Overview

It is bordered by the Somali regions of Galgudud, Hiran, Lower Shebelle, and Banadir, as well as the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

.

As part of the former Benadir

Benadir

Benadir is a coastal region of Somalia. It covers most of the Indian Ocean coast of the country, from the Gulf of Aden to the Juba River, containing the capital of Mogadishu. The name comes from Persian bandar, which means port , a fact that reflects the region's importance to Persian and Arab...

 region, Shabeellaha Dhexe's capital was Mogadishu

Mogadishu

Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....

 up until the mid-1980s, when the town of Jowhar

Jowhar

Jowhar is the capital town of the Shabeellaha Dhexe region of Somalia . Along with Baidoa, it used to form the joint administrative capital of the Transitional Federal Government, which captured it from the Islamic Courts Union....

 became the capital. It is named after the Shebelle River

Shebelle River

The Shebelle River begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where it follows the coast. Below Mogadishu, the river becomes seasonal...

 that passes through this region.

Middle Shebelle is principally inhabited by various sub-clans of the Somali

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

 Mudulood clan, most notably the Abgaal

Abgaal

Abgaal is a Somali clan, and part of the major Hawiye clan. Its members live in the Shabeellaha Dhexe, Galguduud, Banaadir, Mudug, Lower Shebelle, Middle Juba, and Jubbada Hoose regions of Central and southern Somalia...

. Other Mudulood subclans that live in this region include the Moobleen and Hiilebi. However, the Abgaal sub-clan are the predominant clan in Middle Shabelle. There are also members of the non-Somali ethnic minority Bantu

Somali Bantu

The Somali Bantu are a minority ethnic group in Somalia. They primarily reside in southern Somalia, near the Juba and Shabelle rivers, and are the descendants of people from various Bantu ethnic groups originating from what are modern-day Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique who were sold into Somalia...

 group (Kaboole).

The region supports livestock production, rain-fed and gravity irrigated agriculture and fisheries, with an annual rainfall between 150 and 500 millimeters covering an area of approximately 60,000 square kilometers. It has a 400 km coastline on the Indian Ocean.

Districts

Middle Shebelle consists of four districts:

• Aadan Yabaal District
  Aadan Yabaal District
  Adan Yabal District is a district in the southeastern Shabeellaha Dhexe region of Somalia....
  
  
• Balad District
  Balad District
  Balad District is a district of the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq....
  
  
• Cadale District
  Cadale District
  Adale District is a district in the southeastern Shabeellaha Dhexe region of Somalia. Its capital lies at Adale....
  
  
• Jowhar District
  Jowhar District
  Jowhar District is a district of the southeastern Shabeellaha Dhexe in Somalia. Its capital lies at Jowhar....
  
  

Major towns