Somali History

The shabelle(Leopard) river does not enter the india ocean but instead turns paralled to the coast and runs southward for 170 miles (274 kilometers) before drying up in marshes and sand flats.

The port city of Mogadishu in southeastern Somalia on the Indian ocean, is the largest city and the traditional capital of Somalia. Mogadishu was largely destroyed in the fighting between Clans during the civil-war of the 1990’s.

All Somalis speak Somali, the official language. In the Afro-Asiatic family of languages, Somali is an eastern Cushitic language. Somali did not become a write language until January 1973.

Common Somali is the most widely spoken dialect, but Coast Somali and central Somali also are spoken. Arabic, the language of the Qur’an,is spoken and read for religious purposes. Milk from Camels,goats,and cows is a major food for Somali herdsmen and nomadic families.

Somalia's ills have always come in waves, starting in 1991 when clan-based militias overthrew the central government and the country plunged into anarchy.

That fighting, like the fighting today, disrupted markets, kept out aid shipments and led to rapid inflation of food prices. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people starved. Somalia famine has caused thousands of people to flee from their homes, where they have no access to the resources that are necessary for survival, to makeshift camps.

Often, people who are suffering from famine in Somalia have attempted to cross into bordering countries, such as Kenya, where they are refused entrance into the country and are offered little or no assistance. Many individuals die in these camps or near the borders of neighboring countries.