Zengisa Acra, was a regional name which existed along the east of the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

during the 1st millennium. The later "Ajan Coast" was first mentioned after the

Sultanate of Mogadishu The Sultanate of Mogadishu (, ), also known as Kingdom of Magadazo, was a medieval Muslim Somali-Arab sultanate centered in southern Somalia.M. Elfasi, Ivan Hrbe"Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century", "General History of Africa". Ret ...

. The term Ajan is sometimes used interchangeably with Azania. However, Cyril Hromnik, has suggested Ajan comes from the Indian term ''Ajan Bar''. The Ajan Coast appears prominently in the times of

Adal Sultanate The Adal Sultanate, also known as the Adal Empire or Barr Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate'', ''Adal Sultanate'') (), was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din III on th ...

as a land of multiple kings, deserts and a long coastline with two capitals at Mogadishu and Zeila. However, the overlapping analysis frequently places the core of Ajan Coast in the region of the plains beyond the promontory (

Ras Hafun Ras Hafun (, , ), also known as Cape Hafun, is a promontory in the northeastern Bari region of the Puntland state in Somalia. Geography Jutting out into the Guardafui Channel, the promontory constitutes the easternmost point of mainland Africa ...

) that follows the Horn's headland. The Ajan Coast was bordered to the north by

Aromata Aromata (Greek: Αρώματα, lit. "spices, aromatics"), also called the Spice Port,Lionel Casson (ed.), ''The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary'' (Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 115. was an anci ...

, to the west by

Rauso Rauso was a region in the Horn of Africa in Late Antiquity. Geography The ''Monumentum Adulitanum'' is a 4th-century monumental inscription by King Ezana of Axum recording his various victories in war. It is lost, but its text was copied down in th ...

, to the south by various peoples including the Zanj and Tunni and to the east by the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

. A notable city state of Ajan was

Sarapion Sarapion (, also spelled Serapion) was an ancient port city located in the Horn of Africa. History It was situated on a site that later became Mogadishu. Sarapion was briefly mentioned in Ptolemy's ''Geographia'' as one of the harbours a trader ...

. According to some of the Latin works of the 16th century and in conjunction with Al Idrisi and Ibn Said's 13th century remarks on the coast, Ajan, Aian, Adjan or ''Acanne'' (fire) is the antique reference for ''Aiaua'' or

Hawiye The Hawiye (; ) are one of the principal and largest of the Somali clans, tracing their lineage back to Sheikh Ahmed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Uthman, also known as Sheikh Hawiye, the eponymous figure of the clan. They are considered the earliest do ...

with its capital at Mogadishu. This is in part confirmed by the Latin definition of Bar Ajjam as the Land of Fire. Though quoted as Burton as false, it refers to comments by Al Dimishqi in the 14th century "Then it passes the coasts of Hawya, called this way because it resembles hell because of the heat and the intensity of the fire of the sun, then those of Berberah, a part of Demdem and lower Abyssinie".

References

{{reflist Ancient Somalia