[Afropop] The history of Somalia (officially, the Federal Republic of Somalia) and Somaliland (officially, the Republic of Somaliland) in the 20th century is, sadly, and like too many African countries, a story of colonization, dictatorship, struggle for independence and civil war. During most of the century, French, Italian and British interests controlled and determined the fate of the Somalis until the beginning of the 1960's. The story is also very complicated and beyond our scope here. Suffice it to say that