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Geography of Somalia

Somalia is considered to be a large nation because of its total area. Its total land area is 637,657 km² (approx. 246,200 mi²). Continental shelf of Somalia is approximately 55,895 km² (around 21,581 mi²). Somalia is located in Africa. Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent. African countries include, but are not limited to, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Egypt. Somalia has 3 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya. Somalia is not a landlocked country. It means that is is bordered by at least one major body of water. The average elevation range of Somalia is 410 m (1,345 ft).

Neighbors

Total length of land borders of Somalia is 2385 kilometers (~921 miles). Somalia shares its land borders with 3 different countries, and has the same number of unique land boundaries to neigbouring territories. As in the case of Somalia, if a country has the same number of unique neighboring territories as number of land borders, than that country has no non-contiguous sections of a land border. This is in contrast to several countries that have multiple non-contiguous sections of land borders. Somalia has 3 neighbouring countries. Its neighbours include Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya. The lengths of the land borders of Somalia with its neighbouring countries are as follows:

Cities

The capital city of Somalia is Mogadishu. The largest city in Somalia is Mogadishu.

Elevation

The average elevation range of Somalia is 410 m (1,345 ft). The highest point of Somalia is Shimbiris, with its official height being 2450 m (8,038 ft). The lowest point of Somalia is Indian Ocean. The elevation difference between the highest (Shimbiris) and lowest (Indian Ocean) points of Somalia is 2450 m (2 ft).

Area

The total land area of Somalia is 637,657 km² (approx. 246,200 mi²). and the total exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is 825,052 km² (~318,553 mi²). The continental shelf of Somalia is approximately 55,895 km² (around 21,581 mi²). Including land mass and EEZ, the total area of Somalia is approximately 1,462,709 km² (~564,753 mi²). Somalia is considered to be a large nation because of its total area.

Forest and arable land

71,310 km² of Somalia's territory is covered in forests, and forest land comprises 11% of all the land in the country. There are 10,288 km² of arable land in Somalia, and it comprises 2% of the country's total territory.

Read our section on climate to discover what parameters affect these and other biomes of the country.

Natural resources

The most notable natural resources found in Somalia are uranium, iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas.