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Adal was a sixteenth century sultanate located in East Africa north of Ethiopia, in modern Eritrea and Djibouti. At its height, the country controlled large portions of Ethiopia and Somalia.

A previous Moslem state in the region, the Sultanate of Shoa, had been destroyed in the fourteenth century by the Ethiopian negus Amda Siyon . A smaller sultanate, the Sultanate of Ifat , controlled a few trading ports on the coast including Saylac and Adal in the following decades. In 1415, the Ethiopians invaded Ifat and defeated its armies under its sultan, Sa'd ad-Din , though they failed to maintain control over Adal itself.

In the mid- 1520s, a fiery imam named Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi (known as Ahmad Gran, the Left-Handed, to the Ethiopians) conquered the region of Adal and launched a holy war against Christian Ethiopia under the leadership of Lebna Dengel . Supplied by the Ottoman EmpireOsmanlı İmparatorluğu Devlet-i Aliye-i Osmaniye The Ottoman Coat of Arms Imperial motto: unknown The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital İstanbul ( Constantinople) Sovereigns Sultans with firearms, Ahmad was able to defeat the Ethiopians decisively at the Battle of Shimbra Kure in 1528Events June 19 Battle of Landriano A French army in Italy under Marshal St. Pol is decisively defeated. November 6 Shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca becomes the first known European to set foot on Texas. Andrea Doria revolts agai and seize control of the wealthy Amhara plateau , though the Ethiopians continued to resist from the Christian highlands. In 1541Events The first official translation of the entire Bible in Swedish February 12 Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Chile. May 8 Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River naming it Rio de Espiritu Santo. May 23 Jacques Cartier departs Saint-Malo Fr, the PortugueseRepublica Portuguesa ( In Detail) National motto: None Official language Portuguese 3 Capital Lisbon President Jorge Sampaio Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes Area Total % water World ranking: 109th 92,391 km²0. 5 % Population Total ( 2004) Density World, who had vested interests in the Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third-largest body of water in the world, covering about 20% of the Earth's water surface. It is bounded on the north by southern Asia (the Indian Sub-continent); on the west by the Arabian Peninsula and Africa; on the east by the, sent aid to the Ethiopians in the form of 400 musketeers; Adal, in turn, received 900 from the Ottomans.

Ahmad was initially successful against the Ethiopians while campaigning in the fall of 1542Events War resumes between Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V. This time Henry VIII of England is allied to the Emperor, while James V of Scotland and Sultan Suleiman I are allied to the French. November 25 Battle of Solway Moss. An English army in, killing the Portuguese commander Christopher da Gama in August that year. Portuguese musketry proved decisive in Adal's defeat at the Battle of Wayna Daga , near Lake Tana, in February 1543 , where Ahmad was killed in battle. The Ethiopians subsequently retook the Amhara plateau and recouped their losses against Adal; the Ottomans, who had their own troubles to deal with in the Mediterranean were unable to help Ahmad's successors. In 1577, the capital of the Adal Sultanate was moved to Harar, and a sharp decline in Adal's power followed.

The migration of the pagan Oromo (called the Galla by the Amhara) into the Horn of Africa affected both Adal and Ethiopia. The warlike Oromo tribes exhausted the Ethiopians in the latter part of the sixteenth century in war, and the weakened Adal sultanate was unable to cope; by 1660, the sultanate had disappeared.