Medri Bahri

Eritrea, 1137–1890. Draft, not yet reviewed

Medri Bahri was a semi-autonomous province of the Ethiopian Empire, located north of the Mereb River, in the Eritrean Highlands. It was governed by the Bahr Negash. In the mid-fifteenth century, Emperor Zara Yaqob extended the Bahr Negash's authority over Hamasen, Seraye, Shiré and Bur. Italian occupation followed Alula's recall in 1889, and the territory became the core of the colony of Italian Eritrea in 1890.

Seat of power: Debarwa

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• Below the Bahr Negash, certain settlements were allowed to govern themselves, and highland communities followed their own traditional laws, administered by councils of elders.
• Gold, ivory and enslaved people passed along the province's trade routes, and weapons imported helped resist the Ottomans and later the Egyptians.
• The province originally held authority over coastal territories, including the port of Hirgigo and Massawa, but lost control of the coast to the Ottomans in 1557.

Picture

Debarwa was one of the most important settlements in the region during the medieval era.

Image: Grullab, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Sources

• Medri Bahri (Wikipedia)
• Medri Bahri (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.