The island's West clan chiefs began to extend their power through trade with their Indian Ocean neighbors, first with Arab, Persian and Somali traders who connected Madagascar with East Africa, the Middle East and India, and later with European slave traders.

In 1991, Aidid's clan did indeed manage to overthrow Barre, and the former, as leader of the United Somali Congress, emerged as a major force in the ensuing civil war.

* Dir ( clan ), one the five major Somali clans.

Middle Shebelle is principally inhabited by various sub-clans of the Somali Mudulood clan, most notably the Abgaal.

In July 2007, Maakhir was declared a regional state to represent the political will of members of the Warsangali branch of the Somali Darod clan from both the northern and southern portions of federal Somalia.

The Isaaq clan consequently developed a rebel group named the Somali National Movement ( SNM ), who were morally and financially supported by Ethiopia.

* Somali clan, social grouping of the Somali people

In Alun Michael ’ s Cardiff South and Penarth constituency the 10, 000-strong and rapidly-growing Somali community has become a vital source of political support for the Labour Party which claims its values are “ similar to the beliefs and culture of the Somali people ” and that “ Somali tribal clan culture at its core is based on a socialist system ” Relatively few Somalis settled in Cardiff until the 1970s, but since then their numbers have been swelled by refugees from the North of Somalia – Somaliland-escaping the continuing civil wars.

* Issa ( clan ), a Somali clan that mainly inhabit Djibouti

On November 11, 2009 Mohammed's consecration as commander took place in an open ceremony in the southern Somali city of Kismayo, according to a translation received by The Long War Journal of an article posted on Waaga Cusub, a pro-insurgency website, run by a Somali clan, the Hawiye.

Ewald Wagner connects the name ʿAdäl with the Dankali ( Afar ) tribe Aḏaʿila and the Somali name for the clan Oda ʿAlï, proposing that the kingdom may have largely been composed of Afars.

* Geri ( clan ), subgroup of the Somali people

On June 5, 1993, Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's clan forces killed 23 Pakistani peacekeepers who were part of the UNISOM II mission.

" The major Somali clan of Isaaq in Somalia, caravans from Harar and the Hawd, and Banyan merchants from Porbandar, Mangalore and Mumbai gathered to trade.

The clan groupings of the Somali people are important social units, and clan membership plays a central part in Somali culture and politics.

So to extend ties of alliance, marriage is often to another ethnic Somali from a different clan.

The eastern Somali region ( Ogaden ) hosts a large nomadic Somali population and is a conflict area where Ethiopian regular forces are fighting against Ogaden National Liberation Front ( ONLF ).

The most populous Cushitic language is Oromo with about 35 million speakers, followed by Somali with about 18 million speakers, and Sidamo in Ethiopia with about 2 million speakers.

Currently, political power is shared by a Somali president and an Afar prime minister, with an Afar career diplomat as Foreign Minister and other cabinet posts roughly divided.

Currently, political power is shared by a Somali president and an Afar prime minister, with cabinet posts roughly divided.

However, it is the Issas who presently dominate the government, civil service, and the ruling party, a situation that has bred resentment and political competition between the Somali Issas and the Afars.

" However, Beckingham and Huntingford have a much higher opinion of Álvares testimony, stating that not only is it " incomparably more detailed than any earlier account of Ethiopia that has survived ; it is also a very important source for Ethiopian history, for it was written just before the country was devastated by the Muslim Somali and pagan Galla invasions of the second quarter of the sixteenth century.

It is also possible that the word was derived from the animal's Somali name Geri.

* G. c. reticulata, known as the reticulated or Somali giraffe, is native to north-eastern Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia.

Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species, but there is no consensus among experts about this.

Hybridization with the subspecies that evolved southwestwards of its range, S. c. massaicus, has apparently been prevented from occurring on a significant scale by ecological separation, the Somali Ostrich preferring bushland where it browses middle-height vegetation for food while the Masai Ostrich is, like the other subspecies, a grazing bird of the open savanna and miombo habitat.

Somalia (; ), officially the Federal Republic of Somalia (, ) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa.

Owing to a lack of confidence in the local currency, the US dollar is widely accepted as a medium of exchange alongside the Somali shilling.

A unique feature of the Somali funds transfer companies is that they all charge the same low commission of 5 % for sending amounts of up to approximately $ 1000, a fee range that encompasses the vast majority of household Somali remittances.

Dahabshiil is the largest of the Somali money transfer operators ( MTO ), having captured most of the market vacated by Al-Barakaat.

Mustaqbal is the third most prominent Somali MTO, with 8 agents in Somalia and 49 in the UK.

Somali National Television is the public channel, that started broadcasting in 2011 after 20 years halt.

One of the most significant new reforms enacted by the incumbent Puntland administration is the launching in May 2009 of the Puntland Agency for Social Welfare ( PASWE ), the first organization of its kind in Somali history.

Worth some 250 million euros, it is intended to turn the new Somali navy into a stronger naval force capable of curbing piracy and protecting its coastline.

A goal of Somali nationalism ( Pan-Somalism ) is to unite the predominantly Somali-inhabited territories in the Horn of Africa into a pan-Somali Greater Somalia ( Soomaaliweyn ).

Adding to the growth of the native population is the influx of Somali refugees into Yemen — tens of thousands every year.

The influx of an average 1, 000 Somali refugees per month into Yemen looking for work is an added drain on the economy, which already must cope with a 20 to 40 percent rate of unemployment.

The Sanaag region is mainly inhabited by people from the Somali ethnic group, with the Warsangali subdivision of the Harti Darod especially well represented.

The region is mainly inhabited by people from the Somali ethnic group, with the Dhulbahante subdivision of the Harti confederation of Darod sub-clans especially well represented.

Besides their traditional areas of inhabitation in Greater Somalia, a Somali community mainly consisting of entrepreneurs, academics and students also exists in Egypt.

With the help of an army mainly composed of Somalis, Imam Ahmad ( nicknamed Gurey in Somali and Gragn in Amharic ( ግራኝ Graññ ), both meaning " the left-handed "), embarked on a conquest which brought three-quarters of Ethiopia under the power of the Muslim Sultanate of Adal during the Ethiopian-Adal War from 1529-43.

There live nearly eight million people, mainly Somali.

While Osmanya gained reasonably wide acceptance in Somalia and quickly produced a considerable body of literature, it proved difficult to spread among the population mainly due to stiff competition from the long-established Arabic script as well as the emerging Somali alphabet developed by the Somali linguist, Shire Jama Ahmed, which was based on the Latin script.

The town is mainly inhabited by people from the Somali ethnic group, with the Habar Awal sub-clan of the Isaaq especially well-represented.

The large Somali population is mainly the result of retired Somali soldiers who settled in the area after World War I.