The actions and beliefs of extremist groups such as Al-Shabaab do not represent the religious interpretations of average Somali people see Religion. Do not make jokes that Somali refugees are criminals or pirates. Such stereotypes are ill-informed and can be offensive. Other Considerations. Business Culture. Somalis in Australia. Sign up for free.
Inclusion Program Join over organisations already creating a better workplace. Download this Cultural Profile. Too busy to read it right now? Where do we get our statistics? Displacement and Access to Humanitarian Assistance. Somali , people of Africa occupying all of Somalia , a strip of Djibouti, the southern Ethiopian region of Ogaden, and part of northwestern Kenya. Except for the arid coastal area in the north, the Somalis occupy true nomad regions of plains, coarse grass, and streams.
Do not travel to Somalia due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, health issues, kidnapping, and piracy. Country Summary: Violent crime, such as kidnapping and murder, is common throughout Somalia , including Puntland and Somaliland. Illegal roadblocks are also widespread. Relying on estimates from various faith-based and community organizations, social-service agencies and other sources, the Islamic Center of Minnesota puts the number of non-Somali Muslims in the state at 55, In the United States, Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community, with the majority residing in the Minneapolis-St.
Paul metropolitan area Hennepin and Ramsey counties , as well as St. Cloud and Rochester [17]. Somalia , easternmost country of Africa , on the Horn of Africa. It extends from just south of the Equator northward to the Gulf of Aden and occupies an important geopolitical position between sub-Saharan Africa and the countries of Arabia and southwestern Asia. A large number of the Somali immigrants settled in Minnesota , which in harbored the largest population of Somalis in North America.
The term " Middle East " has led to some confusion over its changing definitions. The Darod Somali: Daarood, Arabic :????? The forefather of this clan was Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, more commonly known as Darood. Games, Puzzles, and Crossword. Privacy and Terms. Public Safety Pursuit from Jamul to Chula Vista ends with arrest inside church during funeral service.
Local Veteran pilots gather in Rancho Bernardo to swap stories. Theater La Jolla Playhouse unveils first four shows of season. Nation-World US urges citizens to leave Haiti amid deepening turmoil. Phenomenal women Almanac Festival of books Latino life. Somalis hope that one day all these territories can become a unified Somali nation. The leopard is considered the national symbol of Somalia. Two African leopards adorn the national emblem, a five-pointed white star on a light blue shield with a gold border.
Emergence of the Nation. The origin of the Somali people is uncertain. Current theory suggests that the Somali originated in the southern Ethiopian highlands and migrated into northern Kenya during the first millennium B. They then gradually migrated northward to populate the Horn of Africa by C. The Somalis are tall and wiry in stature, with aquiline features, elongated heads, and light brown to black skin. Somali women are known for their beauty. Arabs introduced the Islamic faith to Africa beginning in the seventh century.
By the tenth century, Arab trading posts thrived in southern Somalia, along the Indian Ocean. These included Mogadishu, established as the first Arab settlement in East Africa. The city was at the height of its influence and wealth during the thirteenth century, when it controlled the gold trade on the East African coast. Most Somalis converted to Islam by about They joined with the Arabs in fighting the Islamic holy wars against Ethiopian Christians in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
By the eighteenth century the Somalis had defeated the Oromo people, who had threatened both Muslims and Christians in Ethiopia and Somalia. The Somalis became the dominant people in the land.
Europeans became interested in Somalia during the nineteenth century, beginning with its exploration by British adventurer Sir Richard Burton in Interest grew when the Suez Canal opened in , and in Britain declared the northern Somalia coast a protectorate, known as British Somaliland. The French claimed the far western coast now Djibouti at about the same time, naming it French Somaliland.
Italy took control of southern Somalia, including Mogadishu, in , naming it Italian Somaliland. They hoped to gain the Ogaden region of Ethiopia for Somalis and to drive out the non-Islamic Europeans. Hasan and his army, called Dervishes, fought the Ethiopians and later the British from to The British bombed the Dervish capital in and Hasan escaped, but he died later that year, ending the resistance movement.
