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The Somali Democratic Republic has a long coastline; effectively
two. In the north is the Gulf of Aden, and in the east and south the Indian Ocean.
Quick Links
Somalia Travel and Tourist Information with
links to official travel and tourism websites and state resources for
visitors to Somalia.
Hargeysa, Kismaayo, Map of Somalia, Mogadishu, Somali Language, Somalia
Background.
Countries neighbouring Somalia are: Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Ancient Egyptians knew the area of present day Somalia as Punt.
The kingdom of Aksum occupied much of the area until Arab tribes
settled along the Gulf of Aden coast, in the 7th century, and established the sultanate of
Adel; around the port of Zeila.
The Somali people moved into the region from Yemen in the 13th
century, and slowly the Somali chiefs ruled over small independent states within the
disintegrating sultanate.
In 1839 Great Britain took possession of Aden, now in the Republic of Yemen, to provide safe anchorage for ships
trading around the Arabian coast.
Italy developed an interest in the Somali coast during the late 19th
century, and made treaties with local Somali sultans, and conventions with Great Britain, Ethiopia, and Zanzibar, to acquire
outposts along the Indian Ocean.
Somalia was granted independence on July 1, 1960; merging with the
former British protectorate of Somaliland which had become independent on June 26.
Military coups and civil wars followed; severely disrupting Somalia's
infrastructure in the 1990s.
Weather in Africa:
Local weather forecasts for destinations around Africa.
The official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, although
English and Italian are also used.
Also called Muqdisho the country's capital, since independence in 1960, is in
south-east Somalia; on the Indian Ocean, just north of the equator.
Mogadishu was founded by Arab merchants around the early 10th century,
and it grew to become an important trading port.
The city came under the control of the sultan of Zanzibar in 1871.
The National Museum is in Mogadishu's Garesa Palace; built by the
sultan of Zanzibar in the late 19th century.
Also visit the 13th-century mosque.
Hargeysa, in northern Somalia, was a summer capital of the former
British Somaliland, and the official capital from 1941 to 1960.
Kismaayo, in southern Somalia, was founded in 1872 as a trade
centre; by the sultan of Zanzibar.
The Sultan's former palace still stands and there are several mosques
in Kismaayo worth visiting.
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