The Adal Sultanate also known as the Adal Empire, or Bar Saʿad dīn was a medieval Sunni Muslim Empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din III on the Harar plateau in Adal after the fall of the Sultanate of Ifat. The kingdom flourished c. 1415 to 1577. At its height, the polity under Sultan Badlay controlled the territory stretching from Cape Guardafui in Somalia to the port city of Suakin in Sudan. The Adal Empire maintained a robust commercial and political relationship with the Ottoman Empire. Sultanate of Adal was alternatively known as the federation of Zeila.
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi was the Imam of the Adal Sultanate from 1527 to 1543. Commonly named Ahmed Gragn in Amharic and Gurey in Somali, both meaning the left-handed, he led the invasion and conquest of Abyssinia from the Sultanate of Adal during the Ethiopian-Adal War. He is often referred to as the "King of Zeila" in medieval texts.
Bale, also known as Bali, is the name of a former polities located in the southeastern part of modern Ethiopia. It bordered the Dawaro to the north, Hadiya in the west, and Adal in the east and its core areas were located around the Shebelle River. However, the borders of Bale during the medieval period are unclear - it is usually placed around the Wabe Shebelle river, another river that shaped its borders was the Wabe River. Overall, borders of historical Bale corresponded to the modern districts of Goba, Sinana-Dinsho, Agarfa, Gasera and Goro. In the 14th century it was located between Ifat and Solomonic tributary state of Hadiya. Taddesse Tamrat locates Bale south of the Shebelle River, which separated the kingdom from Dawaro to the north and Adal to the northeast; Richard Pankhurst adds that its southern boundary was the Ganale Dorya River. Ulrich Braukämper, after discussing the evidence, states that this former dependency "occupied an area in the northeast of the province which later was named after it, between the mountain range of Urgoma and the eastern Wabi Bend."
Newaya Krestos was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1344 to 1372, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the eldest son of Amda Seyon I.
Yeshaq I, throne name: Gabra Masqal II was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1414 to 1429/1430, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the second son of Emperor Dawit I.
Zara Yaqob was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Qostantinos I. He is known for the Ge'ez literature that flourished during his reign, the handling of both internal Christian affairs and external wars with Muslims, along with the founding of Debre Birhan as his capital. He reigned for 34 years and 2 months.
The Sultanate of Ifat, known as Wafāt or Awfāt in Arabic texts, or the Kingdom of Zeila was a medieval Sunni Muslim state in the eastern regions of the Horn of Africa between the late 13th century and early 15th century. It was formed in present-day Ethiopia around eastern Shewa in Ifat. Led by the Walashma dynasty, the polity stretched from Zequalla to the port city of Zeila. The kingdom ruled over parts of what are now Ethiopia, Ogaden, Djibouti, Somaliland or Somalia.
Sa'ad ad-Din II, reigned c. 1386 – c. 1403 or c. 1410, was a Sultan of the Ifat Sultanate. He was the brother of Haqq ad-Din II, and the father of Mansur ad-Din, Sabr ad-Din II and Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din. The historian Richard Pankhurst describes him as "the last great ruler of Ifat."
Haqq ad-Din II was a Sultan of the Ifat Sultanate, the brother of Sa'ad ad-Din II, and the son of Ahmad ibn Ali.
The Walashma dynasty was a medieval Muslim dynasty of the Horn of Africa founded in Ifat. Founded in the 13th century, it governed the Ifat and Adal Sultanates in what are present-day, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and eastern Ethiopia.
Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din II (also known as Sihab ad-Din Ahmad Badlay, Arwe Badlay – "Badlay the Beast" was a Sultan of the Sultanate of Adal and a son of Sa'ad ad-Din II. Brought numerous Christian lands under Muslim rule and contributed to expanding Adal's reach and power in the region. The polity under Sultan Badlay controlled the territory stretching from port city of Suakin in Sudan to covering the whole Afar plains to the Shewa and Chercher Mountains to include a significant part of northern Somalia. Sultanate of Mogadishu was also tributary state of Adal under Badlay.
