The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

The Lost Town of Yebaba: Royal Residence and Regional Capital (ca. 1612- ca.1800)

Geremew Eskezia

Abstract

Yibaba served as the capital of a region to the south of Lake Tana called Mecha province, and, as a royal

residence of Gondarine emperors since the early 17th century, provided the same function as the town of

Aringo in Begemdir. Yibaba also played a significant role in the Gondarine politics and the power

struggles of the early decades of the Zemene Mesafint (the era of warlords). Although the town was an

important political center for centuries, there is no as such focused and significant historical study that

has been made on Yibaba. Therefore, this paper provides a short historical account of the lost town of

Yibaba, including the office of Yibaba Azazh, the province of Mecha and the political developments and

relations of the town with the kings in Gondar. To this end, a range of sources is used including oral,

published and unpublished sources.

Keywords: Ethiopia, Yibaba, urban, history, Gondarine period

_____________________________________________________

A PhD candidate, Bahr Dar University, Department of History; Email: geremeweskezia@gmail.com

1. Introduction

Urban history is a relatively recent theme of historical study in Ethiopia. Thus, scholarly studies

made so far on the history of Ethiopian urban centers are general works which mainly focus on

the history of bigger urban centers that have still continue to exist. However, there is no

significant urban historical study on ancient and medieval Ethiopian towns, especially those with

secondary importance and at present are desolate villages. A case in point is the town of Yebaba

(West Gojjam), which is the topic of this study. Students of the present generation have little or

no knowledge about the lost town of Yibaba, which had been an important political and

economic center more particularly during the Gondarine period and the Zemene Mesafint (17

centuries). This study, therefore, sheds new light on the origin, development, decline and

ultimate degeneration of Yibaba. The study will also fill some gaps in the existing literature. It is

presumed to provide an important clue for archeologists, anthropologists and historians who

want to do further research on the town.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

Methodologically, this paper involves a range of data collected from published and unpublished

secondary and primary materials as well as oral evidences. Traveler accounts, royal chronicles

and the Tarike Negast deserve particular mention. The information drawn from authentic and

credible sources were arranged, interpreted and analyzed so as to reconstruct the history of the

lost town of Yibaba.

2. The Rise and Development of Yibaba

Physically, Yibaba Kidane Mihret is located in a rural district called Kotti Maryam which is

about five kilometers east of Debre Mewi in the district of Yilmana Densa (West Gojjam

Administrative Zone). It lies between 11

’

54.4″N and 037

′

03.4″E with an altitude of 2355

meters above sea level.

The ruins of a Gondarine period small palace are still visible on the site

of Yibaba. The town is also called Yibaba Kidane Mihret because of the presence of the church

of Kidane Mihret in it.

Figure 1: Yebaba (Source: Berry, “Yebaba” In: Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. 4: 38)

The area around Yibaba was the mainstay of the Christian state of Ethiopia particularly since the

reign of Susenyos.

The economic importance of the region to the state could be gauged from the

construction of the small palace at Yibaba and the establishment of the first Catholic missionary

Chalachew Simeneh,

“

Ruined Palaces of Emperor Susenyos (1607-1632) and Fasiledes (r.1632-1667)”

(BA Thesis, Addis Ababa University, Department of Archaeology and Heritage Management, 2013), p. 2.

Ibid.

Hubtamu Mengstie, Lord, Zéga and Peasant: Study of Property and Agrarian Relations in Rural Eastern

Gojjam (Addis Ababa: Forum for Social Studies, 2004), pp. 29-30.

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center in Gojjam at Kollella, about 50 kilometers east of Yibaba around 1612,

where the Jesuits

opened a branch missionary center at Sarka, (now Gimb Giyorgis) to the south of Yibaba.

Regarding Sarka the 19

century British envoy to the court of Ras Ali II (r. 1831-53), Walter

Plowden mentions:

…we rested for an hour or two, and then proceeded to the camp, placed on a

commanding eminence two miles farther, where are the remains of an extensive

castle built by the Portuguese for Emperor Susenyos, within the ruined walls of

which we found the hut of the Fitawrari surrounded by those of his suit.

The 18

century Scottish traveler, James Bruce, also noted that the region around Yibaba,

which had royal possessions and houses, was one of the very fertile agricultural lands in

Ethiopia. A section of his description reads:

The county round Ibaba [Yibaba] is the most pleasant and fertile not of Maitsha

[Mecha] only, but of all Abyssinia [Ethiopia], especially that part of Colala

[Kollella] between Ibaba [Yibaba] and Gojam [Enebsie in Gojjam], where the

principal Ozoros [Weyzeros] have houses and possessions, called Goult [gult] or

fiefs, which they have received from their respective ancestors when kings…

In addition to Bruce`s description, tradition and other existing sources confirm that most of

Kollella and eastern part of Genj (surrounding Yibaba) were the gult lands (fiefs) of Weyzero

Seble Wengel Fasil. She had houses made of stone and mortar at Gimb Kidane Mihret in the

locality of Fasiladas in Kollella along the Motta-Bahir Dar road, and at Safitemegn in Ganj.

According to the tradition and local sources, the seven gasha lands of the northeast of Adet

town was the gult of Weyzero Addi

Gebre Amlak (Wagshum), who is believed to have been one

of the wives of Emperor Fasiladas and mother of Weyzero Seble Wengel.

One of the localities

Balthazar Tellez, The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia, Book II, (The Society of Jesus: First Translated in

to English, London, 1710), p. 189.

Girma Beshah and Merid Wolde Aregay, The Question of Union of the Churches in the Luso-Ethiopian

Relation, 1500-1632 (Lisbon: Junta de Investigҫoes do Ultramar and Centro de Estudos Historico Ultramarinos,

1964), p.80.

