Ifat, Sultanate of

Abstract Ifat was the second sultanate to be formed in the region of Shawa, in what is currently central Ethiopia. It was Umar Walasma who founded the Walasma dynasty (1280–1520s), which spearheaded Muslim resistance to the expanding Christian kingdom. From the very beginning Ifat was the victim of its own contradictory policies. On the one hand, Ifat was the greatest beneficiary of the lucrative trade of central and southern Ethiopia. Important caravan routes in southern and eastern Ethiopia converged on Ifat, whose capital was the major center of trade in the region. Ifat's commercial prosperity attracted the attention of the powerful Christian king, Amda‐siyon, who was determined to annex Ifat and other Muslim states to his rapidly expanding kingdom. On the other hand, the leaders of Ifat adopted aggressive policies toward the neighboring Christian kingdom, thus providing an excuse for Amda‐Siyon to invade Ifat in 1329 and annex it in 1332. Although Muslim resistance in Ifat developed between 1363 and 1374, one of its leaders took the dramatic action of shifting the center of Muslim resistance to the eastern region of Ethiopia. This entry briefly explores Ifat's resistance to Christian domination.