Soomaaliya | Somalia | الصومال‎


This is an educational thread, to enlight anyone who is interested, about Somalia, Somalis and the Somali peninsula (and related). Hopefully this thread will be jam-packed with interesting facts, information, pics that we shall all enjoy reading/seeing.


Lets make this a good thread and keep on topic! :cheers:

I am still working on this thread but am a little short of time atm. WORK-IN-PROGRESS. CHECK BACK SOON.

Fact # 1

- The Somali people constitute one of the largest and most populous ethnic groups in the African continent (together with their neighbours Oromo and Amhara). Somalis alone number ~20 million in East Africa and can be found in huge numbers not only in Somalia itself but also Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen.

- Thus, the wider HOA is also known as the Somali peninsula, which juts out into thw Indian Ocean. The highlighted areas in the maps below indicates where Somalis live in East Africa - it is an area larger than Egypt in size and constitutes a significant part of the HOA. There is also a tetonic plate that is the Somali tetonic plate, again situated in approximately in the large area where Somalis inhabit and hence has its name derived from 'Somali'. Furthermore, there is an ocean current that runs along the Somali and wider East African coastlines, that is named "The Somali current".

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Somali_map.jpg/300px-Somali_map.jpg

http://dabaqiin.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/somaliweyn-map.jpg

Somali plate

The Somali Plate is a tectonic plate that is being formed as the African Plate is splitting along the East African Rift.

The Somali Plate is bounded on the west by the East African Rift, which extends south through East Africa from the triple junction in the Afar Depression, and an undersea continuation of the rift extending southward offshore. The northern boundary is the Aden Ridge along the coast of Saudi Arabia. The eastern boundary is the Central Indian Ridge, the northern portion of which is also known as the Carlsberg Ridge. The southern boundary is the Southwest Indian Ridge. Dating of volcanism in the Comoro Islands and northern Madagascar volcanos indicates a rate of motion to the east over a hotspot of approximately 45 mm/yr.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/EAfrica.gif


The Somali Current

The Somali Current is an ocean boundary current that runs along the coast of Somalia and Oman in the Western Indian Ocean and is analogous to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean. This current is heavily influenced by the monsoons and is the only major upwelling system that occurs on a western boundary of an ocean. The water that is upwelled by the current merges with another upwelling system, creating one of the most productive ecosystems in the ocean.

The Somali current is characterized by seasonal changes influenced by the Southwest monsoon and the Northwest Monsoon. During the months of June to September, the warm Southwest monsoon moves the coastal waters northeastward, creating coastal upwelling. The upwelled water is carried offshore by Ekman transport and merges with water that was brought to the surface by open-ocean upwelling. The Findlater jet, a narrow low-level, atmospheric jet, also develops during the Southwest monsoon, and blows diagonally across the Indian Ocean, parallel to the coasts of Somalia and Oman.

Fact #2

Somalia and Somalis have a very long and rich history. And as the country has the longest coast in continental Africa, it is one of the oldest sea-faring and trading nations in the world.

Somalia has a number of ancient trading/port cities on both its Idian ocean cost and Gulf of Aden coast. With historically the wealthiest being the 1,000 year old city of Mogadishu. Others include Kismaayo, Berbera, Barawe, Merca, Las Qoray, Hobyo etc.

Maritime history of Somalia refers to the seafaring tradition of the Somali people. It includes various stages of Somali navigational technology, shipbuilding and design, as well as the history of the Somali port cities. It also covers the historical sea routes taken by Somali sailors which sustained the commercial enterprises of the historical Somali kingdoms and empires, in addition to the contemporary maritime culture of Somalia.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Somali_Enterprise.JPG/800px-Somali_Enterprise.JPG

Ancient Somali port cities

Ancient

The most prominent cities of the Old World from the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Opone – In ancient times, the port city of Opone traded with merchants from Phoenicia, Egypt, Greece, Persia and the Roman Empire, and connected with traders from as far afield as Indonesia and Malaysia, exchanging spices, silks and other goods.

