Sultanate of Bale

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

History

Establishment

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

Along with other sultanates, including Dawaro, Arababni, Hadiya, Shirka, and Dara, Bale became part of the so-called confederation of Zeila.[5]

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 Wabe Shebelle River.[6]

Economy

During medieval times Bale was known for its production of cotton, while salt brought from El Kere was an important trading item [7]

Military encounters

Bale was conquered by Amde Seyon in the 1320s and would remain under Abyssinian occupation until Adal Sultan Ahmeduddin Badlay's victory over Emperor Yeshaq I in 1429.[8]

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.[9]

References
  1. Østebø, Terje (October 2020). Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia. p. 52. ISBN 9781108839686.
  2. Beckingham and Huntingford, Some Records, p. lxxxix. Trimingham offers the date of 1780 for Nur Husain's departure from Mogadishu.
  3. Braukamper, Ulrich; Braukämper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: Collected Essays. ISBN 9783825856717.
  4. Østebø, Terje (30 September 2011). Localising Salafism: Religious Change Among Oromo Muslims in Bale, Ethiopia. BRILL. p. 3. ISBN 978-9004184787.
  5. Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia by Terje Østebø Page 52
  6. Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia by Terje Østebø Page 52
  7. Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia by Terje Østebø Page 52
  8. Marcus, Harold (2002). A History of Ethiopia. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520925427.
  9. Hagmann, Tobias (2011). Contested Power in Ethiopia. BRILL. p. 170. ISBN 978-9004218437.
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