The Sultanate of Aussa was a kingdom that existed in the Afar Region in eastern Ethiopia in the 18th and 20th centuries. It was considered to be the leading monarchy of the Afar people, to whom the other Afar rulers nominally acknowledged primacy. The Ethiopian Empire nominally laid claim to the region but were met with harsh resistance as is known with the Afars and their skilled desert warfare in contrast to other areas of the empire and thus Aussa remained independent.