Somalia Regions (original) (raw)

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Updates:

Sorin Cosoveanu found the document which I have used to provide more recent population estimates.

Under the Change history at ~1968, I had been showing populations for six of the eight provinces that came from a softbound Hammond Citation Atlas dated 1979. The same figures appear in the hardbound Hammond Citation World Atlas, dated 1966. I've replaced the entire column with data from source [2], which in most cases agrees with the Hammond figures within a few hundred, and fills in the missing provinces' populations. I've also found source [3], which has population estimates for 1995-2015. I quote the 1997 estimates, since anything later than that combines the uncertainty of the estimates with the uncertainty of extrapolation.

The formal name of the country has changed from Somali Democratic Republic to Federal Republic of Somalia.

FIPS 10-4 Change Notice 11, dated 2006-07-11, has assigned new FIPS codes corresponding to the creation of two new regions in 1984, as shown below.

Country overview:

Short name SOMALIA
ISO code SO
FIPS code SO
Language Somali (so)
Time zone +3
Capital Mogadishu

Italian Somaliland was chartered to a company until 1905, when it became a simple Italian colony. It acquired a strip of land beyond the Juba River (Italian Jubaland; Oltre Giuba [Italian]) from Kenya in 1925. In 1936-06, it merged with Eritrea and Ethiopia to form Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana), in which it was a state. After the British took it in World War II, it remained under British military government until 1950-04-01, when it was restored to Italy as a U.N. trust territory. Meanwhile, British Somaliland was a British protectorate (except for a brief Italian occupation) until it became independent on 1960-06-26. Less than a week later, on 1960-07-01, Italian Somaliland also became independent, and the two states merged to form the Somali Republic. The border with Ethiopia has never been finally established.

Currently Somalia is ill-governed, and local government, if any, is unofficial. There is a de facto government which controls roughly Bari, Mudug, Nugaal, Sool, and part of Sanaag regions. It is called Puntland.

Other names of country:

  1. Danish: Somalia
  2. Dutch: Somali�, Somaliland, Republiek Somaliland (formal)
  3. English: Federal Republic of Somalia (formal)
  4. Finnish: Somalia
  5. French: Somalie f, R�publique f f�d�rale de Somalie (formal)
  6. German: Puntland, Somalia, Somaliland n
  7. Icelandic: S�mal�a
  8. Italian: Somalia f
  9. Norwegian: Den demokratiske republikk Somalia (formal) (Bokm�l), Den demokratiske republikken Somalia (formal) (Nynorsk), Somalia
  10. Portuguese: Somalil�ndia, Som�lia f, Rep�blica f da Somalil�ndia f (formal)
  11. Somali: Jamhuriyadda Dimugradiga ee Soomaaliya (formal)
  12. Russian: Республика Сомалиленд (obsolete), Сомали, Сомалийская Демократическая Республика (obsolete), Сомалийская Республика (formal)
  13. Spanish: Somalia f, Rep�blica f Democr�tica Somal� (formal)
  14. Swedish: Somalia
  15. Turkish: Somali, Somali Demokratik Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name:

from local word somal: black, used to describe the natives

Primary subdivisions:

Somalia is divided into eighteen gobolka (regions).

Region HASC FIPS Pop-2014 Pop-1997 Pop-1980 Area(km.�) Area(mi.�) Capital Former
Awdal SO.AW SO21 673,263 143,900 Baki Hargeisa
Bakool SO.BK SO01 367,226 258,600 148,700 27,000 10,000 Xuddur Alto Giuba
Banaadir SO.BN SO02 1,650,227 731,100 520,100 1,657 640 Mogadishu Banaadir
Bari SO.BR SO03 719,512 242,100 222,300 70,000 27,000 Boosaaso Migiurtinia
Bay SO.BY SO04 792,182 681,100 451,000 39,000 15,000 Baydhabo Alto Giuba
Galguduud SO.GA SO05 569,434 196,100 255,900 43,000 17,000 Dhuusa Marreeb Mudug
Gedo SO.GE SO06 508,405 350,200 235,000 32,000 12,000 Garbahaarrey Alto Giuba
Hiiraan SO.HI SO07 520,685 234,400 219,300 34,000 13,000 Beledweyne Hiiraan
Jubbada Dhexe SO.JD SO08 362,921 201,500 147,800 23,000 9,000 Bu'aale Basso Giuba, Alto Giuba
Jubbada Hoose SO.JH SO09 489,307 294,200 272,400 61,000 24,000 Kismaayo Basso Giuba
Mudug SO.MU SO10 717,863 342,600 311,200 70,000 27,000 Gaalkacyo Mudug, Migiurtinia
Nugaal SO.NU SO18 392,698 121,000 112,200 50,000 19,000 Garoowe Migiurtinia
Sanaag SO.SA SO12 544,123 230,500 216,500 54,000 21,000 Ceerigaabo Burco
Shabeellaha Dhexe SO.SD SO13 516,036 441,700 352,000 22,000 8,000 Jawhar Banaadir
Shabeellaha Hoose SO.SH SO14 1,202,219 650,400 570,700 25,000 10,000 Marka Banaadir
Sool SO.SO SO22 327,428 63,800 Laascaanood Burco
Togdheer SO.TO SO19 721,363 242,300 383,900 41,000 16,000 Burco Burco, Hargeisa
Woqooyi Galbeed SO.WO SO20 1,242,003 329,100 655,000 45,000 17,000 Hargeysa Hargeisa, Burao
18 regions 12,316,895 5,754,600 5,074,200 637,657 245,640
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced byhyphens, these are the same as the region codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Pop-2014: 2014 estimates (source [6]). Pop-1997: 1997 estimates (source [3]). Pop-1980: 1980 estimates (source [1]). Capital: Some sources disagree. Former: Province(s) from ~1968 covering approximately the same area.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Somalia page.

