10 Interesting Facts About Somalia. Somalia is a country in the Horn of
Africa noted for extensive poverty, civil wars, territorial conflicts, and an unstable
administration. Somalia, like every other country on the planet, has its own thrilling destinations,
distinct cultures, and amazing geographical facts. It stretches from just south of the Equator to the
Gulf of Aden, occupying a strategic geopolitical location between Sub-Saharan Africa and Arabian
and southern Asian countries. It covers 637,657 square kilometers. Its capital and largest city
is Mogadishu. Somalia's official languages are Somali and Arabic. Its official currency is the
Somali shilling (SOS). Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya are its neighboring nations. Somalia has a
massive coastline, prehistoric rock paintings, and a terrible and complicated history, among other
things. The environment is primarily arid and hot, with thornbush savanna and semidesert landscapes,
and Somalia's residents have developed similarly challenging economic survival techniques.
Apart from a mountainous coastal zone in the north and numerous distinct river basins,
the majority of the nation is fairly flat, with few natural obstacles preventing nomads
and their livestock from moving around. The Somali people are clan-based Muslims,
and roughly three-fifths of them practice a nomadic pastoralism or agropastoralism lifestyle.
The following is a collection of some of the most fascinating and unusual facts about Somalia.
10. The People (Ethnic groups) The Somalis account for the vast bulk
of Somalia's population. They are grouped into a number of clans, which are groups of people
who have a common ancestor. These clans, which are further subdivided into countless subclans,
come together to form clan families at a higher level. The Rahanwayn and Digil clan families
inhabit the interfluvial area of southern Somalia, and together they are known as the Sab. The Sab,
who are primarily farmers and agropastoralists, include both natives and several Somali clans
who have immigrated to this climatically favorable location. Other clan families include the Daarood,
who live in northeastern Somalia, the Ogaden, and the Somali-Kenyan border region; the Hawiye,
who are primarily on both sides of the middle Shabeelle in south-central Somalia; and the Isaaq,
who live in northern Somalia's central and western regions. There are also the Dir, who live in the
country's northern region but are also scattered throughout southern Somalia, and the Tunni, who
live along the coast between Marca and Kismaayo. The Bagiunis, a Swahili fishing community,
live along the small coastal strip and offshore islands near the Kenyan border. Several tens of
thousands of Arabs, mostly of Yemenite ancestry, are an economically prominent minority. Another
economically significant community is the Bantu, who are primarily responsible for the lucrative
irrigated agriculture practiced on the Jubba and Shabeelle rivers' lower and middle sections.
9. Language. The Somali language is part of the Afro-Asian
language family's Cushitic branch. Despite many regional dialects, it is widely spoken
and is an official language in the country. Arabic is the second official language, spoken
primarily in northern Somalia and coastal areas. Because of Somalia's colonial background, many
individuals are fluent in English and Italian, which are utilized at the country's colleges
and universities in addition to Somali. In the south, Swahili is also spoken. Somalia adopted a
Latin alphabet-based national orthography in 1973. Somali has previously been an unwritten language.
8. Demographic factor. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first
centuries, Somalia's population grew by roughly 3% every year. The country has one of the world's
highest rates of infant mortality. The Somali population has a life expectancy of around 50
years, which is significantly lower than that of its neighbors. More than two-fifths of Somalia's
population is under the age of 15, making it a comparatively young country. A high rate of
young males migrating to the cities has resulted in a disproportionately large percentage of older
individuals in most rural areas, as well as substantial unemployment in the cities. Hundreds
of thousands of Somalis fled to Somalia after the Ogaden crisis of 1977–78 (in which Somalia
attacked and seized Ethiopia's Ogaden region before being defeated and pushed out). Somalia's
civil war broke out soon after the Ogaden battle ended, and more than one million Somalis have
sought refuge in neighboring countries, with hundreds of thousands more internally displaced.
7. The Economy of Somalia. Agriculture accounts for almost three-fifths
of Somalia's economy; however, livestock keeping, not crop cultivation, is the predominant economic
activity. Mohamed Siad Barre's military government imposed a system of "Scientific Socialism"
between 1969 and the early 1980s, which included the nationalization of banks, insurance companies,
oil companies, and large industrial firms, as well as the establishment of state-owned enterprises,
farms, and trading companies, as well as the formation of state-controlled cooperatives.
In the end, this experiment harmed the Somali economy significantly,
and the economy has suffered even more as a result of the civil conflict since the military regime's
collapse. The country remained one of the poorest in the world in the early twenty-first century,
and its major sources of income were foreign aid, remittances, and the informal sector.
6. Resources and Power. The most significant resource in
Somalia is its pastures, which cover the majority of the country. Only a few deposits of tin,
phosphate, gypsum, guano, coal, iron ore, and uranium exist in Somalia, and the amount
and quality are insufficient for mining to be profitable. However, the clay mineral sepiolite,
or meerschaum, deposits in south-central Somalia are among the world's greatest known reserves.
