This video montage shows pictures and images of Mogadishu (meaning 'Seat of the Shah') from the 1800s onwards set to traditional Somalia music. Mogadishu is a very ancient city and dates back to at least the ninth century and was a cultural hybrid between Africa, Persia and the Arab world. Although a prosperous trading city spanning millennia, it probably reached the zenith of its wealth in the fourteenth century.
The city was leased to Italy in 1892 and Italy went on to actually buy Mogadishu in its entirety thirteen years later, making it the capital of Italian Somaliland. Following the first world war thousands of Italians moved to Mogadishu and a modern building program started in the 1930 accompanied by the assimilation of many Somalis into the city culture.
By the end of the 1930, some 10,000 Italian Somalians were living in Mogadishu and the city continued to thrive under Italian rule until it fell to the British, who were operating out of Kenya, on February 26, 1941 during the Second World War. Modern day Mogadishu has been the scene of many battles after rebel forces took the city in 1990 forcing the president of Somalia to flee to Kenya the following year. Despite UN intervention, Mogadishu was then effectively ruled by warlords until 2006 when the Islamic Courts Union took control.
Later in 2006 Ethiopian forces swept into the country ousting the ICU and restored the former government which had been in exile in Kenya. Despite this there is no effective government in Somalia and Mogadishu has continued to be a battle zone with hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants being displaced. It is a city even humanitarian aid workers fear to work with thirteen of their number killed and many more injured and abducted since 2009. The video shows pictures of old Mogadishu. After you've watch the video make a virtual landing at Mogadishu International Airport over the stunning blue waters of the Indian Ocean below then explore Mogadishu in more detail using our interactive map of the city below.
Mogadishu City Map
A satellite map of Mogadishu which you can use to zoom in to explore the city and its major features. More >
