Mogadishu (Somali: Muqdisho) is the capital and largest city in Somalia on the Indian Ocean. It is current seat of a provisional authority, but no effective government has existed in the country for over a decade. As of 2004, the population is estimated to be around 2,450,000.

Mogadishu is the country's largest city, a seaport, and a commercial and financial center. Its principal industries are food and beverages and textiles. The city is linked by road with Kenya and Ethiopia. Limited air service is available.

History

Mogadishu was founded by Arab Muslim settlers around 1300. They came from the Arabian Peninsula and left it because they were being persecuted in their homeland. Their relative affluence made them powerful, and inter-marriage with the locals produced economically beneficial relationships. During the 1300s, the future capital city of Mogadishu came to prominence as a favorite "party town" for Arab sailors. Mogadishu was the most north of the East African City states . It was prosperous for trade from the interior and is where Islam came from to spread all over Somalia.

The origin of the name is unclear; one version claims it as the Somali version of the Arabic name "maqad shah" (imperial seat of the shah), another version claims that it is a Somali version of the Swahili "mwyu ma" (last northern city). Among the city's historic buildings are the Mosque of Fakr ad-Din (1269) and Garesa Palace , built in the late 19th century for the local administrator of the sultan of Zanzibar and now housing a museum and library. Mogadishu is the seat of the Somalia National University.

In 1871 the city was occupied by the sultan of Zanzibar, who leased it to the Italians in 1892. In 1905 Italy purchased the city and made it the capital of its colony of Italian Somaliland. Mogadishu was captured and occupied during World War II by British forces operating from Kenya. During Somalia's long civil war from the 1970s, rebel forces took the city in 1990. Intense battling between clan-based rebel factions damaged many parts of Mogadishu in 1991 and 1992. UN peacekeeping forces were stationed in the city between 1992 and 1995.

On October 3, 1993, an attempt by the United States Army to capture lieutenants of the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid while successful, ended in disaster. In the Battle of Mogadishu, 19 American soldiers were killed and several dozen were injured. The events were later dramatised in the novel and film Black Hawk Down.

Mogadishu after Black Hawk Down

Today Mogadishu continues to be one of the world's most dangerous cities (see Attacks on humanitarian workers), as clan and faction fighting rages unabated. The city is also the seat of the internationally-recognized Transitional National Government, ostensibly an interim government for the entire nation of Somalia whose practical influence does not extend beyond a few blocks from its headquarters. The situation is such that the body's parliament sits in Nairobi, Kenya, rather than remain in the city.

The southern part of the city is more peaceful and also more modern, containing mansions and safe streets. The north side of the city is where the major clan warfare is, and is one of the most dangerous places in the world.

External links

• GlobalSecurity.org page on the city's history http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/somalia/mogadishu.htm
• BBC News Mogadishu photo gallery http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/africa_mogadishu_life/h
  tml/1.stm