distinction between the Sudan region and its analogue Zanj, from the area to their extreme east on the Red Sea coast in the Horn of Africa.[9] In modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea was Al-Habash or Abyssinia,[12] which was inhabited by the Habash or Abyssinians, who were the forebears of the Habesha.[13] In northern Somalia was Barbara or the Bilad al-Barbar ("Land of the Berbers"), which was inhabited by the Eastern Baribah or Barbaroi, as the ancestors of the Somalis were referred to by medieval Arab and ancient Greek geographers, respectively.[9][14][15][16]
