During Imperialism
During imperialism, Somalia was divided into two parts by the British and the Italians who had very different effects on the country. British was the first to colonize Somalia. The British wanted to keep the route to India open by the Suez Canal, so they took over Northern Somalia and proclaimed it British Somaliland. The Italians saw a chance to expand with little resistance, so they took over most of southern Somalia and proclaimed it Italian Somaliland. The British did not help Somalia much during their rule. They rather neglected most of the country, not making any major changes. Italy, with contrasting attention, took advantage of their land and imposed Islamic laws that the Somalis were forced to adjust to. The Italians wanted many trading items such as livestock, bananas, sugar, and citrus. Because of this, they brought the focus of trading to Somalia. The British had negative affects to Somalia while as the Italians were more beneficial, but like most colonization, the countries had to recede from Somalia at one point.