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{{Short description|Small medieval kingdom covering the Dahlak Archipelago in East Africa}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name            =
|conventional_long_name = Dahlak Sultanate
|common_name            = Dahlak Sultanate
|era                    = Middle Ages
|status                 =
|status_text            =
|empire                 =
|government_type        = Monarchy
|year_start             = 960
|year_end               = 1557
|event_start            = Established
|date_start             =
|event_end              = Annexed by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]]
|date_end               =
|event1                 = Tributary of the [[Ethiopian Empire]]
|date_event1            = 1464/65
|event_pre              =
|date_pre               =
|event_post             =
|date_post              =
|p1                     = Kingdom of Aksum
|flag_p1                =
|s1                     = Ottoman Empire
|flag_s1                = Flag_of_the_Ottoman_Empire.svg
|image_flag             =
|flag                   =
|flag_type              =
|image_coat             =
|symbol                 =
|symbol_type            =
|image_map              = Approximate extension of the Zagwe Empire.JPG
|image_map_caption      = The Dahlak sultanate and its neighbours, {{circa}} 1200
|capital                = [[Dahlak Kebir]]
|national_motto         =
|national_anthem        =
|common_languages       = [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Dahalik language|Dahalik]]
|religion               = Islam
|currency               = Dinar
|leader1                = [[Sultan Mubarak of Dahlak|Mubarak]]
|leader2                = [[Sultan Ismail of Dahlak|Ismail]]
|leader3                = [[Sultan Ahmad of Dahlak|Ahmad]] (last known sultan)
|year_leader1           = ?-1093
|year_leader2           = ?-14??
|year_leader3           = ?-1540
|title_leader           = Sultan
|today                  = [[Eritrea]]
}}
The '''Sultanate of Dahlak''' was a small [[Middle Ages|medieval]] kingdom covering the [[Dahlak Archipelago]] and parts of the [[Eritrea|Eritrean]] coast. First attested in 1093, it quickly profited from its strategic trading location, gaining heavily from being near to [[Yemen]] as well as [[Egypt]] and [[India]]. After the mid 13th century Dahlak lost its trade monopoly and subsequently started to decline. Both the Ethiopian empire and Yemen tried to enforce their authority over the sultanate. It was eventually annexed by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] in 1557, who made it part of the [[Habesh Eyalet]].

==History==
===Origins and early history===

[[File:Medieval tombstone from Dahlak.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Tombstone from Dahlak with [[Kufic script|Kufic inscription]]]]

After the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]] seized [[Dahlak archipelago|Dahlak]] in 702, they made it a prison and place of forced exile, as did the early [[Abbasids]] who succeeded them. By the 9th century the Dahlak islands had come under the rule of the king of [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]]. Around 900 he concluded a treaty of friendship with the [[Ziyadid dynasty|Ziyadid]] sultan of [[Zabid]] in [[Yemen]], and by the mid 10th century it is recorded that Dahlak was forced to pay tribute to [[Ziyadid dynasty#List of Ziyadid rulers|Sultan Ishaq ibn Ibrahim]].{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=65}} A century later, Dahlak was involved in a power struggle between the Ziyadids and the [[Najahids]], as the latter had fled to there in 1061. Battles were fought until 1086, when the Najahids managed to restore their rule in Zabid.{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=67}} It was in the second half of the 11th century, under the rule of the Najahids, when the Dahlak archipelago prospered the most.{{sfn|Chekroun|Hirsch|2020|p=91}}

The first sultan who is attestable is [[Sultan Mubarak of Dahlak|Sultan Mubarak]], whose funerary stele states died in 1093. His dynasty apparently lasted until 1230{{sfn|Margariti|2009|p=158}}/1249.{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=67}} It was during this period, the 11th–mid 13th century, that the Sultanate enjoyed its greatest prosperity. This prosperity was mostly based on the monopoly of the external trade of the Ethiopian interior,{{sfn|Tamrat|1977|p=121}} but also involvement in the transit trade between [[Egypt]] and [[India]].{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=67}} It was also through Dahlak that Ethiopia maintained diplomatic relations with Yemen.{{sfn|Tamrat|1977|p=152}} In the mid 13th century, however, the [[Zagwe dynasty|Zagwe kings]] began to make use of a new trading route in the south, with the port town [[Zeila]] as its final destination. Thus Dahlak lost its trading monopoly.{{sfn|Tamrat|1977|p=122}} Around the same time, [[Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi]] records that the Dahlak sultans struggled to stay independent from the [[Rasulid]]s.{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=68}}

From the 12th century the sultans of Dahlak controlled the important trading town of [[Massawa]] on the African [[Red Sea]] coast,{{sfn|Bosworth|2007|p=339}} which was governed by a deputy titled the ''Nai'b''. Other coastal settlements on the African continent might have been controlled by the Dahlak sultans as well, at least temporarily.{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=68}} To the Ethiopians, the sultan of Dahlak was known as ''Seyuma Bahr'' ("Prefect of the Sea"), in contrast to the ''Bahr Negash'' ("Lord of the Sea") of [[Medri Bahri]].{{sfn|Bosworth|2007|p=339}}