The British recaptured Somalia and drove out the Italians in In the United Nations U. General Assembly awarded Italy administrative control over southern Somalia as a trust territory for a ten-year period that would then lead to Somalia's independence.
British Somaliland was awarded its independence on 26 June and united with Italian Somaliland to establish the Somali Republic on 1 July After independence, parliamentary leader Aadan Abdullah Usmaan was appointed president by the legislature.
He appointed Abdirashiid Ali Shermaarke the first prime minister of Somalia. National Identity. Although united as one nation in , northern and southern Somalia had for years functioned as two separate countries, with separate school systems, taxes, currencies, police, and political and legal administrations.
As early as December , northern Somali military leaders pushed for separation of the north and the south. In the s, a guerrilla warfare campaign by Somali shiftas bandits in Kenya and skirmishes over the Ogaden region resulted in a mutual defense agreement against the Somalis by Kenya and Ethiopia.
Former prime minister Shermaarke was elected president in , and his prime minister, Muhammad Ibrahim Egal, focused on internal development and restoration of peace with Ethiopia and Kenya.
Shermaarke was assassinated by a bodyguard on 15 October Based on principles of Marxism as well as on the Qur'an and on Siad Barre's ideas about self-reliance for the Somali people, this new political ideology for Somalia was known as "scientific socialism.
Somalia was engaged in the Ogaden War with Ethiopia in — Defeated, Somalia suffered an economic decline, and there was growing national opposition to Siad Barre's leadership, nearly a one-man government by Siad Barre was severely injured in a car accident on 23 May , and a power struggle for control of the government began between political leaders and clan leaders.
Siad Barre recovered and was nominated for another seven-year term, but various clans whose members had been terrorized by Siad Barre's Red Berets a military terrorist unit from his own clan, the Mareehaan rose up against him.
Siad Barre escaped to Nigeria. The two disagreed on forming a central government for Somalia, and civil war began. Somali civilians suffered the most in the unstable years that followed. It was estimated that some three hundred thousand Somalis died between and mid Although international relief organizations sent food and supplies, much was stolen by bandits and warring clan members before it could reach those who needed it most.
In mid the U. Security Council resolved to turn the operation into a "nation-building" effort that would include disarming militias and restoring political and civil institutions.
The operation deteriorated as Somalis and U. Aidid died in the fighting in Mogadishu in August , but his son, Hussein Muhammad Aidid, took his place and continued his father's mission to put their subclan in control of Somalia. After U. Farmers returned home and produced a good harvest in Although clan fighting continued in and and no central government was established, local governments continued to function. In August , after twelve failed attempts to organize a central government, some two thousand Somalis representing the clans and subclans met in Djibouti to discuss forming a government for Somalia.
During the clan wars of the early s, northern Somalia declared itself the independent Somaliland Republic, appointed former Somali prime minister Muhammad Ibrahim Egal as its president, wrote a constitution, developed an assembly, and governmental institutions, and began to function successfully apart from the warring to the south.
Although it has not been recognized as a separate nation, the Somaliland Republic continues to declare itself independent. Members of the Murjateen clan in northeastern Somalia also formed their own government during the s, calling their territory Puntland, although they agreed to rejoin Somalia if a central government was formed. Ethnic Relations. Some 95 percent of the people of Somalia are ethnic Somalis, and relations with the small percentage of Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis, Asians, Europeans, and mixed groups living in Somalia are generally peaceful.
With a history of colonization by the British, French, and Italians, the Somalis are said to be wary of foreigners, even fearful of possible renewed colonization. Somali civilians, however, welcomed U. Nomadic herders spend nearly all of their time outdoors. A large shade tree might provide a meeting place or a classroom. The traditional shelter of the herders is the aqal, a dome-shaped, collapsible hut made from poles covered by hides, woven fiber mats, or sometimes cloth or tin.
Easy to break down and reassemble, the aqal is carried on a camel's back and set up by the women of the family once a new camp is made.
