Comprehensive article on all the sultanates.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldcivilization/chapter/the-sultanates-of-somalia/
"Key Points
- During the Middle Ages, Somalia’s territory witnessed the emergence and decline of several powerful sultanates that dominated the regional trade. At no point was the region centralized as one state, and the development of all the sultanates was linked to the central role that Islam played in the area since the 7th century.
- The Sultanate of Mogadishu was an important trading empire that lasted from the 10th century to the 16th century. It maintained a vast trading network, dominated the regional gold trade, minted its own Mogadishu currency, and left an extensive architectural legacy in present-day southern Somalia.
- The Ajuran Sultanate ruled over large parts of the Horn of Africa between the 13th and late 17th centuries. Through a strong centralized administration and an aggressive military stance towards invaders, it successfully resisted an Oromo invasion from the west and a Portuguese incursion from the east. It left an extensive architectural and engineering legacy.
- The Warsangali Sultanate was a kingdom centered in northeastern and in some parts of southeastern Somalia. It was one of the largest sultanates ever established in the territory.
- The Sultanate of Ifat was a medieval Muslim Sultanate in the Horn of Africa. Led by the Walashma dynasty, it was centered in the ancient cities of Zeila and Shewa. The Kingdom ruled over parts of what are now eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, and northern Somalia. Ifat first emerged in the 13th century, when Sultan Umar Walashma conquered the Sultanate of Showa in 1285. The Adal Sultanate or Kingdom of Adal was founded after the fall of the Sultanate of Ifat. It flourished from around 1415 to 1577.
- Following the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, Arab sultanates continued to dominate the region until it fell under the colonial control of Europeans in the 19th century."
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Adal was a conglomerate state with an Afar base. The Harari, who are regarded as the inheritors of the culture, are classed as Ethio-Semitic. The first mention of "Somali" is 15th century.
The Sultanate of Mogadishu was Arab dominated until the Yaquub Abgaal took over about 1624. Fakr ad-Din was a relative of Arab Saint Abadir of Harar. The later Muzzaffar rulers from Yemen had to employ translaters to communicate with the Hawiyye, who were excluded from the city after dark.
The Ajuraan were an inland-oriented Imaamate with dual centers at Merka and Qallafo. The alliance with the Mogadisho Sultanate came late. Reer Imaam claims descent from the Arab Balad, but in fact ruled over an ever-shifting Hawiyye confederation, which abandoned them once the Oromo and Portuguese threats were past.
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I find it notable that Ahmed Gurey won at Shimbra Kure because the Ottoman cannon panicked the Ethiopian army, and that he lost at Wayna Daga when he was killed by a Portuguese musketeer. Arabs, Ethiopians, Portuguese, Brits, Italians, Russians: it always seems to be outsiders; which may or may not answer your question.