It was shortly after the death of Sultan Mubarak that the Dahlak sultanate began to mint coins, which were used to pay for imported goods such as Egyptian textiles and [[storax balsam]].{{sfn|Margariti |2009|p=159}}

The Muslims of Dahlak were probably not successful in [[Proselytism|proselytizing]] northern Abyssinia. The [[Orthodox Tewahedo|Ethiopian Church]] had been well-established for centuries. Muslims were tolerated only as traders.{{sfn|Tamrat|1977|pp=121–122}}

=== Demise ===
[[File:Pierre tombale sultan Ahmed 1539 archipel Dahlak 00177.jpg|thumb|right|Tombstone of sultan Ahmad, who died in 1540]]
By the 15th century, the economy of the sultanate was not only in decline, but it was also forced to pay tribute to the [[Ethiopian Empire|emperors of Ethiopia]].{{sfn|Connel|Killion|2011|p=160}} In 1464–1465, Massawa and the Dahlak archipelago were pillaged by emperor [[Zara Yaqob]]. By 1513 Dahlak had become a vassal of the [[Tahirids (Yemen)|Tahirids]]. In 1517 and 1520 it came into conflict with the [[Portuguese empire]], resulting in much destruction.{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|pp=68–69}} By 1526 the Dahalik sultan, Ahmad, had been degraded to a tributary.{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=69}} There was a short revival of the sultanate during the [[Ethiopian-Adal war]], where the [[sultanate of Adal]] waged a temporarily successful [[jihad]] against the [[Ethiopian Empire]].{{sfn|Connel|Killion|2011|p=160}} Sultan Ahmad joined Adal and was rewarded with the port town of [[Arkiko]].{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=69}}{{sfn|Pankhurst|1997|pp=104–105}} However, in 1541, one year after the death of sultan Ahmad, the Portuguese returned and destroyed Dahlak yet again.{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=69}} Sixteen years later, the islands were occupied by the [[Ottoman Empire]], who made them part of the [[Habesh Eyalet]]. Under the rule of the Ottomans, the Dahlak islands lost their significance.{{sfn|Connel|Killion|2011|p=160}}

==Dahlak Kebir==
[[Dahlak Kebir]], a site on the same-named Dahlak Kebir Island, contains material dating to the era of the sultanate.{{sfn|Insoll|1997|p=383}} Nearly 300 tombstones have been discovered. They attest the presence of a cosmopolitan population originating from all over the Islamic world.{{sfn|Margariti |2009|p=157}} Several, now deteriorating, [[qubba]]s have been noted.{{sfn|Insoll|1997|p=383}} The settlement itself consisted of well-built stone houses made of [[corals|coral]]. The site also contains several settlement mounds.{{sfn|Insoll|1997|pp=384–385}} The medieval population used sophisticated [[cisterns]] to ensure a continuous supply of [[freshwater]].{{sfn|Insoll|1997|p=385}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Bosworth |first= Clifford Edmund |title=Historic Cities of the Islamic World |year=2007 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004153882 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Chekroun| first1=Amélie |last2=Hirsch |first2=Bertrand |year=2020 |chapter=The Sultanates of Medieval Ethiopia |title=A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea" |publisher=Brill |pages=86–112}}
* {{cite book |last1=Connel |first1=Dan |last2=Killion |first2=Tom |title=Historical Dictionary of Eritrea |year=2011 |publisher=The Scarecrow |isbn=9780810859524 }}
* {{cite book |last=Insoll |first=Timothy |chapter=An Archaeological Reconnaissance made to Dahlak Kebir, the Dahlak Islands, Eritrea: Preliminary Observations |title=Ethiopia in Broader Perspective: Papers of the 13th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. Volume 1 |year=1997 |pages=382–388 |url=https://www.academia.edu/13045916 |isbn=4879749761  }}
* {{cite book |last=Margariti |first=Roxolani Eleni |chapter=Thieves of Sultans? Dahlak and the Rulers and Merchants of Indian Ocean Port Cities, 11th-13th Centuries AD |url=https://www.academia.edu/4260086 |title=Connected Hinterlands. Proceedings of Red Sea Project IV |year=2009 |pages=155–163 |isbn=9781407306315 }}
* {{cite book |last=Pankhurst |first=Richard |title=The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century |year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpYBD3bzW1wC&pg=PR3 |isbn=9780932415189 }}
* {{cite book |last=Tamrat |first=Tadesse |chapter=Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn |editor=Roland Oliver |title=The Cambridge History of Africa |volume=3 |pages=89–182 |year=1977 |publisher=Cambridge University |isbn=0521209811 }}
* {{cite book |last1=van Donzel |first1=Emeri |last2=Kon |first2=Ronald E. |chapter=Dahlak islands. History of the Dahlak islands until 1945 |title=Encyclopedia Aethiopica. D-Ha |year=2005 |pages=64–69 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=3447052384 }}

{{Medieval Horn of Africa}}

[[Category:Former sultanates in the medieval Horn of Africa]]
[[Category:11th-century establishments in Africa]]
[[Category:History of Eritrea]]
[[Category:Former monarchies]]

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