Abyssinian–Adal war

The Abyssinian–Adal war is a military conflict between the Ethiopian Empire and the Adal Sultanate.

Between 1529 and 1543, the Somali military leader Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi defeats several Ethiopian emperors and embarks on a conquest referred to as the Futuh Al-Habash ("Conquest of Abyssinia"), which brings three-quarters of Christian Abyssinia under the power of the Muslim Sultanate of Adal.

With an army mainly composed of Somalis, Al-Ghazi's forces and their Ottoman allies come close to extinguishing the ancient Ethiopian kingdom.

However, the Abyssinians manage to secure the assistance of Cristóvão da Gama's Portuguese troops and maintain their domain's autonomy.

Both polities in the process exhaust their resources and manpower, which results in the contraction of both powers and changes regional dynamics for centuries to come.

Many historians trace the origins of hostility between Somalia and Ethiopia to this war.

Some scholars also argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms such as the matchlock musket, cannons and the arquebus over traditional weapons.

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