Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa is the region of East Africa located where the Red Sea connects with the Indian Ocean, in the southern part of the Gulf of Aden, opposite the Arabian Peninsula. It is currently one of the poorest regions in the world, where hunger is a constant threat, especially in southern Ethiopia. It is considered the possible place where humanity originated.

Geography

The Horn of Africa is an extensive peninsula made up of all the countries of Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia. It covers an approximate area of 1,882,757 km². It receives the name Horn of Africa due to the triangular shape with a west-east orientation that is evident in the cartography.

It is an area of great political, economic and social instability, with continuous wars. It is a region that is of particular interest to European powers and the United States due to its strategic location, an essential route for oil and cargo ships.

The plains of Somalia and Djibouti suffer from extreme aridity and frequent droughts, despite the fact that the Horn of Africa region is located near the Earth's equator. This is because the tropical monsoon winds that bring seasonal rain to the Sahel and Sudan blow from the West, so by the time they reach Djibouti and Somalia they have already lost most of their moisture. On the other hand, Western and Central Ethiopia, as well as the southern tip of Eritrea, are more exposed to the aforementioned winds and therefore receive more rainfall. In fact, 2000 mm of annual rainfall is not uncommon in the Ethiopian mountains.

The Horn of Africa is inhabited by more than 130 million people. Given its location with respect to the Great Rift Valley fault, the action of geological plates will cause this region to separate from the African continent, as is believed to have happened with the relatively nearby island of Madagascar.

Socotra is an island off the coast of Somalia, in the Indian Ocean, which is geologically considered part of the Horn of Africa. Its size is 3600 square kilometers. It is a territory of Yemen, the southernmost country on the Arabian Peninsula.

Located at the eastern end of the African continent, it is the fourth largest peninsula in the world. It is made up of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti; Broader definitions also include parts or all of Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda. The term Greater Horn of Africa Region (GHR)' may also include Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. It is located along the southern limit of the Red Sea and extends hundreds of kilometers into the Guardafui Channel, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and shares a maritime border with the Arabian Peninsula of Western Asia.

Names

This peninsula has received various names. The Ancient Greeks and the Romans referred to it as Regio Aromatica or Regio Cinnamonifora due to the aromatic plants or as Regio Incognita due to its unexplored territory. In ancient times and the Middle Ages, the Horn of Africa was called Barbaria ("Land of the Berbers"). It is also known as Somali Peninsula or, in the Somali language, Geeska Afrika, Jasiiradda Soomaali or Gacandhulka Soomaali. In other local languages, it is called "the Horn of Africa" or "the African Horn": in Amharic የአፍሪካ ቀንድ yäafrika qänd, in Arabic. القرن الأفريقي al-qarn al-'afrīqī, in Oromo Gaaffaa Afriikaa, and in Tigrinya ቀርኒ ኣፍሪቃ q'ärnī afīrīq a. The name Horn of Africa is sometimes abbreviated as HoA. Very commonly it is simply called 'the Horn', while the inhabitants are sometimes colloquially called Horn Africans. The term Greater Horn of Africa is sometimes used , either to include neighboring northeast African countries or to distinguish the broader geopolitical definition of the Horn of Africa from the narrower peninsular definitions.

Ancient history

Some of the first fossils of Homo sapiens have been found in the region, the Men of Kibish (from about 233,000 years ago) and the Herto Skull (from about 160,000 years ago), both in Ethiopia.

Findings of the oldest stone-tipped projectiles from the Ethiopian Rift dating back more than 279,000 years "combined with existing archaeological, fossil and genetic evidence, isolate East Africa as the source of the cultures and modern biology"

According to the Southern Dispersion scenario, the southern migration route from Outer Africa occurred in the Horn of Africa via the Bab el Mandeb. Today, in the Bab el Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea is about 12 miles (20 kilometers) wide, but 50,000 years ago it was much narrower and the sea level was 70 meters lower. Although the straits were never completely closed, it is possible that there were islands between them that could be reached using simple rafts. Shell middens from 125,000 years ago have been found in Eritrea, indicating that the diet of early humans included shellfish obtained by scavenging on the beach.

Ethiopian and Eritrean agriculture established the earliest known use of the seed herb teff (Poa abyssinica) between 4000 and 1000 BC. C. Injera/taita flatbread is made with teff. Coffee also originates from Ethiopia and has since spread to become a global beverage.

The Kingdom of Aksum was an African state located in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Yemen that prospered between the 3rd and 11th centuries AD. Due to its strategic location, it has been used to restrict access to the Red Sea in the past..

The region was also a source of biological resources during ancient times: The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans sent expeditions to the region to exploit frankincense, myrrh, and took these materials back along the route of spices. Therefore the Romans called it the Aromatic Region.

The mythical Kingdom of Saba is also believed to have been located in this African region.

