Zengisa Acra, was a regional name which existed along the east of the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
during the 1st millennium.
The later "Ajan Coast" was first mentioned after the
Sultanate of Mogadishu. The term Ajan is sometimes used interchangeably with Azania. However, Cyril Hromnik, has suggested Ajan comes from the Indian term ''Ajan Bar''. The Ajan Coast appears prominently in the times of
Adal Sultanate as a land of multiple kings, deserts and a long coastline with two capitals at Mogadishu and Zeila.
However, the overlapping analysis frequently places the core of Ajan Coast in the region of the plains beyond the promontory (
Ras Hafun
Ras Hafun ( so, Ras Xaafuun, ar, رأس حـافـون, it, Capo Hafun), also known as Cape Hafun, is a promontory in the northeastern Bari region of Somalia. Jutting out into the Guardafui Channel, it constitutes the easternmost point in Afric ...
) that follows the Horn's headland. The Ajan Coast was bordered to the north by
Aromata Aromata (Greek: Αρώματα, lit. "spices, aromatics"), also called the Spice Port,Lionel Casson (ed.), ''The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary'' (Princeton University Press, 1989), p. 115. was an empo ...
, to the west by
Rauso, to the south by various peoples including the Zanj and Tunni and to the east by the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
. A notable city state of Ajan was
Sarapion.
According to some of the Latin works of the 16th century and in conjunction with Al Idrisi and Ibn Said's 13th century remarks on the coast, Ajan, Aian, Adjan or ''Acanne'' (fire) is the antique reference for ''Aiaua'' or
Hawiye with its capital at Mogadishu. This is in part confirmed by the Latin definition of Bar Ajjam as the Land of Fire.
Though quoted as Burton as false, it refers to comments by Al Dimishqi in the 14th century "Then it passes the coasts of Hawya, called this way because it resembles hell because of the heat and the intensity of the fire of the sun, then those of Berberah, a part of Demdem and lower Abyssinie".
References
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Ancient Somalia