Somalia

Largest CitiesName Population

Mogadishu 2,587,183Hargeysa 477,876Berbera 242,344Kismayo 234,852 Merca 230,100Jamaame 185,270Baidoa 129,839 Burco 99,270Bosaso 74,287Afgooye 65,461

GeographyTotal Area: 637,657 square

kilometersTotal Land Area: 627,337

square kilometersTotal Water Area: 10,320

square kilometersA little smaller than TexasClimate: mostly desert with a

tropical climateLowest Point: Indian Ocean- 0

metersHighest Point: Shimbiris- 2,416

metersLongest River: Shebelle River-

702 meters

History1839: Great Britain Occupies Aden and uses Somalia as a

food source1862: France establishes a coalmining station on the

coast that would later be called Djibouti1889- Italy sets up a protectorate in central Somalia1936-Italian Somaliland combined Somali-speaking parts

of Ethiopia to form a province of Italian East Africa1950- Italian Somaliland becomes a UN trust territory

under Italian control and is later renamed Somalia in 1956

1960- British and Italian controlled parts of Somalia become independent and merge to form the United Republic of Somalia and elect Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as president

“Blackhawk Down”1991:Clan warlords Mohamed Farah Aideed and Ali Mahdi

Mohamed throw Mohamed Siad Barre from power. The result is a deadly civil war between the two clans for power

1992: The worst drought of the century occurs in Africa, the famine caused by this along with the civil war caused 300,000 Somalian deaths. U.S. Marines arrive in Mogadishu ahead of UN peacekeeping forces to restore order safeguard relief supplies

1993: Somalian militia shoot down 2 American Helicopters, “Blackhawk down” battle occurs. 18 Americans died with 73 wounded and it is estimated about 500 Somalis died and thousands were wounded in the battle. America withdraws soon after

1995: UN peacekeepers leave after failing to restore order

History Cont.2000-Somalia’s first government in a decade is elected,

but they only controlled about 10% of the country2003- The government mandate expired and it took

about 1 year to elect a new 275 member parliament was elected for five years. They choose Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as president. The government operated out of Kenya because Somalia was still too violent

CultureOfficial language: Somali LanguageQat (AKA: Khat, chat, kat)- derived from leaves from the

catha edulis tree, it is supposed sharpen thoughts and is commonly used in Somalia

Islam is the predominant religion and most Somalian are fairly devote and culture norms are heavily influenced by Islam traditions (no pork or Alcohol

Clans are very important social groups that have heavy culture and political influences that are basically extended families

Football (Soccer) is the national sportSomali food is basically combination of Somali,

Ethiopian, Yemeni, Persian, Turkish, Indian and Italian cuisines

Agriculture is the most important part of the Somali economy as it employees 65% of the workforce

GovernmentCapital: MogadishuType: Federal Parliamentary RepublicExecutive branch: President is elected by the Parliament

and serves as head of state and chooses Prime Minster and serves as head of government.

Legislative branch: Parliament consists of a 275- seat lower house and a 54 seat upper house

Current government was established on August 20, 2012President: Hassan Sheikh Mohamud Prime Minister: Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed

Famous PeopleMo Farah- won 10,000 meter and 5,000 meter races at

London OlympicsBarkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed,

Mahat Ali: Somali-American actors that played Somali pirates in “Captain Phillips

Kanaan- native Somalian, Canadian rapper best known for touring with Damian Marley

Current StatusGood

Somali Institute for Management and Administration- started in 1999 with under 100 students, it has grown to almost 2,500 students and is officially a “University”

Somalia to go along with fairly established agriculture, Somalia has pretty good fruit and coffee production

IF it hasn’t been bombed there is some nice architecture left over from colonial times

Bad Young government with a history of having a hard time

being established VIOLENCE- clan ties and warlords are still prevalent Piracy- it generate $200 million of income annually!