Walter Plowden Travels in Abyssinia and the Galla Country (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1868),

pp. 251-252.

James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and

1773, Six Vols. (Dublin:

Printed by William Porter for P.Wogan, L. White, et al

, 1790), Vol., 4, p. 473.

Informants: (Kese Gebez) Demilew Ayele; (Afemer) Ashagre Chekol. Note that one gasha land is about

forty hectares of land.

Aman Belay (Meri Ras), Yetentwa Itiyopia Tinsa`e Tarik: Ke Metsehafe Suba`e Yetewesede, Second

edition (Addis Ababa: Nebadan Publication Plc., 2009 E.C.), p. 334.

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in her fief is still today called Zufan. The possession of Weyzero Addi, which was also

collectively called Wagda Serse Dingil, was commonly identified as Ye Weyzero Ager or Ye

Zufan Ager.

All her gult lands were free from state taxes, dues, services, tributes and other

exactions.

The chronicler of Emperor Susenyos, Tekle-Sellasé, remarked that the governor of

Gojjam, Ras Se`ele Kerstos, firmly requested to take hold of these lands, although his request

was rejected by the emperor.

Still, however, there is conflicting of information regarding the gult of Weyzero Addi. Some

informants argue that her fiefs were taken over by the powerful Rasbitwedded Welde Giyorgis,

who was the founding father of Adet, apparently in the 1650s during the reign of Fasiladas. This,

however, needs further study as the literature is scant.

Similarly, regarding her family genealogy, sources indicate that Weyzero Seble Wengel was

married first to Dejazmach Wellie of Damot, and bigoted Anestie, who was killed in the

September 1707 rebellion against Emperor Tekle Haimanot I (r. 1706-1707).

Later, when

Wellie became a rebel, she was married to Dejazmach Tamie of Keraniyo and changed her name

to Inqopa Tsion.

Regarding naming and description of the localities in Yibaba and the nearby Gimb Giyorgis, we

have different sources. Chalachew, for example, describes how the seventeenth century emperors

and Jesuit missionaries established their residences at Yibaba. He puts it as follows:

In the vicinity of the palace, there are village names that have connection with Emperor

Fasiledes such as “Jangeber” (a place of people who pay tribute for the emperor),

“Shanko” (a place for the emperors horse), “Shewa”(a place where nobilities who came

from Shewa were kept), “Atse Mewagna” (Part of a river where the emperor was

Informants: (Grazmach) Ayalew Desta; (Ato) Zeleke Alelign.; Fantahun Birhane, “Gojjam: 1800-1855”

(BA Thesis, Haile Selassie I University, Department of History, 1973), p. 25.

Fantahun, p. 25.

Tekle Selasie (Azazh Tinno), The Chronicle of Susenyos (Amharic), Trans. & ed., Alemu Hailé (Addis

Ababa: Sirak Publishing Enterprise, 2005 E.C.), p. 213.

The same informants referred under number eight above state that her fiefs were taken over by the

powerful Rasbitwedded Welde Giyorgis, who was the founding father of Adet, apparently in the 1650s during the

reign of Fasiladas.

Bruce,Vol. 2, p. 531; Aman, p. 334.

Aman, p. 334.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

assumed to swim there), “Gibir Meda” (a place of communities where ‘Gibir’(tax) was

provided), [kudad, royal estate], etc.

Figure 2. Palace of Emperor Susinyos in ruins at Yebaba (Source: Chalachew, p.5)

Place names in and around Yibaba Kidane Mihret also show the coming and settlement of people

and soldiers. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a number of Oromo troops were

made to settle at Yibaba, for example, Gutta, Neftegna (musketeers), Feres Wegga (those who

fought the Nubians or Funj), Mecha, Yilmana, Densa, Kotti, Turi Cheba [Teruchabba], Washo

Ber (the gate of Washo), etc.

The first six place names signify the settlement of groups of

people most likely of Oromo origin since the early seventeenth century. The last three place

names refer to the one time principal regional or local rulers who bore the traditional title of

Dejazmach and played their own part in the politics of Gondar.

Chalachew, p. 4.

Informant: (Liqe Heruyan) Belay Mekonnen. Agafari Turi was the leader of a Tulama Chifra (squadron)

during Iyasu II, see, Ignazio Guidi, Annales Regum Iyasu II et Iyo`as. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium

Scriptors Aethiopici, Versio, Series Altera, vol. 6, (Paris, 1912), p. 61. I have also personally known the places and

some stories about them. There are other localities by the name Feres Wegga Giyorgis, to my knowledge, one

around Bure in Gojjam and another near Gondar.

Among others, Bruce, Vol. 3, pp. 40-41, 51 .; Vol. 4, pp. 72, 451, 461, 471-72.; Bairu Tafla, Asma

Giyorgis and His Work: History of the Galla and the Kingdom of Shawa (Stuttgart: Steiner-verlag Wiesbaden

Gambh, 1987), p. 878.

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After the birth of Yibaba as an administrative center, there were a combination of intertwined

factors in the growth and consolidation of Yibaba as one of the major regional towns of the

Gondarine kingdom. Among other things, these include location in a fertile region, availability of

relatively abundant water, royal residence (palace), administrative functions, military regiments,

religious institutions, economic importance and having a big market. In this regard, we have a

number of sources that could substantiate the status and role of Yibaba as a royal residence

during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Dessie Keleb, who wrote about the annotations

to the translation of the Tarike Negest (History of Kings), mentions the town of Yibaba as being

one of the most significant places with its own title which reads, “Zemene Aringo /Gondar we

Yibaba, (literally, the period of Aringo/Gondar and Yibaba).

