# Imamate of Aussa Founded (1577)

URL: https://allhistories.com/somalia/timeline/1577-imamate-of-aussa-founded
Location: Aussa, Afar Region, Ethiopia
Themes: main-event

By the 1570s Harar, the capital of Adal for almost six decades, was exposed to constant Oromo attacks and had lost its strategic value after the defeat of 1576. The leadership needed a more defensible centre from which to rule the remnants of the sultanate. In 1577 Muhammad Gasa ibn Ibrahim, a relative of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, moved the seat of government to Aussa, an oasis in the lower Awash valley in the Afar lowlands, and appointed his brother as wazir of Harar. The new Imamate of Aussa claimed to continue the Adal state, but it was soon torn by internal conflicts between rival claimants, the Harla population and the imams. In the following decades the imams' authority dwindled, and by the 17th century the Afar Mudaito dynasty became dominant in the region. The move to Aussa marked the effective end of the Adal Sultanate as a great power. Its former territories fragmented: Harar became an independent emirate, the Somali clans of the north-west regained autonomy, and Zeila came under the influence of rulers across the Gulf of Aden. At this point in the timeline (1577), the Emir of Adal was Mansur ibn Muhammad (1576 – 1577); the Imam of Adal (then of Aussa) was Muhammad Gasa (1577 – 1583); the Ruler of the Ajuran (Garen) was Rasul ibn Ali (16th century).

## Why it matters
The founding of the Imamate of Aussa marked the end of Adal as the dominant power of the north-western Horn.

Ruler at the Time: [Mansur ibn Muhammad](https://allhistories.com/somalia/rulers/mansur-ibn-muhammad)

Imam of Adal (then of Aussa): Muhammad Gasa
Ruler of the Ajuran (Garen): Rasul ibn Ali

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Imamate of Aussa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imamate_of_Aussa)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Aussa](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Aussa)
- [Wikipedia — Muhammad Gasa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Gasa)
- [Wikipedia — Adal, Ajuran And The Portuguese (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adal_Sultanate)