Its usage reflects the Afar people's sense of pride in their unique identity and their determination to preserve their heritage and way of life in the face of various historical and contemporary challenges.

[citation needed] The earliest surviving written mention of the Afar is from the 13th-century Andalusian writer Ibn Sa'id, who reports of a people called Dankal, inhabiting an area which extended from the port of Suakin, to as far south as Mandeb, near Zeila.

He sent the Emperor a horse, a mule laden with dates, a shield, and two spears to show his support, along with a message saying, "I have set up my camp, O my master, with the intention of stopping these people.

"[7] According to 16th century Portuguese explorer Francisco Álvares, the Kingdom of Dankali was confined by Abyssinia to its west and Adal Sultanate in the east.

[10] In 1577, the Adal leader Imam Muhammed Jasa moved his capital from Harar to Aussa in modern Afar region.

These groups are further subdivided into upwards of 150 sub-tribes, the chief tribe of the Asaimara was the Mudaito in the south, to which the sultan of Aussa belonged to.

The Modaitos who occupied the region of the lower Awash, were the most powerful tribe, and no European traversed their territory without claiming the right of hospitality or the brotherhood of blood.

Some Afars helped the Europeans by providing, for a fee, the security of Western caravans that circulated between the southern coast of the Red Sea and central Ethiopia.

[12] The Afars were consistently viewed as violent and bloodthirsty, and generally had a bad reputation for massacring caravans and expeditions.

[13][14][15][16] Towards the end of the 19th century, the sultanates of Raheita and Tadjoura on the coasts of the Red Sea have then colonized between European powers: Italy forms Italian Eritrea with Assab and Massawa, and France the French Somaliland in Djibouti, but the inland Aussa in the south was able to maintain its independence for longer.

Ethiopia's then-ruling communist Derg regime later established the Autonomous Region of Assab (now called Aseb and located in Eritrea), although low-level insurrection continued until the early 1990s.

[22] The majority of the Afar had adopted Islam by the 13th century due to the expanding influence of holy men and traders from the Arabian peninsula.

Afar religious life is somewhat syncretic with a blend of Islamic concepts and pre-Islamic ones such as rain sacrifices on sacred locations, divination, and folk healing.

[22] The Afar are mainly livestock holders, primarily raising camels but also tending to goats, sheep, and cattle.

However, shrinking pastures for their livestock and environmental degradation have made some Afar instead turn to cultivation, migrant labor, and trade.