The locale likely shaped portion of the “Land of Punt” known to the old Egyptians. Between the 7th and the 12th century CE, cities such as Seylac and Berbera on the Inlet of Aden and Marka, Baraawe, and Mogadishu along the Indian Sea served as exchanging ports in a locale that the Middle easterner Islamic world called bilad al-Barbar (“country of the Barbar”)
In 2001, 10 years after breaking away from Somalia, Somaliland still was not internationally recognized as an independent country. Undeterred, the government held a referendum that year, the results of which clearly showed that Somaliland’s inhabitants supported the region’s claim of independence. As it had in the past, in 2003 the Somaliland government rejected invitations to participate in peace talks aimed at reunifying Somalia, maintaining that its independent status precluded it from being a party to such discussions.