Culture and history

Somalia formed on the Horn of Africa as a society of nomadic shepherds with a powerful Islamic tradition and rich oral culture.

Poetry (gabay, geeraar), song and dance forms like dhaanto, as well as xeer customary law and strong clan ties are central.

In the Middle Ages, coastal sultanates and trading ports operated, linking the region with Arabia and the Indian Ocean.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the area was divided between Britain and Italy; in 1960, a united state arose.

The modernization of the Siad Barre era included the transition of the Somali language to the Latin alphabet (1970s), but after 1991 the country experienced the collapse of state institutions and a long conflict; the role of the diaspora is noticeable, and in the regions (Puntland, Somaliland) their own administrations have developed.

Islamic norms and communal values ​ ​ form a restrained attitude to excitement and determine everyday ethics, where preference is given to family and cultural forms of leisure.