TheEthiopian–Adal War,also known as theAbyssinian–Adal Warandin Arabic asFutūḥ Al-Ḥabaša(Arabic:فتوح الحبش,lit. 'Conquest of Abyssinia'), was a war fought between theChristianEthiopian Empireand theMuslimAdal Sultanatefrom 1529 to 1543. The Christian Ethiopian troops consisted of theAmhara,Tigrayans,TigrinyaandAgaw people,and at the closing of the war, supported by thePortuguese Empirewith no less than four hundredmusketeers.[4]The Adal forces were composed ofHarla,[5]Somali,[6]Afar,as well asArabandTurkishgunmen. Both sides would see theMayamercenaries at times join their ranks.[7]: 188
| Ethiopian–Adal War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theSomali–Portuguese conflicts,Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts (1538–1560) | |||||||||
 Early 20th century folk drawing ofCristóvão da GamaandImam Ahmad's deaths. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Ethiopian Empire Portuguese Empire(1541–43) |
 Adal Sultanate Ottoman Empire(1542–43) | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Dawit IIXGelawdewosWasan Sagad†Eslamu†Takla Iyasus†Robēl†Seble WongelCristóvão da Gama |
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim†Nur ibn MujahidMatan ibn Uthman†Abu Bakr QatinBati del WambaraGarad HirabuAhmed GirriWazir Abbas | ||||||||
Background
editImamAhmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghaziwas a military leader of the medievalAdal Sultanatein the northern Horn of Africa. Between 1529 and 1543, he embarked on a campaign referred to as theFutuh Al-Habash,bringing the three-quarters ofChristianAbyssiniaunder the control of theMuslimempire.[8]With an army composed of Afar, Harari (Harla), and Somalis,[9]al-Ghazi's forces came close to extinguishing the ancient Ethiopian kingdom, slaughtering any Ethiopian who refused to convert to Islam.[10]Within the span of fourteen years the Imam was able to conquer the heartland of the country, wreaking havoc on the Christian nation.[11]However, the Abyssinians managed to secure the assistance ofCristóvão da Gama'sPortuguesetroops, and maintained their domain's autonomy. Both polities exhausted their resources and manpower in the process, resulting in the contraction of the two powers and altering regional dynamics for centuries to come. Many historians trace the origin of hostileEthiopia–Somalia relationsto this war.[12]Some scholars also argue that this conflict proved the value, through their use on both sides, offirearmssuch as thematchlockmusket,cannons,and thearquebusover traditional weapons.[13]
Course of the war
editIn 1529, Imam Ahmad's Adal troops defeated a larger Ethiopian contingent at theBattle of Shimbra Kure.TheHararicavalry was instrumental in this battle, as the Abyssinian troops were outmaneuvered.[14]
The victories that gave the followers of Imam Ahmad the upper hand came in 1531. The first was theBattle of Antukyah,where cannon fire at the start panicked the Ethiopian soldiers. The second was theBattle of Amba Sel,where troops under the Imam not only defeated but dispersed the Ethiopian army and captured items of the Imperial regalia. These victories allowed the Adalites to enter theEthiopian highlands,where they began to sack and burn numerous churches, includingAtronsa Maryam,where the remains of several Emperors had been interred.[15]
He defeated the armies ofAgameandTembienand marched towardsAksumto capture the historical Ethiopian city to solidify his rule in Ethiopia, echoingMehmed IIconquest ofConstantinople,but the locals of Tigray had all assembled to defend their holy city. The Imam defeated and killed a large number of them asArab Faqīhstates, "Not a single one managed to slip away. They killed them in the forts, in the valleys and in the gorges. The ground was so thickly covered with their corpses, that it was impossible to walk in that place because of the dead bodies." he estimates that over 10,000 Christians were killed. The Imam reachedAksumhe besieged the city in the siege of Axum where upon he destroyed theChurch of Our Lady Mary of Zion.During his invasion of the Tigray regionAhmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazivisited the tomb ofNajashiin Negash to pay his respects.[16]
Dawit II died in September 2nd, 1540. and his son and future emperor PrinceMenaswas captured by the forces of Imam Ahmad; the Empress was unable to react as she was besieged in the capital. The first Adalite encounter with Portuguese forces occurred in 1541, when the latter were marooned inMassawafollowing their defeat at the hands of the Ottomans at the1541 Battle of Suez.The Portuguese forces would be ambushed by the Adalites at theBattle of Massawain the same year.[17]In 1543, a smaller number of Abyssinians soundly defeated the larger Adal-Ottoman army[18]with the help of the Portuguese navy, which brought 400 musketeers led byCristóvão da GamaviaMassawa,a port in the province ofMedri Bahri,an important port today in present-day Eritrea. However, Da Gama was captured in theBattle of Woflaand later killed.
The 500 musketeers were led byBahri NegassiYeshaq,king of Medri Bahri. Yeshaq provided the Portuguese with not only provisions and places to camp in his realm but also information about the land. The Bahri Negassi also joined EmperorGelawdewosand the Portuguese in the decisiveBattle of Wayna Daga,where tradition states that Imam Ahmad was shot in the chest by a Portuguese musketeer named João de Castilho, who had charged alone into the Muslim lines and died. The wounded Imam was then beheaded by an Ethiopian cavalry commander,AzmachCalite.[19][20][21]Once the Imam's soldiers learned of his death, they fled the battlefield.[22]The death of Imam Ahmad and the victory at Wayna Daga caused a collapse of Ahmad's forces and forced an Adalite retreat from Ethiopia.
