Somalia

The country is today officially known as the Republic of Somalia (جمهورية الصومال‎). During the classical period many city states arose along the coast, inviting trade from Phoenicia, Egypt, Greece, Persia, Saba, Nabataea and the Roman Empire. Present day Somalia was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. Islam began to influence Somali culture in the 7th century, with Mogadishu becoming the Islamic cultural center of East Africa. Yet the region remained a scattered collection of city states and minor kingdoms well into the 16th century, when dynasties such as the Gerad, Bari and Gobroon began carving out larger territories to govern. During the 19th century, as various European powers began the "Scramble for Africa," Britain and Italy were both competing for control of what would eventually become Somalia. Each successfully established its own colony or protectorate, British Somaliland (est. 1884) in the north and Italian Somaliland (est. 1889) making up the bulk of the coastline. This prompted the creation of the Dervish State (established by Somali religious leader Muhammad Abdullah Hassan), which successfully repelled several British incursions and would eventually be recognized as an ally by Germany and the Ottoman Empire during the First Wworld War. The Dervish State finally fell in 1920 following a British campaign of aerial bombing.

British Somaliland was captured by Italy in August 1940, thus bringing all of present day Somalia under Italian control for a brief period, until retaken along with the rest of Somalia by the British in February of 1941. After the war, the League of Nations returned control of Italian Somaliland to Italy. Thus it was not until June of 1960 that Somalia would achieve its independence as the Somali Republic.

Democratic government would be short-lived, however, when in October 1969 President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was assassinated and the Somali Army siezed power in a military coup d'etat. The constitution was subsequently suspended and the country renamed the Somali Democratic Republic, effectively under a communist government (embracing scientific socialism and Islamic tenets). During the Ogaden War (July 13, 1977 to March 15, 1978) Somali forces attempted to sieze control of the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, but were repelled by that nation (with Soviet and Cuban military assistance). Somalia would until 1988 be adopted as a Cold War client state by the United States.