In the Encyclopedia Aethiopica,

another scholar, Berry mentions that Yibaba, located at 11°21' 50 N, 37°27' 00 E provided

various functions for Gondarine emperors between the mid-seventeenth and the mid-eighteenth

centuries. The functions include military encampment, place of assembly, dry season residence

and starting point of military campaigns. The author also mentions that Yibaba was one of the

important towns (medina or ketema) of the Gondarine kingdom particularly during the reigns of

Emperors Yohannes I (r. 1667-82) and Iyasu I (r. 1682-1706).

Such sources mention that

Yebaba was first mentioned in the royal chronicle of Emperor Yohannes I, in relation to his

journey of 1669-70 as an important Lent season residence and starting point of military

expedition against the Agew.

True, before the rise of Yibaba as a regional center, some governors of Gojjam used Sarka to the

southwest of Yibaba as their seat of power. Situated in the Agew inhabited plain land, Sarka was

the seat of power of both Ras Atnatiwos and Ras Se`le Kiristos during the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries, respectively.

With the coming to power of Emperor Susenyos, Sarka got

additional importance as it became a residence of Jesuit missionaries.

Around 1612, shortly

after the establishment of Gorgora, Susenyos founded the town of Yibaba as his royal

Dessie Keleb, Tarike Negest (Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Mahebere Kedusan, 2007

E.C.), pp. 264-337.

LaVerle B. Berry, “Yebaba”, Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. 4, pp. 38-39.

Among others, see, G. W. Huntingford, The Historical Geography of Ethiopia: From the First Century

AD to 1704 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 187, 189.

Huntingford, p. 152.

Girma and Merid, p. 80.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

residence.

Then after the town served as an important stopping place of Gondarine emperors,

on the one hand, and the capital of the whole region south and south west of Lake Tana

comprising the regions of Damot, Agew Midir and Gojjam, on the other.

In connection to this,

Crummey states that “throughout the seventeenth century…the [Gondarine] court spent one third

of the year at Aringo in Begemdir and another third at Yibaba in Gojjam”.

Particularly,

Yohannes I (r.1667-1682) and Iyasu I (r.1682-1706) stayed longer in it and started several of

their itineraries from the town of Yibaba.

In terms of religion, Yibaba was also an important place where theological disputations took

place during the reigns of Emperors Susenyos (1620-21), Yohannes I (1671), Iyasu I (May 1699)

and Tekle Haimanot I (r. 1706 -1708).

During Susenyos`s reign the clerical debates took place

between the followers of the Orthodox and Catholic faiths, but in the latter periods it was

between the followers of Kibat (Unction) and Tewahido (Union) doctrines. On 21 October,

1621

, more than 600 monks, nuns

and lay Christians from Gonj, Washera, Kollella and

Iwofat were massacred fighting against the hardened veterans of Ras Se`ele Kiristos at Yibaba.

Berry states that in 1674 Kibat monks attempted to assassinate Yohannes I in connection with

religious observance.

Verena Böll also mentions that Iyasu I ordered all the inhabitants of

Yibaba to supply food for the participants of the synod held in May 1699.

Tellez, p. 189. ; Bruce, Vol. 4, pp. 472-473.

Ibid.

Donald Crummey, “Towns in Ethiopia: the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries” in History Miscellanea

1(Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, November 1980), p. 13. In footnote one: Donald

Crummey, “Some Precursors of Addis Ababa: Towns in Christian Ethiopia in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth

Centuries,” Proceedings of the Symposium on the Centenary of Addis Ababa, November 24-25, 1986, eds. Ahmed

Zekaria, Bahru Zewde and Taddese Beyene, pp. 9-31, Addis Ababa, 1987, the author states that the article cited here

was first presented to the Annual Conference of the African Studies Association in Philadelphia, November 1980.

Among others see, Huntingford, pp. 187, 201.; Yuri M. Kobishchanov, “The Gofol Complex in the

Gondarine Empire,” Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Bahru Zawde, R.

Pankhurst, Taddese Beyene, eds. Vol. I (Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa University, Institute of Ethiopian Studies,

1994), pp. 124 – 128.

Dessie, p. 265.; Berry, p. 38.; Girma and Merid, pp. 86-87.

Girma and Merid, p. 87.

Lobo, J. 1789. A Voyage to Abyssinia (Elliot and Kay, London and C. Elliot, Edinburgh, 1789), p. 121.

Informant: (Liqe Heruyan) Belay Mekonnen. See also, Girma and Merid, pp. 86-87.

Berry, p. 38.

Verena Böll, “Aşe Iyasu I (1682-1706) and the Synod of Yǝbaba” In: Proceedings of the 16

International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. by Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Tefera and Shiferaw

Bekele, Trondheim, (2009: 65-73), p. 70. [Online].

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In a parallel development, it was at Yibaba that some friendly Basso Gudru Oromos made peace

with Iyasu in September 1702. With the mediation of Dejazmach Anorewos, governor of

Gojjam, the Oromo of Gudru ceremonially joined Iyasu at his camp, Yibaba.

Later, in 1704

when he was at Yibaba, Iyasu was also greeted by many Teletas, Haros and Libans who pleaded

his treatment with mercy.

On the other hand, Iyasu planned the 1704 war of revenge against the

Gudru Oromo south of the Abay River at Yibaba. He carefully consulted with Dejazmach Tullu

of Damot, the governor of Gojjam, Tigi and several friendly Oromo groups, including Basso and

Liban and Kalegenda and Yahabeta of Gojjam.

Gradually, because of the increasing settlement of various Oromo clans during the seventeenth

century, a new geographical and administrative unit called “Mecha Proper” emerged in the

northern parts of the regions of Damot and Agew Meder; and to the south and southwest of Lake

Ṱana. Mecha proper took shape apparently during the early eighteenth century. Bruce mentions

that Mecha proper extended from the Abay River in the west to Abeya River in the east and from

Lake Tana in the north to Jemma River in the south and to Agew Midir in the southwest.

