Somaliland

/soh mah"lee land', seuh-/, n.

a coastal region in E Africa, including Djibouti, Somalia, and the Ogaden part of Ethiopia.

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I

Historical name for the region of eastern Africa between the Equator and the Gulf of Aden that includes Somalia, Djibouti, and southeastern Ethiopia.

It has an area of about 300,000 sq mi (777,000 sq km). The region probably formed part of the "Land of Punt" known to the ancient Egyptians. Between the 7th and 12th centuries, Muslim traders from Arabia and Iran settled on the coast and formed sultanates. The nomadic Somali, who occupied the northern part of the country between the 10th and 15th centuries, adopted Islam and served in their armies. Gradually the sultanates themselves came under Somali control. In the late 19th century, France, Italy, and Britain partitioned the region among themselves. In 1960 British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland were united to form the Republic of Somalia. French Somaliland became independent as the Republic of Djibouti in 1977. In 1991 British Somaliland announced that it was becoming an independent state, the Republic of Somaliland; it was not internationally recognized.

II

(as used in expressions)

British Somaliland

Italian Somaliland

French Somaliland

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▪ historical region, Africa

Introduction

 historically, the area now comprising Somalia and Djibouti (Djibouti, history of). The name is also used to refer to the Republic of Somaliland, a self-declared independent country in the Horn of Africa.

Historical region

      The region probably formed part of the “Land of Punt” known to the ancient Egyptians. Between the 7th and the 12th century AD, Muslim traders from Arabia and Iran settled on the coast, founding the cities of Seylac and Berbera on the Gulf of Aden and Marka, Baraawe, and Mogadishu along the Indian Ocean. They exported gums and resins, ostrich feathers, and slaves, waged war against the Christian Ethiopians of the interior, and organized themselves into sultanates ( Adal, centred at Seylac, and Ajuran, centred at Mogadishu). The nomadic Somali, who occupied the northern part of the country between the 10th and the 15th century, adopted Islam and served in the armies of the sultanates. Gradually the sultanates themselves came under Somali control, and the Somali expanded southward toward Kenya.

      When the European nations began to partition Africa among themselves in the late 19th century, France already possessed (from 1862) a coaling station at Obock near the mouth of the Red Sea, other areas of the north coast were occupied by Egypt, and southern Somaliland recognized the overlordship of the sultan of Zanzibar. By the end of the 1880s, France had expanded its holdings to the area of present Djibouti, Britain (British Somaliland) had established a protectorate over the north coast opposite its base at Aden, and Italy controlled the remainder of the country. In the north the Muslim leader Sayyid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan (Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan, Sayyid) began a war against the British in 1899 and maintained his hold over the interior until his death in 1920. The Italians acquired Jubaland in the extreme south after World War I, and in 1936 they united their Somali possessions with Ethiopia to form Italian East Africa. The British won control of the Italian zone during World War II. In 1960 British and Italian Somaliland were united to form the independent Republic of Somalia. French Somaliland (renamed the French Territory of the Afars and Issas in 1967) became independent as the Republic of Djibouti in 1977.

Republic of Somaliland

      Following the civil war that began in Somalia in the 1980s and the subsequent overthrow of that country's government in 1991, a government opposition group, the Somali National Movement, secured the region comprising the former British Somaliland. In May 1991 they announced that the 1960 federation was no longer valid, and declared their region to be an independent state, henceforth to be known as the Republic of Somaliland. Though not internationally recognized, Somaliland experienced relative stability—a sharp contrast to the civil war that continued to engulf Somalia. Taking advantage of this stability, the Somaliland government was able to rebuild much of the region's infrastructure, which had been damaged by years of warfare.

      Since the late 1990s there has been tension between Somaliland and Puntland (an area in the northeastern part of Somalia, which declared itself an autonomous region in 1998). Each disputed the other's claim to the Sanaag and Sool regions, and armed confrontations have periodically ensued.

      In 2001, 10 years after breaking away from Somalia, Somaliland still was not internationally recognized as an independent country. Undeterred, the government held a referendum that year, the results of which clearly showed that Somaliland's inhabitants supported the region's claim of independence. As it had in the past, in 2003 the Somaliland government rejected invitations to participate in peace talks aimed at reunifying Somalia, maintaining that its independent status precluded it from being a party to such discussions.

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