Regions of Somalia

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Updates: 

"Ershiyi (21) Shiji Shijie Diming Lu", a three-volume world gazetteer, gives the populations of the eighteen regions as of 1980. I have added the data to the main table.

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 nameSOMALIA
ISO codeSO
FIPS codeSO
LanguageSomali (so)
Time zone+3
CapitalMogadishu

 

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 in a state of anarchy, and local government, if any, is unofficial.

Other names of country: 

  1. Danish: Somalia
  2. Dutch: Somalië, Somaliland, Republiek Somaliland (formal)
  3. English: Somali Democratic Republic (formal)
  4. Finnish: Somalia
  5. French: Somalie f
  6. German: Puntland, Somalia, Somaliland n
  7. Icelandic: Sómalía
  8. Italian: Somalia f
  9. Norwegian: Den demokratiske republikk Somalia (formal) (Bokmål), Den demokratiske republikken Somalia (formal) (Nynorsk), Somalia
  10. Portuguese: Somalilândia, Somália f, República f da Somalilândia f (formal)
  11. Somali: Jamhuriyadda Dimugradiga ee Soomaaliya (formal)
  12. Spanish: Somalía f, República f Democrática Somalí (formal)
  13. Swedish: Somalia
  14. 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).

RegionHASCFIPSPopulationArea(km.²)Area(mi.²)CapitalFormer
AwdalSO.AWSO21   BakiHargeisa
BakoolSO.BKSO01148,70027,00010,000XuddurAlto Giuba
BanaadirSO.BNSO02520,1001,657640MogadishuBanaadir
BariSO.BRSO03222,30070,00027,000BoosaasoMigiurtinia
BaySO.BYSO04451,00039,00015,000BaydhaboAlto Giuba
GalguduudSO.GASO05255,90043,00017,000Dhuusa MarreebMudug
GedoSO.GESO06235,00032,00012,000GarbahaarreyAlto Giuba
HiiraanSO.HISO07219,30034,00013,000BeledweyneHiiraan
Jubbada DhexeSO.JDSO08147,80023,0009,000Bu'aaleBasso Giuba, Alto Giuba
Jubbada HooseSO.JHSO09272,40061,00024,000KismaayoBasso Giuba
MudugSO.MUSO10311,20070,00027,000GaalkacyoMudug, Migiurtinia
NugaalSO.NUSO18112,20050,00019,000GarooweMigiurtinia
SanaagSO.SASO12216,50054,00021,000CeerigaaboBurco
Shabeellaha DhexeSO.SDSO13352,00022,0008,000JawharBanaadir
Shabeellaha HooseSO.SHSO14570,70025,00010,000MarkaBanaadir
SoolSO.SOSO22   LaascaanoodBurco
TogdheerSO.TOSO19383,90041,00016,000BurcoBurco, Hargeisa
Woqooyi GalbeedSO.WOSO20655,00045,00017,000HargeysaHargeisa, Burao
18 regions5,074,200637,657245,640
  • HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by
    hyphens, these are the same as the region codes from ISO standard 3166-2.
  • FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4.
  • Population: 1980 estimates.
  • Capital: Some source 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.

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:
ProvincePopulationArea(km.²)Capital
Alto Giuba362,397131,492Baidoa; Baydhabo (variant); Iscia Baidoa, Isha Baidoa (obsolete)
Basso Giuba113,77449,917Jamame; Margherita (Italian)
Banaadir392,18945,004Mogadishu; Mogadiscio (Italian); Muqdisho (Somali)
Burao128,000Burao; Burco (variant)
Hargeisa48,000Hargeisa; Hargeysa, Harghessa (variant)
Hiiraan176,60325,647Beled Weyne; Belet Uen, Belet Wein (variant)
Migiurtinia82,71090,744Boosaaso; Bender Cassim, Bender Kassim (obsolete); Bosaso (variant)
Mudug141,197118,737Galka'yo; Gaalkacyo (variant); Gallacaio, Rocca Littorio (Italian)
8 provinces637,541
  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 (SO16). 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: Benadir (variant)
  3. Bari: East (variant)
  4. Basso Giuba: Basso Juba, Lower Juba (variant)
  5. Burao: Burro, Eastern, North-East (variant)
  6. Galguduud: Galgudug (variant)
  7. Hargeisa: Hargeysa, Harghessa, North-West, Western (variant)
  8. Hiiraan: Hiran (variant)
  9. Jubbada Dhexe: Central Juba (variant)
  10. Jubbada Hoose: Lower Juba (variant)
  11. Migiurtinia: Mijertein, Mijirtein, Mijurtein (variant)
  12. Mudug: Madugh, Mudugh (variant)
  13. Nugaal: Nogal (variant)
  14. Shabeellaha Dhexe: Central Shabele (variant)
  15. Shabeellaha Hoose: Lower Shabele (variant)
  16. Sool: Sol (variant)
  17. Togdheer: Togder (variant)
  18. Woqooyi Galbeed: North-West, Woqooyi Gelbeed (variant)
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