Somalia is an Arab sultanate since the seventh century and becomes part of Muscat and Oman in the seventeenth century. In 1866 East Somalia is acquired and conquered by Zanzibar. The northern coast is occupied by Egypt between 1875 and 1887: in that year Britain establishes the Protectorate of British Somaliland, subordinate to Aden.

Italy acquieres the Zanzibar posessions at the Somali coast and establishes in 1889 the protectorate of Italian Somalia, restyled into a colony in 1905. Italian occupation gradually extends inland. Italy acquires Jubaland in 1925 and annexes it to Italian Somalia in 1926. The subjugation and occupation of the independent sultanates of Obbia and Mijertein begin in 1925 and are completed in 1927. In the late 1920s, Italian and Somali influence expands into the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia. Continuing incursions climax in 1935 when Italian forces launch an offensive that leads to the capture of Addis Ababa and the Italian annexation of Ethiopia in 1936. The posessions are united in 1936 with Ethiopia in Italian East Africa. Italy occupies British Somaliland in 1940, but in 1941 it is defeated by Britain.

Italian Somalia is administered by Britain from 1941 and in 1950 it becomes the United Nations Trust Territory of Somalia, placed under Italian administration. During British rule the Liga dei Giovani Somali (Somali Youth League, LGS) is formed. In 1960 Somalia merges with independent Somaliland to form the independent Somali Republic. Somalia becomes a presidential democracy, dominated by the Somali Youth League (or Ururka dhalinyarada somaliyeed) of Aden Abdullah Osman Dar (president between 1960 and 1967) and Abdirashid Ali Shermarke (president between 1967 and 1969). When Shermarke is assasinated in 1969, the army under Muhammad Siyad Barre seizes power. The country, renamed Somali Democratic Republic, is governed by a Surpreme Revolutionary Council.

Barre establishes a socialist one-party state in 1976 when the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party becomes to sole allowed party. Barre stages the 1977 war with Ethiopia over the Somali populated Ogaden region. Within Somalia, Barre's regime confront insurgencies in the northeast and northwest, whose aim is to overthrow his government. By 1988 Barre is openly at war with sectors of his nation.The warfare in the northwest sped up the decay already evident elsewhere in the republic. Barre is overthrown in 1991.

Somalia is renamed Somali Republic but the state ceases to exist: Somalia dissolves into civil war and clan banditry. That year former Somaliland secedes from Somalia as Somaliland. This seccesion is internationally not recognized, but a de facto independent state evolves. Othernregions, like the Autonomous State of Puntland, form their own governments, but don't secede from Somalia. An attempt by the United States and other nations in Operation Restore Hope between 1992 and 1994 to restore order fails. In 2000 a Transitional National Government is formed. This government has only authority in the capital and surroundings.