The

nineteenth

century British envoy to the court of Ras Ali II (r.1831-1853), Walter Plowden, also

agrees with Bruce`s description about the geographical extents of “Mecha province”.

Oral

tradition also recognizes the region “ke Abeya Eseke Belaya” (from Abeya to Belaya), extending

from Abeya River north of Motta town in Enensie to Belaya west of Achefer, as one Ager or

awraja (territory or district). This covers more or less the present-day districts of Gonj- Kollella,

Yilmana Densa, Mecha, Bahir Dar Zuriya and Achefer.

Mecha proper was ruled by nighty nine shumes [clan heads] who were accountable to the Ras

bitwedded of the emperor at Gondar, “to whom it pays [paid] two thousand ounces of gold” each

year. Bruce estimated that by 1768 about 4000 out of the total 15, 000 Oromo men of Mecha

were horsemen.

Likewise, Plowden remarks that the people of Mecha had warrior character

Ignazio Guidi, Annales Iyohannis I, Iyasu IEt Bakaffa. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium

Scriptors Aethiopici, Tomus 7, Reimpression Anastatique, (Louvain-Heverle, 1961), p. 219.

Ibid, p. 235.

Ibid.

Bruce, Vol. 4, pp. 471-472.

Plowden, pp. 251-252.

I personally know the same popular parlance.

Bruce, Vol. 4, p. 472.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

and the office of Yibaba Azazh was a bone of contention among its nineteenth century local

rulers. He further remarks that the Amharic language of the people of Mecha had much

resemblance with the language of the Oromo south of the Abbay River. A section of Mecha

Oromo clans who settled in the province of Mecha had interacted and integrated with the already

existing Christian and Amharic-speaking population.

Yibaba also served as the capital of Mecha proper. The town had presumably a large population,

and according to Bruce, it was “one of the largest in Abyssinia [Ethiopia], little inferior to

Gondar in size or riches….”

Having relatively large sized residents is also an indication of the

commercial centrality of the political capital and hence the existence of flourishing commerce

and trade in the area. Geographically, situated above the Alata Bridge, Yibaba was at the

crossroads of the north-south and east-west long distance trade routes. Especially, the former was

very important because it linked the resourceful pre-Oromo kingdoms of Enarya and Bizamo,

south of the Abay River, with their northern counterpart, that is, the Gondarine kingdom.

It had

a daily market.

Bruce described Yibaba as “a large market-town, where there is a royal

residence...”

In addition, the place names of Ali Mesk (the field of Ali) and Ali wenz (Ali River), to the

northwest and east of Yibaba respectively, were indications of settlement of Muslims in the area

who were probably merchants.

Bruce mentions that Muslim merchants from the north took

several types of trade items to the territories south of the Abay like beads, large needle, kohl,

myrrh, and cloths. In return, they brought to the north items like slaves, civet, wax, hides, and

great quantity of ginger.

At the same time, the route from the Lake Tana area to east Gojjam,

which was taken by itinerant emperors as well as merchants, crossed Yibaba. The places

commonly mentioned in the journeys of Gondarine emperors are those along the route from

Plowden, pp. 251-252.

Bruce, Vol. 4, pp. 472-473.

Bruce, Vol.4, pp. 30-31.

Bruce, Vol. 4, p. 473.

Bruce, Vol. 2, p. 570.

Informant: (Ato) Yerom Alemu.

Ibid.

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Gondar →Alata Bridge → Tamirie →Yibaba→Tul River →Weneba →Yezat River. There was

also another route which passed through Yiwodi west of Lake Tana and entered Yibaba.

Founded as a secondary royal residence near Dibre Mewi with a small castle of Taka or Arogie

Gimb (Old Building) which was built by Emperor Susenyos around 1612, Yibaba was the seat of

an official called Yibaba Azazh (governor of Yibaba).The Yibaba Azazh was a trusted official

accountable to the Rasbitwedded of the Gondarine emperor, “whose employment is worth 600

ounces of gold”.

Moreover, it was from the town of Yibaba that several pretenders or usurpers attempted to take

political power from the Emperors at Gondar by using particularly Oromo troops from Mecha,

Damot and Gojjam led by one or another renegade Weregna (Oromo military leader). To begin

with, in anger at the brutal murder of Emperor Iyasu I in 1706, his loyal supporters from Mecha,

Agew Midir, Gojjam and Damot crowned a certain Kibat monk and pretender to the throne,

Berbila Weregna, with the crown name of Emperor Amde Tsiyon, at Yibaba in September 1707.

However, after three weeks Amde Tsion was slain at the battle of Kebero Meda near Yibaba by

imperial troops commanded by Ras Darmen, Emperor Tekle Haimanot`s (r.1706-1708) maternal

uncle and new governor of Gojjam proper. This battle caused heavy casualties on both sides.

Among others, many prominent leaders of the Kibat (Unction) faith from Gojjam were slain.

The soldiers of Darmen also killed Azazh Chuhay, an Agew chief, and thousands of his

fighters.

However, according to Bruce, the greatest loss on the side of the rebel army fell upon

“the common men of Ilmana Densa” (now Yilmana Densa).

Unrest continued. A relative of

Amde Tsion, Welde Abib, became a rebel in Mecha and Damot areas. In June 1708, the

opportune time which the Agew nobles were waiting for to avenge the death of Iyasu came,

when Emperor Tekle Haimanot marched to Damot to attack Dejazmach Welde Abib, and partly

Huntingford, pp. 169, 190, 194, 204.

Tekele Tsadik Mekuriya, Ye Itiyopiya Tarik Ke Atse Libne Dingil Iske Atse Tiwodros, Second Edition

(Addis Ababa: Berhan Ena Selam Printing Press, 1961 E. C.), p. 124.

Bruce, Vol. 4, p. 473.

Bruce, Vol. 2, pp. 530-531.; Tekle Tsadik, pp. 213-214. For the name Berbila Weregna see Tekle Iyesus

Wakijra, “Ye Gojjam Tarik, Chapter 20” (MS, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, No. 254), pp. 135-136.

Tekle Iyesus, pp. 135-136.

Bruce, Vol. 2, p. 530. ; Dessie, p. 296. For Azazh Chuhay, see Tekle Iyesus, “Ye Gojjam Tarik,

Chapter 20”, pp. 135-136.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

for a hunting game.

Subsequently, when he reached the border area between Damot and Agew

Midir to hunt a buffalo, the Agew conspirators murdered him at Azena Mika`el in Agew Midir.

Likewise, in late 1710 Dejazmach Tigi assembled many Basso, Liban and Kalegenda Oromo

fighters and rebelled in Gojjam against the next Emperor, Tiwoflos (r. 1708-1710). He

proclaimed a certain pretender at Yibaba. His forces ruthlessly killed most of the inhabitants of

the town. However, Tiwoflos`s chewa troops defeated Tigi in March 1711. Tigi`s Oromo troops

took shelter in a sanctuary church near Yibaba. The church was set on fire with a neft (gun)

under the order of the emperor and the Oromo fighters inside the church, whose number was

estimated to be 500, apparently perished. Tigi was also killed by peasants at Weramit near Lake

Tana and yet the pretender escaped forever. After the incident, Tiwoflos rebuilt the church and

renamed it Debre Mewi (Mountain of Victory).

According to Bruce, however, the church had

originally been built and named so by Iyasu I following his victory over the Oromo in the plain

of Mecha.

3. Power, Rivalry and Azazhoch (Local Governors)

As indicated above, initially, the Yibaba Azazh (governor of Yibaba) had a much expanded

political influence over the whole regions south of Lake Tana. Gradually, it declined and was

limited to the surrounding districts, particularly Yilmana Densa, to the south of Yibaba. Bruce

claims that the office was generally given to the principal persons of the province of Mecha so as

to secure their allegiance as there was a very considerable territory that depended upon this

office.

During the eighteenth century many took the office of Yibaba Azazh. Their stay,

however, was short. During the reign of Bekafa (r.1721-1730) the office was Azazh Biniyam

Anstanyos, who was the leader of the Oromo cavalry of Ilmana Densa.

After the death of

Bekafa in 1730, the post was given first to a certain Kura Giyorgis,

and a year later to

Dejazmach Mammo, who held it together with the governorship of Yilmana Densa, Gutta,

Bruce, Vol. 2., p.531.;Tekle Tsadik, pp. 214-215.

Bruce, Vol. 2, p. 531.; Tekle Tsadik, pp. 214-215.

Dessie, pp. 300-301. ; Bruce, Vol. 2, pp. 536-537.

Bruce, Vol. 2, 536.

Bruce, Vol. 4, p. 473.

Dessie, p. 315.; Tekle Tsadik, p. 242.

Ignazio Guidi, Annales Regum Iyasu II et Iyo`as. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Scriptors

Aethiopici, Versio, Series Altera, vol. 6, (Paris, 1912), p. 34.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

Wember and Agew Midir.

In the third year of Iyasu II`s (r. 1730-55) reign Fitawrari Tense

Mammo (Tensay) held the post until he was publicly hanged in Gondar in 1733 in charge of

leading the rebellion against the royal family to put a pretender named Hezkeyas on the throne.

In return to his astute role in the suppression of the rebellion in Gondar in January 1733, an

Oromo courtier of Bekafa and his son Iyasu II (r.1730-1755), Weregna Washo, was given the

post of Yibaba Azazh including the territories of Ilmana and Densa, Damot and Agew Midir.

In 1755 and 1757 Balambaras Duri,

and Kentiba Nitsa Kiristos were given the post,

respectively.

In 1760, Azazh Terbinos was replaced by Ras Wedaje as the Yibaba Azazh.

Two

years later, the post was given to a cousin of Empress Mintiwab, Fitawrari (later, Dejazmach)

Awsabiyos, together with the territories of Ganj and Yiwodi, until 1762.

The next governor of

Yibaba was Dejazmach Eshete Merqoriwos, another cousin of Empress Mintwab, who was also

the governor of Damot. He continued in power until his death in March 1764 at a battle with the

Jawwi of Damot backed by Ras Fasil Weregna.

After a month, the post was given to Fitawrari

Yehabene Wold, who was one of the followers of Ras Fasil.

The value of Yibaba town as a regional capital and as a place where renegade individuals could

proclaim themselves as emperors continued for some decades during the Zemene Mesafint or Era

of Warlords (1769-1855). This was probably because some of the warlords of Mecha province

such as Ras Kinfu Adam Sendi and his maternal brother Dejazmach Hailu Adera actively

participated in the political struggles of the period until the early 1780s.

Guidi, Annales Regum Iyasu II et Iyo`as, p. 47.

Bruce, Vol. 2, pp. 624-625. ; Tekle Tsadik, pp. 257-260.

Bruce, Vol. 2. P. 624.; Vol. 3, pp. 219-20.

Guidi, Annales Regum Iyasu II et Iyo`as, p. 174.

Guidi, Annales Regum Iyasu II et Iyo`as, p. 184.

Guidi, Annales Regum Iyasu II et Iyo`as, p. 193.

Guidi, Annales Regum Iyasu II et Iyo`a, p. 197.

Guidi, Annales Regum Iyasu II et Iyo`as, pp. 228-229; Bruce, Vol. 3, pp. 269-270.