Tabae – Ancient port where sailors on their way to India could take refuge from the storms of the Indian Ocean.

Cape Guardafui – Known in ancient times as the Cape of Spices, it was an important place for the ancient cinnamon and Indian spice trade.

Mosyllon – The most important ancient port city of the Somali Peninsula, it handled a considerable amount of the Indian Ocean trade through its large ships and extensive harbour.

Malao – Ancient port city known for its commerce in frankincense and myrrh in exchange for cloaks, copper and gold from Arsinoe and India.

Mundus – Ancient port engaged in the fragrant gum and cinnamon trade with the Hellenic world.

Medieval

Zeila, Somalia in the Middle Ages was one of the most important port cities in the Horn of Africa.Barawa – Old port city in Somalia, which in the medieval era came under the influence of Mogadishu and the later Ajuuraan Empire.

Berbera – Dominant port city on the Gulf of Aden that had trade relations with the Tang Dynasty of China.

Gondershe – Medieval center of trade that handled smaller vessels sailing from India, Arabia, Persia and the Far East.

Hobyo – One of the commercial centers of the Ajuuraans and an important port city for the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca.

Kismayo – Sister city of Mogadishu and an important trade outlet during the Gobroon Dynasty.

Merka – Prominent medieval port city that collaborated with the Mogadishans in the Indian Ocean trade.

Mogadishu – The most important medieval city in East Africa and initiator of the East African gold trade. Before the period of civil strife, Mogadishu continued its historical position as the pre-eminent port city of East Africa.

http://www.balcad.com/photo/358.jpg

Zeila – Adalite city that traded with the Catalans and the Ottomans. Handled most of the trade of the northwestern Horn of Africa.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Zeila%2C_Somalia.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Zayla.jpg

Early modern and present

The northern port hub of Bosaso stands as one of the fastest growing cities in Somalia.Qandala – An important port city in the 18th and 19th centuries for the pilgrimage to Mecca, and for the caravan trains that came from the castle city of Botiala.

Las Khorey – Capital of the Warsangali Sultanate, it was at its zenith during the late 18th century. Today, the port continues to export mainly marine products. Somali environmentalist Fatima Jibrell is re-developing the centuries-old port with the aim of creating immediate employment for local residents. Over the long-term, this effort is intended to boost import and export opportunities to Somalia's northern coastal region, and thus also help rebuild communities and livelihoods.

Bosaso – Established by the Somali seafaring company Kaptallah in the early 19th century as Bandar Qassim, Bosaso has today become one of the fastest growing cities in Somalia and has replaced Mogadishu as the top port city.

Eyl – A Dervish city that was utilized for the weapons trade during the Scramble for Africa. Today, Eyl is a growing port city.


Twin cities of Marka and Barawe

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2207/2098352962_fa0b83c98a.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Barawa.jpg

Fact #3


- About 43% of the camels, 10% of sheep, 5% of goats and 2% of cattle, of the livestock population of Africa, are found in Somalia.
Somalia, famous for the Berbera Blackhead/Somali Sheep, has one of the largest numbers of livestock in the world - including the largest number of camels in the world. With this comes immense potential for meat, dairy products, leather products, hides and skins etc. and so far only a fraction of this industry potential has been tapped into.

Somalis, up and down the long coast of the land that they inhabit from Djibouti to the Somali hinterland and down to Ras Kambooni, have long since been trading with the middle and far east. Part of this trade has been the trade in livestock and meat. That trade has grown exponentially over the decades and years, to become very lucrative. The Somali livestock is mostly free from some of the diseases that have plagued other livestock-trading nations and much of the livestock in Somalia, especially the Somali Sheep or Berbera Blackhead, is native to the Somali Peninsula. The unique way in which Somali nomads raise and rear their livestock, including the thousands of species of native plants the livestock is fed, means that it has a very unique and organic nature. The meat of Somali sheep is considered premium meat in the Gulf countries and is favoured over any other meat.

