Somalia

Somalia is an African country that exists solely in a de jure capacity. Somalia has no recognized central government authority, president, national currency, or any other feature associated with a well-established nation state. De facto authority is in the hands of small groups of rival warlords who lead small opposing governments.

From the CIA World Factbook 2000.

Map of Somalia including the self-proclaimed boundary of Somaliland

Table of contents

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 Politics
5 Provinces
6 Economy
7 Communications
8 Transportation
9 Culture
10 Military
11 Foreign relations

History

Main article: History of Somalia

Geography

Main article: Geography of Somalia

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Somalia

Politics

Main article: Politics of Somalia

Somalia has no effective national government. In the northwest, there is a breakaway republic of Somaliland. In the rest of the country there are various warlords. The internationally-recognised government is the Transitional National Government headed by Abdulkassim Salat Hassan, which controls only part of the capital, Mogadishu.

Provinces

Main article: Regions of Somalia

Somalia is divided into 18 regions (gobolka):

Note: regions marked (*) are part of the self-proclaimed but internationally unrecognized Republic of Somaliland (former British Somaliland).

Music of Somalia

Military

Main article: Military of Somalia

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Somalia