Sultanate of Bazin

The Sultanate of Bazin was a Beja Muslim sultanate founded in what is now the Gash-Barka region of Eritrea and the Kassala State in Sudan. While the ruling class was Beja, the majority of the population were the native Kunama people, called "Bazin" (or sometimes Baden, Bazen etc.), who practiced a traditional religion. The Bazin people were under the protection of the Abyssinian Empire. This was made clear in the so-called "Ezana Stone", wherein an unnamed Aksumite Emperor is said to have defended the Bazin from invading Noba. With the collapse of the Aksumite Empire around the year 700 CE, Beja clans invaded and established several sultanates in present-day Eritrea, including Bazin.