Guidi, Annales Regum Iyasu II et Iyo`as, p. 230.

Informant: (Kesä Gebez) Demilew Ayele.; Nigatu Seyfu, “Tezemedo Sebe`e Ze Ityoṕiya” (MS, Personal

Collection of ato Worku Nigatu, Bahr Dar, n. d) first part), pp. 28, 95. Ras Kinfu Adam was also an Agew

descendant of Iyasu I: Amete Sillasie Iyasu I →Eliyas Gora (Dejazmach) who married Mintwab

Chuhay→Tirngo→Kinfu Adam and Adera Hailu. Amete Selassie herself was born of a woman of Ginde Beret. See

Nigatu Seyfu.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

On the other hand, the short royal chronicles of Dejazmach Hailu Eshetie state that the town of

Yibaba and its Arogie Ginb (old palace) were still functioning as a place of assembly for warring

lords of the period. Blundell`s English translation reads:

… [The month of] Yakātit [1770] began on a Tuesday. The Negus [Tekle

Haimanot II, r. 1769-77] and Ras [Mikā`ēl Sihul]…moved from Abolla and

joined at Yebāba, halting at the Old Castle (Arogē Gemb). The Liqa Maquās

Wand Bawasan caused to be brought to the King of Kings and the Chief of the

Kings, Takla Hāymānot, a liberal dinner and supper, that is to say, Matsen

(various foods); this was of incalculable amount, for there was every kind of food

of various flavours in abundance. The wine was the wine of Kānā, so sumptuous

was the ordering of his house…

However, Ras Mika`el Sihul of Gondar, who was one of the leading figures in the struggle for

power, was defeated by a coalition of regional lords at the Battle of Sarbakusa in 1772, and

driven back into Tigray. Similarly, in 1775 a coalition of other warlords also killed another

prominent participant of the political struggles of the Zemene Mesafint, namely, Ras Fasil

Weregna of Mecha and Damot. Hereafter, the way was open for Ras Kinfu Adam and

Dejazmach Haiu Adera to dominate Gojjam, Damot and Agew Midir as well as the politics at

Gondar for about a decade. Accordingly, in June 1778 Emperor Solomon II (r. 1777- 1779) made

Hailu Adera governor of Gojjam, and Kinfu that of Damot and Agew Midir.

However, this

political arrangement seemed to have aroused the anger of Dejazmach (later Ras) Hailu Yosedek

(r.1770-1794) of Gojjam proper because his realm was taken by force. This soon led to the battle

of Sabisa Ber between the half-brothers on the one side and Haylu Yosedek on the other in

which the former emerged victorious.

On the other hand, on July 19, 1779, partly pressurized by the people of Mecha and Damot, the

powerful Kinfu Adam and Hailu Adera dethroned Emperor Solomon II and proclaimed Tekle

Giyorgis (first reign, 1779-84), nicknamed Fisame Mengist, Emperor at Yibaba,.

In this case,

Blundell`s translation of the chronicle reads:

Blondell, pp. 211-12. In the footnote Blundell describes that maten was Amharic for bread, meat, butter

and other things presented to persons of distinction. Kana, the marriage feast of Cana. In the Synaxarium this

Commemoration was held on 13th Ter=21st January.

Blundell, p. 330; Negatu, p. 67; Informant: (Kése Gebez) Demilew Ayele.

Blundell, p. 332.

Blundell, pp. 231, 234.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

In the month of Hamlē [1779] God roused the people of Mechā and Dāmot, so much that

they said if Takla Giyorgis did not reign they would not submit, nor give tribute to King

Salomon. When Kenfu saw the excitement of the people, he gave the kingdom to our King

Takla Giyorgis in the country of Yebāba on the 12th of the month of Hamlē…The Negus

built a church in Yebāba [1780], under the invocation of the Holy Apostles, and he made

great devotions of penitence, for that the Lord had made him enter the city of his fathers

and his regalia (royal property).

The chronicler further states that Tekle-Giyorgis stayed at Yibaba for six months before he

finally travelled to Gondar on 6 January, 1780 accompanied by Kinfu. As his long time

sympathizers and fellow countrymen, the coronation of Tekle-Giyorgis was a source of mass

jubilation among the people of Mecha and Damot.

Nevertheless, the friendship between Tekle-

Giyorgis and Kenfu did not last long. After some eight months elapsed (September 1780),

Emperor Tekle Giyorgis learned that Kinfu intended to enthrone Solomon once again. The

strained relations between the two eventually led to the rebellion that Kinfu Adam and a certain

Gedlu had organized in Jan’amora in 1780.

Meanwhile, the then ruler of Begemdir, Djazmach

Mebaras Beketu, who had already attached himself with the emperor through marriage, defeated

the half-brothers at the battle of Maryam Wuha in Begemdir in May 1781, and handed them over

to the emperor.

The chronicler mentions that a messenger to the emperor had declared that “…

and all the rebel officers of the people of Mecha, Damot and Jawwi had been killed or

captured.”

However, the brothers managed to escape from prison in October 1781,

but they

were recaptured around Dangila in June 1782 by their adversaries in Damot and Mecha such as

Dejazmach Adigeh

and Fitawrari Ikoniyan,

respectively. Then, Emperor Tekle Giyorgis took

them into captivity for some three years and eventually punished them through eye blinding.

On the other hand, following the suppression of the rebellion of Kinfu, the emperor placed

Damot under a certain Dejazmach Aklog and reinstated Hailu Yosedek over Gojjam with the

title of Ras.

Blondell, p. 231 - 32.

Bludell, p. 231-241

Bludell, pp. 235-236, 240-241, 243-249.

Blundell, p. 254.

Ibid.

Blondell, p.256.

