The history of the region now included in Somalia dates from antiquity, when the land was known to the ancient Egyptians as Punt. From the 2nd to the 7th century ad parts of the area belonged to the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum. Arab tribes in the 7th century settled along the coast of the Gulf of Aden and accomplished the sultanate of Adal, which centered on the port of Zeila. The Somali people began slowly to migrate into this region from Yemen in the 9th century. The sultanate disintegrated during the 16th century into small independent states, many of which were governed by Somali chiefs. Zeila became a dependency of Yemen, and was then captured by the Ottoman Empire.

On July 1, 1960, by agreement with the UN Trusteeship Council, Somalia was granted freedom. It merged thereupon with the former British protectorate, to which the United Kingdom, by prearrangement, had given freedom on June 26. The first president, Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, elected in 1960, was defeated for reelection in 1967 by the former premier Abdi Rashid Ali Shermarke. On October 15, 1969, Shermarke was assassinated, and days later a military group, led by Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, seized power. In 1970 Barre declared Somalia a socialist state, and in the following years most of the modern economy of the nation was nationalized. A drought in 1974 and 1975 caused widespread starvation.