Al-Habash was an ancient region in the Horn of Africa

Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...

. Situated in modern-day Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, it was inhabited by the Habash or Abyssinians, who were the forbears of the Habesha people

Habesha people

The term Habesha ābešā, Ḥābešā; al-Ḥabašah) refers to the South Semitic-speaking group of people whose cultural, linguistic, and in certain cases, ancestral origins trace back to those people who ruled the Axumite Empire and the kingdom known as DʿMT .Peoples referred to as "Habesha" today...

.

Along with the neighboring Barbaroi (Berbers) of Barbara

Barbara (region)

Barbara, also referred to as Bilad al-Barbar, was an ancient region on the northern coast of the Horn of Africa. The area 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.Along with the...

, the Habash are recorded in the 1st century Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 travelogue the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea or Periplus of the Red Sea is a Greco-Roman periplus, written in Greek, describing navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice along the coast of the Red Sea, and others along Northeast Africa and India...

as engaging in extensive commercial trade with Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, among other areas. The document also relates a strong connection with the "Frankincense Country" in the Mahra

Al Mahrah Governorate

Al Mahrah or Mahra is a governorate of Yemen in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Situated in the area of the former Mahra Sultanate, its capital is Al Ghaydah....

 region of modern Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

 and a symbiotic relationship with the ancient Sabaeans

Sabaeans

The Sabaeans or Sabeans were an ancient people speaking an Old South Arabian language who lived in what is today Yemen, in the south west of the Arabian Peninsula.Some scholars suggest a link between the Sabaeans and the Biblical land of Sheba....

, with whom the Habash were allied.