Somalia - Tourism and Travel

Somalia is a country on the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, in northeast Africa.

It has an area of 246,201 square miles.

Somalia is mostly dry, scrubby plateau. There are highlands in the northern part of the country.

There is a hot, dry climate.

The capital of Somalia is Mogadishu.

9,133,000 people live in Somalia.

85% are Somali.

Somali and Arabic are official languages. English and Italian are also spoken.

98% of the people are Sunni Muslim and 2% are Christian.

Most of them live along the coast and along the Shebelle and Jubba river valleys. Crops can be grown in these regions.

The main economic activities are subsistence farming and livestock rearing.

Bananas and livestock are exported.

The official currency is the Somali shilin, which equals 100 senti.

Somalia is know one of the world's poorest and least developed countries.

Economic development has been hindered by drought and by civil war.

Somalia has been involved in a civil war since 1991, when the northern part of the country declared itself independent.

Jubaland, in the southwest, and Puntland, in the northeast, declared themselves independent in 1998.

A transitional federal government was established in 2004, but opposition groups do not recognize this transitional government.