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Somalia Historical Timeline

1800s               Indian Ocean slave trade brings East Africans to southern Somalia as slaves for agricultural
                         plantations and pastoralism.  Italy and England each claim parts of Somali territory as colonies.

1903                Slave trade to southern Somalia ends.

1840-1950s     Fugitive and freed slaves and ethnic minorities from the Shabelle River Valley move into
                        Jubba Valley villages to farm.
1960                Somalia gains independence.

1969                Siyad Barre takes over Somalia's government in a coup.

1977                Somalia attacks Ethiopia to reclaim Somali-inhabited territory controlled by Ethiopia and 
                        is defeated. Somalia becomes a Cold War ally of the US.

1980s               As a Cold War ally, Somalia becomes second largest recipient of US aid in Africa.

1990                The Cold War ends, and the US cuts aid to Somalia.

1991                Siyad Barre's government falls.

1992                Civil war engulfs the country. Militias attack sedentary farmers for labor and food. Thousands
                        flee to refugee camps in Kenya.

1992-3             The UN and the US intervene in civil war but fail to establish peace. The loss of 18 US
                         Rangers prompts the US to withdraw from the conflict.

1990s               Minority farmer-refugees persecuted in refugee camps. Resettlement attempts in Tanzania and
                         Mozambique fail. The name "Somali Bantu" emerges as an umbrella term for agriculturalist ethnic 
                         minority population.

2000                The US agrees to grant Somali Bantus persecuted minority status and resettle 12,000 in the US. Somali Bantu
                        refugees begin to relocate to Kakuma refugee camp in 2002.

2001                Resettlement process freezes after 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.

2003                Somali Bantu refugees begin arriving in US.

2005                Somali Bantu refugees begin secondary resettlement in Maine.

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