These climatic conditions, together with the calcareous or chalky karst nature of the prevailing rocks and the tabular form of the relief, determine the regime of the watercourses; it is for these reasons that all the watercourses of the northern part of the peninsula – both the marginal ones of the narrow slope of the… Read More »
ANTHROPOLOGY From an ethnic point of view, apart from small minorities of Arabs, Bantu and others, the majority of the population is made up of Somalis (92%), a Cushitic-speaking ethnic group living in Somalia, in some regions of Kenya, Ethiopia and of Djibouti. In the 10th century. the Somalis converted to Islam calling themselves Sunnis.… Read More »
Independence was proclaimed on 1 July 1960 and on the same day the union with the former Somaliland, independent from 26 June, was approved. The governments placed at the center of their action the territorial claims against Ethiopia and Kenya, which resulted in an open conflict with the former, temporarily interrupted by the mediation of… Read More »
The formation of the executive classes of the Somalia, in the European sense. it was obtained with local education, up to the medium grade, and with sending abroad, especially to Italy, for higher-level studies and specialized technical training. In 1954, the Higher Institute of Law, Economics and social (then, in 1956, Higher Institute of Law… Read More »
In 1956 the first general political elections took place, with a direct and indirect system (this for the nomadic populations) but still limited to male voters, for the appointment of the Somali members of the first Legislative Assembly composed of 70 members (60 Somalis, 10 representing the other non-Somali ethnic communities, designated by the administrative… Read More »
On 21 December 1949 the UN General Assembly entrusted Italy, in “fiduciary” administration, with its former colony for a period of ten years (starting from 2 December 1950) on the condition that the political and administrative structures were prepared and the necessary cultural training of the residents was provided so that the territory could become… Read More »
Relations with the Arabian Peninsula. – From the Arabian Peninsula, groups of emigrants have arrived in Somalia at all times, who have settled along the coast where they arrived and arrive, along the navigation line that the natural conditions of monsoons and ocean currents create from the Persian Gulf to Zanzibar. It is probable that,… Read More »
The distribution of vegetation is related to the conditions of the climate and water, both surface and underground. In general, the climate of Somalia is not such as to allow the life of plants, which are not specially adapted to concentrate their functions of nutrition and reproduction in the short period of the rainy season,… Read More »
At Uarandab Robecchi met Prince Don Eugenio Ruspoli, who with two companions, Keller and E. Dal Seno, was heading from Berbera to Barri sull’Uebi: after having climbed it for a while, however, he was forced to return to Berbera. The following year the first expedition of Captain Bòttego left from Berbera, which also included Captain… Read More »
Somalia’s maritime exploration on the Indian Ocean began with Vasco da Gama’s voyage. Both Vasco and later Tristam da Cunha and Pedralvarez Cabral sailed along the present Italian Somalia. Vasco da Gama, on his return voyage, in 1499 had some artillery volleys fired against Mogadishu; in 1507 Tristam da Cunha bombed Mogadishu; in 1517 Lopo… Read More »
The residents of the Somali peninsula can be traced back to four main groups: Somalis, Galla, Negri and pariahs of uncertain origin. Along the coast there are Arab groups or groups of other Asian origins. Somalis are divided into five main groups: Isāq, Darod and Dir in northern Somalia; in southern Somalia Hauia (Hawiyya) and… Read More »
Somalia, State Democratic Republic of East Africa, located in the northeastern section of the Horn of Africa. It faces the Gulf of Aden to the N, the Indian Ocean to the E; it borders to the NW with Djibouti, to the West with Ethiopia, to the South and SW with Kenya. Physical characteristics The geological… Read More »
Demography and economic geography. – East African state. For Somalia, the socio-economic estimates have little reliability, due to the extremely difficult internal situation. The calculation of population growth is made highly problematic by constant internal conflicts, displacements due to famine and widespread nomadism; there are an estimated one million refugees. Having made these clarifications, according… Read More »
The beginning of the new century found, in many ways, the terms of the Somali crisis unchanged around the main issues that had emerged with the substantial dissolution of the state following the 1991 fall of Muḥammad Siyād Barrī: the accentuation of the often bloody clashes between family clans and the proliferation of armed groups,… Read More »
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY East African state. The statistical data relating to the demographic consistency are uncertain, and vary from 10.3 million (United Nations, 2004) to 6.8 million residents. according to the Somalia Watching Brief , a tool used by the World Bank to monitor the socio-economic evolution of countries in conflict or post-conflict situations.… Read More »
