Somalia is a nation located on the Horn of Africa with a lengthy coast along the Indian Ocean. Somalia shares land borders with Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia, and is directly across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, when former president Siad Barre was overthrown. A transitional government was established in 2004. It has struggled for power with Islamic militants in Somalia. The leader of the transitional government, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, resigned on December 29, 2008.USA Today: Somalia's president resigns after 4 years in power (December 29, 2008)

The independent Somali Republic was formed from the union of Italian Somaliland and British Somaliliand in 1960. Until 1991, Somalia had a series of non-democratic governments and rulers, and in 1977 went to war with Ethiopia in an attempt to wrest away lands claimed to be ethnically Somali. Beginning in 1991, Somalia ceased to have an effective central government, and in 1992 a United States-led mission, Operation Restore Hope, sought to alleviate a growing famine in the area. In 2006, after Mogadishu warlords attempted to institute Sharia law in areas under their control, Ethiopian defense forces invaded and deposed the ruling warlords.

Somalia's most distinguishing feature is its lengthy coastline on the Indian Ocean. The enormous 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake triggered a massive tsunami which hit the Somali coast seven hours after the event, killing an estimated 289 people.