Aftermath
editMohammed Hassenhas plausibly argued that because this conflict severely weakened both participants, it provided an opportunity for theOromo peopletoconquer and migrateinto the historicallyGafatland ofWelegasouth of theBlue Nileand eastward to the walls ofHarar,establishing new territories.[23]
The war was devastating for theHarari peoplewhich resulted in massive casualties for them and the conflict is regarded as one of the reasons for their rapid population decline.[24]According to historian El Amin Abdel Karim Ahmed:[25]
"The Muslim Semitic-speaking Harari once occupied more extensive territories as part of the medieval Muslim state of Adal with the town of Harar as its metropolitan centre. Politically weakened by the internal disputes and militarily exhausted by the jihad wars of the sixteenth century the Harari became an easy prey for the invading Oromo who battered and harassed them relentlessly. As a result they were constantly pushed back and managed to survive only as an isolated people confined within the stone-walled town of Harar and its immediate environs, while the Oromo occupied the regions all around them. Nevertheless Harar survived and continued its precarious existence as the capital of an emirate of the same name."
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Gikes, Patrick (2002)."Wars in the Horn of Africa and the dismantling of the Somali State".African Studies.2.University of Lisbon: 89–102.Retrieved7 November2016.
- ^Henze, Paul B. (2000).Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia.Hurst & Company. p. 89.ISBN1-85065-522-7.
- ^Historical dictionary of Ethiopia By David Hamilton Shinn, Thomas P. Ofcansky, Chris Prouty p. 171
- ^Uhlig, Siegbert (2006).Proceedings of the XVth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Hamburg, July 20–25, 2003.Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 650.ISBN978-3-447-04799-9.
- ^Hassen, Mohammed. "Review work Futuh al habasa".International Journal of Ethiopian Studies:179.JSTOR27828848.
- ^Malone, Barry (28 December 2011)."Troubled Ethiopia-Somalia history haunts Horn of Africa".Reuters.Retrieved15 January2021.
- ^Pankhurst, Richard(1997).The Ethiopian borderlands: essays in regional history from ancient times to the end of the 18th century.Red Sea Press.ISBN0-932415-19-9.OCLC36543471.
- ^Saheed A. Adejumobi,The History of Ethiopia,(Greenwood Press: 2006), p. 178
- ^John L. Esposito, editor,The Oxford History of Islam,(Oxford University Press: 2000), p. 501
- ^Fahlbusch, Erwin; Bromiley, Geoffrey William (1999).The Encyclodedia of Christianity, Vol. 5.Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 117.ISBN978-0-8028-2417-2.
- ^Keller, Edmond J. (1988).Revolutionary Ethiopia: From Empire to People's Republic.Indiana University Press. p. 19.ISBN978-0-253-20646-6.
- ^David D. Laitin and Said S. Samatar,Somalia: Nation in Search of a State(Boulder: Westview Press, 1987).
- ^Cambridge illustrated atlas,Warfare: Renaissance to Revolution, 1492–1792,by Jeremy Black p. 9
- ^Asfaw, Semeneh (30 October 2023)."The Legacy of Merid Wolde Aregay".Northeast African Studies.11(1). Michigan State University Press: 131.JSTOR41960546.
- ^"Local History in Ethiopia"Archived28 February 2008 at theWayback Machine(pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 28 January 2008)
- ^Sihab ad-Din Ahmad bin 'Abd al-Qader,Futuh al-Habasa: The conquest of Ethiopia,translated by Paul Lester Stenhouse with annotations by Richard Pankhurst (Hollywood: Tsehai, 2003), pp. 350f
- ^Hespeler-Boultbee, John (2011).A Story in Stones: Portugal's Influence on Culture and Architecture in the Highlands of Ethiopia 1493–1634.CCB Publishing. p. 188.ISBN978-1-926585-99-4.
- ^Davis, Asa J. (1963)."The Sixteenth Century Jihād in Ethiopia and the Impact on It's Culture (Part One)".Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria.2(4): 567–592.ISSN0018-2540.JSTOR41856679.
- ^Richard Whiteway, The Portuguese expedition in Abyssnia, p. 82
- ^"20 Famous Historical and Biblical Figures from Africa".28 May 2021.
- ^Whiteway, p. 82
- ^Fortunes of Africa: A 5,000 Year History of Wealth, Greed and Endeavour By Martin Meredith, In the Land of Prestor John, chapter 11
- ^Mohammed Hassen,The Oromo of Ethiopia: A History (1570–1860)Trenton: Red Sea Press, 1994.
- ^Hassen, Mohammed.Reviewed Work: Afocha: A Link between Community and Administration in Harar, Ethiopia by Peter Koehn, Sidney R. Waldron-Maxwell.Michigan State University Press. p. 66.JSTOR43660080.
- ^Abdel Karim, El Amin.A Historical Study of the Shawan-Amhara Conquest of the Oromo and Sidama Regions of Southern Ethiopia 1865-1900.University of Khartoum. p. 67.