Bale

Bale was a Muslim sultanate in the southern Ethiopian highlands, linked to the trading routes from Zeila. Emperor Amda Seyon conquered it in 1332, and in 1337 it was an Ethiopian vassal.

Bale remained a contested frontier under the Christian emperors, facing pressure from Adal. In the early sixteenth century Emperor Naod repelled a raid by the Muslim leader Adruh. In the mid-sixteenth century Oromo migrations swept over the region and absorbed it into the expanding Oromo world; the shrine of Sheikh Hussein remained a centre of Islamic devotion in Bale.