Somaliland Profile

Somaliland has a long history that goes back thousands of years. 10,000 year old Neolithic paintings in Las Geel, near Hargeisa, the capital, show that Somaliland was home to the earliest civilizations in the world..

Somaliland, as part of the Land of Punt was a major trading partner with ancient Egyptians as records during the reign of Sahura of the Fifth Dynasty around 2250 BCE indicate. The coastal cities of Zeila, Berbera and Maydh were deeply involved in spice trade with the Romans.

In the 7th century, Islam was introduced to Somaliland, and by the 13th century had a thriving Islamic sultanate, Adal, whose main port was Zeila. But the modern history of Somaliland started in the 19th century as presented chronologically below: