Battle of Wayna Daga

Battle of Wayna Daga
Part of the Ethiopian–Adalian War
Date 21 February 1543 Location modern Amhara Region, Ethiopia Result decisive Ethiopian-Portuguese victory
Belligerents
Ethiopia Portugal	Adal Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Emperor Galawdewos	Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi
Strength
8,000 Ethiopian infantry, 500 Ethiopian horse, 70 Portuguese musketeers, 60 Portuguese horse	14,000 infantry, 1200 horse, 200 Ottoman musketeers
Casualties and losses
unknown	extensive, but not precisely known; 160 Ottoman musketeers killed

The Battle of Wayna Daga (Amharic for "Grape-cultivating altitude") occurred 21 February 1543 east of Lake Tana. Led by the Emperor Galawdewos, the combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeated the Muslim army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi. Tradition states that Ahmad was killed by a Portuguese musketeer, who had charged alone into the Muslim lines. Once his soldiers learned of the Imam's death, they fled the battlefield.

Background

At the Battle of Wofla (28 August 1542, Imam Ahmad had crushed the Portuguese expeditionary force, killing of most its men, capturing practically all of the firearms they had, and capturing and killing its leader, Cristovão da Gama. By any reasonable assessment, the Imam enjoyed a decisive victory over his greatest foe; armies in the Horn of Africa melted away with the death of their leaders. So to reduce the strain on his treasury, he dismissed all but 200 of the mercenary Ottoman arquabusers, and relying on his own forces retired to Emfraz near Lake Tana for the coming rainy season.

However, da Gama had inspired a fierce loyalty in his surviving followers, all but 50 of whom had reassembled after their defeat around Queen Sabla Wengel, and taken refuge at "The Mountain of the Jews", which Whiteway identifies as Amba Sel. Miguel de Castanhoso, writing decades after the fact, states that after the Emperor Gelawdewos had joined the survivors, and seeing the number of men who flocked to the Emperor's standard, at Christmas "we went to the Preste, and begged him to help us avenge the death of Dom Christovão." Gelawdewos agreed to march against the Imam The Portuguese firearms which had been stored at Debre Damo were produced; a message was sent to the missing company of Portuguese soldiers, but they failed to respond in time for the coming battle.

The allied forces spent the following months marching the provinces before heading to Imam Ahmad's camp next to Lake Tana. On 13 February 1543, they defeated a group of cavalry and infantry led by the Imam's lieutenant Sayid Mehmed in Wogera, killing Sayid Mehmed. From the prisoners it was learned that the Imam was camped only 5 days' march away, and flush with victory the amry marched to confront their enemy.

The Battle

Once the Ethiopian-Portuguese army found the army of Imam Ahmad, they set up camp nearby; Emperor Galawedewos advised against engaging the enemy right away, hoping that the 50 missing Portuguese soldiers would arrive soon; "in that country fifty Portuguese are a greater reinforcement than one thousand natives." For the following days, each camp preceded to harass the other by raiding with their cavalry. The allied side had the better of the exchange, keeping them from venturing from their camp for supplies, until the Muslims resorted to a stratagem to kill the leading Ethiopian soldier, Azmach Keflo, which demoralized the Ethiopain troops. Faced with the potential desertion of his force, Galawedewos decided he could wait no longer and prepared for an assault the next day.

The two forces started the main battle early the next day, with the Muslim force divided into two groups. At first, the Muslim side succeeded in driving the allied side back, until a charge by the Portguese and Ethiopian cavalries broke up the charge. At this point Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, with his son at his side, took to the field and led a renewed assault. It was in this charge that the Imam was killed by a bullet, although the sources differ in how he died.

According to Costanhoso, the Imam was recognized by the Portuguese arquabusers, who directed their combined firepower at him, and one of arquebuses in the group fired the fatal shot.

Aftermath

The Imam's wife Bati del Wambara managed to escape the Ethiopian forces with the forty surviving flintlockmen and return to Harar, but her son was captured in the aftermath and later exchanged for the Emperor's brother, Menas.