Somali Sultanate (Kingdom) Of IFAT: 1280-1415
Beginning in the thirteenth century, one of the chief problems confronting the
Christian kingdom, then ruled by the
Amhara, was the threat of Muslim encirclement. By that time, a variety of peoples east and south of the highlands had embraced
Islam, and some had established powerful sultanates (or shaykhdoms). One of these was the sultanate of Ifat in the northeastern
Shewan foothills, and another was centered in the Islamic city of
Harer farther east
. In the lowlands along the
Red Sea were two other important Muslim peoples--the
Afar and the
Somali.