索马利亚(Somalia)
北非国家，位於非洲之角。从赤道延伸至红海。面积637,000平方公里。人口7,489,000（2001）。首都︰摩加迪休。人口绝大多数是游牧和半游牧的索马利亚人。语言︰索马利语和阿拉伯语（均为官方语）。宗教︰伊斯兰教（国教）。货币︰索马利亚先令（So.Sh.）。大部分国土为半沙漠。中部和南部地区平坦。北部地区升起，形成崎岖的山脉，全国土地面积仅有约2%为可耕地。土地面积的一半以上是牧草地。索马利亚属开发中的混合型经济，主要以畜牧业和农业为基础。是世界上最贫穷的国家之一。
西元7～10世纪期间，阿拉伯穆斯林和波斯的移民首先在沿岸一带开辟了贸易站。到10世纪，索马利亚游牧民族占领了自亚丁湾到内陆的地区；以畜牧为基础的奥罗莫人则居住在南部和西部。1839年英国人占领亚丁之後，欧洲人在当地开始深入探险。19世纪後期，英国和义大利在该区建立起保护地。第二次世界大战期间，义大利人入侵英属索马利兰（1940），一年後英国军队又将该地夺回；此後，英国一直统治着整个地区，直到1950年义属索马利兰成为一个联合国托管地。1960年，该托管地与前英属索马利兰合并成为独立的索马利亚共和国。从此以後，该国即遭受政治斗争和内乱，包括军事独裁、内战、乾旱和饥荒。1990年代没有有效的中央政府存在。1991年，一个分离的部族宣布成立索马利兰共和国，其领土相当於原英属索马利兰。该共和国未受到国际承认，但其运作较传统索马利亚的区域平稳。1992年，联合国和平部队介入确保食物供给。战争持续不断，1995年和平部队撤离。境内仍一片混乱。1999年该国南部地区遭严重的水灾破坏。
English version：
Somalia
Country, North Africa. Located in the Horn of Africa, it stretches from the equator to the Red Sea. Area: 246,000 sq mi (637,000 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 6,870,000 (excluding an estimated 450,000 refugees in other countries). Capital: Mogadishu. Most of the people are nomadic or seminomadic Somalis. Language: Somali, Arabic (both official). Religion: Islam (official). Currency: Somali shilling. Much of Somalia is semidesert. The central and southern regions are flat, while the northern region rises to form rugged mountain ranges. Only about 2% of its land is arable, though more than half is grazeable. Somalia has a developing, mixed economy largely based on livestock and agriculture. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. Muslim Arabs and Persians first established trading posts along the coasts in the 7th-10th century. By the 10th century Somali nomads occupied the area inland from the Gulf of Aden, and the south and west were inhabited by various groups of pastoral Oromo peoples. Intensive European exploration began after the British occupation of Aden in 1839, and in the late 19th century Britain and Italy set up protectorates in the region. During World War II the Italians invaded British Somaliland (1940); a year later British troops retook the area, and Britain administered the region until 1950, when Italian Somaliland became a UN trust territory. In 1960 it was united with the former British Somaliland, and the two became the independent Republic of Somalia. Since then it has suffered political and civil strife, including military dictatorship, civil wars, drought, and famine. In the 1990s no effective central government existed. In 1991, a proclamation of a Republic of Somaliland, on territory corresponding to the former British Somaliland was issued by a breakaway group. It did not receive international recognition, but it operated more smoothly than the area of traditional Somalia. A UN peacekeeping force intervened in 1992 to secure food supplies; fighting continued and the peacekeeping force left in 1995. The country remained in turmoil. Severe floods devastated the southern region in 1999.