The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa. It is the easternmost extension of African land and for the purposes of this article is defined as comprising the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. The English name for the region derives from the horn-shaped land that juts for hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea. The Horn of Africa is one of the world's most conflict-prone and fragile regions. The region's countries are the countries of origin and host countries for a significant number of refugees and internally displaced persons. It is also experiencing the most severe drought in recent history, following four consecutive failed rainy seasons in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya.
history of horn of afrca
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa. Located on the easternmost part of the continent, it is bordered by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean to the east, by Sudan and Eritrea to the north, by Ethiopia to the west, and by Somalia to the south. The four main languages being Oromo, Amhara, Somali, and Tigray. The Horn of Africa is believed to be the birthplace of humanity. The oldest known evidence of human settlement in the region dates back to the Middle Stone Age, about 200,000 years ago.
The Kingdom of Aksum (also known as "Axum") was an African state located in Ethiopia, Eritrea, northern Somalia and Yemen that thrived between the 1st and 7th centuries. It was one of the most powerful empires in the world at its peak. Much more than most parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Horn is a region with a historical and cultural identity of its own, created by the interactions – and conflicts – between the diverse cultures and peoples who have inhabited it. The Horn of Africa became a major center for trade and commerce around 500 C.E., mainly due to the fact that much of the civilization of the Roman Empire was still thriving in the Mediterranean. This Note surveys the relationships the United States has maintained with the countries of the Horn of Africa—Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Republic of Djibouti—during the past two decades. Read the Vibrant History of the Horn of Africa displayed in Map Animation form every Year. The deeper historical experiences of the peoples of the Horn are ambiguous, at best, in their meaning for the contemporary region.
cultures of horn of afrIca
The countries of the Horn of Africa are culturally linked together. Local people have been using the plow for cultivation and kept the Arabian dromedary as domestic animals for a long time. Some important ethno-linguistic groups in the Horn of Africa include the Afar and Somali in Djibouti, the Bilen, Afar, Beni-Amer (Beja), Hedareb, Kunama (Baza), Nara (Nialetic), Saho (Irob), Rashaida, Tigre, and Tigrinya in Eritrea, the Amharas, Afars, Agaw groups, Gurages, Hamers, Hararis (also Hadere or Adere), Irob (Catholic Sahos), Oromos, Saho, Sidamas, Somalis, and Tigrayans in Ethiopia, and the Dabarre, Digil-Rahawlin, Garre, Jiiddu, Shambaara (Gosha), Somali, Swahili (Baraawe), and Tunni in Somalia.
geographic of horn of africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA) is the African continent's easternmost peninsula. The English name for the region derives from the horn-shaped land that it covers. It is located along the south of the Gulf of Aden and juts into the Arabian Sea for hundreds of kilometers. Geographically, the Horn and Yemen are almost equidistant. The region is divided into two sections, the Ethiopian Highlands and the lowlands. The highlands are composed of extensive glaciers, and are the source of the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile River. The lowlands, on the other hand, encompass the Ogaden desert and the Eritrean and Somalian coasts. In the mountains of Ethiopia, many areas receive rainfall of over 1000 mm annually. The Horn of Africa is primarily distinguished through a low lying arid plain called the Ethiopian Highlands.
geology of horn of africa
The Horn of Africa is known for its unique geological strata which have produced an immense variety of rock formations. The region is made up of a wedge of land that is cut north to south by two great geographical features: the Nile River Valley and the Great Rift Valley. During the Ordovician Period (about 485 to 444 million years ago), the region was covered by a fossiliferous marine sandstone. The basement outcrops extensively in the highlands of Ethiopia, where it is overlain by permeable carbonate formations. This study focuses on the relationship between the geological evolution and the current large scale geomorphology of the Horn of Africa, including river and coast geomorphology, human impact, land degradation, and sustainable land management.
econmic of horn of africa
The Horn of Africa is one of the world's most challenging regions for security and development. A recent World Bank report notes that the region is facing multiple and complex challenges. Even though Djibouti has a stable government and is considered one of the fastest growing economies in the region, the other countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia have significantly lower GDP growth per annum due to conflicts. The global migration crisis has also led to increased diplomatic, economic, and security concerns in the region. The Horn of Africa Initiative has been established to bring together strong development partnerships in economic, infrastructure, social, and human development. Despite the challenges, the borderlands of the Horn of Africa have several areas with real economic potential. Policies for these regions could help create pathways to socio-economic progression for residents.
Security of horn of africa
The Horn of Africa is undergoing far-reaching changes in its external security environment. A wide variety of international security actors—from Europe, the Gulf, and beyond—are engaging in the region, leading to increased competition and instability. Contributing to these conflicts is the bleak economic situation in the Horn of Africa. Long battered by dangerous wars, militancy, and humanitarian catastrophes — including an ongoing hunger crisis — the Horn of Africa seems to be approaching a tipping point. The jostling for dominance in the Horn among the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on the one hand and Turkey and Qatar on the other is fueling instability and insecurity in an already fractious environment where the United States has a number of core interests. Competition over the use of the Nile between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia remains unresolved. Significant armed conflicts persist in Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen, in which states on both sides of the Red Sea are engaged. Overlaying these rivalries among Middle Eastern actors is the Trump administration’s elevation of U.S. strategic competition with China and Russia as the top national security priority. As Middle Eastern states are playing an increasingly assertive role in the Horn of Africa, a new geopolitical paradigm is emerging in the long-volatile region in which the historic and fragile transitions underway in Ethiopia and Sudan portend the most significant political shifts in the region in a generation.
stratigic of horn of africa
The Horn of Africa enjoys an excellent strategic location south-west of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It refers to four countries — Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti — and has become the focus of various international interests. The most notable evidence for the region's strategic importance is the ever-increasing presence of international military forces. Perhaps the most visible symbol of the region's strategic significance is the presence of the US military base at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. It highlights the strategic importance of the Horn of Africa for the EU and the need to strengthen the EU role in the region, in integrating the trade, security and governance. The Strategy is the United Nations support framework for the Horn of Africa. It aims at operationalizing the Secretary-General's vision of prevention by strengthening existing regional capacities to promote peace and security. Research analyses the region's evolving politics, conflict dynamics, foreign investment and resource governance.