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY Population The most recent estimate (1998) attributes to a population of Somalia 9. 237. 000 residents (average density 14 residents per km ²). The intensification of hostilities in the south of the country starting from April 1992 and the disastrous effects of the drought that hit the Somalia in that same… Read More »
Population. – The most recent international estimates attribute to Somalia a population of about 9.2 million residents, corresponding to an average density of 14.4 residents / km 2. Massive waves of population transfers have made calculations difficult. Since the mid-1970s, recurrent dry seasons have mainly affected the northern regions, inducing many Somalis to seek better… Read More »
Population. – In the statistics concerning the population of the Somalia there is a significant gap between calculations, for example, local interiors, which make the residents rise to about 5 million, and the presumptive estimates carried out by international organizations. The FAO yearbook for 1973 reports the following data: total residents, as of 1972-73, 3,003,000;… Read More »
After the Italian action in Ethiopia, Somalia was formed into one of the governments (see App. I, p. 62) of Italian East Africa (702,000 sq. Km., About 1,200,000 residents). This government included the ancient colony (506.573 sq. Km. Including the 90.000 sq. Km. Of Oltre Giuba, with 1.021.572 residents calculated in 1931) and also the… Read More »
The territory of the Republic, created on 1 July 1960, is administratively divided into eight regions, six in the ex-Somalia and two (West Region and Eastern Region) in ex-Somaliland. The institution of the new state is established in the Act of Union (formally approved by the National Assembly on January 18, 1961 and promulgated by… Read More »
The maritime communications of the colony with Italy are ensured by a shipping company, with regular services. No point of the very long coast has inlets suitable for easy landing, and especially during the summer monsoon the open bays of the ocean coast are often inaccessible: a cliff sometimes at the surface of the water,… Read More »
Italian Somalia is a government (from 1 June 1936 it is officially called the Government of Somalia) of Italian East Africa, formerly an autonomous colony located in the eastern part of the Somali Peninsula on the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, and limited by British Somalia, by governments of Harar and the Galla… Read More »
The population of Italian Somalia amounted in 1931 to 1,021,572 residents, Of which 1658 Europeans, and almost all of them Italians. The larger government of Somalia is believed to have a population of 1,300,000. The indigenous people are overwhelmingly Somali; there are also a number of Arabs and a few large Indian traders. The language… Read More »
Italian Somalia has not yet revealed mineral deposits; some small natural salt flats in the interior, such as those of Aggherràr near Lugh, provide very impure salt, which is also transported and sold on the markets. Large salt pans, called Dante, were planted by the Migiurtinia Society in the Hordío Lagoon near Hafun. The Somali… Read More »
Governance. – Italian Somalia is governed and represented by a governor, who depends on the viceroy of Ethiopia and resides in Mogadishu and has a secretary general and a commander of the troops under his direct dependency. The government is made up of various directorates general: Civil and political affairs; Corporate business; Financial affairs; General… Read More »
The Italian – Abyssinian incident of Lugh and the battle of Baqallè. – In December 1907 the serious accident of Lugh occurred, caused by raids by Ethiopian troops, which had been sent against the again restless Mullah and had then ended up attacking and robbing tribes subject to the Berdale (near Lugh) wells. Italy. The… Read More »
Justice is administered by the residents and the judge of the colony for Europeans; by cadi, by residents and by the indigenous tribunal for indigenous people. A civil health and hygiene directorate presides over the health services: in addition to the hospital in Mogadishu, there are 4 colonial hospitals and 18 civilian infirmaries directed by… Read More »
Southern Somalia (the name of Benadir is reserved for its coastal strip) is limited to E. from the middle Uebi Scebeli, to the West from the middle and lower Juba, and differs clearly from northern and central Somalia, not only for the geological constitution and morphology, but also for the climate and vegetation, and above… Read More »
Northern Somalia or Migiurtinia faces N. on the Gulf of Aden, E. on the Ocean and is limited to Somalia by the Nogal Valley (Nūgāl), while in the West it borders with British Somalia. It is divided transversely into two large strips by the Darròr Valley. It is essentially a country of plateaus, mostly of… Read More »
At the end of the century Three other major expeditions took place in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the second Donaldson Smith expedition, which, aiming to connect Lake Rodolfo with the Nile, involves the Somali Peninsula only in the stretch from Berbera to Lake Rodolfo, mostly on routes already known; the Erlanger expedition (1899-1901)… Read More »