The Ifat Sultanate in the 14th century.
|Languages||Somali, Arabic, Ethio-Semitic|
|Today part of|| Somalia
The Ifat Sultanate was a medieval Muslim Sultanate in the Horn of Africa. Led
The Ifat Sultanate in the 14th century.
|Languages||Somali, Arabic, Ethio-Semitic|
|Today part of|| Somalia
The Ifat Sultanate was a medieval Muslim Sultanate in the Horn of Africa. Led by the Walashma dynasty, it was centered in Zeila and Shewa. The kingdom ruled over parts of what is now eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti and northern Somalia.
The historian Al-Umari records that Ifat was situated near the Red Sea coast, and states its size as 15 days travel by 20 days travel. Its army numbered 15,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. Al-Umari also credits it with seven "mother cities": Belqulzar, Kuljura, Shimi, Shewa, Adal, Jamme and Laboo. Professor Taddesse Tamrat believes Ifat's borders included Fatagar, Dawaro and Bale. This gave the polity control of the trade route inland from Zeila, making it a major commercial power. While reporting that its center was "a place called Walalah, probably the modern Wäläle south of Šäno in the Ěnkwoy valley, about 50 miles ENE of Addis Ababa", G.W.B. Huntingford offers a more tangible description of Ifat's borders (although he admits they are "provisional"), stating that its southern and eastern boundaries were along the Awash River, the western frontier a line drawn between Medra Kabd towards the Jamma river east of Debre Libanos (which it shared with Damot), and the northern boundary along the Adabay and Mofar rivers.
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|History of Somalia|
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|History of Djibouti|
|Kingdom of Punt|
French Territory of the Afars and Issas
|Republic of Djibouti|
Ifat first emerged in the 13th century, when its Sultan Umar Walashma (or his son Ali, according to another source) is recorded as having conquered the Sultanate of Showa in 1285. Taddesse Tamrat explains Sultan Umar's military acts as an effort to consolidate the Muslim territories in the Horn of Africa in much the same way as Emperor Yekuno Amlak was attempting to consolidate the Christian territories in the highlands during the same period. These two states inevitably came into conflict over Shewa and territories further south. A lengthy war ensued, but the Muslim sultanates of the time were not strongly unified. Ifat was finally defeated by Emperor Amda Seyon I of Ethiopia in 1332, who then appointed Jamal ad-Din as the new King, followed by Jamal ad-Din's brother Nasr ad-Din.
Despite this setback, the Muslim rulers of Ifat continued their campaign. The Ethiopian Emperor branded the Muslims of the surrounding area "enemies of the Lord", and invaded Ifat in the early 15th century. After much struggle, Ifat's troops were defeated. The Sultanate's ru