Somalia was formed by the merger of British Somliland and Italian Somaliland in 1960. Before that (1950) the United Nations put Italian Somaliland back under Italy's care after being taken by the British nine years earlier. A military regime forced their way into power in 1960 and there was a lot of fighting for a lot of years. In 1992, the UN again stepped in to help calm things down and a peace plan was signed the following year. Unfortunately, things are still kind of mixed up, and large portions of the area don't really have a government at all. Somalia is dry and sandy. It's position on the eastern "horn" of Africa became very important when the Suez Canal opened in 1869.
Somalia on Wikipedia
