Somalia : [electronic resource] a country study / Federal Research Divsion, Library of Congress ; edited by Helen Chapin Metz.

"Research completed May 1992."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-259) and index.

Also available on the Library of Congress Web site.

The Somalis: their origins, migrations, and settlement. Coastal towns ; Emergence of Adal ; Mogadishu and its Banaadir Hinterlands ; The Somali Peninsula on the eve of imperial partition ; The Majeerteen Sultanates -- Imperial partition. Mahammad Abdille Hasan's dervish resistance to colonial occupation ; Consolidation of colonial rule ; Somalia during World War II ; British military administration ; Trusteeship and protectorate: the road to independence -- From independence to revolution. Problems of national integration ; Pan-Somalism ; Foreign relations, 1960-69 ; The Husseen government ; Coup d'etat -- The revolutionary regime. Supreme revolutionary council ; Challenges to the regime ; Siad Barre and scientific socialism ; The language and literacy issue ; Creation of the Somali revolutionary socialist party -- Somalia's difficult decade, 1980-90. Entrenching Siad Barre's personal rule ; Siad Barre's repressive measures ; Persecution of the Majeerteen ; Oppression of the Isaaq ; Harrying of the Hawiye -- Physical setting. Climate ; Terrain, vegetation, and drainage -- Population and settlement patterns -- The segmentary social order. Samaal ; Digil and Rahanwayn ; Riverine and coastal people and non-Somali origin ; Specialized occupational groups ; Social change -- Lineage segmentation and the Somali civil war -- Religious life. The tenets of Islam ; Religious roles in Somali Islam ; Religious orders and the cult of the saints ; Folk Islam and indigenous ritual ; Islam in the colonial era and after ; Rising Islamism -- Language and education -- Health -- Refugees -- Breakdown of the infrastructure -- Pastoralism and commerce in historical perspective -- The colonial economy -- Economic development, 1960-69 -- Scientific socialism, 1970-75 -- The socialist revolution after 1975 -- From scientific socialism to "IMF-ism," 1981-90 -- Natural resources and economic infrastructure. Land ; Energy ; transportation ; Communications -- The "real" Somali economy in the 1980s. Export of labor ; Export of livestock ; Rural subsistence sector ; Urban subsistence and government employment ; Undeveloped sectors ; Foreign trade -- Government structure. Constitution ; Legislature ; Local government ; Legal system ; Courts -- Political dynamics. Opposition movements ; Politics of reconciliation ; Politics of succession ; Political disintegration -- Mass media -- Foreign relations. Relations with neighboring African states ; Relations with Arab countries ; Relations with the United States ; Other foreign relations -- International security concerns. Irredentism and the changing balance of power ; The Ogaden War: performance and implications of defeat ; Postwar status of the armed forces -- Internal security concerns. Government security policy ; Sources of opposition -- History and development of the armed forces. The warrior tradition and development of the modern army ; The armed forces in national life ; Mission, organization, and strength ; Manpower, training, and conditions of service -- Foreign military assistance ; State security services. Somali police force ; People's militia ; National security service -- Criminal justice. Penal system ; Prison system -- Human rights.