Somalia+History


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**__Colonial competitors: AD 1839-1897__**

The Europeans became interested in Somalia for trade purposes. The British began using Aden as a coaling station for ships that were on the route to India after 1839. The British require meat and the easiest local source of meat was the Somalian coastline. France and Italy quickly followed suite setting up coaling facilities for their own ships. They were in the northern Somalia regions. The french made Djibouti, now its own country since 1977. The Italians were up even farther north in the region called Eritrea. Quickly the three countries realized how valuable the land of Somalia was for the trade business and the began to compete over the Somalian territory. However, surprisingly enough there was another country who wanted the land, Ethiopia! France and Britain agreed in 1888 on a regional line between their minor shares of the coast only after a major risk of an armed encounter.

 The real winners in this battle were Italy and Ethiopia has the gained most of the coastline. They had a treaty that divided the land of Eritrea. However, this treaty had major disagreements of the land and the meaning. This ended up with an outright war between Ethiopia and Italy in 1896. The Italians ended up losing this war with a devastating defeat at Aduwa where 4  000 of their men were killed and another 2000 men were captured before their retreat. This had a major effect on the rest of the land of Somalia. The middle grounds of Somalia were not ran by anyone, but Italy was very active in central Somalia, especially the area known as Ogaden. Ogaden is located in between the coast of Somalia that Italy owned and Ethiopia. With all the men that were killed at Aduwa, it is hard for Italy to resist Ethiopia's claim to the land. This results in a new agreement between Italy and Ethiopia. Ethiopia received Ogaden and Haud, the southern strip of the coastline. This agreement works until the 1920's when Italy becomes under control by a new man named Mussolini. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad20


 * **__Fascism, World War II and independence: AD 1923-1967__** ||  ||   ||
 * In 1923 a whole new era of conflict occurs in Somalia because of the new dictator of Italy, Mussolini. He wanted to extend the Italian imperial interests including Somalia and Ethiopia. . Mussolini requires the land of Somalia and also Ethiopia by 1936, and they are now known as Italian East Africa. By 1940 the British are done with their territory withdrawing their people from it. However in 1941 they reclaim the land by force from the Italians. They also claim all of the Italian land that they conquered. The French maintain their land and the allays blockaded the land from the Italians when they tried to recover it. This meant that by 1942 Italy had no say in the Somalian land.

 The United Nations came to a treaty agreement with the Italians, telling them that they could have their land back in 1948, but within ten years from that Somalia needed to be its own independent country. This is how the land of Somalia was created, and how it became its own country. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad20 **__Somali conflicts: AD 1960-1999__**

The major political problem with the new independent Somalia was trying to reunite the three independent Somali groups trapped in the other states,- French territory, Ethiopia, and the areas in northern Kenya. The major problem with this was that Ethiopia and Kenya both had suppost from the west. This causes Somalia to make a horrendous mistake and get help from the Soviet Union. Somalia did a good job of remaining political neutral during the 1960s on a world level. In 1969 however, this all changed.

Somalia was intended to be a democracy, but the winning party of the first elections of the new republic is the Somali Youth League. THis was formed to gain independence within British Somali land. The Somali Youth League did a great job of staying out of the Cold War, and tried taking care of its own people. Muhammad Egal was elected for a second term, and things were looking up for Somalia until a POLICEMAN murdered the president.A few days later Mohamed Siad Barre the commander of the army takes power of a confused country in mourning. He has no intentions of staying out of the cold war and quickly sides with the Soviets. He introduces a Marxist dictatorship onto Somalia. He forced supremacy of a party and a nations instead of the local class loyalties which was a very strong part of the Somalian culture. This dictator ends up destroying the Somalia clans, which causes lthe people of the country to become bitter and hate him.

 Then in 1977 Siad has a chance to reclaim the land of Ogaden from Ethiopia, which was falling apart after the fall of Haile Selassie. Somalia troops start off strong and attack the Ethiopians in the Ogaden. They even begin to take the city of Harar. However, in an ironic turn of events, Said is betrayed by the Soviets, who now see more good in Ehtopia. The Ethiopians take control of the battle using Soviet tanks and weapons, and with the help of Cuban soldiers defeat the Somalians. This puts Somalia into a whole new realm of chaos.

 Clan based and regional guerrilla groups are formed after the defeat from Ethiopia. These groups are formed in and around the outskirts of Somalia. All of them have the same intention, stopping Siad's dictating way of ruling. By 1988 this results in a civil war, and in 1991 Siad is overthrown. Somalia becomes a country of many warlords, blood shed, and famine. Somalia still lives this way, with no central government helping its people. Genocide runs rampant, and nobody can maintain a stable government because everyone gets over turned. The people are famished, and the United Nations could only do so much. A particular incident shows the risk involved in trying to help Somalia. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad20

|| **__Black Hawk Down__**

March Third 1993 was a very well known day in Somalia history. Unfortunately it is a negative memory for their country. This was the day that two U.S. black hawk helicopters were shot down by rocket propelled grenades that were wielded by Somalian civilians that supported future president Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The Somalian militia soldiers took the helicopter passengers hostage. The next day the U.S. 10th Mountain Division and Pakistan allies were sent to retrieve the hostages. The soldiers were able to rescue the captives from the first helicopter, but Mike Durant who was the pilot of the second helicopter was taken captive. He was the only survivor from the second crash. He was later released from captivity though. The United Nations stopped sending aid after this event which hurt the civilians of the country. This event has been made into an award winning book and movie. It only heightens the negative perception that the Western World have on the Somalian people. These people were acting out of desperation and taking orders from a crooked leader. These two days severely hurt the lives of many Somalians. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad20

**__Modern Day Somalia__** The modern day Somalian lives the life of poverty. Somalia is rated the fifth poorest country in the world with a GDP per capital at a staggering low 600 dollars. With no aide many people are staving to death. The life expectancy of the average Somalian is a staggering 48 years of age. This is more than 20 years below the average life expectancy of an American. They have no stable government because the leaders keep getting overturned by militia forces. Many people have resorted to drastic measures to feed themselves and their family. Their needs to be global aide to help the children like the ones pictured below have at least food and clothing. http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad20 ** ﻿ **