A bed made from wooden stakes covered with hides is Somalian famine victims wait in line for food in Baidoa. Although said to be wary of foreigners, Somalis have welcomed the international relief workers present since the s.
Nomads have few possessions, and each item has practical uses. Cooking utensils, storage boxes, stools, woven mats, and water bags are among the family's only household goods. A nomad camp may be surrounded by a fence made from thorn bushes to keep out predators. Animals are also kept in corrals made from thorn bushes. A prayer area may be set apart within the camp by a circle of stones.
Farmers make permanent homes that are similar to the aqal. Round huts called mundals are made from poles and brush or vines plastered with mud, animal dung, and ashes and covered with a broad, cone-shaped thatched roof.
Rectangular huts, often with flat tin roofs, are called arish. Other homes are built from logs, stone, brick, or cement. Farmers have a few pieces of wooden furniture and decorative pottery, gourds, or woven goods. City dwellers often live in Arab-style whitewashed houses made of stone or brick covered with plaster or cement. These are one-or two-story houses, with a flat roof.
Bars cover the lower windows, which rarely have screens or glass. Wealthy Somalis, Europeans, and others may have traditional Western-style homes with tile roofs and walled courtyards. Many Somalis, even in the cities, do not have electricity and running water in their homes. Other significant cities are Hargeisa and Burao in the north and Baidoa in the south. Mogadishu's oldest sector, Hammawein, contains the mosque of Fakr al-Din as well as many old Arab-style buildings.
Italian occupants also built their own neighborhoods in Mogadishu. Much of this architecture was heavily damaged in the civil war, along with modern Somali government buildings such as Parliament House and Somali National University. The former palace of the sultan of Zanzibar still stands, although in poor condition, as a museum in Mogadishu. A few statues and monuments were erected in Mogadishu but several were destroyed, among them an equestrian statue of Muhammad Abdullah Hasan, erected after Somalia's independence in A monument to independence also was built in Mogadishu.
The city's oldest mosque, the mosque of Sheik Abdul Aziz, built in , survived the civil war, along with a Roman arch built in the early twentieth century. Food in Daily Life. Milk from camels, goats, and cows is a major food for Somali herdsmen and nomadic families. Young men tending camel herds during the rainy season may drink up to ten quarts of milk a day.
Aging camels may be slaughtered for their meat, especially when guests are expected for a celebration, and the fatty camel's hump is considered a delicacy. Meat, including liver, from sheep and goats also is popular, but meat is served only a few times a month, usually on special occasions. Durra a grain sorghum , honey, dates, rice, and tea are other food staples for nomads. Farmers in southern Somalia grow corn, beans, sorghum, millet, squash, and a few other vegetables and fruits.
Boiled millet and rice are staples, but rice must be imported. The most popular bread is muufo, a flat bread made from ground corn flour. Somalis season their food with butter and ghee, the clear liquid skimmed from melted butter.
They also sweeten their food with sugar, sorghum, or honey. A holdover from Italian occupation in the south is a love for pasta and marinara sauce. Although fish is plentiful in the waters off the Somali coast, Somalis generally do not like fish. In accordance with the Muslim faith, they do not eat pork or drink alcohol. Milk, tea, coffee, and water are favorite drinks.
Carbonated drinks are available in cities. Among nomads and farmers, cooking is usually done over a wood or charcoal fire outdoors or in a communal cooking hut, because homes are large enough only for sleeping.
Grain is ground by hand, using primitive tools. Restaurants are popular in cities, but women seldom dined out with men until the late s. Arab cuisine is popular fare in many restaurants, Italian at others. Especially in Mogadishu, international restaurants serve Chinese, European, and sometimes American foods. At home it is customary for women to serve the men first, and then eat with their children after the men have finished.
Rural Somalis eat by scooping food from a bowl with the first three fingers of their right hand or with a spoon as in many other Muslim and African cultures, the left hand is considered unclean because it is used for washing the body. A rolled banana leaf also may be used for scooping. Urban Somalis may use silverware when they dine, but many still enjoy eating with their fingers. Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions.
