Somalia+Geography

Geography
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__Somalia Location and Population__

Somalia is located on the Eastern coast of Africa. Somalia's coastline is on the Gulf of Aden and the Indian River. The coastline is 3,025 kilometers. The total area of the country is 637,657 square kilometers. 637,337 square kilometers is land while 10,320 square kilometers is water. The highest point in Somalia is Mount Surud Ad which is 7,900 feet above sea level. Its lowest point is sea level around the coast line. Somalia is slightly smaller than the state of Texas. Somalia is part of the area of Africa called the "Horn of Africa" because part of the country protrudes out into the Aden Sea. The surrounding countries are Djibouti to the north, Ethiopia to the east, and Kenya to the south east. Somalia has 9,133,124 residents as of 2009. http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcsomalia.htm

http://www.geographicguide.net/africa/somalia.htm **Somalia Climate**

The climate of Somalia depends on the season. The country as a whole is mostly barren desert, but there are two Monsoon seasons. When the northeastern monsoon is in effect (December to February) the weather is moderately hot in the North, and hot in the South. When the southwest monsoon is in effect (May to October) the south is still very hot, but the north is even hotter. Rainfall is irragular outside of the monsoon periods, and in between the monsoon periods it can get very hot and humid, especially in the tangambii region. http://countrystudies.us/somalia/34.htm **Somalia Topography** The terrain of Somalia is very contrasting. The north part of Somalia is a land of maritime plains. These plains are just lands of dry sand beds. These sand beds only have vegetation when the monsoon season hits the north. This vegetation allows the nomadic animals to live in the north during the monsoon season. Inland from the gulf coast the land become very mountainous and form the Karkaar mountain ranges that extend all the way to Ethiopia. The farther south you head in Somalia the mountains begin to break up forming many plateaus across the land. South East Somalia becomes a gradual slope towards the Indian River. In the center of Somalia is the Mudug Plain which relies on annual rainfall to supply the water through seasonal intermittent watercourses. The Mudug Plain was a major disaster area during the drought of 1975 and 1976 due to the lack of consistent water flow. http://countrystudies.us/somalia/35.htm



http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Somalia_Topography_en.png **Natural Resources**

Some natural resources that Somalia has are uranium, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas, and likely other reserves of petruluem. None of these resources have been highly exploited. There are some pastural land in the Mudug Plain and park of the northern coastline, but it is very unreliable due to the changing in climates. http://countrystudies.us/somalia/35.htm