A recent BBC article detailed:

It may come as another surprise that two northern Somali ports account for 95% of all goat and 52% of all sheep exports for the entire East African region.

According to the London-based Chatham House think-tank, the export of livestock through these ports, and the nearby port of Djibouti, represents what "is said to be the largest movement of live animal - 'on the hoof' - trade anywhere in the world".

I recently visited one of these ports, Berbera, in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, where port manager Ali Xoorxoor told me: "I expect livestock exports from the port to increase dramatically from three million head of livestock in 2011 to 4.5 million in 2012.

"This is because of healthy demand from the Gulf, especially Saudi Arabia, and new markets emerging in Egypt, Syria and Oman. The Egyptians are especially fond of our camels, mainly for meat."

The livestock trade has exploded since Somalia's government imploded in 1991.

One trader told me exports from the northern ports alone is worth more than $2bn (£1.3bn) a year; this does not appear to be an exaggeration, when one considers that just one sheep is worth at least $30 and a camel several hundred.



http://www.biyokulule.com/sawiro/sawirada_waaweyn/Somali%20sheep.jpg

Fact #4

Somalia is known as "The nation of Poets".

I think the title "Nation of Poets" is very fitting for Somalia. In Somali society it is not something that is rare or even a niche/reserve of those with a particular interest in liturature - it is an integral part to Somali culture and society and every Somali individual. It is not unusual for mothers to have composed a poem for many if not all of their children; poetry is used in advertising, in plays, in music; it is used very much in politics and can sometimes even be decisive; a business does not open without a poem for the occasion; any major events within you family might have several peoms composed by family members; weddings are often celebrated with a particular style of poetry called the 'buraanbur'.

Any major national event will usually have several poems published about it. If anything was a national/cultural tradition of the Somali people, it is poetry - it is quintessentially Somali as described by a Somali SSCer (I think Camelette):

The government even hires poets to praise its achievements, while the opposition uses poems for its critique.

Historically, in Somalia good poems could start or end a war.

Live threatre is extremely popular. Unlike western threatres Somali ones are written in poetic verses and they include alot of music and comedy. Back in Somalia threatre groups even toured the country.

Scholars have noted the following:

“The country teems with poets… Every man has his recognized position in literature as accurately defined as though he had been reviewed in a century of magazines – the fine ear of this people causing them to take the greatest pleasure in harmonious sounds and poetic expressions.”



“Poetry has a special place in Somali life. The eminent Somali language scholar, the late professor B.W. Andrezejewski noted :

When Sir Richard Burton visited Somalis in 1854 he found that the most striking characteristic of its inhabitants was their love of poetry… so that the phrase ‘a nation of poets’ became current among people acquainted with the horn of Africa.

The Somali devotion to poetry is more than an appreciation of an ancient form, described by Andrezejewski as ‘reminiscent of Classical Greek’.

Here is a poem being recited by the pre-eminent Somali poet Hadraawi

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Somalia:

- Somalia is known as "The Nation of Poets" and the capital, Mogadishu, was known as "The Pearl of the Indian ocean".

- The Capital of Somalia, Mogadishu is ~ 1,000 years old.

- The Somali deep sea port of Berbera has the only sheltered harbour on the south side of the Gulf of Aden

- The Somali tellecommunications is amoungst the most competitive in the continent. Though in war, tele-density is much higher than some of its neighbouring country and it takes just three days for a landline to be installed - compared with waiting-lists in neighbouring Kenya.

- Somalia is said to have the cheapest cellular calling rates in Africa. Once installed, local calls are free for a monthly fee of just $10. Local calls are free inside Somalia. Calling abroad costs 50 cents per minute. (I went there and the reception is flawless !)

- The highest Mountain in Somalia is 2,460 meters (8,071 ft) above sea level.

