The Somali are a predominantly Muslim, ethnically and linguistically unified people of the Horn of Africa, one of the most linguistically homogeneous large ethnic groups in Africa, organized traditionally through an extensively documented segmentary clan-lineage system (including the major Darod, Hawiye, Isaaq, Dir and other clan families) that structures political alliance, land and water rights, and customary law (xeer). Somali pastoralist culture is closely tied to camel husbandry and an oral poetic tradition of major social and political importance. Decades of civil conflict since 1991 have produced one of the world's largest and most dispersed Somali diaspora communities, concentrated in East Africa, the Gulf states, Europe and North America. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Group TypeSourced to the subject's own accountEthnic group (pastoralist) 1 Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountHorn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia's Somali Region, Djibouti, northern Kenya) 1 Primary LanguageSourced to the subject's own account Subsistence ModeSourced to the subject's own accountHistorically nomadic pastoralism (camel, cattle, sheep and goat herding), organized through a clan-based genealogical system, alongside settled agricultural and urban trading communities. 1 Disputed
Population Estimateestimated 20 to 22 million 1 Sourced to the subject's own accountSomalia has not conducted a full national census since 1975 due to decades of conflict, so population totals are estimates and projections. Connections
Associated With
Somali society is organized through a segmentary patrilineal clan system, the Somali clan system, of major clan families, sub-clans and lineages that remains central to Somali social and political identity.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Somali
WikipediaIntroductionQuote, Introduction
Somalis or Somali people, are a Cushitic ethnic group and nation native to the Somali Peninsula.
View the Source Britannica: Somali
Historical naming sectionQuote, Historical naming section
historically known by the Arab Islamic world as "Barbar"
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