Horn of Africa
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Nations of the Horn of Africa. |
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The Horn of Africa as seen from the NASA Space Shuttle, in May of 1993. The orange and tan colors in this image indicate a largely arid to semiarid climate. |
The
Horn of Africa or
Somali Peninsula is a
peninsula of
East Africa that juts for hundreds of kilometers into the
Arabian Sea, and lies along the southern side of the
Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African
continent.
It indeed resembles in outline the
horn of an animal — perhaps especially, the horns of the
Black Rhinoceros, whose historic range includes parts of
Ethiopia:
* Its orientation relative to the
Equator approximates that of either rhino horn relative to the ground.
* The angle between its northern and southeastern coasts approximates that at the tip of the rhino's upper horn.
* The concavity of its northern coast, and convexity of its southern, echo similar curvatures on the rhino's lower horn.
The term also refers to the greater region containing the countries of
Djibouti,
Ethiopia,
Eritrea and
Somalia. As such, it covers approximately 2,000,000 km² and is inhabited by about 86.5 million people.
Sudan and
Kenya are sometimes included as well.
Greater Somalia is a
nationalist goal to create a unified
Somali state in the Horn of Africa, in the former and present states referred to by the five points of the star in the national flag of Somalia since that country's independence: the former British and Italian colonies of present Somalia, the former French Somaliland (now Djibouti), the
Ogaden in Ethiopia, and the North Eastern province in Kenya.
The Horn of Africa, almost equidistant from the
Equator and the
Tropic of Cancer, is an arid region.
Socotra is a small island off the coast of Somalia, in the Indian Ocean, that is considered to be part of Africa. Its size is 3,600 square km. It is a territory of
Yemen, the southernmost country on the
Arabian peninsula.
Ancient history
The
Kingdom of Aksum (also known as "Axum") was an African state located in Ethiopia, Eritrea, northern Somalia and Yemen that thrived between the
1st and
7th centuries. Due to the Horn's 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 the
Antiquity: The
ancient Egyptians,
Greeks and
Romans sent expeditions to the region for
frankincense,
myrrh,
dragon's blood or
cinnabar and took these commodities back along the
Incense Route. Therefore the Romans called this region
Regio Aromatica.
Modern history
The Horn of Africa is a region continuously in crisis. Ethiopia occupies a predominant position in the Horn because of its
demographic importance: about 85% of the area's population live in this country. Yet Ethiopia's history is largely marked by conflicts between
Muslims and
Christians for resources and living space, as well as between
nationalism and
Marxism-Leninism in the modern times. The rest of the region also faces continuous wars: a
civil war erupted in
Somalia in
1977, resulting in the country having had no functioning national government since
1991.
Sudan, with the
Sudanese Civil War, represents another important source of instability for the whole region. Conflicts have also occurred in Djibouti and Eritrea.
Moreover, the region is regularly stricken by
natural catastrophes, such as
droughts (in Ethiopia) or
flood (Somalia) that hit
rural areas particularly hard. As a result, the region has some of the world's highest levels of
malnutrition and is continuously loomed by a major
humanitarian crisis. Between
1982 and
1992, about two million people died in the Horn of Africa due to this 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 eleven African nations regarding the
War on Terrorism.
The countries of the Horn of Africa are culturally linked together and they are closer to Arabia than to the rest of Africa. Local people have been using the
plow for cultivation and kept the Arabian
dromedary as domestic animals for a long time.Some important ethno-linguistic groups in the Horn of Africa are:
*In Djibouti: the
Afar (Danakil) and the
Somali (Issa)
*In Eritrea: the
Bilen, the
Afar, the
Beni-Amer (
Beja), the
Hedareb, the
Kunama (Baza), the
Nara (Nialetic), the
Saho (Irob), the
Rashaida, the
Tigre, and the
Tigrinya.
*In Ethiopia: the
Amhara (Amara), the Afar (Danakil, Adali), the
Agaw/Awingi and Agaw/Kamyr, the
Bale, the
Borana, the
Daasenech (Reshiat), the
Gawwada (Gauwada), the
Gurage/Siltie, the
Hammer, the
Harari (Adere), the
Komuz, the
Libido (Maraqo), the
Mesengo (Majang), the
Mursi, the
Oromo (Azebul and Galla), the
Qemant, the Saho, the
Sidama, the Somali, the
Sun, the
Tigrinya and the
Zayse.
