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Mogadishu, Somalia

Mogadishu
Muqdisho (so)
مقديشو (ar)
Muqadīshū
Capital
Skyline of Mogadishu
Mogadishu is located in Somalia
Mogadishu
Mogadishu
Location in Somalia
Coordinates: 02°02′N 45°21′E / 2.033°N 45.350°E / 2.033; 45.350Coordinates: 02°02′N 45°21′E / 2.033°N 45.350°E / 2.033; 45.350
Country  Somalia
Region Banaadir
Government
 • Mayor Yusuf Hussein Jimaale
Area
 • Urban 96,878 km2 (37,327 sq mi)
Elevation 9 m (30 ft)
Population (April, 2016, Demographia)
 • Capital 2,265,000
 • Estimate (2005, UNDP) 901,183
Demonym(s) Mogadishan
Time zone EAT (UTC+3)
Climate BSh

Mogadishu (/ˌmɔːɡəˈdʃ/;Somali: Muqdisho; Arabic: مقديشو‎‎ Maqadīshū), known locally as Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. Located in the coastal Banaadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for millennia. According to the United Nations Development Programme the population in 2005 was 901,183 and according to the CIA factbook in 2015 it was estimated to be 2,138,000.According to Demographia as of April 2016, it has a population of 2,265,000 residents.

Tradition and old records assert that southern Somalia, including the Mogadishu area, was historically inhabited by hunter-gatherers. These were later joined by Cushitic-speaking agro-pastoralists, who would go on to establish local aristocracies. During its medieval Golden Age, Mogadishu was ruled by the Muzaffar dynasty, a vassal of the Ajuran Sultanate. It subsequently fell under the control of an assortment of local Sultanates and polities, most notably the Sultanate of the Geledi. The city later became the capital of Italian Somaliland (1889–1936) in the colonial period. After the Somali Republic became independent in 1960, Mogadishu became known and promoted as the White Pearl of the Indian Ocean. After the ousting of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 and the ensuing Somali Civil War, various militias fought for control of the city, later to be replaced by the Islamic Courts Union in the mid-2000s. The ICU thereafter splintered into more radical groups, notably al-Shabaab, which fought the Transitional Federal Government (2004–2012) and its African Union Mission to Somalia allies. With a change in administration in late 2010, government troops and their military partners had succeeded in forcing out Al-Shabaab by August 2011. Mogadishu has subsequently experienced a period of intense reconstruction.


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