Blundell, p. 266.

Blondell, p. 257.

Blundell, p. 268; Nigatu, p. 67; Informants: (Afemir) Ashagirie Chekol.

Bludell, p.429

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

The preceding developments marked the end of the role of the lords of Mecha in the political

struggles of the Zemene Mesafint. Consequently, during the late eighteenth and first half of the

nineteenth centuries, the province of Mecha, including the post of Yibaba Azazh, came under the

alternative domination of the lords of Gojjam and Damot, and suffered from the fighting and

political struggles among the lords of Begemdir, Damot and Gojjam.

Furthermore, during the

same period, there were constant rivalries and conflicts among the local chiefs of Mecha over the

office of Yibaba Azazh.

Starting with the early years of the 1780s, Ras Hailu I of Gojjam began giving continued military

assistance to Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I against another powerful warlord of the period, Ras Ali I

(Ali Gwangul) of the Yejju region (r.1784-1789).

The Emperor reciprocated this military

assistance by recognizing Hailu as the governor of Gojjam and Agew Midir.

In 1780 Emperor

Tekle Giyorgis built another church at Yibaba.

The next Emperor, Hizkiyas (r. July 1789-

January 1794), made Ras Hailu I the governor of the whole of Gojjam encompassed by the Abay

River together with the post of Yibaba Azazh.

However, Ras Haylu I died in 1794 and Gojjam was repartitioned into its former administrative

units. Power struggle soon started among the main lords of Gojjam and Damot. Each seemed to

aspire to rule all the regions of Gojjam, Damot and Agew Midir as a single political entity. For

instance, Goshu Zewdie of Damot (r. 1823-1852) in his undated letter to Pope Gregory XVI,

introduced himself as: “the Dejazmach of Gojjam, of Damot, and of Mecha [including Yibaba],

and …of the [Oromo] lands south of the Abbay River…”

In such a way the province of Mecha,

including the post of Yibaba Azazh, had come under the rule and influence of Damot lords during

the first half of the nineteenth century.

Tekle Tsadik, Ye Itiyopiya Tarik, p. 320.; Plowden, p. 261.

Plowden, pp. 251-52.

Fantahun, pp. 1-4.

Fantahun, p. 4.

Blundell, p. 232.

Blundell, p. 232; pp. 396-397, 429-430.

Fantahun, p. 29.

Genet Ayele (Trans.), Be Itiyopiya Kefetagna Teraroch Koyitayie (Amharic), Douze Ans d`Sejour dans le

Haute Ethiopie (Abyssinia), Volume 1, Paris, 1868 by Arnauld M. d` Abbadie (Addis Ababa: Grafic Printers, Hidar

2009 E.C.), pp.133, 303.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

On the other hand, Walter Plowden, who was at Feres Wegga in Mecha, close to Yibaba, during

the time of Ras Ali`s 1844 campaign to Gojjam to fight against Dejazmach Goshu and his son,

Birru, describes that the traditional office of Yibaba Azazh was occupied by local rival family

members. They were Fitawrari Gebre Iyesus and Dejazmach Asenie Dires, who were the then

Azazhoch (governors) of the districts of Yilmana Densa and Mecha-Gutta, respectively. Plowden

further states that Azazh Gebre Iyesus was backed by Birru Goshu of Gojjam, and Asenie by that

of Ras Ali II of Begemdir.

Informants confirm the description of Plowden about the rivalry

between Gebre Iyesus and Asenie over the post of Yibaba Azazh by the poems which run:

እናንተ ዴንሠኞች ክረምት አትዉደዱ፣

ያሰኔ ይመጣል ማቱ ነጎድጓዱ

You the Densas you should not like the coming of rainy season,

the [month of] June will come to you with thunder storms. [Compares Asenie to a

thunder].

እናንተ ሜ ጨ ኞ ች ዳጉሳ ያላችሁ፣

ገብሬ ድሀ አደግ ነዉ ጤ ፍም አይላችሁ

You the Mechegnas with the crop of finger millet, Gebre [Gebre Iyesus] is so

poor that he would not give you teff. [Gebire is contemptuous to the Mechegnas].

Both of the above couplets explain that the local rulers of both districts were so powerful that

their followers were proud of them, and through these couplets they were boasting about the

invincible position of their respective rulers. Nevertheless, at the same time, the verses explain

that local rivalries and conflicts had their own negative impact on the population of the declining

town of Yibaba, and the traditional office of Yibaba Azazh.

4. The Fading Away of Yibaba: Ca. 1850s- 1880s

Plowden, pp. 253-254, 275. Plowden also stated that Gebre Iyesus and his troops assisted Birru in

ravaging Debre Tabor on 7 February 1842.

Informant: (Ato) Zeleke Alelign.

Ibid.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

The available sources show that Yibaba as an urban center seemed to have steadily declined

since the middle of the Zemene Mesafint, particularly since about 1800 and later degenerated into

a rural village probably around the late nineteenth century. However, the exact time when the

town of Yibaba ceased to be an important political and trading center is not clearly known.

Nevertheless, from the scholarly study of Donald Crummey, we can understand that during the

early decades of the nineteenth century Yibaba had a population of less than 2000.

The first strong attack on the urban development of Yibaba occurred in March 1710, when

Dejazmach Tigi is said to have massacred “all its inhabitants”,

and according to the Tarike

Negest, “many of its inhabitants”

, “without distinction of age and sex” were killed.

Then, its

regional economic value must have been severely affected at the end of the eighteenth century,

when Ras Hailu the Great of Gojjam, the then Yibaba Azazh, transferred the regional market

center of Yibaba into Adet Medhane Alem by founding the famous Hailu Gebeya (Haylu

Market) there.

