Contents

Flag

Historical Flags

Meaning/Origin of the Flag

The today’s flag of Somalia was introduced for Italian Somaliland on 12th of October in 1954 and was tooken over at the independence of the united Somalia on 1st of July in 1960. The flag shows a single-coloured pale blue bunting with a white five-pointed star in the middle. The appearance and colour of the country's flag were last defined in Article 6 of the 2012 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia, and of course in previous constitutions. The colour of the flag is again only defined as "light blue" and the size of the star is repeatedly again not mentioned at all. To explain the meaning of the colours and of the symbolism there are two theories:
• The colours have their roots in the flag of the United Nations, because Italian Somaliland was under its administration between 1949 and 1960. The five-pointed star symbolizes the five regions in which Somali lived about 1954: 1: British Somaliland (today Somaliland), 2. French Somaliland (today Djibouti), 3. Italian Somaliland (today Somalia, Puntland and Galmudug), 4. British East Africa (today Kenya) and 5. Ogaden (part of Ethiopia).
• Blue is the colour of the heaven over the African continent and the white star stands for the African freedom.

When Awale Liban created the flag in 1954, he supposedly referred to the blue of the United Nations (UN) flag. This means that the light blue should officially correspond to the UN blue, which means that Pantone 279 should be used. However, if you look at the upper half of the coat of arms of Italian Somaliland created in 1919, the design and colour of the flag is already quite recognisable. From the territory of the former Somalia separated between 1991 and 2006 at least three states and Somalia itself even momentaryly finished its existence. The both Somalia-States of Puntland and Galmudug (to 2017) use as well the Somali flag. British Somaliland came into being in 1887 after the British had taken power in Egyptian Somaliland in February 1884. Egypt had been conquered by United Kingdom in 1882, but was initially under the administration of British India from Aden. In 1903, British Somaliland received its own administration and thus its own governor. This gave the British administration of the colony the right to use its own so-called "Blue Ensign", a dark blue flag bunting with a representation of a flag - the British Union Jack - in the upper corner, with a badge in the waving end. For all other purposes, only the British Union Jack was to be used on land and the usual red British merchant flag, the "Red Ensign", was to be used at sea.

United Kingdom introduced a flag system in 1864 in which:
• war ships fly the "White Ensign" (naval flag), a white flag often with an uninterrupted red St. George's-Cross and with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag,
• merchant ships fly a "Red Ensign" (also named "Civil Ensign" → civil flag, the real merchant flag), a red flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag, and
• governmental ships fly the "Blue Ensign" (flag for the use by the gouvernment → the actual state flag), a blue flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag.

Since 1865 ships of colonial governments were permitted to fly the Blue Ensign with a badge in the flying end of the flag. The respective governments were asked to design appropriate badges. Merchant ships and seafaring persons from colonies were only permitted to use the Red Ensign with a badge, then also named Civil Ensign, if permission has been given to the respective colony by the British admiralty. Such a permission had ever been granted for British Somaliland, and so only the usual red British merchant flag, the "Red Ensign" without a badge in the waving end, was officially used at sea. Such a badge was often a regional landscape representation placed on a disk, often showing ships, historical events or even a kind of a logo. Very often, a badge also showed the name of the country or a motto. Some British possessions, however, already had a coat of arms from the beginning, or their badge was replaced by a coat of arms over the years. To ensure a uniform appearance in the flying end of the flags, coats of arms and other symbols were displayed on a white disk in the size of the earlier badges. There were also exceptions, because some colonies did not use the white disk and placed their escutcheon or even coat of arms directly on the bunting, sometimes enlarged. Already in the '40s they started to remove the white disk and placed the coat of arms directly or enlarged. This conversion process was done gradually, nowhere at the same time and completely. In some British possessions, flags with the white disc are still in use, in others no more and in some areas are both variants in use, next to each other.

Source: Die Welt der Flaggen, Flaggen und Coat of arms of the Welt, Wikipedia (EN), Flags of the World, Flaggen Wappen Hymnen, Volker Preuß

Coat of arms

since 1956,
Coat of arms of Somalia,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE), Corel Draw 4

Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

Aircraft Roundel

Federal States

Map

Numbers and Facts

History

antiquity · trade between the Somali from Punt and Egypt, later also with the Roman Empire

7th century · first contacts with the Islam at the coast

10th century · foundation of Mogadishu, Barawa and Merka by Arabian and Persian merchants, evolution of town-states

15th century · islamization

16th century · conquer of the eastern coast by the Portugese

17th century · the Sultan of Mascat (Oman) conquers the eastern coast and banishes the Portugese

1856 · death of Sultan Seyyid Said of Oman, division of the country (split of the dynasty in two lines) in the Sultanate of Oman and the Sultanate of Zanzibar (with the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, Lamu, Manda, Patta including the whole African eastern coast between Cape Delgado and Mogadishu)

1885–1890 · the German Empire attempts to acquire colonial property in the area of the Somali east coast through the German East African Society, but conflicts arise with United Kingdom and Italy


French Somaliland: look Djibouti

British Somaliland: look Somaliland


Italian Somaliland:

1889 · Italy occupys the town Obbia at the eastern coast

1892–1893 · Italy leases the possessions of Zanzibar at the eastern coast

1905 · Italy purchases the possessions of Zanzibar at the eastern coast

1908 · formation of the colony of Italian Somaliland

1888, 1894, 1906 · frontier treaties between Italy, United Kingdom, France and Ethiopia, division of the by Somali inhabited territories

