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oai:figshare.com:article/33355656 2026-09-30T11:50:50Z category_29725 portal_921 item_type_11 month_year_09_2026

Nomads, sailors and refugees: a century of Somali migration Forced Migration Online (24276783) Migration, asylum and refugee law FORCED MIGRATION ONLINE MIGRATION COLONIALISM INDEPENDENCE CIVIL WAR SECONDARY MIGRATION <p dir="ltr">This working paper offers an outline of Somali migration in the 20th Century, primarily to the West. The paper argues that the overall geopolitical development from colonialism to the so-called new post cold war world order significantly has structured migration from the Somali region to the West. In order to contextualise Somali migration, the paper briefly goes through the biggest events in Somali history from the turn of the 19th Century: Colonialism, independence, and civil war. Different cohorts of migrants include nomads and traders crossing African colonial boundaries; sailors and soldiers in the British Royal Navy both during and after colonialism; student and professional migration to the colonial powers, and after independence to the former Eastern bloc up until 1977, and to the West after 1977; oil workers and whitecollar workers to the Gulf; and refugees following the outbreak of civil war in 1988. Three 'migration stories' told by three Somali-Danes shows how historical events and conditions as well as personal initiatives and coincidences have framed their journeys and destinations. Finally, the paper concludes that Somali migration seems to continue within Europe, where Somalis who have obtained Western citizenship move on to the UK, but also to Somalia and Somaliland.</p> 2026-09-30T11:50:50Z Text Online resource 10.25446/oxford.33355656.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/online_resource/Nomads_sailors_and_refugees_a_century_of_Somali_migration/33355656 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0