The government of Somalia was supportive of various anti-colonial movements.

- The late president of Somalia, Siad Barre, was the only head of state to attend Mozambique's independence celebrations.

- Along with fellow communists the Soviet Union and Cuba, Somalia also sent martial reinforcements to assist the government of Samora Machel against Rhodesian and Portuguese forces. Rhodesian guerrillas in Maputo at the time "bragged to Portuguese correspondents that Somali tanks will be used in future operations against Ian Smith’s forces.

- In their struggle against the Rhodesians, Zambia appealed to other African countries for military support. On the 27th of June 1977, President Kenneth David Kaunda speaking to a crowd of Zambians in Lusaka announced that Somalia's armed forces were prepared to aid his country against the Rhodesians. Somali Air Force pilots stood on standby to fly Zambian Migs in case of a war.

- Somalia's late government lent support to various anti-colonial movements, including the rebellion in South Africa against that country's then ruling apartheid government.

- As chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1974, a rotating seat, the President of Somalia invited the ANC as an equal member and gave them a platform to have their voices heard.

- Somalia's government also trained South African guerillas and gave them access to military hardware and naval assets.

Somalia

- At one point Somalia possessed the largest merchant fleet of the Muslim world.

- Islam has been present in Somalia since the very beginning times of the religion around the 7th century.

- For centuries, Arba Rukun (1269), the Friday mosque of Merca (1609) and Fakr ad-Din (1269) were, in fact, the only mosques in East Africa to have minarets.

Great stuff! :cheers: I didn't know this:

- For centuries, Arba Rukun (1269), the Friday mosque of Merca (1609) and Fakr ad-Din (1269) were, in fact, the only mosques in East Africa to have minarets.

Somalia

- First mounted Horsemen: The scientist and archaeologist Sada Mire and her team recently revealed 5,000-year-old rock art in Somalia that included a drawing of a mounted hunter. Laas Geel Cave Paintings are world renowned and among the oldest cave painting in the African Continent.

-Beden ship - An ancient Somali maritime vessel that remains the longest surviving sewn ship in East Africa.

- Shah/Shax boardgame: A Somali boardgame played from Egypt to Tanzania.

Somalia


-Domestication of Camels - Ancient Somalis domesticated the camel somewhere between the third millennium and second millennium BC from where it spread to Ancient Egypt and North Africa. Rock art in Somalia illuminate the oldest depictions of Camels.

The Somali people were first to domesticate the camel, well before 2000 BC.

Today Somalia boasts the largest camel population in the world of any individual country. The larger Somali peninsula region inhabited by the Somali people contains the largest camel population in the world.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/800px-2003camel.PNG

Somalia:

- Tanzania, Sudan and Somalia had co-operated and contemplated to send a joint force of several thousand troops through the Kagera Salient into Uganda to topple Amin. The three countries propped up the exiled President and his forces instead and supported their invasion of Uganda in 1972, but they failed to dislodge Idi Amin.

- Somalia eventually would play mediator, and through the Mogadishu agreement, more war was averted. On October 7, 1972, Uganda and Tanzania signed the Mogadishu Accord, a settlement whose major purpose was to defuse the crisis between the two countries.

Somalia:

- Some of the earliest known cave paintings in the African continent are Somalia's Laas Geel's rock art, estimated to date back to somewhere between 9,000–8,000 and 3,000 BCE.

Inscriptions have been found beneath many of the rock paintings, but archaeologists have so far been unable to decipher this form of ancient writing.

- Somalia's connection with China dates back further than many realize. The ruler of the Somali Ajuuran Sultanate sent ambassadors to China to establish diplomatic ties, creating the first ever recorded African community in China.

- In return, Emperor Yongle, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), dispatched one of the largest fleets in history to trade with the nation. The fleet, under the leadership of the famed Hui Muslim Zheng He, arrived at Mogadishu while the city was at its zenith.

