Somali people
From Halbeeg, the open encyclopedia · Af-Soomaali
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The Somali people are an ethnic group from the Horn of Africa living in the region. They inhabit Somalia, Djibouti, the Somali Region of Ethiopia, and parts of northeastern Kenya. They speak the Somali language, which belongs to the Cushitic languages, a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family.
The majority of Somali people are Sunni Muslim. For a long period, their way of life was shaped by pastoral herding (camels, goats, cattle) and agriculture in the areas of the Shabeelle and Jubba rivers, as well as by urban and coastal populations engaged in maritime trade.
Language
Somali has several dialects, the most prominent being Maxaa Tiri (which serves as the basis for the standard language) and Maay. In 1972 the Somali government adopted a Latin-based script for writing Somali, followed by literacy campaigns. Before then, Arabic and various handwriting systems had been used.
Society and clan
Somali society is organized according to patrilineal genealogy. There are large groupings commonly referred to as Daarod, Hawiye, Isaaq, Dir, and Raxanweyn (Digil-Mirifle), each subdivided into clans and lineages. Somali customary law (xeer) was a system of legal and social norms governing dispute resolution, compensation, and land use. However, other occupational and social groups existed in Somali territories that did not fully fit into this genealogical framework.
History
Somali coasts participated for long in Indian Ocean trade, maintaining connections with the Arab world, Persia, and India. Cities such as Saylac, Berbera, Mogadishu, Barawe, and Marka were centers of commerce and Islamic learning. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Somali territories were divided among European powers (Britain, Italy, France) and Ethiopia. Somalia (from the merger of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland) gained independence in 1960; Djibouti in 1977.
Diaspora and culture
Civil war beginning in the late 1980s and the collapse of the central state in 1991 caused large-scale displacement. Somali communities now live in Kenya, Yemen, the Middle East, Europe, North America, and elsewhere. Remittances and diaspora money play a significant role in the domestic economy. Poetry, proverbs, storytelling, and sayings are among the core elements of oral tradition, as are music and twentieth-century theater.