Weddings, births, circumcisions, and Islamic and secular holidays call for celebrations involving food. Families slaughter animals, make bread, and prepare food for guests and for the poor, who are often invited to join the celebration. Basic Economy. Somalia is one of the world's poorest countries, and many gains made during the years after independence were lost in the destruction brought about by civil war in the s.
However, in , individuals had begun to help rebuild cities through independent businesses. Among the factors hindering economic development is lack of adequate transportation. The country has no railroads, only one airline, and few paved roads. Financial assistance from the United States helped improve Somalia's major seaports and Mogadishu International Airport during the s. Telecommunication systems were largely destroyed during the civil war.
However, in , independent businessmen in some towns established satellite telephone systems and electricity, and Somali livestock traders and other entrepreneurs conducted much of their business by telephone.
Banking networks also were being established. The basic monetary unit is the Somali shilling, with one hundred cents equal to one shilling. A large amount of the income received by Somalis comes from Somalis who have migrated to other countries to find work and send money and goods home to relatives.
Land Tenure and Property. In precolonial times, land claims were made by families and through bargaining among clan members. During European colonization, Italians established plantations in the riverine area and settled many poor Italian families on the land to raise crops. Since independence much of this land has been farmed by Somalis. Somali nomads consider pastureland available to all, but if a family digs a water well, it is considered their possession.
Under Siad Barre's socialist regime there was an effort to lease privately owned land to government cooperatives, but Somalis resented working land they did not own. Some land was sold in urban areas, but grazing land continued to be shared. Commercial Activities. In the colonial era Italians developed banana, sugarcane, and citrus fruit plantations in southern Somalia.
These again thrived in the late twentieth century with Italian assistance after a decade of decline due to high government taxation of exports in the s. Livestock and animal products make up a large portion of the goods produced in Somalia. The country's few natural resources, such as gypsum-anhydrite, quartz, uranium, iron ore, and possibly gold, have not been widely exploited. Major Industries.
Although Somalia is not an industrialized nation, there are some industries, such as fish and meat canneries, milk-processing plants, sugar refineries, leather-tanning factories, and pharmaceutical and electronics factories. Many of these were built with the help of foreign nations such as the former Soviet Union.
Some mining and petroleum exploration has been done, with the help of Middle Eastern countries. Transportation equipment, machinery, cement and other building materials, iron, and steel are major imports of Somalia. Livestock is the country's main export, especially camels, which are sold to Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations.
Animal hides also are exported. Bananas are the chief crop export. Coffee, cotton, peanuts, mangoes, citrus fruits, and sugarcane are other important crops. Fishing and the export of frankincense and myrrh add to the economy.
Division of Labor. More than half of all Somalis are self-employed, as herders, farmers, or independent business owners. In the cities, some workers once held government jobs, and in a growing percentage of workers had factory, plantation, or fishing-industry jobs.
Among rural Somalis of the Saab clan-family, lower castes still provide certain types of goods and services. Classes and Castes. The Samaal believe that their clan-family is superior to the Saab. The Saab clan-family developed a caste system that awards status to different groups based on their heritage or occupation. Lower-class groups among the Digil and Rahanwayn were identified by occupation. The largest group was the midgaan a derogatory name , who served as barbers, circumcisers, and hunters.
The Tumaal were blacksmiths and metalworkers. The Yibir served as fortune-tellers and makers of protective amulets and charms. In the late twentieth century, many from these groups found work in towns and cities and raised their status, and the old arrangements whereby they served certain clans had largely disappeared by the s.
A small percentage of the peoples of the riverine and southern coastal area are descendants of a pre-Somali people who lived in the Horn of Africa. Added to this group are descendants of Africans once enslaved by the Somalis. These cultural groups are called habash. While not poorly treated, habash are considered inferior by the Somalis. Most habash are Muslims and speak Somali, although some, such as the coastal groups Bajuni and Amarani, speak Swahili.
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