Happy Independence Day Somalia

“To be without knowledge is to be without light” - Somali Proverb

(Somalia flag (1954-Present)

Somalia is located in the horn of Africa.

(Map of where Somalia is located)

Its capital is Mogadishu. Mogadishu is also its largest city. The official languages are Somali and Arabic. The country is 246,200 square miles. Somalia is 95% African, 2.5% Asian, and 2.5% European. 99.8% of Somalia practice Islam, 0.1% practice Christianity and 0.1% practice Animism. The total population is 10,816,143. The climate is tropical. Somalia is a federal parliamentary republic.

(Mogadishu, capital of Somalia)

Somalia cuisine consists of rice, and halva.

(Somalia cuisine)

The major style of music is centred on traditional Somali folklore.

(Somalians performing music)

Somalia’s most popular sport is soccer.

(Somalia’s soccer team)

Somalia was 1st inhabited in the 4th millennium BC. Pyramidical structures and mausoleums were constructed during this time.

(Ancient structures in Somalia)

In the 2nd millennium BC the kingdoms of Somalia traded a lot with the kingdoms of Egypt. The name of the area was called “The Land of Punt”. Puntite King Parahu and Queen Ati ruled over the land.

(A drawing of Queen Ati (Middle) and King Parahu (Right))

Camels were 1st domesticated in the Land of Punt. In the 7th century Islam was introduced to the area. In the 9th century the Adal kingdom controlled large parts of modern day Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Eritrea.

(The ruins of the Adal kingdom)

In 1332 the King of Adal was slain in a military campaign. In the early 15th century Adal's capital was moved further inland. In the 16th century Mogadishu was a major trading port. The Warsangali Sultanate, the Bari Dynasties, the Sultanate of the Geledi (Gobroon dynasty), the Majeerteen Sultanate (Migiurtinia), and the Sultanate of Hobyo (Obbia) started to flourish in Somalia. Sultan Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim, the third Sultan of the House of Gobroon, started the golden age of the Gobroon Dynasty. In the 19th century Ahmed Yusuf became one of the most important figures in East Africa. He created alliances with important Muslim families on the East African coast. In 1884 due to the European scramble for Africa Mohammed Abdullah Hassan rallied support from across the Horn of Africa and began one of the longest colonial resistance wars ever.

(A drawing of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan)

Hassan issued a religious ordinance stipulating that any Somali national who did not accept the goal of unity of Somalia and would not fight under his leadership would be considered to be kafir. He also gave a clarion call for Somali unity and independence. He repulsed the British in four expeditions and had relations with the Central Powers of the Ottomans and the Germans. In 1920 the Dervish state of Somalia collapsed after intensive aerial bombardments by Britain, and Dervish territories were subsequently turned into a protectorate.

(Soldiers of the Dervish state)

In 1923 the Italians colonized Somalia and changed the name to “Italian Somaliland”.

(Italian Somaliland flag (1861-1946))

In 1940 Italian troops, including Somali colonial units, crossed from Ethiopia to invade British Somaliland. In 1941 A British force, including troops from several African countries launched a campaign from Kenya to liberate British Somaliland and Italian occupied Ethiopia and conquer Italian Somaliland.

(Somali soldiers)

They were assisted by Somali forces led by Abdulahi Hassan with Somalis of the Isaaq, Dhulbahante, and Warsangali clans prominently participating. In 1945 the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland. British Somaliland remained a protectorate of Britain until 1960. On July 1st, 1960 British and Italian Somaliland gained its independence. They came together and renamed their self “Somali Republic”.

(Somalia flag (1960-Present))

A government was formed by Abdullahi Issa and Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal. Aden Abdullah Osman Daar became president of the Somali Republic.

(Aden Abdullah Osman Daar)

In 1967 Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal became Prime Minister. In 1969 there was a military coup d'état in which the Somali Army seized power without encountering armed opposition.

(Somali leaders)

The SRC renamed the country the “Somali Democratic Republic”. The revolutionary army established large scale public works programs and successfully implemented an urban and rural literacy campaign. In 1974 the country joined the Arab League. In 1976 the SRC disbanded itself and established in its place the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP).

(Propaganda of the SRSP)

In 1977 the Ogaden War broke out. Somalia controlled 90% of the Ogaden and captured strategic cities such as Jijiga and put heavy pressure on Dire Dawa. By 1978 the Somali troops were ultimately pushed out of the Ogaden.

(Somali soldiers)

In 1979 a new constitution was promulgated. In 1980 the SRSP was disbanded, and the Supreme Revolutionary Council was reestablished in its place.

(Leader of the Supreme Revolutionary Council)

The government became increasingly authoritarian, and resistance movements, encouraged by Ethiopia, sprang up across the country. Among the militia groups were the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), United Somali Congress (USC), Somali National Movement (SNM) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), together with the non-violent political oppositions of the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM), the Somali Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the Somali Manifesto Group (SMG). In 1991 the administration was ousted by a coalition of clan-based opposition groups, backed by Ethiopia's then ruling Derg regime and Libya. In the south, armed factions led by USC commanders General Mohamed Farah Aidid and Ali Mahdi Mohamed, in particular, clashed as each sought to exert authority over the capital.

(Somali soldiers during the civil war)

In 1993 19 American troops and more than 1,000 civilians and militia were killed in a raid in Mogadishu.

(US soldiers in Somalia)

In 1996 Aidid was killed in Mogadishu. 1.1 million people were displaced due to the civil war. In 2008 a multinational coalition took on the task of combating the piracy by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) within the Gulf of Aden.

(Somali pirates)

In 2011 a coordinated operation, Operation Linda Nchi between the Kenyan and Somali military and multinational forces began against the Al-Shabaab group of insurgents in southern Somalia. In 2012 Kenyan, Raskamboni, and Somali forces had managed to capture Al-Shabaab's last major stronghold, the southern port of Kismayo. In 2014 Somalia was no longer at the top of the fragile states index.

(Somalia in 2014)

Today marks the 56th anniversary of Somalia’s independence and we would like to say happy independence day Somalia.

Videos of Somalia Independence

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO3HtSbaPGM  “Somali independence Day 1960”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj0GXsDDqYY  “Somali Independence Day in Columbus Ohio (2015)”

(P.S. sorry for the late post)