Somalia

Overview

Somalia occupies the Horn of Africa and possesses the longest coastline of any mainland African country. In antiquity the region was linked to the Land of Punt and the Kingdom of Macrobia; in the medieval and early modern eras it hosted powerful Muslim sultanates, including the Ajuran, Adal, Geledi, Isaaq, Majeerteen, and Hobyo states, whose trade networks spanned the Indian Ocean.

History

European partition came late: Britain established a protectorate over the north in 1884 and Italy colonized the south from 1889. The Dervish movement resisted colonial rule until 1920. Italy incorporated its territory into Italian East Africa in 1936, but British forces conquered it in 1941, and after the war the south became a UN trust territory under Italian administration in 1950. British Somaliland gained independence on 26 June 1960, and five days later, on 1 July 1960, Italian Somaliland became independent; the two united the same day as the Somali Republic, with Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as its first president.

The democratic era ended after President Abdirashid Shermarke's assassination on 15 October 1969: six days later Siad Barre seized power, proclaiming the Somali Democratic Republic under scientific socialism, with a celebrated mass literacy campaign. The Ogaden War of 1977–78 against Ethiopia was lost after the Soviet Union and Cuba intervened on Ethiopia's side, pushing Somalia toward the United States. Barre's regime collapsed in 1991, plunging the country into civil war: Somaliland declared independence, famine and statelessness followed, and conflict intensified with the rise of the Islamic Courts Union in 2006, Ethiopian intervention, and the insurgency of al-Shabaab. A provisional federal constitution was adopted in 2012, establishing the Federal Republic of Somalia.

Later history and present status

Home to roughly 19–20 million people, about 85 percent ethnic Somali, Somalia has Sunni Islam as its official religion. Its economy rests on livestock, remittances, and a notably vibrant telecommunications sector, but it ranks near the bottom of the Human Development Index. Mogadishu is the capital.