Like many North African countries, Somalia had no centralized government and was ruled by Arab sultans. Somalia was mainly composed of Arabs and Persians, with the main religion being Islam. Because of the Arabian society, Somalia was then ruled by multiple sultans in different regions. Somalia had no actual governmental unity, so instead the Arabs took the opportunity and sultans took over different parts as Muslim kings. In order to gain power, the sultans began clashing with Ethiopian Christian tribes and expanding Somalia into the Ethiopian country. This was Somalia's peak of power, but then the Portuguese started to take over Somalia because they desired control of the Indian Ocean. Along with this, sultan leaders began to clash amongst themselves within Somalia because of feuds between them. Because of the clashing leaders, Somalia's people then divided into warring clans, which further disassembled their weak government. Because of the unorganized country's conditions, it was very easy for European countries to take over and imperialize Somalia.