Horn of Africa polity was succeeded by the Sultanate of Ifat around 1285. Ifat was governed from its capital at Zeila in northern Somalia and was the easternmost district of the former Shewa Sultanate. The Adal Sultanate was a medieval multi-ethnic Muslim state centered in the Horn region. At its height, it controlled large parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea. Many of the historic cities in the region, such as Amud, Maduna, Abasa, Berbera, Zeila and Harar, flourished during the kingdom's golden age. This period that left behind numerous courtyard houses, mosques, shrines and walled enclosures. Under the leadership of rulers such
Horn of Africa Cinnamonifora due to the aromatic plants, or Regio Incognita owing to its unchartered territory. Shell middens 125,000 years old have been found in Eritrea, indicating the diet of early humans included seafood obtained by beachcombing. According to both genetic and fossil evidence, archaic Homo sapiens evolved into anatomically modern humans solely in the Horn of Africa between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago and have dispersed from the Horn of Africa. The recognition of "Homo sapien idaltu" as a valid subspecies of the anatomically modern human lineage would justify the description of contemporary humans with the subspecies name "H. s. sapiens".