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|title_leader = Sultan
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The '''Sultanate of Dahlak''' was a small [[Middle Ages|Medieval]] kingdom covering the [[Dahlak archipelago]] and parts of the [[Africa]]n [[Red Sea]] coast in what is now [[Eritrea]]. First attestable byin 1093, it quickly profited from its location between [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]] and [[Yemen]] as well as [[Egypt]] and [[India]]. After the mid 13th century Dahlak lost its trade monopoly and subsequently started to decline,. and theThe Ethiopian empire and Yemen respectivelyboth tried to enforce their authority over the sultanate. It was eventually annexed by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] in 1557, who made it part of their [[Habesh Eyalet|Abyssinian province]].
==History==
After the [[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 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}}
The first sultan who is attestable by a funerary stele is Sultan Mubarak, who 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-mid11th–mid 13th century, whenthat the sultanateSultanate 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 the 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 struggeledstruggled to stay independent from the [[Rasulid]]s.{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|p=68}}
SinceFrom the 12th century the sultans of Dahlak controlled the important trading town of [[Massawa]] on the [[Africa]]nAfrican [[Red Sea]] coast,{{sfn|Bosworth|2007|p=339}} which was governed by a deputy calledtitled 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 seaSea"), in contrast to the ''Bahr Negash'' ("Lord of the seaSea") 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 likesuch 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 1464-14651464–1465, 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 ininto conflict with the [[Portuguese empire]], eventually resulting in much destruction.{{sfn|van Donzel|Kon|2005|pp=68-69}} By 1526 the current 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 [[Abyssinian-Adal war]], where the [[sultanate of Adal]] waged a temporarily successful [[Jihadjihad]] against the [[Ethiopian Empire|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}} which before the war had belonged to Medri Bahri.{{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}} 16Sixteen years later, the islands were occupied by the [[Ottoman empireEmpire]], 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 so far. They attest the presence of a cosmopolitan population originating from all over the Islamic world.{{sfn|Margariti |2009|p=157}} Several, now deteoriating, [[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 Medievalmedieval population used sophisticated [[cisterns]] to ensure a continuous supply of [[freshwater]].{{sfn|Insoll|1997|p=385}}
==Notes==
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