The end of Adal, 1543–1583: Emir Nur, the Ottomans at Zeila and the move to Awsa

In short

This page follows Amélie Chekroun and Bertrand Hirsch, "The Muslim-Christian Wars and the Oromo Expansion: Transformations at the End of the Middle Ages (c. 1500–c. 1560)", in Samantha Kelly (ed.), A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea (Brill, 2020), pp. 454–476 (HAL open preprint). Unless noted, every statement below is theirs or a source they quote. For the war itself, see Imam Ahmad and the Adal campaigns, 1527–1543.

How the war differed from earlier raids

• Raiding before the war. In the Futūḥ al-Ḥabasha, the emirs of Adal tell Imam Ahmad that their "fathers and ancestors never wanted to settle in the country of Abyssinia", but sent raids to the borders "for booty, cattle and such like" and came home. The authors write that raiding was part of the economy of both Muslim and Christian communities, and that before Imam Ahmad neither side tried to conquer the other.
• When the conquest began. The year 1527 is usually given, but it marks a Christian raid under Dagalhan. The authors date the war of conquest to 1531, following the Christian Mäṣḥafä Sǝddät and the Harar chronicle Taʾrīkh al-mulūk, which gives 937 AH (August 1530 to August 1531). The battles of Badeqe (September 1528) and Shimbra Kure (March 1529) came first, but the army still went home to Harar after each.
• Who fought. Raids used the regular army of the sultanate, its riders (Malasay) and "soldiers of the sea". For the conquest, Imam Ahmad also called up contingents from peoples who paid tribute to the sultans, "Harla, Somali, etc.", as well as soldiers from Arabia, including the Mahra. Firearms "bought at Zaylaʿ" were essential.
• The Yemeni and Ottoman role. The authors write that the Ottoman sultan showed little interest in the war, that the Ottomans only began to occupy the Yemeni coast in 1538–1539, and that the soldiers who came from Zabid, Aden and Mahra should be seen as part of the long ties between Yemen and Muslim Ethiopia, "rather than as an Ottoman intervention".
• Peace inside Adal. They write that by taking most soldiers and local emirs onto the highlands, the Imam brought "a temporary peace between the central power and the population (especially the Somali clans)".

After 1543

The chronicle of King Galawdewos is the only source on the Muslim army after the Imam's death. Part of the army fled home and part joined the Christian side. The vizier ʿAbbas tried to hold Bali, Fatagar and Dawaro, but Galawdewos killed him in October 1544. A Christian attack on Adal in 1549–1550 killed the reigning sultan and hunted a leader named Nur. For a Muslim account of these years, see Imam Ahmad's son and the end of the war, 1543–1560.

Emir Nur

Nur, probably the son of the Imam's vizier Mujahid ibn ʿAli, took power in 959 AH (1551–1552), keeping the sultan under his control. In March–April 1559, in a great battle in Fatagar, he killed and beheaded King Galawdewos and is said to have brought the head back to Harar. The authors write that he did not try to renew the conquest, because Adal suffered Oromo attacks, economic crisis, epidemics, famine, and the loss of many of its men in the long war. Nur built the wall of Harar and died there of plague in 1567. The Taʾrīkh al-mulūk calls him "the second conqueror", and the authors write that in Harari memory he is more honoured than the Imam himself. See Harar becomes the capital of Adal, 1520–1577.

The end of the sultanate

The line of Saʿd ad-Din ended in 1559 with the death of Sultan Habib ibn ʿUmar Din, son of the sultan whom Imam Ahmad had placed on the throne. According to the Taʾrīkh al-mulūk, five rulers then followed one another quickly. Sultan Muhammad ibn Nasir (ruled 1572/3–1575/6) led an expedition against the Christian kingdom that the authors call "a bitter failure", in which part of his army went over to the Christian side. Imam Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Gasa (ruled 1577–1583) moved the seat of power to Awsa. The authors take this move, caused mainly by Oromo pressure around Harar and by internal quarrels, as the end of the Barr Saʿd ad-Din. They write that the war of Imam Ahmad was only one of the troubles that ended the sultanate, which began with struggles over the throne in the late 15th century.

The Ottoman province and the Somali coast

• The Habesh province. Özdemir Pasha was named governor of the new Ottoman province of Habesh (Abyssinia) on 15 July 1555, first based at Suakin. Between 1557 and 1559 he took Massawa, Hirgigo and the Dahlak Islands, and, according to Orhonlu, Zeila as well and, for a short time, Berbera. Hirgigo and Zeila were made districts (sanjaks) of the province.
• Doubts about Zeila. The authors write that Zeila "did not stay long under Ottoman rule". The Arabic documents from Zeila published by Enrico Cerulli never mention Ottoman occupation; instead they name local governors (garad), and record a wall built between 1572 and 1577, under Garad Lado, "to protect the town against Somali nomads plundering". They write that the extent of Ottoman control in the southern part of the province "remains open".
• Later. The Ottomans lost their inland fort at Debarwa in 1576 and were defeated at Addi Qorro in 1578, after which they kept to the Red Sea coast. The authors write that they controlled the trade with inland Ethiopia, especially in firearms and slaves, in the following centuries.

The Oromo expansion

The main source is the Zenahu la-Galla, a history of the Oromo written in the 1590s by Bahrey, a learned monk at the court of King Sarsa Dengel. He described the Oromo gadaa system, which he calls luuba: "They have neither king nor master… but rather obey the luuba, for a period of eight years." Following his eight-year periods:

• 1520s–1550s. The Baarentu Oromo moved first into Bali and Dawaro, then Fatagar, "regions populated primarily by Muslims".
• 1550s. They pushed north and fought the Christian general Hamelmal and then Emir Nur near Mount Azalo, close to the Awash, shortly after 1559.
• 1560s. The Baarentu moved along the escarpment and east toward Harar, while the Boorana pressed on the Christian heartland. Bahrey writes that in the 1560s the Oromo began to settle in the lands they raided, instead of returning beyond the Wabi Shabelle, and began to fight on horseback.

The authors write that the causes are hard to establish. They suggest four features of the gadaa system as possible factors, and write that by the 1550s–1560s "the Barr Saʿd al-Dīn had practically disappeared as such", with the last Walashma enclosed in Harar, which became a "holy city" and "symbol of a glorious, lost past".

Related pages

• Futuh al-Habasha
• Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi
• The seven Muslim kingdoms of the Horn: tribute, trade and money
• The Harla and Harlaa
• Medieval and early modern polities, 1300s–1700s