History of Djibouti - Habesh Eyalet

Habesh Eyalet

Habesh Eyalet was an Ottoman eyalet that bordered the Red Sea. It comprised Massawa, Hergigo, Suakin and their hinterlands. Later, it would also incorporate parts of Djibouti and northwestern Somalia. The city of Harar in modern Ethiopia was added much later in the 19th century, after administration of the eyalet had been transferred to Egypt in the late 19th century and its Pasha had conquered the city. The culmination of Islamic dominance in the region occurred in 1557, when the Ottoman Empire allied with the Adal Sultanate during the time of Suleiman I. Under Özdemir Pasha (who had declared the province of Habesh in 1555), the Ottomans assumed control of the ports of Tadjoura, Obock and Zeila. The Ottomans later supported the Adal Sultanate in the sixteenth century Ethiopian–Adal war, while the Ethiopian Empire who was backed by the Portuguese Empire. After the death of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, the Adalite and Ottoman forces withdrew from the Ethiopian Highlands.