Somalia is a country in East Africa, on the corner of the continent that sticks out into the Indian Ocean — the part often called the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia and Kenya are its neighbours, and it has a very long coastline. The capital is Mogadishu, and the population is around ten to twelve million. Most people there speak Somali, and Arabic is also widely used. It is worth knowing why the name comes up in English news so often. Since 1991 the central government has been weak or absent for long periods, and different armed groups have fought each other. Many people have died in the fighting and in the terrible food shortages that followed. American soldiers were sent there in 1993 to help protect food aid, and left in 1994 after a battle in Mogadishu that Americans still remember. For about ten years after that, ships off the Somali coast were attacked by pirates, which put the name in headlines all over the world. Because of all this, the word 'Somalia' carries heavy associations for many English speakers, and you should be careful with it: for the people who live there, and for the large Somali communities in Britain, the United States and Scandinavia, it is simply home. The adjective and the word for the people is Somali, not 'Somalian' — and Somaliland, in the north, is a separate matter: it declared itself independent in 1991, though most countries do not recognise it.