- Along with gold, frankincense and fabrics, Zheng brought back the first ever African wildlife to China, which included hippos, giraffes and gazelles.

- The oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to 4th millennium BC.

Somalia:

- Throughout different period in time, Somalis have used a number of writing systems including an ancient script that archaeologists have so far been unable to decipher, wadaads writing, Somali-Arabo, Osmanya script, Borama script, the Kadarre Alphabet and now the recent Somali Latin Alphabet.[/B]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Wadaad%27s-Writing.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Somali_Stone.jpg/424px-Somali_Stone.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Ciismaniya.jpg/200px-Ciismaniya.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Borama-script.gif/430px-Borama-script.gif

Dude, u created this thread purely to show off Somalia and to that I say....not bad.

Somalia

-- Madagascar gets its current name from Marco Polo, (1254 — 1324), the Venetian explorer, who described an African island of untold wealth called Madeigascar in his memoirs (1298 - 1320). Polo heard about the island second-hand during his travels in Asia (1271 - 1295). Most scholars believe that he described Mogadishu, the port located in present-day Somalia. Nevertheless, Italian cartographers attached the name "Madagascar" to the island during the Renaissance.

-- Cause of Malaria. Somalis knew that the mosquito was the source of malaria long before it was scientifically proven in the west. This is why Somalis have only one word for both mosquitoes and malaria – kaneeco. In the book ‘First Footsteps in East Africa’ by Richard Burton published in 1856, the author mentioned how the Somalis believed that the mosquito bites were responsible for the deadly fevers (malaria). In his documentation of this, Richard Burton dismissed this Somali indigenous knowledge as superstition. 40 years after the publication of Richard Burton comments Somalis were proven right when Sir Ronald Ross who was born in England discovered that the Mosquitoes were in fact the cause of Malaria.

-- Mogadishu currency was an old coinage system dating from the medieval trading empire of Mogadishu when it centralized its commercial hegemony by minting its own coins to facilitate regional trade. The coins beared the names of 23 successive Sultans of Mogadishu. Some also adopted the style of the extant Fatimid and the Ottoman Empire currencies. Mogadishan coins were in widespread circulation, and have been found as far away as modern United Arab Emirates where a coin bearing the name of a 15th century Somali Sultan Ali b. Yusuf of Mogadishu was excavated.

-- Mogpaafis -- Somalia since independence anually hosted two of the four major film-festivals in Africa known as the Mogadishu Pan-African and Arab Film Symposium and the International African Film Festival.

**((Credit to SSC's "Constantine MMX"))**

Dude, u created this thread purely to show off Somalia and to that I say....not bad.

Not really. There was another thread I made a while back that was de-railed and closed. I thought it was a really good thread so decided to revive it.

Anyone and any country is free to contribute about their countries !!

-- Abd al-Aziz of Mogadishu was a 14th century Somali ruler in Kinolhas, Maldives. The presence and high position of Abd al-Aziz in this region highlights the close connections between medieval Maldives and the Somali seamen from Mogadishu sailing the Indian Ocean. They supplied Maldivian traders with exotic animals and musk, and contributed to the ethnogenesis of the Maldivian population. In 1346, Abd al-Aziz welcomed Ibn Battuta at his court and entertained him before giving him a barque to continue his journey.


Here are some Mogadishan coins:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Mogadishan_currency.JPG/217px-Mogadishan_currency.JPG

Somalia

- Somalia is also home to one of the highest grade myrrh resins. Dhofari frankincense, the best quality of Frankincense in the world, is native to the Somali Peninsula and also small parts of Yemen. Somali Incense farmers produce 90% of the world's Myrrh and Frankincense trade.

- I think the title "Nation of Poets" is very fitting for SOmalia. It is not unusual for mothers to have composed a poem for many if not all of their children; poetry is used in advertising, in plays, in music; it is used very much in politics and can sometimes even be decisive; a business does not open without a poem for the occasion.