*In Somalia: the
Dabarre, the
Digil-Rahawlin, the
Garre, the
Jiiddu, the
Shambaara (Gosha), the Somali, the
Swahili (Baraawe) and the
Tunni.
*In Sudan: the
Anuak, the
Atwot, the Bale, the
Beni-Amer (Beja), the
Bisharin (Beja), the
Burun (Barun, Borun), the
Dar Fur Daju, the
Dar Sila Daju, the
Didinga (Xaroxa, Toil), the
Fedicca-Mahas, the
Nubian, the
Fulani (Sudanese Fula), the
Fur (Furawi), the
Chulfan (Gulfan), the
Gule (Fung, Hameg), the
Hadendoa (Beja), the
Hamar, the
Hausa Fulani, the
Ingessana (Tabi), the
Kanga (Abu Sinun), the
Yerwa Kanuri, the
Katla (Akalak), the
Kenuzi-Dongolese, the Nubi, the
Central Koma (Komo), the
Krongo Nuba, the
Maba (Borgu, Mabang), the
Maban-Jumjum (Maben), the
Mararit (Ablyl, Ebiri, Masalit), the
Masalit, the
Mesakin (Masakin), the
Midob (Miedob, Tidi), the
Nyimang (Nyima, Ama), the
Par (Lokoro), the
Rufaa (Rufalyin), the
Shatt (Daju), the
Shatt (Mandul), the
Sungor (Assagori), the
Tagale (Taqalawin), the
Temein, the
Tigre, the
Tira (Thiro), the
Tulishi and the
Zaghawa.
States of the region depend largely on a few key
exports:
*Sudan:
Cotton 50% of total exports.
*Ethiopia:
Coffee 80% of total exports.
*Somalia:
Bananas and
livestock over 50% of total exports.
The Horn of Africa is a
UNESCO's
Biodiversity Hotspot and one of the two entirely arid ones. However the Horn of Africa suffers largely from
overgrazing and only 5% of its original
habitat still remains. On Socotra, another great threat is the development of
infrastructure.
Fauna
About 220
mammals are found in the Horn of Africa. Among threatened species of the region, we find several
antelopes such as the
beira, the
dibatag, the
silver dikdik and the
Speke's gazelle. Other remarkable species include the
Somali wild ass, the
desert warthog, the
Hamadryas Baboon, the
Somali pygmy gerbil, the
ammodile and the
Speke's pectinator. The
Grevy's zebra is the unique wild
equid of the region.
Some important
bird species of the Horn are the
Bulo Burti boubou, the
golden-winged grosbeak, the
Warsangli linnet or the
Djibouti francolin.
The Horn of Africa holds more
endemic reptiles than anywhere else in Africa, with about 90 species over about 285 found exclusively here. Among endemic reptile genera, there are
Haackgreerius,
Haemodracon,
Ditypophis,
Pachycalamus or
Aeluroglena. Half of these genera are uniquely found on Socotra. Unlike reptiles,
amphibians are poorly represented in the region.
There are about 100 species of
freshwater fish in the Horn of Africa, about 10 of which are endemic. Among the endemic, we find the cave-dwelling
Somali blind barb and the
Somali cavefish.
Flora
It is estimated that about 5,000 species of
vascular plants are found in the Horn, about the half of which is endemic. Endemism is most developed in
Socotra and Northern Somalia. The region has two endemic plant
families: the
Barbeyaceae and the
Dirachmaceae. Among the other remarkable species, there are the
cucumber tree found only on Socotra, the
Bankoualé palm, the
Yeheb nut or the
Somali cyclamen.
*
Geography of Africa*
History of Djibouti*
History of Eritrea*
History of Ethiopia*
History of Kenya*
History of Somalia*
History of Sudan*
Land of PuntCompare: Cape Horn, the southernmost point of
South America*
History of the Horn of Africa*
Horn of Africa News Agency *
WWF- Somali Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets*
Horn of Africa Biodiversity Hotspot*[https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/dj.html]
*[https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/er.html]
*[https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/et.html]
*[https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/so.html]