Muhammad ibn Badlay was a Sultan of the Sultanate of Adal. He was the son of Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din. During his reign the Adalite ruler Muhammad and the Solomonic ruler Baeda Maryam agreed to a truce and both states in the following decades saw an unprecedent period of peace and stability.
Muhammad ibn Azhar ad-Din was a Sultan of the Sultanate of Adal. Sihab ad-Din Ahmad states in his Futuh al-Habasha that he was the son of Azhar, the second son of Abu Bakr, one of the ten sons of Sa'ad ad-Din II, and ruled for 30 years.
Hadiya also known as Adea or Hadia was a medieval Muslim state in the southern part of its realm located south of Shewa and west of Sharkha. The Hadiya Muslim state mainly composed of Cushitic Hadiyya proper, Halaba, Kebena people as well as Semitic Sil'te and other tongues related to Harari language. Hadiya was historically a vassal state of the Adal federation and then became an autonomous province of Abyssinia in the fourteenth century while still remaining a member of the Zeila union. In the 1600s Hadiya regained its independence and was led by a Garad. By 1850, Hadiya is placed north-west of lakes Zway and Langano but still between these areas.
The Ethiopian Empire, also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or simply known as Ethiopia, was a sovereign state that historically encompasses the geographical area of present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea from the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak approximately in 1270 until the 1974 coup d'etat by the Derg, which dethroned Emperor Haile Selassie. By 1896, the empire incorporated other regions such as Hararghe, Gurage and Wolayita, and saw its largest expansion with the federation of Eritrea in 1952. Throughout much of its existence, it was surrounded by hostile forces in the African Horn; however, it managed to develop and preserve a kingdom based on its ancient form of Christianity.
Nur al-Din or Nur ibn Mujahidibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Abdullah al Dhuhi Suha was an Emir of Harar who ruled over the Adal Sultanate. He was known for marrying his uncle's widow, Bati del Wambara, and also succeeding Imam Ahmad as the leader of the Muslim forces fighting Christian Ethiopia. He is often known as the "King of Adel" in medieval texts.
The Ethiopian–Adal War or Abyssinian–Adal War, also known in Arabic as Futūḥ Al-Ḥabaša, was a military conflict between the Christian Ethiopian Empire and the Muslim Adal Sultanate from 1529 to 1543. The Christian Ethiopian troops consisted of the Amhara, Tigrayans, Tigrinya and Agaw people, and at the closing of the war, supported by the Portuguese Empire with no less than four hundred musketeers. The Adal forces were composed of Harla, Somali, Afar, as well as Arab and Turkish gunmen. Both sides would see the Maya mercenaries at times join their ranks.
The Jaarso, Giarso or Jaarsoo is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family They largely live in Ethiopia, in the Oromo Region and the Somali Region, especially in and around the ancient cities of Chinaksen, Harar and Jigjiga
Dawaro or Doaro was a Muslim principality which laid alongside the Ifat Sultanate. The state was originally independent until becoming a vassal and later a province due its subjugation by Emperor Amda Seyon I in the early 14th century. The region was situated east of Hadiya and north of Bali which covered much of Ethiopia's Arsi Province. The capital of Dawaro was called Sabboch
Hubat, also known as Hobat, or Kubat was a historical Muslim state located in present-day eastern Ethiopia. Historically part of the Adal region alongside Gidaya and Hargaya states on the Harar plateau. Hubat is today within a district known as Adare Qadima which includes Garamuelta and its surroundings in Oromia region. The area is 30 km north west of Harar city at Hubeta, according to historian George Huntingford. Trimingham locates it as the region between Harar and Jaldessa. Archaeologist Timothy Insoll considers Harla town to be Hubat the capital of the now defunct Harla Kingdom.
Ethiopian Empire 
Adal Sultanate