The regions are subdivided into 84 districts.

Territorial extent:

The UN LOCODE page for Somalia lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names:

  1. Bari: = east
  2. Dhexe: = middle
  3. Hoose: = lower (i.e. downstream)
  4. Woqooyi Galbeed: = northwest

Change history:

  1. 1925-06-29: Transjuba (everything in modern Somalia west of the Juba River) transferred from Kenya to Italian Somaliland.
  2. 1931: Italian Somaliland at this time consisted of seven commissariats. Their names and populations in the 1931 census were Alto Giuba (292,263), Alto Uebi-Scebeli (257,219), Basso Giuba (173,994), Basso Uebi-Scebeli (109,644), Migiurtinia (48,863), Mogadiscio (20,288), and Mudugh (119,301).
  3. 1960-07-01: British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland (Somalia) merged to form the Somali Republic. Its divisions were the six districts of British Somaliland: Berbera, Borama, Burao, Erigavo, Hargeisa, and Las Anod; and the six districts of Italian Somaliland: Alto Giuba, Basso Giuba, Benadir, Hiran, Migiurtinia, and Mudugh.
  4. ~1964: North-Eastern (Burao) Province formed by merging Burao, Erigavo, and Las Anod districts; North-Western (Hargeisa) Province formed by merging Berbera, Borama, and Hargeisa districts.
  5. ~1968: Capital of Basso Giuba moved from Kismayu (Italian: Chisimaio) to Jamame. After this change, the provinces, with some of the variant names of their capitals, were:
Province Population Area(km.�) Capital
Alto Giuba 362,234 131,492 Baidoa; Baydhabo (variant); Iscia Baidoa, Isha Baidoa (obsolete)
Basso Giuba 113,449 49,917 Jamame; Margherita (Italian)
Banaadir 387,600 45,004 Mogadishu; Mogadiscio (Italian); Muqdisho (Somali)
Burao 330,000 128,000 Burao; Burco (variant)
Hargeisa 270,000 48,000 Hargeisa; Hargeysa, Harghessa (variant)
Hiiraan 176,528 25,647 Beled Weyne; Belet Uen, Belet Wein (variant)
Migiurtinia 82,653 90,744 Boosaaso; Bender Cassim, Bender Kassim (obsolete); Bosaso (variant)
Mudug 141,120 118,737 Galka'yo; Gaalkacyo (variant); Gallacaio, Rocca Littorio (Italian)
8 provinces 1,863,584 637,541
Population: 1961 estimates (source [2]).
  1. ~1982: Somalia reorganized from eight provinces into sixteen regions.
  2. 1984-06: Awdal region split from Woqooyi Galbeed (former FIPS code SO16); Sool region split from Nugaal (SO11). FIPS has also changed the code for Togdheer from SO15, suggesting that FIPS believes that Togdheer was also affected by this change. Geographically, it's possible that part of Togdheer was attached to Sool.

Other names of subdivisions:

  1. Alto Giuba: Alto Juba, Upper Juba (variant)
  2. Banaadir: Banadir, Benadir, Mogadishu (variant)
  3. Bari: East (variant)
  4. Basso Giuba: Basso Juba, Lower Juba (variant)
  5. Burao: Burro, Eastern, North-East (variant)
  6. Galguduud: Galgadud, Galgaduud, Galgudug (variant)
  7. Hiiraan: Hiraan, Hiran (variant)
  8. Gedo: Gado (variant)
  9. Hargeisa: Hargeysa, Harghessa, North-West, Western (variant)
  10. Jubbada Dhexe: Central Juba, Middle Juba (variant)
  11. Jubbada Hoose: Lower Juba (variant)
  12. Migiurtinia: Mijertein, Mijirtein, Mijurtein (variant)
  13. Mudug: Madugh, Mudugh (variant)
  14. Nugaal: Nogal (variant)
  15. Shabeellaha Dhexe: Central Shabele, Middle Shabelle (variant)
  16. Shabeellaha Hoose: Lower Shabele, Lower Shabelle (variant)
  17. Sool: Sol (variant)
  18. Togdheer: Togdeer, Togder (variant)
  19. Woqooyi Galbeed: North-West, Waalbaad, Woqooyi Gelbeed (variant)

Sources:

  1. [1] "Ershiyi (21) Shiji Shijie Diming Lu", a three-volume world gazetteer.
  2. [2] Encyclop�dia Britannica World Atlas, 1964 edition.
  3. [3] Report of the UNFPA Consultant on Population Statistics of Somalia , Table 2. K.E. Vaidyanathan, U.N. Development Programme, 1997 (retrieved 2013-12-04).
  4. [4] Somalia National Peace Conference (retrieved 2001-04-11).
  5. [5] The 1961 Referendum on the 1960 Somali Republic Constitution . Somaliland Law website (retrieved 2013-12-09).
  6. [6] Population Estimation Survey 2014 . Report on a survey conducted between October 2013 and March 2014, using the 1986 pre-war region boundaries (retrieved 2015-09-01).