At first glance, one would not expect to find any similarities between the countries of Somalia and the United States. Even though the differences outweigh similarities, after deeper examination, Somalia and the United States do share a few similarities. These similarities include British rule, Civil War, and acts of domestic terror. A few differences may be government, climate, and military.
At some point in history, both Somalia and the United States were under British rule. Somalia’s modern history began in the late 19th century. It was during this time that Britain was able to gain control over northern Somalia, by securing treaties with various Somali chiefs. Britain’s main objective; to secure provisions for Somalia’s coaling station, in Aden, to secure local sources of food, and to also ensure safeguard trade links to the east. Somalia remained under British military administration until 1950, when they were declared independent and began their transition towards self-government. Before the American Revolution, and before declaring their independence on July 4, 1997, the American colonies (United States) were also under British rule.
Civil War is another shared similarity between both Somalia and the United States. In 1991, following the overthrow of the dictator, Siad Barre, Somalia descended into anarchy. With no government presence to maintain some type of order, clan-based warlords began competing with each other, thus beginning civil unjust. While northern parts of Somalia, as well as the self-declared “Republic of Somaliland,” have remained somewhat peaceful, internal fighting flares up with little to no warning. Since 1991, it is estimated that 350, 000 to 1,000,000 Somalia’s have died due to the lack...
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In order to understand the full scope of genocide in Somalia and how it will affect other countries, we must understand their culture. This way you can determine if any outside assistance, such as the United States giving aid, would be accepted or unwanted. Cultural knowledge can also give outside countries insight to “how” and “when” relationships can` be established.
Somalia vs United States Somalia, which is about the size of Texas, is a small country located in Eastern Africa, next to the Indian Ocean. The United States, which is located in the Western Hemisphere, is bordered by Mexico and Canada and is between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Separated not only by the Atlantic Ocean, Somalia and the United States are also separated by the differences in economies and populations. These two countries that are quite opposite in size have some similarities in their governments and education systems. Somalia is one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries (Campbell).
The U.S has a vested interest in the stabilization of Somalia since “three high-profile foreign terrorists have used Somalia to recruit, train, hide, and smuggle weapons most notably for the 1998 attacks against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania” (Ibrahim 284). Additionally, the U.S. is helping Somila’s Government To stop extreme terrorists from gaining power by training the troops and giving them more resources. This is seen by having a “ greater coordination between (African Union Mission in Somalia’s) AMISOM and (Somali Transitional Federal Government) TFG forces, and reported training of Somali intelligence operatives by the Central Intelligence Agency. (Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens)
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Colonization of Somalia began in the mid 19th century, when European nations began scrambling for control of Africa. Many of these attempts by Europeans were met with heavy resistance and even frequent failures, at the hands of the less advanced natives. Italy, Britain and France all attempted to colonize parts of Somalia but did not do so easily. These countries wanted control of Somalia, hopping she could provide use or wealth for their nation; England wanted to uses Somalia as to help export out of the middle east while Italy and France hoped to utilize it agriculturally. The three nations took portions of what is known today as Somalia, England held the coast, with Italy and France to the north. The British portion became known as British Somaliland, and the Italian Italian Somaliland.
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European colonialism did not have positive lasting effects for the people of Somalia. Many of the issues that have plagued Somalia since its independence can be traced back to colonialism in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Colonialism began in Somalia in 1840 when the British East India Company began to make agreements and trade treaties with Somali chiefs in the northwestern portion of modern day Somalia. The colony was off the coast of the Gulf of Aden, next to modern day Djibouti and the British named their newly claimed territory, British Somaliland. Later on, in 1897, the Italians decided that they wanted a piece of the pie and they began marking out the boundaries for Italian Somaliland, which was made up of the southeastern sliver of land that goes all the way up to the Gulf of Aden. In 1897, Ethiopia even declared its ownership of a region of western Somalia named Ogaden, an assertion that would create a territorial dispute for the next century. This is how Somalia appeared under colonialism:
Like most African countries, Somalia is a developing country, and the statistics of the country and its demographics really show it. Somalia’s population is roughly ten million, and the median age is seventeen years and their life expectancy is around fifty five. Approximately one third of the population lives in urban areas, with a 3.8% rate of change. Only 29% of the Somali population have water that is safe to drink. The country is mostly Islamic and 85% of the population are Somali. They sit on the East coast of Africa on the Indian Ocean, which gives them easy access to the passing cargo ships (muni).
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