<P> Together with northern Somalia, Eritrea and the Red Sea coast of Sudan, Djibouti is considered the most likely location of the territory known to the Ancient Egyptians as Punt (or Ta Netjeru, meaning "God's Land"). The first mention of the Land of Punt dates to the 25th century BC . The Puntites were a nation of people who had close relations with Ancient Egypt during the reign of the 5th dynasty Pharaoh Sahure and the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut . According to the temple murals at Deir el - Bahari, the Land of Punt was ruled at that time by King Parahu and Queen Ati . </P> <P> Through close contacts with the adjacent Arabian Peninsula for more than 1,000 years, the Somali and Afar ethnic groups in the region became among the first populations on the continent to embrace Islam . The Ifat Sultanate was a Muslim medieval kingdom in the Horn of Africa . Founded in 1285 by the Walashma dynasty, it was centered in Zeila . Ifat established bases in Djibouti and northern Somalia, and from there expanded southward to the Ahmar Mountains . Its Sultan Umar Walashma (or his son Ali, according to another source) is recorded as having conquered the Sultanate of Shewa in 1285 . Taddesse Tamrat explains Sultan Umar's military expedition as an effort to consolidate the Muslim territories in the Horn, in much the same way as Emperor Yekuno Amlak was attempting to unite the Christian territories in the highlands during the same period . These two states inevitably came into conflict over Shewa and territories further south . A lengthy war ensued, but the Muslim sultanates of the time were not strongly unified . Ifat was finally defeated by Emperor Amda Seyon I of Ethiopia in 1332, and withdrew from Shewa . </P> <P> Islam was introduced to the area early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra . Zeila's two - mihrab Masjid al - Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in the city . In the late 9th century, Al - Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Horn seaboard . He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in Zeila, a port city in the northwestern Awdal region abutting Djibouti . This suggests that the Adal Sultanate with Zeila as its headquarters dates back to at least the 9th or 10th century . According to I.M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local dynasties consisting of Somalized Arabs or Arabized Somalis, who also ruled over the similarly - established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the Benadir region to the south . Adal's history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia . At its height, the Adal kingdom controlled large parts of modern - day Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia . </P> <P> Governor Abou Baker ordered the Egyptian garrison at Sagallo to retire to Zeila . The cruiser Seignelay reached Sagallo shortly after the Egyptians had departed . French troops occupied the fort despite protests from the British Agent in Aden, Major Frederick Mercer Hunter, who dispatched troops to safeguard British and Egyptian interests in Zeila and prevent further extension of French influence in that direction . </P>

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