Factbook
Histoire de Djibouti — Chronologie
Dates clés de l'histoire de Djibouti, d'après le Factbook Magna et l'Encyclopédie universelle.
1862In the late 19th century, the Afar sultans signed treaties with the French that allowed the latter to establish the colony of French Somaliland in 1862.
1885The French signed additional treaties with the ethnic Somali in 1885.
1958In 1958, the French held a referendum that provided residents of French Somaliland the option to either continue their association with France or to join neighboring Somalia as it established its independence.
1967After a second referendum in 1967, the French changed the territory’s name to the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas, in part to underscore their relationship with the ethnic Afar and downplay the significance of the ethnic Somalis.
1977A final referendum in 1977 established Djibouti as an independent nation and granted ethnic Somalis Djiboutian nationality, formally resetting the balance of power between the majority ethnic Somalis and minority ethnic Afar residents.
1977Independence: 27 June 1977 (from France).
1999Hassan Gouled APTIDON, an ethnic Somali leader, installed an authoritarian one-party state and served as president until 1999.
1999In 1999, Djibouti's first multiparty presidential election resulted in the election of Ismail Omar GUELLEH as president; he was reelected to a second term in 2005 and extended his tenure in office via a constitutional amendment, which allowed him to serve his third and fourth terms, and to begin a fifth term in 2021.
2001Unrest between the Afar minority and Somali majority culminated in a civil war during the 1990s that ended in 2001 with a peace accord between Afar rebels and the Somali Issa-dominated government.
2019Military spending: 3.5% of GDP (2019 est.).
2023Generation mix — fossil fuels: 65.3% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); solar: 0.5% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); wind: 34.2% of total installed capacity (2023 est.) Energy use: 10.428 million Btu/person (2023 est.).
2023Industries: construction, agricultural processing, shipping Agriculture: vegetables, beans, milk, beef, camel milk, lemons/limes, goat meat, lamb/mutton, tomatoes, beef offal (2023) Electricity access: 65% (2022 est.).
2023Languages: French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar Religions: Sunni Muslim 94% (nearly all Djiboutians), other 6% (mainly foreign-born residents - Shia Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Baha'i, and atheist) Urban population: 78.6% of total population (2023).
2023Major urban areas: 600,000 DJIBOUTI (capital) (2023) food import-dependent Horn of Africa economy driven by various national military bases and port-based trade; fairly resilient from COVID-19 disruptions; major re-exporter; increasing Ethiopian and Chinese trade relations; investing in infrastructure Inflation: 2.1% (2024 est.).
