Somaliland Central
What you need to know about Somaliland's SovereigntySomaliland Profile:
POPULATION = 3.9 million
CURRENCY = Somaliland Shilling (SlSh) – with an exchange rate, in 2020, of 1 USD to 8,500 SlSh due to the country’s lack of recognition
PAYMENTS = both US Dollars and the Somaliland Shilling can be used
MAJOR LANGUAGES = Somali, Arabic and English
MAJOR RELIGION = Islam (Sunni) – the source of many of the social norms; eg. most women wear a hijab in public
CAPITAL = Hargeisa – known as the one of the safest places in Horn of Africa
POPULATION OF CAPITAL = 1.5 million residents
The Perfect Surrounding
SIZE = 176,120km2 – comparable to the area of Uruguay, or ¾ the area of Britain
BORDERS = Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia
URBAN CENTRES = Hargeisa, Burao, Berbera, Borama, Erigavo and Las Anod –
COAST = extending 850km to the north, along the Gulf of Aden
VISA = a visa is required for entry to Somaliland
MAIN AIRPORT = Hargeisa Egal International Airport – last renovated in 2013
MAIN PORT = Berbera Port
TECHNOLOGY = 2.5 million mobile phone subscribers in Somaliland – 61% peoples
Somaliland Food Cuisine
POLITICAL CONTACTS = Ethiopia, Djibouti, Belgium, France, Ghana, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Guinea and Taiwan, Kenya
RELIGION
Under the Constitution of Somaliland, the state religion is Islam, where nearly all the Somaliland national are Sunnis (Shafi’i Jurisprudence)
CULTURE
Somaliland has a rich culture due to the wide range of Somali heritage and Islamic structures. Important forms of art include poetry, Henna paintings, traditional dance, Somaliland Cuisine is diverse, incorporating a mixture of native Somali, Ethiopian, Yemeni, Arabian, Turkish, Italian and Indian influences, as a result of the trade and commerce and migration.
Eat Exotic Food Somaliland!
Sleep Well Best 5-Stars Hotels Somaliland
PRE-INDEPENDENCE SOMALILAND (1869 – 1960)
Like other parts of the region, the interest of the Europeans in Somaliland became more strategic after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. The arrival of the British colonial power in Somaliland started after the Berlin Conference in 1884 which resulted in Britain taking control of Somaliland, as a protectorate at a time when France and Italy were also competing for the control of territories in the region. The partition of the Somali populated regions in the Horn of Africa started in earnest after Britain signed treaties with local tribal chiefs in Somaliland in 1887 and thus made this territory a British Protectorate (British Somaliland Protectorate). Somaliland remained a British protectorate from 1887 up until 26th June 1960 when it gained its independence from Britain. Italian Somalia became independent on 1st July 1960 and the same day the two states merged and formed the Republic of Somalia.