The Adal Sultanate was a Muslim Somali sultanate in the Horn of Africa which existed from 1415 to 1577, with Dakkar serving as its capital from 1420 to 1520 and Harar from 1520 to 1577. The sultanate was founded by Sabr ad-Din II and the local residents of Zeila after the fall of the Sultanate of Ifat, and, under Sultan Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din, the sultanate controlled a swathe of territory from Somaliland to Suakin in Sudan. The sultanate, aided by the Ottoman Empire, fought against Ethiopia in the Ethiopian-Adal War of 1529-1543, utilizing new weapons such as matchlock muskets, arquebuses, and cannons. The Adal sultan Ahmed Gran was killed in battle in 1543, leading to the war ending in a stalemate. After Ahmed's death, a series of successors presided over the sultanate's decline; in 1577, Sultan Nur ibn Mujahid died in battle with Oromo raiders, and his successors relocated to Aussa and founded the Imamate of Aussa, which survived until 1672. The Ottoman Empire, the Sultanate of Harar, and the Isaaq Sultanate absorbed Adal's former lands.
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