Mandera (Somali: Mandheera) is the capital of Mandera County in the former North Eastern Province of Kenya. It is situated at around 3°55′N 41°50′E, near the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia.
As a whole, it used to constitute one district, which was divided into three smaller constituencies; namely, Mandera East, Mandera Central and Mandera West. However, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in 2007 ordered the creation of two more districts: Mandera Central Mandera West Lafey, Mandera north and Banisa. This brought the total number of local districts to six.
The town occupies an area of 26,744 km²
As with the other areas of the North Eastern Province, Mandera is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Somalis with the Murulle tribe as the majority in the county. Other well-represented communities in the larger mandera county are Degodia, Garre and other smaller tribes known as corner tribes( Marehan,sharmoge,leysan,waraabeye,rer aw xasan,shabelle and Gabaween )
The Somali people have practised Islam for such a long time that many Somali customs are derived from this religion. Islamic influence is manifested in the Somali way of dressing, which is very similar to that of the Swahili people. However, unlike Swahili men who wear a small white cap on their heads, the Somali men often wear a turban.
Polygamy is widely practised among the Somali since Islamic laws allow a man to have as many as four wives. The women's role is to take care of their homes and their husbands, while men watch over the camel flocks.
In their native Northeastern Province, Somalis practice a nomadic pastoralist way of life, keeping herds of camels, sheep, indigenous cattle, and some goats. As such, milk and meat are part of the Somali diet. Another food the Somali people enjoy is pasta, a food acquired from the Italians during the Somali's colonial past.
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