Modern history

In the period after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, when European powers were competing for territories in Africa and trying to establish supply stations for their ships, Italy invaded and occupied Eritrea. On January 1, 1890, Eritrea officially became a colony of Italy. In 1896, Ethiopian forces decisively stopped a new Italian incursion into the Horn. However, in 1936, Eritrea became a province of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana), along with Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland. In 1941, Eritrea had about 760,000 inhabitants, including 70,000 Italians. The Commonwealth armed forces, together with the Ethiopian patriotic resistance, expelled those of Italy in 1941, and took over the administration of the area. The British continued to administer the territory under a UN Mandate until 1951, when Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia, according to UN Resolution 390 A (V) adopted in December 1950.

The strategic importance of Eritrea, due to its Red Sea coastline and mineral resources, was the main cause of the federation with Ethiopia, which in turn led to the annexation of Eritrea as Ethiopia's 14th province in 1962. It was the culmination of a gradual process of seizure of power by the Ethiopian authorities, which included a 1959 edict establishing the compulsory teaching of Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia, in all Eritrean schools. The lack of consideration for the Eritrean population led to the formation of an independence movement in the early 1960s (1961), which erupted into a 30-year Eritrean War of Independence against successive Ethiopian governments that ended in 1991. A UN-supervised referendum in Eritrea (dubbed UNOVER) in which the Eritrean people voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence, Eritrea declared its independence and gained international recognition in 1993. In 1998, a border dispute with Ethiopia led to the Eritrean-Ethiopian war.

From 1862 to 1894, the lands north of the Gulf of Tadjoura located in present-day Djibouti were called Obock and were ruled by Somali and Afar. Sultans, local authorities with whom France signed several treaties between 1883 and 1887 to gain a foothold in the region for the first time. In 1894, Léonce Lagarde established a permanent French administration in the city of Djibouti and named the region Côte française des Somalis(French Somaliland), a name it kept until 1967.

In 1958, on the eve of neighboring Somalia's independence in 1960, a referendum was held in the territory to decide whether to join the Somali Republic or remain with France. The referendum favored continued association with France, in part due to the combined affirmative vote of the sizeable Afar ethnic group and resident Europeans. There were also reports of widespread electoral fraud, and the French expelled thousands of Somalis before the elections. ballot boxes. The majority of those who voted were non-Somalis who were strongly in favor of joining a united Somalia, as Mahmoud Harbi, vice-president of the Governing Council, had proposed. Harbi died in a plane crash two years later. Djibouti finally gained its independence from France in 1977. Hassan Gouled Aptidon, a Somali politician who had campaigned for yes in the 1958 referendum, became the first president of the nation (1977-1999). In early 2011, Djiboutian citizens participated in a series of protests against the long-serving government, which were associated with the broader demonstrations of the Arab Spring. The unrest eventually subsided in April and the ruling party, the Popular Rally for Progress, was re-elected.

The dervish movement existed for 25 years, from 1895 to 1920. The Turks appointed Hassan Emir of the Somali nation, and the German promised to officially recognize any territory the dervishes acquired. After a quarter of a century of holding Holding off the British, the Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920 as a direct consequence of the new British policy of aerial bombardment. As a result of this bombardment, the former Dervish territories became a protectorate of Great Britain. Italy faced similar opposition from the Somali sultans and armies, and did not acquire full control of modern Somalia until the fascist occupation in late 1927. This occupation lasted until 1941, and was replaced by a British military administration. The former British Somaliland would remain, along with Italian Somaliland, a United Nations Trusteeship, trust of Italy, between 1950 and 1960. The union of the two countries in 1960 formed the Somali Republic. A civil government was formed, and on July 20, 1961, through a popular referendum, the constitution drafted in 1960 was ratified.

Due to its long-standing ties to the Arab world, the Somali Republic was accepted in 1974 as a member of the Arab League. During the same year, the nation's former socialist administration also chaired the predecessor Organization of African Unity. of the African Union. In 1991 the Somali Civil War broke out, leading to the dissolution of the union and the regaining of Somaliland's independence, along with the collapse of the central government and the emergence of numerous autonomous political entities, including the administration of Puntland in the north. in the northwest. Subsequently, Somali people reverted to local forms of dispute resolution, whether secular, Islamic or customary law, with a provision for appeal of all rulings. Subsequently, in 2004, a Transitional Federal Government was created. The Federal Government of Somalia was established on August 20, 2012, coinciding with the end of the TFG's interim mandate. It represents the country's first permanent central government since its inception. of the civil war. The Federal Parliament of Somalia acts as the legislature of the Government.

