Sultanate of Mogadishu

The Sultanate of Mogadishu was a medieval Muslim sultanate centered on the city of Mogadishu in what is now southern Somalia, established in the tenth century and ruled at first by the Fakhr ad-Din dynasty founded by Abubakr bin Fakhr ad-Din, before the Muzaffar dynasty took power in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. It rose to become one of the preeminent powers in the Horn of Africa, dominating regional gold commerce, minting its own currency, and leaving significant architectural remains, with Somali and Arabic as its common languages. The sultanate maintained extensive Indian Ocean trade networks, produced fine fabrics exported as far as Egypt, and exchanged diplomatic missions with imperial China, before it was disestablished in the sixteenth century.