Features

Somalia

1960–present CE

Formed by the 1960 union of British and Italian Somaliland.

☾ The Coming of Islam

An early foothold on the Horn

Islam reached the Horn of Africa very early, through trading and refuge across the Red Sea and the settlement of Muslim merchants at coastal towns such as Zeila and Mogadishu in the first Islamic centuries.

☾ Religious Composition

An almost entirely Sunni-Shāfiʿī nation

Somalis are almost entirely Sunni Muslim, following the Shāfiʿī school, with a long and influential Sufi tradition (Qādiriyya, Aḥmadiyya and Ṣāliḥiyya orders).

At a glance

TypeState
Dynasty
RegionHorn of Africa
CapitalMogadishu
Founded1960
Endedextant
State religionIslam (state)