[2] Upon contact with Europeans, treaties were signed in the area to secure rights to trade in the territory in exchange for protection of clans from rivals.

Inhabitants of Somaliland were British Protected Persons from that date until they gained their independence in 1960 and joined in the union of their state with Somalia to form the Somali Republic.

Intermarriage created an Islamic Arab-Somali elite, who established strong, but independent city-states,[2][24] but in the northern part, sultans had little power, and their title was mostly honorific.

Without hierarchical authority, nomadic groups were bound by patrilineal kinship ties, which determined alliances and socio-political divisions.

[25] No single entity ruled in Somali region and from the sixteenth century Europeans increasingly were encroaching on their territory.

[2][26] While there were no firm borders between the territories administered by local rulers, they shared grazing lands and engaged in trade, which often became the grounds of conflict.

[26] In 1839, the British established a trading fort in Aden, and signed treaties with the Isaaq clan rulers to access food supplies.

[29] On 1 July 1960 Italian Somaliland became independent[30] and though the two states had not agreed on terms of union, they joined to form the Somali Republic.

[31] To overcome the lack of a unification agreement, a constitutional plebiscite scheduled for June 1961, which would also address the union of the two states.

[40][41] Between 1990 and 1992 the Somali state collapsed because of waves of violence, accelerated by a dramatic rise in the availability of weapons; the inability of clan elders to enforce customary law; and an enormous famine which spread across southern Somalia.

[46] Continued flair ups occurred until 1997, when a second conference secured a peace accord among twenty-six faction leaders.

Adult persons who have previously lived abroad and are descended of a Somaliland citizen may acquire citizenship by establishing residency in the territory.

[52] Though the constitution provides for an independent judiciary, the Public Order Law allows officials to interfere in legal matters and detain or imprison people without trial.

Freedom of association is also guaranteed by the constitution, however persons who have attempted to participate in elections of the Federal Republic of Somalia may be accused of treason and punished.