Natural gas reserves have been discovered, but they have yet to be used.
Several locations along the coast acquire sea salt. The country's few existing power stations,
which are located in Mogadishu, Hargeisa, and Kismaayo, are frequently out of commission,
resulting in frequent power outages that have a negative impact on manufacturing operations.
(There are no power plants in rural areas.) After the collapse of the government in 1991,
the construction of dams on the Jubba River for hydroelectricity and irrigation was halted.
5. Manufacturing Sector. Manufacturing did not account for a large share
of economic activity in the early twenty-first century. Small workshops in the informal sector
produce a variety of necessities for daily life. Mogadishu was Somalia's main industrial center
before 1991, with bottling facilities, companies making spaghetti, cigarettes, matches, and boats,
a petroleum refinery, a small tractor assembly facility, and modest building material businesses.
There was a meat-tinning industry, a tannery, and a contemporary fish factory in Kismaayo.
There were two sugar refineries, one near Jilib on the Jubba's lower reaches and the other
near Jawhar (Giohar) on the Shabeelle's middle reaches. However, even before the civil war in
Somalia wreaked havoc on the country's factories, production was low. Over long periods of time,
many plants did not function at full capacity or produced nothing at all.
4. Finance. The Central Bank of Somalia,
the Commercial and Savings Bank of Somalia, and the Somali Development Bank, which mostly
offers loans for development projects, are the three primary nationalized banks.
The formal banking sector's functions were significantly hampered after the government
collapsed in 1991. The Somali shilling, the country's currency, has been declining for years.
In the 1990s, a lack of real currency led to an upsurge in counterfeiting and the establishment
of regional currencies. Inflation was aided by the profusion of newly produced currency in the
early 2000s. All of these obstacles have hampered the country's economic development significantly.
The Somaliland shilling is the currency of the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland.
3. Trade. Somalia suffers from a
significant trade deficit. Livestock and bananas are the country's principal exports, which are
primarily shipped to Arab countries. Hides and skins, seafood, and frankincense and myrrh are
among the other products sent. Almost everything is imported, including food for a city populace
that has lost touch with its roots. Aside from the legal market, there is a thriving informal market
in which tens of thousands of Somali migrants in Arab nations provide things that aren't available
on the Somali market while avoiding import charges. Because salaries in Somalia are so
low, practically every household is involved in informal trade, either directly or indirectly.
2. The Government and Society (Constitutional framework).
The president and his followers held key positions of authority under the 19 79 constitution, which
was revised in 19 90, and the People's Assembly had no actual power. The legal system was mostly
based on Islamic law; there was no independent judiciary; and human rights were often violated.
Only the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party, a legal political party, and various socialist-style
mass organizations existed. The constitution was ignored after the central authority collapsed in
19 91. Several clan-based political coalitions and alliances attempted to take control of
the country. One of these alliances formed the independent Republic of Somaliland in the north
in May 19 91, while another declared the autonomous province of Puntland in the
northeast in July 19 98. Despite the fact that neither is recognized by the international world,
each has formed its own government. Despite repeated attempts to terminate the violence
and build a new administration, the fractured, conflict-riven south remained mostly in the
hands of several clan-based militia groups at war with one another. The last transitional
government was established in 2004 as a result of the passage of the Transitional Federal Charter.
It established a Transitional Federal Parliament and a Transitional Federal Government with a
president, prime minister, and cabinet known as the Council of Ministers. In 2009, the charter was
changed to prolong the transitional government's original five-year mandate for another two years,
and then again in 2011 to extend it for another year. The lower house of a new federal parliament
was sworn in on August 20, 2012, the day before the transitional administration was set to expire;
the following month, that body elected a new president for the country.
1. Healthcare and Welfare. Somalia is in a state of emergency due
to years of conflict, severe drought, and famine. War has forced hundreds of thousands of Somalis to
flee their homes. In many sections of the country, chronic food shortages have resulted in high rates
of malnutrition. Much of Somalia lacks proper sanitation and water resources. Malaria, cholera,
measles, TB, and tuberculosis are all common. International relief organizations are straining
to deliver vital services traditionally provided by the government due to the absence of health and
welfare infrastructure in the country, which has been largely damaged as a result of years
of conflict. Continued violence thwarts their efforts, and most Somalis have limited or no
access to health care. The Republic of Somaliland and Puntland have slightly better conditions than
the rest of the country, but they are still far from perfect. Because of the two self-governing
areas' overall stability, they have been able to restore much of their health-care infrastructure.
Somalia is a rapidly developing African country that has overcome various hurdles
to stand the test of time. Despite being a poor third-world country, the country has managed to
preserve its historical and cultural values, particularly in terms of religion (Islam).
You might wish to travel to Somalia and learn more about this country in northeastern Africa.
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