Somalia’s history has a long, consistent history as a cockpit of international trade from the fabled Kingdom of Punt sending cool stuff to the ancient Egyptians and finally welcoming Greek and Roman traders onto the coasts.  Punt was very good at playing every side against each other in the lucrative frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon trade. Punt later formed a trade cartel with Arab sea traders to jack up the prices of these hard-to-get items.