LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Somaliland: Italian Somaliland
built 220 days ago
The Republic of Somaliland "declared unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991," although the hard part was probably finding something to declare independence from. The past decade has actually been Somaliland's second experiment with independence, having been an independent nation for five days in 1960 before uniting with Italian Somaliland pursuant to a dubious referendum. After the collapse of Somalia following the Siad Barre era, a convocation of clan elders met at Hargeysa; on 15 May 1991, they declared the establishment of an independent republic.
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Kahin's territory is in the northern area that was British Somaliland until 1960. The British withdrew then as Italian Somaliland, to the south, gained independence and the two became the new nation of Somalia.
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It was against this background that the fourth, most northerly, part of the former Somalia developed: the Republic of Somaliland. Its origins lay in the different form of colonisation practised in the former British Somaliland in the north from that of Italian Somalia in the south.
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When the colonial powers sliced up the Horn of Africa in the 19th century, the British got Somaliland and the Italians got southern Somalia. While the British relied mostly on clan chiefs to govern, the Italians created an entire Italian-speaking administration and imported thousands of people from Italy to farm bananas, build cathedrals and teach the people how to pour espresso.
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Italian Somaliland