Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN WARS
The first decades of the 16th century were plagued by some of the most costly, bloody and
wasteful fighting in Ethiopian history, in which the entire empire and its culture came close
to being wiped out.
From the 13th century, relations between Christian Ethiopia and the Muslim Ethiopian
emirates of Ifat and Adal were showing signs of strain.
In the 1490s animosities came to a head. After establishing himself at the port of Zeila in
present-day Somalia, a skilled and charismatic Muslim named Mahfuz declared a jihad
against Christian Ethiopia. Emperor Lebna Dengel finally halted Mahfuz's incursions, but
not before he had carried off huge numbers of Ethiopian slaves and cattle.
An even more legendary figure was Ahmed
Ibn Ibrahim al Ghazi, nicknamed 'Ahmed
Gragn the Left-Handed'. After overthrowing
Sultan Abu Bakr of Harar, Ahmed declared his
intention to continue the jihad of Mahfuz. Car-
rying out several raids into Ethiopian territory,
he managed in March 1529 to defeat Emperor
Mahfuz timed his annual raids to take advantage of
Christian Ethiopia's weakened state during their
55-day fast before Fasika (Orthodox Easter).
Lebna Dengel.
Ahmed then embarked on the conquest of all of Christian Ethiopia. Well supplied with
firearms from Ottoman Zeila and southern Arabia, the Muslim leader had, by 1532, over-
run almost all of eastern and southern Ethiopia.
In 1535 the Emperor Lebna Dengel appealed
in desperation to the Portuguese, who were
already active in the region. In 1542 an army of
400 well-armed musketeers arrived in Massawa
(in present-day Eritrea), led by Dom Christovão
da Gama, son of the famous mariner Vasco da
Gama. They met Ahmed near Lake Tana, where
he quickly routed them before lopping off the
young and foolhardy head of Dom Christovão.
In 1543 the new Ethiopian emperor, Galawdewos, joined ranks with the surviving Por-
tuguese force and met Ahmed at Wayna Daga in the west. This time, the Christians' huge
numbers proved too powerful and Ahmed was killed.
Recounting events over the past half a century
across Africa, Martin Meredith's
The State of
Africa
includes a couple of chapters on Ethiopia
and is by far the best history of modern Africa cur-
rently available.
