Somali people begin to migrate from Yemen.
1500s - Sultanate of Adel disintegrates into small states. 1875 - Egypt occupies towns on Somali coast and parts of the interior. 1860s - France acquires foothold on the Somali coast, later to become Djibouti. 1887 - Britain proclaims protectorate over Somaliland. 1889 - Italy sets up a protectorate in central Somalia, later consolidated with territory in the south ceded by the sultan of Zanzibar.