The Horn of Africa is a region continually in crisis. Ethiopia occupies a predominant position in the horn due to its long historical history, and its demographic importance: more than 80% of the area's population lives in this country, and it is the second most populous state in Africa, after Nigeria. Two major regional wars have recently occurred: from May 1977 to March 1978 between Ethiopia and Somalia, and from 1998 to 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In Somalia, the Civil War since the fall of Siad Barre in 1991 has prevented the existence of a unitary national government since then. Conflicts have also occurred in Djibouti and Eritrea.

On the other hand, the region is regularly affected by natural disasters, such as droughts or floods. Consequently, the region has some of the world's highest levels of malnutrition and continually suffers from a brutal humanitarian crisis. Between 1982 and 1992, nearly two million people died in the Horn of Africa due to a combination of war and famine.

The Horn of Africa, since 2002, has been a major focus of attention by the United States, France, Germany, and several African nations regarding the so-called war on terrorism. Due to the absence of an effective state in Somalia and its geopolitically strategic situation, it was invaded by the United States, so as not to endanger oil and cargo ships due to the Somali civil war, the military operation being a failure.

Since July 2011, famine has been recorded in several regions south of Somalia due to a severe drought throughout the Horn of Africa region. This famine has the potential to spread to other countries in the region. Due to the famine there is a crisis of refugees escaping from the affected areas in Somalia to refugee camps in neighboring countries. Many humanitarian aid agencies (such as the UN) seek to remedy the situation.

Demography, ethnicities and languages

In addition to sharing similar geographical endowments, the countries of the Horn of Africa are, for the most part, linguistically and ethnically linked, which reveals a complex pattern of interrelationships between the different groups. The two main macrogroups of the Horn They are the Cushitic-speaking Cushitic peoples, traditionally centered in the lowlands, and the Ethiopian- and Eritrean-speaking Eterosemites, centered in the highlands.

According to Ethnologue, 10 individual languages are spoken in Djibouti (two native), 14 in Eritrea, 90 in Ethiopia and 15 in Somalia (Somali is the only native). Most inhabitants of the Horn speak Afro-Asiatic languages of the Cushitic, Semitic or Omotic branches. The Cushitic branch includes Oromo, spoken by the Oromo people in Ethiopia, and Somali, spoken by the Somali people in Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya; The Semitic branch (specifically the Etosemitic subbranch) includes Amharic, spoken by the Amhara people of Ethiopia, and Tigrinya, spoken by the Tigrayan people of Ethiopia and the Tigrinya people of Eritrea. Other Afroasiatic languages with a significant number of speakers are the Cushitic languages Afar, Saho, Hadiyya, Sidamo and Agaw, the Semitic languages Tigre, Arabic, Gurage, Harari, Silt'e and Argobba, as well as the Omotic languages are spoken by the Omotic communities that inhabit the southern regions of Ethiopia. Among these languages are Aari, Dizi, Gamo, Kafa, Hamer and Wolaytta.

Languages belonging to the Nilo-Saharan linguistic family are also spoken in some areas by Nilotic ethnic minorities, mainly in Ethiopia and Eritrea. These languages include the Nilo-Saharan languages Me'en and Mursi, used in southwestern Ethiopia, and the Kunama and Nara languages, spoken in parts of southern Eritrea.

Languages belonging to the Niger-Congo language family are also spoken in some areas by the Bantu ethnic minorities of Somalia. In the riverine and coastal areas of southern Somalia, the Bajuni, Barawani and Bantu groups also speak variants of the Swahili and Mushunguli languages of Niger-Congo.

El Cuerno has produced numerous indigenous writing systems. Among them is the Ge'ez script (ግዕዝ Gəʿəz) (also known as Ethiopian), which has been written for at least 2,000 years. It is an abugida script that was originally developed to write the Ge'ez language.. In speech communities that use it, such as Amharic and Tigrinya, the script is called fidäl (ፊደል), which means "writing" or "alphabet". For centuries, Somali sheikhs and sultans used the Wadaad script (a version of the Arabic alphabets) to write. At the beginning of the 20th century, in response to a national campaign to establish a script for the Somali language (which had long been lost its ancient script[109]), Osman Yusuf Kenadid, a Somali poet and remote cousin of Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid of the Hobyo Sultanate, devised a phonetically sophisticated alphabet called Osmanya (also known as far soomaali; Osmanya: 𐒍𐒖𐒇 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘) to represent the sounds of Somali. Although no longer the official script of Somalia, the Osmanya script is available in the Unicode range 10480-104AF [from U+10480 - U+104AF (66688-66735)]. Various ethnic minority groups in southern Ethiopia and Eritrea also adhere to various traditional beliefs. Among these belief systems is the recognition of the sky god Tumu by the Nilo-Saharan Surma people.

Economy

The states of the region depend largely on some exports of a single product, usually monoculture:

• Eritrea: 80% of the population occupied in agriculture and livestock.
• Ethiopia: coffee 80% of total exports.
• Somalia: bananas and livestock over 50% of total exports.
• Djibouti: based primarily on related services.