Video Lesson

During the post-Imam Ahmed period, the Christian highland kingdom could not revive from its decline. Yet, the continued efforts at revival of the kingdom gave rise to the cultural revival and splendour centered at Gondar known as the Gondarine period (1636 – 1769). However, this could not continue because of the weakening of central authority and emergence of the period known as the Zemene Mesafint or Era of War Lords (1769 – 1855).

Attempts at Consolidation and New Political Geography of the Christian Highland Kingdom

Learning Competencies: After learning this lesson, you will be able to:

• explain the reason for the transfer of the political center north of the Abay River;
• mention some Ethiopian rulers who tried to consolidate the Christian highland
  kingdom;
• appreciate the efforts of the monarchs in consolidating the Christian highland
  kingdom;
• sketch the Lake Tana environs and locate some centers of the Christian highland
  kingdom.
  

Brainstorming Question

How did you feel when you heard about the efforts of some rulers to consolidate
the Christian highland kingdom?

Key terms and concepts

The Christian highland kingdom shifted its political center from the Shewan highlands to the Lake Tana environ during the reign of King Minas (r. 1559-63). Still the period was characterized by political instability in the kingdom. Several factors accounted for the interplay between instability and attempt at consolidation in the kingdom throughout the second half of the 16th and early decades of the 17th century. To begin with, the Oromo continued their expansion and occupied much of the area south of the Abay River during the period. Consequently, the Christian highland kingdom was forced to shift its political center from the Shewan highlands first to Mengiste Semayat in East Gojjam and then to Dembiya near Lake Tana during the reign of Minas (r. 1559-63).

Secondly, the Ottoman Turks occupied the port of Massawa in 1557, and established several posts along the Red Sea coast. They started to advance into the interior and occupied Debarwa which was the political center of the Red Sea coastal region. In 1578, the ruler of the coastal territories, Bahire Negash Yeshaq, openly rebelled against king Sertse Dingil, and sided with the Ottoman Turks. In the next year, although the king managed to defeat Yeshaq, he could not dislodge the Ottomans from the coastal areas, which remained in their hands for the next 300 years.

The third factor of instability in the Christian highland kingdom was the rivalry between the monarch and the different warlords who sought to put their own candidate on the throne. This was mainly seen soon after the coming to power of Sertse Dingil and following his death. The king`s cousin, Hamelmal, rebelled in Western Shewa at the head of a large army in the first three years of the reign of Sertse Dingil. Though Hamelmal soon became loyal to the young king, another warlord of the period by the name of Fasilo staged a rebellion in 1566 in the kingdom of Damot. At one point, Fasilo even attacked Sertse Dingil himself who narrowly escaped death. The rebellion of Fasilo continued until the beginning of 1567 when
his soldiers deserted him and surrendered to the king.

The death of Sertse Dingil in 1597 was also followed by political disorder and bloody civil wars among three power contenders in the years from 1597 to 1606. They were Ya`eqob (r.1597-1603; 1604-06), Ze Dingil (r.1604), and Susinyos (r.1607-32), who assumed power one after the other. In 1607, Susinyos, assisted by the Oromo contingent, assumed power.
The Oromo supported him because he spent several years with them. Though the succession problem was solved with his coming to power, the introduction of Catholicism brought about another period of instability in the Christian highland kingdom caused by the religious controversy between the clergies of the Orthodox Tewahido Church and the Jesuit missionaries.
Despite the instabilities of the period mentioned above, the Christian highland kingdom tried to consolidate itself from its base in Dembiya around Lake Tana. The provinces under its control by this time were Dembiya, Gojjam, Begemdir, Lasta, Simen, and Tigray. The Lake Tana area, both in Dembiya and Gojjam, was an agriculturally fertile region. The region was important for the state to collect tributes and settled troops as local governors. Further, trade revived in the kingdom. Urban centers flourished along trade routes, and around palaces. There was a tendency for more static royal camps during the period. King Sertse Dingil had his capital in Emfraz where he built a palace at Guzara.

King Susenyos shifted his capital first to Gorgora and then Denqez west of Lake Tana, where he constructed palaces. Around 1612, he also made Yibaba in Gojjam his secondary seat of power, at which he built a small palace. Jesuit missionary centers particularly Gorgora also constituted the nucleus of several towns in the region. This new stage of urbanization in the Christian highland kingdom was a prelude to the rise of Gondar as a permanent capital of the kingdom around 1636.