other · Horn and East Africa
Trust Territory of Somaliland
Origins
After British military administration from 1941, the UN decided in 1949 that Italy would return to its former colony of Italian Somaliland as administering power, on condition that the territory become independent after ten years. The Italian Trusteeship Administration, AFIS, took over in April 1950, with Mogadishu as capital.
Rule and society
Italy was supervised by a UN advisory council and built up schools, a civil service and elected councils. The Somali Youth League, the leading nationalist party, won the elections of 1956 and 1959, and Somalis took over ministries under Prime Minister Abdullahi Issa. Bananas remained the main export, and Somali was not yet a written official language.
Decline and legacy
On 1 July 1960 the territory became independent and united with the State of Somaliland to form the Somali Republic, with Aden Abdullah Osman as president.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Trust Territory of Somaliland was part of Italian Republic1950 CE – 1960 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Trust Territory of Somaliland. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/trust-territory-of-somaliland
- MLA
- “Trust Territory of Somaliland.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/trust-territory-of-somaliland. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Trust Territory of Somaliland.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/trust-territory-of-somaliland.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Trust Territory of Somaliland’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/trust-territory-of-somaliland (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