Officially name: Somali Republic
Capital: Mogadishu
Largest city: Mogadishu
Official language: Somali, Arabic
Government: Coalition government
Africa's easternmost country, Somalia has a land area of 637,540 square kilometers, slightly less than that of the state of Texas. Somalia occupies the tip of a region commonly referred to as the Horn of Africa--because of its resemblance on the map to a rhinoceros's horn--that also includes Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Southwestern Somalia is dominated by the country's only two permanent rivers, the Jubba and the Shabele.