the 1920s and 1930s, Somalis began returning to the town.

During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Jijiga served for some time as Dejazmach Nasibu Emmanual's headquarters and a supply center for the Ethiopian army. An Italian force under Colonel Navarra occupied the city on the evening of 5 May 1936. 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.