sultanate · Horn and East Africa

Fatagar Sultanate

1270 CE – 1550 CE (approx.)

A small medieval Muslim state in central Ethiopia, caught between the Christian emperors and the sultanates of Ifat and Adal.

Origins

Fatagar is known from Arabic and Ethiopian sources as a Muslim region lying between Shewa and the Awash river, east of modern Addis Ababa. It appears in the 13th century and became a tributary of the Ethiopian Empire under Amda Seyon in the 14th century.

Rule and society

Little is recorded about its rulers or institutions. It was a farming and trading area on the caravan routes to Zeila, and its population was partly Muslim and partly Christian, with both mosques and churches. It served at times as a royal camping ground of the emperors.

Decline and legacy

Fatagar was overrun during the jihad of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi in the 1530s, and Oromo migrations in the mid-16th century then swept away the old political order. The name fell out of use as the area became part of Oromo Shewa.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Fatagar Sultanate. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/fatagar-sultanate
MLA
“Fatagar Sultanate.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/fatagar-sultanate. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Fatagar Sultanate.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/fatagar-sultanate.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Fatagar Sultanate’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/fatagar-sultanate (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