The
Ajuran Sultanate (, ), also spelled
Ajuuraan Sultanate, and often simply as
Ajuran, was a
Somali Muslim sultanate that ruled over large parts of the
Horn of Africa in the
Middle Ages. Through a strong centralized administration and an aggressive military stance towards invaders, the Ajuran Sultanate successfully resisted an
Oromo invasion from the west and a
Portuguese incursion from the east during the Gaal Madow and the Ajuran-Portuguese wars. Trading routes dating from the ancient and early medieval periods of
Somali maritime enterprise were strengthened or re-established, and foreign trade and commerce in the coastal provinces flourished with ships sailing to and coming from many kingdoms and empires in
East Asia,
South Asia,
Europe, the
Near East,
North Africa and
East Africa.