Any major national event will usually have several poems published about it. If anything was a national/cultural tradition of the Somali people, it is poetry - it is quintessentially Somali.

The government even hires poets to praise its achievements, while the opposition uses poems for its critique.

Historically, in Somalia good poems could start or end a war.

Live threatre is extremely popular. Unlike western threatres Somali ones are written in poetic verses and they include alot of music and comedy. Back in Somalia threatre groups even toured the country.

Somalia

- The Somali people constitute one of the largest and most populous ethnic groups in the African continent (together with their neighbours Oromo and Amhara). Somalis alone number ~20 million in East Africa and can bve found in huge numbers not only in Somalia itself but also Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen.

- The HOA is also known as the Somali peninsula.

- The highlighted areas indicates where Somalis traditionally live in East Africa - it is an area larger than Egypt in size.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Somali_map.jpg/300px-Somali_map.jpg

http://dabaqiin.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/somaliweyn-map.jpg

Somalia

- Somalia had, if not the largest, one of the largest and most heavily equipped militaries in the African continent. According to which source one goes by, Somalia would have been ranked 2nd or 3rd.

- Somalia (and Ethiopia) fought the largest conventional war between two states on African soil since World Warll in the 1977 also known as the Ogaden war.

Ethiopia was supported by the Soviet Union, Cuba and South Yemen whose troops directly engaged Somali forces on behalf of Ethiopia. After Somalia has captured close to all of the occupied Somali regions in eastern Ethiopia, Cuba provided Ethiopia with 15,000 cuban soldiers who fought on the front-line. The Soviet union airlifted 1,000 advisors and strategists into ethiopia as well as 600 tanks and $4 billion dollars of emmediate military aid. The Soviet union also recruited, trained and armed 250,000 ethiopians troops for the sole purpose of fighting against Somalia.


kxqRtmAJcMI

Somalia

Somalia has a very long and rich history; and as the country has the longest coast in continental Africa, it is one of the oldest sea-faring and trading nations in the world.

Somalia has a number of ancient trading/port cities on both its Idian ocean cost and Gulf of Aden coast. With historically the wealthiest being the 1,000 year old city of Mogadishu. Others include Barawe, Berbera, Merca, Las Qoray, Hobyo etc.

Maritime history of Somalia refers to the seafaring tradition of the Somali people. It includes various stages of Somali navigational technology, shipbuilding and design, as well as the history of the Somali port cities. It also covers the historical sea routes taken by Somali sailors which sustained the commercial enterprises of the historical Somali kingdoms and empires, in addition to the contemporary maritime culture of Somalia.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Somali_Enterprise.JPG/800px-Somali_Enterprise.JPG

Ancient Somali port cities

Ancient

The most prominent cities of the Old World from the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Opone – In ancient times, the port city of Opone traded with merchants from Phoenicia, Egypt, Greece, Persia and the Roman Empire, and connected with traders from as far afield as Indonesia and Malaysia, exchanging spices, silks and other goods.

Tabae – Ancient port where sailors on their way to India could take refuge from the storms of the Indian Ocean.

Cape Guardafui – Known in ancient times as the Cape of Spices, it was an important place for the ancient cinnamon and Indian spice trade.

Mosyllon – The most important ancient port city of the Somali Peninsula, it handled a considerable amount of the Indian Ocean trade through its large ships and extensive harbour.

Malao – Ancient port city known for its commerce in frankincense and myrrh in exchange for cloaks, copper and gold from Arsinoe and India.

Mundus – Ancient port engaged in the fragrant gum and cinnamon trade with the Hellenic world.

Medieval

Zeila, Somalia in the Middle Ages was one of the most important port cities in the Horn of Africa.Barawa – Old port city in Somalia, which in the medieval era came under the influence of Mogadishu and the later Ajuuraan Empire.

Berbera – Dominant port city on the Gulf of Aden that had trade relations with the Tang Dynasty of China.

