Mogadishu

Mogadishu, or Mogadiscio (pop. 1,000,000), capital and major port city of the Somali Democratic Republic, located on the Indian Ocean. Long under Arab rule, it was made the colonial capital of Italian Somaliland in 1905. When Somalia gained its independence in 1960, Mogadishu remained as its capital. Both Arabic and Italian influences are evident in the city, which was heavily damaged during the civil war in the early 1990s.