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.
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.
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 Somaliland, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and eastern Ethiopia.
Jamal ad-Din II was a Sultan of the Adal Sultanate. He was the youngest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II. He was of a Somali ethnic background.
The history of Somaliland, a country in the eastern Horn of Africa bordered by the Gulf of Aden, and the East African land mass, begins with human habitation tens of thousands of years ago. It includes the civilizations of Punt, the Ottomans, and colonial influences from Europe and the Middle East.
The Habr Awal, also contemporarily known as the Awal, and alternately known as the Zubeyr Awal is a major Northern Somali clan of the wider Isaaq clan family, and is further divided into eight sub-clans of whom the two largest and most prominent are the Issa Musa and Sa'ad Musa sub-clans. Its members form a part of the Habar Magadle confederation.
The Argobba are an ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia. A Muslim community, they are spread out through isolated village networks and towns in the north-eastern and eastern parts of the country. Group members have typically been astute traders and merchants, and have adjusted to the economic trends in their area. These factors have led to a decline in usage of the Argobba language. Argobba are considered endangered today due to exogamy and destitution as well as ethnic cleansing by the Abyssinian state over the centuries.
Somali architecture is the engineering and designing of multiple different construction types such as stone cities, castles, citadels, fortresses, mosques, temples, aqueducts, lighthouses, towers and tombs during the ancient, medieval and early modern periods in Somalia and other regions inhabited by Somalis, as well as the fusion of Somalo-Islamic architecture with Western designs in contemporary times.
The Harari people are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group which inhabits the Horn of Africa. Members of this ethnic group traditionally reside in the walled city of Harar, simply called Gēy "the City" in Harari, situated in the Harari Region of eastern Ethiopia. They speak the Harari language, a member of the South Ethiopic grouping within the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic languages.
This is a list of Somali aristocratic and court titles that were historically used by the Somali people's various sultanates, kingdoms and empires. Also included are the honorifics reserved for Islamic notables as well as traditional leaders and officials within Somali customary law (xeer), in addition to the nobiliary particles set aside for distinguished individuals.
Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn, popularly known as Aw Barkhadle or Yusuf Al Kownayn, was an Islamic scholar and traveler based in Zeila. Based on reference to Yusuf Al Kawneyn in the Harar manuscripts, Dr. Enrico Cerulli.
Sada Mire is a Swedish-Somali archaeologist, art historian and presenter from the Arap clan, who is currently a professor of Heritage Studies at University College London. She is a public intellectual and heritage activist who has argued that cultural heritage is a basic human need in her 2014 TEDxEuston talk. In 2017, Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts selected Mire as one of their 30 international thinkers and writers. She became the Director of Antiquities of Somaliland in 2007. Raised in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, Mire fled the country at the start of the civil war at the age of 15. She then traveled to Sweden seeking asylum. She has since returned to the Horn of Africa as an archaeologist.
The Gurgura, Gorgorah or Gurgure is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family.
The Makayl-Dheere also known as Makaahiil-Dheere (Makayldheere), is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Makahiil sub-clan of the Gadabuursi Dir clan family.
Harla Kingdom was a 6th century Harla state centered around what is present day eastern Ethiopia. The kingdom had trading relations with the Ayyubid and Tang dynasties. It also established its own currency and calendar. The kingdom is mentioned by Ethiopian as well as Arab medieval writers including al-Mufaddal ibn Abi al-Fada'il and Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi. Timothy Insoll identifies the Harlaa ruins to be Hubat the capital of the Harla state, a subordinate of Ifat Sultanate in the thirteenth century and later under the Adal Sultanate in the fifteenth century. Early Muslim states in the Horn of Africa such as the Makhzumi dynasty had their bases within Harla territories. According to historian Mohammed Hassen a power struggle had developed in the early 16th century between Harla state leaders and the Walashma dynasty. Researcher Dominico Patassini states the Harla kingdom was succeeded by Harar city-state in the sixteenth century.
The Isaaq Sultanate was a Issaq kingdom that ruled parts of the Horn of Africa during the 18th and 19th centuries. It spanned the territories of the Isaaq clan in modern-day Somaliland The sultanate was governed by the Rer Guled branch of the Garhajis clan and is the pre-colonial predecessor to the modern Republic of Somaliland.
Aw is an honorific title in the Harari and Somali languages. It is used widely and most commonly in the Somali territories. During his research in the ancient town of Amud, the historian G.W.B. Huntingford noticed that whenever an old site had the prefix Aw in its name, it denoted the final resting place of a local saint. It commonly designates a father, respected elder or saint in Harari and Somali languages. Most notably applied to the founder of Harar Aw Abadir. According to Banti Giorgio the term has been adopted by various Somali clans from the Harari language. According to the southern Somali Geledi clan, the appellation Aw was common amongst them and was used “scrupulously” in interactions between the nobles and half casts. Sorcerers among the Arsi Oromo are known as Awan Shan which is derived from the title Aw.
Adal, known as Awdal or Aw Abdal was a historical Muslim region in the Horn of Africa. Located east of Ifat and the Awash river as far as the coast, and including Harar as well as Zeila. The Zeila state often denoted Adal and other Muslim dominions in medieval texts.
Ifat also known as Yifat, Awfat or Wafat was a historical Muslim region in the Horn of Africa. It was located on the eastern edge of Shewa.
Umar Ibn Dunyā-ḥawaz or Umar Walashma was the first ruler of the Sultanate of Ifat and the founder of the Walashma dynasty.
Somaliland 