Gondershe – Medieval center of trade that handled smaller vessels sailing from India, Arabia, Persia and the Far East.

Hobyo – One of the commercial centers of the Ajuuraans and an important port city for the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca.

Kismayo – Sister city of Mogadishu and an important trade outlet during the Gobroon Dynasty.

Merka – Prominent medieval port city that collaborated with the Mogadishans in the Indian Ocean trade.

Mogadishu – The most important medieval city in East Africa and initiator of the East African gold trade. Before the period of civil strife, Mogadishu continued its historical position as the pre-eminent port city of East Africa.

http://www.balcad.com/photo/358.jpg

Zeila – Adalite city that traded with the Catalans and the Ottomans. Handled most of the trade of the northwestern Horn of Africa.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Zeila%2C_Somalia.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Zayla.jpg

Early modern and present

The northern port hub of Bosaso stands as one of the fastest growing cities in Somalia.Qandala – An important port city in the 18th and 19th centuries for the pilgrimage to Mecca, and for the caravan trains that came from the castle city of Botiala.

Las Khorey – Capital of the Warsangali Sultanate, it was at its zenith during the late 18th century. Today, the port continues to export mainly marine products. Somali environmentalist Fatima Jibrell is re-developing the centuries-old port with the aim of creating immediate employment for local residents. Over the long-term, this effort is intended to boost import and export opportunities to Somalia's northern coastal region, and thus also help rebuild communities and livelihoods.

Bosaso – Established by the Somali seafaring company Kaptallah in the early 19th century as Bandar Qassim, Bosaso has today become one of the fastest growing cities in Somalia and has replaced Mogadishu as the top port city.

Eyl – A Dervish city that was utilized for the weapons trade during the Scramble for Africa. Today, Eyl is a growing port city.


Twin cities of Marka and Barawe

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2207/2098352962_fa0b83c98a.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Barawa.jpg

Somalia

- The first African to export coffee and establish a coffee export corporation was a Somali man, Mohammed Abdillahi Kahin Ogsadey, from the Somalia town of Gabiley. He started to export coffee from Ethiopia and now Ethiopia is the 3rd largest Arabica Coffee producer in the world. This made him the wealthiest person in Ethiopia.

COMPANY LOGO

http://image.made-in-china.com/0f1j00kqEQjeTCgtsB/Mohamed-Abdullahi-Ogsadey.jpg

Somalia

- The first African to export coffee and establish a coffee export corporation was a Somali man, Mohammed Abdillahi Kahin Ogsadey, from the Somalia town of Gabiley. He started to export coffee from Ethiopia and now Ethiopia is the 3rd largest Arabica Coffee producer in the world. This made him the wealthiest person in Ethiopia.


BIB - how exactly are the first part of your sentence and the second part related? Are you saying we became a large coffee producer because of him?

I'd like to see a source for the last sentence too. There were a lot of wealthy people during that time, including the royal family and other aristocrats. So for him to be the wealthiest person ahead of massive landowners would be very surprising.

- First African Head of State to step down after a defeat in an election year was Somalia's first president Aden Abdulle Osman Daar, in 1967:

http://www.falaar.com/images/Adan_adde.jpg
Aden Abdulle Osman Daar (1908 – June 8, 2007), popularly known as Aadan Cadde, was a Somali politician and the country's first President from July 1, 1960 to June 10, 1967. He joined the incipient Somali Youth League (SYL) political party in 1944, a nationalist organization that campaigned for an independent Somalia. Quickly rising through the ranks, Daar became the local secretary of the SYL's Beledweyne branch in 1946. A decade later, he became Chairman of the National Legislative Assembly, and would eventually lead the SYL itself two years afterwards.

By the time Somalia gained its independence in 1960, Daar had attained widespread prominence as a nationalist figure. In short order, he was elected the country's first President, a position he would assume from 1960 to 1967. Fellow SYL member Haji Bashir Ismail Yusuf would serve as the first President of the Somali National Assembly.

