Somaliland
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Somaliland. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a region occupying the eastern horn of Africa. It extends along the coast from the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb to the Juba River. The region is arid or semiarid. The total population is over half a million. It is inhabited by the Somali, a Hamitic people, a dark-skinned branch of the white race. The Somali are mixed with negro blood in the south and with Arab blood in the north. As a consequence there is considerable variation in stature, complexion, and form. Although an interesting people the Somali have no literature. Nominally they are Mohammedans. The Somali are divided into numerous tribes. They are a pastoral folk, rearing herds of camels, cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. Their agriculture is carried on by negro slaves. The Somali are a fighting people. Were they not split into jealous tribes they might have preserved their independence, but, as it is, the region is divided into various protectorates. Beginning at the south the coast of Somaliland is divided into Italian, British, and French protectorates. The inland part of the Somali country belongs to Abyssinia. The merchants of Great Britain do a considerable business with the British protectorate. Rice, cotton goods, dates, cutlery, and other articles are imported to the value of $1,000,000 a year. Skins, hides, ostrich feathers, gum, cattle, and sheep are exported. Inland transportation is carried on entirely by means of caravans.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a country S. E. of Abyssinia on the coast of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, apportioned to Great Britain, France, and Italy. Two ranges of mountains traverse the peninsula S. E. to N. W., between which lies the Wadi Nogal, of which the natives speak in the most glowing terms. Several varieties of gum trees occur, and the mimosa, tamarisk, wild fig, and several species of the cactus and aloe are abundant. The wild beasts include the elephant, lion, leopard, hyena, wolf, and jackal. Several varieties of deer, jerboas, and squirrels are common. The Somali are a fine race, mainly Mohammedans, though still in a barbarous state. The principal articles of trade or produce are myrrh, ivory, ostrich feathers, hides and horns, coffee, indigo, and gum arabic. A strip 180 miles broad on the coast was reserved to Italy by the treaty of Adis Abeba. By the Cairo convention, signed Jan. 19, 1899, the ports of Berbera and Zilah with the adjacent strip on the 1 N. coast now belong to Great Britain. In 1898 Great Britain ceded to Abyssinia a part of Somaliland. See ABYSSINIA.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The partition Aiton's described in 1910 — Italian, British and French protectorates with the interior under Abyssinia — was dismantled within fifty years. British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960 and merged five days later with the former Italian territory to create the Somali Republic; French Somaliland, the third piece, became Djibouti in 1977, while the inland Ogaden stayed with Ethiopia and was fought over in the war of 1977–78. Somalia's central government collapsed in 1991, and the north-west — almost exactly the old British protectorate whose ports Berbera and Zeila Collier's listed in 1921 — declared itself the Republic of Somaliland on 18 May 1991, with its capital at Hargeisa; it has run its own currency, elections and army ever since, but no state formally recognises it. The "over half a million" people Aiton's counted are now some tens of millions of Somali speakers across Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya, and the caravan trade has given way to livestock exports shipped from Berbera to the Gulf.
Written for this edition, 2026.