1924 · United Kingdom cedes Jubaland to Italy

1926 · Jubaland becomes affiliated to Italian Somaliland

1941 · Second World War, British troops occupy the country

1949 · Italian Somaliland becomes subordinated under Italian administration as an UNO trust territory

1943 · establishment of the "Somali Youth League" (SYL), claims for independence and unification of all Somali countries

1956 · elections, victory of the SYL, formation of a government, Italy grants semi-autonomy

1st of July 1960 · Italy grants independence, unification of the former Italian Somaliland with the former British Somaliland to the Republic of Somalia, President: Adan Abdullah Osman, Premier: A. R. A. Shermake



Somalia:

1964 · war against Ethiopia to gain the by Somali inhabited province of Ogaden

21.10.1969 · coup d’état of General Siyad Mohammed Barre, proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Somalia

1972 · Somali becomes official language, introduction of the Latin writing

1st of July 1976 · introduction of the single-party-system under the Somali Revolutionar Socialistic Party (SRSP)

1977–1982 · war against Ethiopia to gain the by Somali inhabited province of Ogaden, the "West Somali Liberation Front" continues the struggle in Ogaden for the annexion of the province by Somalia

1th of August 1979 · new constitution

1980–1982 · state of emergency, agitations, riots, struggles

1988 · civil war between the government of Barre and the Somali National Movement (SNM)

1989 · all opposing groups join against the government of Barre

1991 · overthrow of the government of Barre, Siyad Mohammed Barre flees to Nigeria, the anti-Barre-alliance breaks, struggles between the opposing groups, especially between the troops of General Ali Mahdi Mohammed and General Aidid, Aidid occupys Mogadishu

24th of May 1991 · the former British Somaliland separates as Republic of Somaliland from Somalia and declares its independence

21st of July 1991 · proclamation of the Republic of Somalia

1992 · US-troops invade Somalia on behalf of the UNO

1993 · the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM) conquers Jubaland, the area west of the river Juba, international troops invade Somalia on behalf of the UNO

1995 · defeat of the UNO-troops against the Somali, withdrawal of the UNO and its troops from Somalia, death of General Siyad Mohammed Barre in Lagos (Nigeria), the Dir subgroup of the Issa clan proclaims the Republic of Awdal in the far northwest near Djibouti

1996 · death of General Aidid, continuation of the civil war

August 1996 · cease fire

1997 · formation of a government under Ali Mahdi Mohammed

1998–2000 · once more struggles between enemy militias in Southern Somalia and Mogadishu

1998 · the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM) proclaims the independent state of Jubaland

23rd of July 1998 · separation of the "Autonomous Region of Puntland"

1999 · the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA) conquers Jubaland and proclaims the state of Jubaland, loyal to the central government in Mogadishu

2000 · establishment of an exile government under Abdulkassim Salat Hassan in Arta (Djibouti), recognition by the UNO

2002–2005 · the Rahanweyn clan proclaims and runs the state of South-West Somalia in and around Baidoa

2004 · election of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed to president in Mogadishu

2005 · attacks of the by Eritrea supported radical-islamic "Union of Islamic Courts", escape of the government of Ahmed to Baidoa

June 2006 · the "Union of Islamic Courts" conquers Mogadishu

14th of August 2006 · separation of the state of Galmudug from Puntland

September 2006 · the "Union of Islamic Courts" conquers Kismayu and Baidoa, Ethiopia sees its territorial integrity endangered and starts air strikes

November/December 2006 · Ethiopian troops and troops of the Somali government start the offensive against the "Union of Islamic Courts"

26th of December 2006 · Ethiopian troops and troops of the Somali government conquer Baidoa

28th of December 2006 · the "Union of Islamic Courts" flees from Mogadishu, marching in of the Somali government

31st of December 2006 · the "Union of Islamic Courts" flees from and withdraws in direction of the frontier to Kenya

2006-2010 · civil war spreads to the capital Mogadishu, mass exodus, countless Somali states are formed, some declare themselves independent, others submit to the central government, Al-Shabab militia emerges from the Islamist group "Union of Islamic Courts"

2009 · Ethiopian troops leave the country, militant Islamists spread throughout the country, emergence of the Islamist group "ASWJ - Al Sunna wal Jamma"

2010-2011 · clashes between the Islamist groups (Al-Shabab, Hizbul Islam), Al-Shabab withdraws from Mogadishu, the state of Raskamboni is founded in Jubaland

2011 · troops of the Republic of Kenya invade southern Somalia to fight al-Shabaab, with the help of African Union troops and from Ethiopia and Kenya, the central government manages to regain a foothold in Mogadishu and stabilise its power, founding of the Republic of Azania in Jubaland

2012 · the Abgal subgroup of the Hawiye clan proclaims the state of Mareeg in the south of Galguduud province, first ideas about the creation of a federal Somalia

25.08.2012 · Proclamation of the Federal Republic of Somalia

2012-2016 · the central government succeeds through negotiations in uniting the many Somali states and separatist movements regionally into four federal states, the main problem remains the Islamist militias, which control about a quarter of the country

Source: Atlas zur Geschichte, Wikipedia (EN), World Statesmen

Origin of the Country's Name