In the 1967 presidential election, Daar was defeated by Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, his former Prime Minister. His term as president ended on June 10, 1967. Daar accepted the loss graciously, making history as the first leader in Africa to peacefully hand over power to a democratically elected successor. - source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aden_Abdullah_Osman_Daar)

http://dabaqiin.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/the-first-president-aden-abdullah-osman.jpg
President Aden Abdulle at his desk in Villa Somalia.

http://www.biyokulule.com/sawiro/sawirada_waaweyn/Shermarke.jpg
President Aden Abdulle and his successor, President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/23443_108062299224717_108052855892328_123176_3054508_n.jpg
President Aden Abdulle with the First Somali Prime-Minister Abdullahi Isse.

http://www.xildhibanpublications.com/images/Aadan%20Adde%20Abdirisak%20Haji%20&%20Nakruma%20of%20Gana.jpg
President Aden Abdulle conversing with President Nakruma of Ghana.

http://nasser.bibalex.org/Data/photos/web/1324-1.jpg
President Aden Abdulle with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and his children in Cairo.

Aden Adde Airport was named after the him:
http://cdn-wac.emirates247.com/polopoly_fs/1.335171.1293553277!/image/863153809.jpg

Let me add this one in your list:

The new Biometric passport "e-passport" Somalia is the first country on the African continent to have introduced the "e-passport". And it was introduced and approved by the nation's Transitional Federal Government on 10 October 2006.

http://i.imgur.com/K9MQs.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lQ4wv.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lpYG7.jpg

Very good read. I learnt several new information I didn't know before:cheers:

- Dr. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdulqawi_Yusuf) born and educated in Somalia is one of only two African judges in the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands.

http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqnadsJmBU1r1knvgo1_r1_500.jpg

Great info, keep them coming please.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTogZ0ZoXBVHlcKMeUul2_wkIwsKa-JO9Jb2tvvbon45CgRi2TKVA

that the Somali Ajuuraan State excelled in hydraulic engineering and fortress building?
http://usuarios.multimania.es/superjulio/IMPERIOS%20DEL%20AFRICA%20SUBSAHARIANA%202%20(CENTRAL,%20ORIENTAL%20Y%20AUSTRAL)/Mapas%20Imperiales%20Imperio%20de%20Ajuuraan.gif

that Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, a Somali Imam and General of the Adal Sultanate, invaded Ethiopia and defeated several Ethiopian emperors, wreaking much damage on that kingdom?
http://somalimidnimo.com/salafi/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/220px-King_Ahmed_Gurey_Mog.jpg

that Somali maritime enterprise stretches back to antiquity?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Somali_Enterprise.JPG

that the Laas Geel cave paintings, located near Hargeisa, are 4,000–11,000 years old?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Laas_Geel.jpg

that the Fakr ad-Din mosque is the oldest Islamic building in the Horn of Africa?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Fakr_Ud_Din_Mosque.jpg/250px-Fakr_Ud_Din_Mosque.jpg

that Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, a Somali religious and nationalist leader and commander of the Dervish State, led a resistance war against British, Italian and Ethiopian forces for over two decades?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Sayyid_Mohammed_Abdullah_Hassan.jpeg/220px-Sayyid_Mohammed_Abdullah_Hassan.jpeg

that Somalia was and still is known as the Nation of Poets?
http://media-cache-ec1.pinterest.com/avatars/poetnation-9_600.jpg

That Burco has the largest population of Carcal Cats in the world.
http://zlg.kepu.gov.cn/zlg/tuke/17/images/t649-2.jpg

That Burco has the largest population of Carcal Cats in the world.
http://zlg.kepu.gov.cn/zlg/tuke/17/images/t649-2.jpg

Interesting. How did you find this out? source?

Sayid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan greatest example along with Aden adde and Sharmake and S.Bare before he turned on his people.