Gulf of Tadjoura
During the mid-16th century, much of the northern Horn, stretching from the hinterlands of the Gulf of Tadjoura up the northeastern coast of Somalia functioned under a single polity called the Adal Sultanate. The Adal Sultanate merged the Afar-speaking Dankali Sultanate with the Somali-speaking Ifat Sultanate. The amalgamation of this region meant that both languages were mutually spoken in one another's regions.