History of Somalia History of Somalia Somalia (; ), officially the Federal Republic of Somalia (, ) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Somalia was an important centre for commerce with the rest of the ancient world, and according to most scholars, it is among the most probable locations of the fabled ancient Land of Punt. During the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Sultanate, the Adal Sultanate, the Warsangali Sultanate, the Sultanate of the Geledi and the Majeerteen Sultanate. In the late 19th century,
Masjid al-Qiblatayn (Somalia) in Somalia. In Zeila, a Dir city, the mosque Masjid al-Qiblatayn (Somalia) is known as the site of where early companions of the Prophet established a mosque shortly after the first Migration to Abyssinia. By the 7th century, a large-scale conversion to Islam was taking place in Somalia, first spread by the Dir clan family, from their construction of this mosque, to the rest of the nation afterwards. Masjid al-Qiblatayn (Somalia) Masjid al-Qiblaṫayn (; "Mosque of the two Qiblahs") is a mosque in Zeila, situated in the northwestern Awdal region of Somalia. The mosque's construction dates to the 7th century