Greater Somalia: Can it Really Happen?

The Somali people are Africa's largest ethnic group. With a total population of about 25.8 million, most live in Somalia (17.6 million) and/or the unrecognized Republic of Somaliland (5.7 million). If we limit ourselves to just the Somali diaspora elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, that still means 7.3 million Somalis live in what is known as Greater Somalia, which includes: most of Djibouti, eastern Ethiopia, northeastern Kenya, and sometimes even Yemen's Socotra Archipelago.

This concept isn't exactly though, with some tracing the idea of a Greater Somalia back to the Dervish Movement of the early 20th century and briefly, during the Italian colonial period, it seemed Rome might actually unify all Somali lands.

Following independence, however, it became intertwined with Somali nationalism, a movement which envisions unifying these area to form a single nation-state.

This ultimately led to Mogadishu backing Somali rebels in Ethiopia's former Ogaden region and Kenya's Northern Frontier District. What's more, in 1977, the newly established Somali Democratic Republic fought a war with Addis Ababa to make Greater Somalia a reality. Things didn't exactly work out for Mogadishu and this ultimately led to a decades-long civil war that tore apart Somalia.

Still, the concept of a Greater Somalia continue to be popular for many even today.

#history #somalia #africa #ghostcountries #geopolitics

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro + What is Greater Somalia?
01:26 Irredentism
02:37 The Somali Dervish Movement
04:01 Italian Colonialism
05:22 1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War
07:18 Shifta War
10:25 Ogaden War
13:29 Collapse of the Somali Democratic Republic

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Intro Animation + Character Design: Emily Clearwater (iamprettyawesome.co.nz)

Background Music:

Clash Defiant Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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