The Sultanate of Bale was a Somali Muslim sultanate founded in the Bale Mountains of the southern Ethiopian Highlands and Horn of Africa. It corresponds roughly to the modern Bale Zone of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia.[1]

Sultanate of Bale
13th cenutury–1320s
StatusSovereign state
Common languagesSomali, Sidama
Religion
Islam
GovernmentSultanate
Sultan 
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Established
13th cenutury
• Conquered by Amde Seyon of Abyssinia
1320s
Succeeded by
Ethiopian Empire
Today part ofBale Zone, South-Eastern Ethiopia

History

Establishment

The Bale Sultanate was founded in the 13th century by Sheikh Hussein of the Ajuran (clan),[2][3] who was born in the Hawiye capital of Merca and served as one of the commercial and Islamic centers in the Indian Ocean.[4] He is credited for introducing Islam to the Sidamo people living in Ethiopia at the time.[5] [6] Despite the Sultanate being founded by a Somali saint and ruled by his descendants, the kingdom was mostly inhabited by the Sidama. Ajuran merchants began settling in the region, thus linking the two kingdoms economically as Bale had trade with neighbouring Ethiopian kingdoms and would serve as the gateway for the neighbouring Sultanates including the Ajuran Sultanate. [7]

Along with other sultanates, including Dawaro, Arababni, Hadiya, Shirka, and Dara, Bale became part of the so-called confederation of Zeila.[8]

Location

It bordered the sultanates of Dawaro and Shirka in the north, Hadiya in the west, and Adal in the east and its core areas were located around the Shebelle River.[9]

Economy

During medieval times Bale was known for its production of cotton, while salt brought from El Kere was an important trading item [10]

Military encounters

Bale was conquered by Amde Seyon in the 1320s and would remain under Ethiopian occupation until the Oromo Migrations when the Oromos kicked the Ethiopian's out of the Bale Lands.

Fall of Bale

As a result of the wars of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi between 1529 and 1549, and the subsequent Oromo migration from the 1540s, native Muslims lost their foothold in Bale.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Østebø, Terje (October 2020). Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia. p. 52. ISBN 9781108839686.
  2. ↑ Keeping the Birds at Bay in the Bay Area of Somalia (I.M. Lewis 1988)|quote=The Haran Madare are represented in old Somali oral traditions as a branch of the saintly Walamogge lineage, descended according to the same sources, from the famous Sheikh Huseen Baliale, the patron saint of the Islamic Population of Ethiopia (Andredrewzji 1975; Braukamper 1977; Lewis 1980)
  3. ↑ Saints and Somalis Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society (I.M. Lewis 1998)|quote=According to sources, the Haran Madare Walamogge are direct lineal descendants (rather than affines) of the Ajuran.
  4. ↑ Beckingham and Huntingford, Some Records, p. lxxxix. Trimingham offers the date of 1780 for Nur Husain's departure from Mogadishu.
  5. ↑ Braukamper, Ulrich; Braukämper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: Collected Essays. ISBN 9783825856717.
  6. ↑ Beckingham and Huntingford, Some Records, p. lxxxix.
  7. ↑ Østebø, Terje (30 September 2011). Localising Salafism: Religious Change Among Oromo Muslims in Bale Ethiopia. BRILL. p. 3. ISBN 978-9004184787.
  8. ↑ Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia by Terje Østebø Page 52
  9. ↑ Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia by Terje Østebø Page 52
  10. ↑ Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia by Terje Østebø Page 52
  11. ↑ Hagmann, Tobias (2011). Contested Power in Ethiopia. BRILL. p. 170. ISBN 978-9004218437.
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