About this website

The aim of this web site is to provide a cartographic and photographic record of Mogadishu, Somalia, from the late 18th century to 1990, using materials I have collected over the years, and which I am still collecting.

I was a resident of Mogadishu from 1985 to 1989, and visited it again briefly in 1991. I also lived in Erigavo, ( now in Somaliland) from 1983 to 1985, and again in 1991. Between 1985 and 1987 I co-led (with Susan Mahoney) an  urban social research project that surveyed disadvantaged areas and groups in Mogadishu.

An earlier version of this website was hosted the Centre for Development Studies, University of Wales – Swansea until 2007.

PLEASE: If you do copy content from this website, please be kind enough to also include a link back to this website (https://mogadishuimages.wordpress.com)

How you can contribute to this website:

1. Post your comments and questions on the Open Forum
2. Contribute photographs. Many of the photos have been contributed by visitors to the site. If you have photographs that could be of interest please contact rick@mande.co.uk You can send scanned copies of photos you have, or your can send the originals which I will scan and then return to you, at no cost.
3. Find out when this page is updated, using Google Alerts. Type in the web address: https://mogadishuimages.wordpress.com

Related websites:

1. Political posters from the 1970’s and 1980s (from the E. Lingle Craig Preservation Laboratory, Indiana University, USA)
2. A wonderful series of photos from the Italian period, from the photo archives of theIstituto Agronomico per l’Oltremare, in the Technical and Scientific Branch of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
3. The UK National Archives Set 721 – being 102 photographs under the category of “Somalia”. Many of these show the 1919 -1922 British air and ground attacks on the forces and fortresses of Mohammed Abdullah Hassanwho had led a 20 year rebellion against the British occupation of northern Somalia> Locations shown include Medishi, Jidali, Eil Dur Elan, Godanod, Berwaiso, Tuleh, Dawad, Daar Illalo.
4. Puntland.com, a good selection of historical photos and explanatory text. The website manager has been a bit cheeky by putting their own label on many photographs for which they dont hold the copyright, and which should be in the public domain unemcumbered.

See also:

• Mogadishu Then and Now: A Pictorial Tribute to Africa’s Most Wounded City by Rasna Warah, Mohamud Dirios , and Ismail Osman ,2012 Available on Amazon