The rulers of Damot, who gained political prominence over the whole region south of Lake Tana

in the nineteenth century, also seemed to have not given due attention to the town of Yibaba

most likely because they ruled the region from their political centers first at Bure and then at

Dembecha towns.

100

At the same time, local power rivalries and conflicts mentioned above

obviously had their own negative impact on the urban functions and political roles of the

historical town of Yibaba. Those who assumed the post of Yibaba Azazh by overcoming their

rivals did not use Yibaba as their seat of power. Instead, they ruled the region from their own

respective district centers of administration.

101

Likewise, unlike their Gondarine period counterparts, the second half of the 19

century

Ethiopian empire builders such as Tiwodros II (r. 1855-68), Yohannes IV (r. 1872-89) and

Crummey, “Some Precursors of Addis Ababa,” pp. 18-19, 26.

Bairu, pp. 420-21.

Dessie, p. 300.

Bruce, vol. 2, p. 536.

Yilmana Densa District Culture and Tourism Office, “Profile of Yilmana Densa Wereda”

(Adet, Senie

2005 E.C.), p. 3.; Abdussamad Hajj Ahmad, “Trade and Politics in Gojjam, 1882-1935” (MA Thesis, Addis Ababa

University, Department of History, 1980), p. 29.

100

Informant: (Ato) Yilma Bayih.

101

Informant: (Liqe Heruyan) Belay Mekonnen.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

Minilik II (r. 1889- 1913) did not use Yibaba as their political center and place of temporary

stay. Other centers also emerged and used. In 1869, for example, as Rassam reported, the town

of Zegie, situated along the southern shore of Lake Tana, was used as the capital of Mecha,

102

which the emperor even had a plan to transfer his capital. However, Zegie was sacked by

Tiwodros because of the issue related with tribute collection.

103

The chronicler Aleqa Zeneb

states that Yibaba was one of the places that was suggested by one of the priests to serve as the

emperor`s quarter in 1856 when the emperor complained to a gathering of clergymen that he was

lost without any means of reserve to support his army as the church had control over a good

portion of the taxable land. The priests counseled that the emperor can return to former practices

of moving the imperial center from place to place:

…

አንዱ ካህን መለሰ አለም አራት ወር በጎንደር ተቀምጠዉ አርማጭሆን፣ ጸገዴን፣

ወለቃይትን፣ስሜንነ፣ ትግሬን ይብሎ አላቸዉ አራት ወር በአሪነጎ ተቀምጠዉ በጌምድርን፣

ላስታን፣ የጁን፣ ወረሂመኑን፣ ወሎን፣ ሸዋን ይብሉ አራት ወር ይባባ ላይ ተቀምጠዉ ሜጫን፣

አገዉን ዳሞትን፣ ጎጃምን ይብሉ እንደ ጥንት…

104

One of the priests replied [to the complaint of the emperor] that he could stay in

Gondar for four months and consume provisions of Armachiho, Tsegedie,

Welkayt, and Tigrie; then establish yourself at Aringo for four months and devour

provisions of Begemdir, Lasta, Yejju, Werre Himenu, Wollo and Shewa; and then

for four months make your residence at Yibaba, and eat up provisions of Mecha,

Agew Midir, Damot and Gojjam as was in the past.

Aleka Zeneb claimed that, after some hesitation, Emperor Tiwodros accepted the advice of the

clergies of Gondar to use regional centers as his temporary seats of power.

Other centers were also used as a place of stay during the continuous campaign of Emperor

Tiwodros. In April 1856, on his way back to Gondar from his campaign against Shewa, the

emperor took a rest at Debre Mewi and kept on his journey without visiting Yibaba.

105

102

H. Rassam, Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore (1869), p. 1.

103

Rassam, pp. 118-19.

104

Zen`eb (Aleka), Ye Tiwodros Tarik, Enno Littman, Publisher, (Princeton: Princeton University,

1902), pp. 28-29.

105

Zen`eb, p. 26.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

Later on, however, Emperor Tiwodros seemed to have used the town of Yibaba as a temporary

place of stationing for his repeated campaigns against Mecha. For instance, the address of one of

the letters of Emperor Tiwodros II written to Queen Victoria of Great Britain on October 31,

1862 (Tekemet 20, 1855 EC) is the town of Yibaba in Gojjam.

106

The chronicler confirms that

Emperor Tiwodros II repeatedly ravaged Mecha and looted its cattle.

107

The emperor imprisoned

its rulers such as Dejazmach Asenie Dires, Golem Wolde Mika`el and Maru Selemon and

eventually publicly amputated their limbs and then hanged them at Geregera in Begemdir in May

1858.

108

Informants also state that, stationing himself at Yibaba, the emperor sent his troops who

burnt and plundered the monastery of Adet Medhane Alem

109

around 1864.

110

The chronicler Gebre Silassie also mentions that on his way back to Shewa from his campaign

against Begemdir, in April 1877, negus Minylik was given warm receptions by the clergy and

inhabitants of Debre Mewi and Adet, and then he proceeded to Shewa via Motta; that is, without

staying at Yibaba.

111

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, it appears that Yibaba was still a town, where

Empress Taitu Bitul`s mother Weyzero Yewubdar Kebetie (d. March 1905) and her husband

Aleqa Engida resided. The latter, who was the stepfather of the Empress, was one of the wealthy

family heads of the locality. However, there was a rivalry between the inhabitants of Debre

Mewi and Yibaba which led to the demolition of a newly established church at Yibaba by Aleqa

Engida. After an appeal to her, Empress Taitu is said to have given the order of the demolition of

the dome of same church.

112

Gebre Silassie also indicates that Empress Taitu`s mother was living

at the locality of Debre Mewi by early June 1888, when nigus Menilek and nigus Tekle

106

Tekle Tsadik Mekuriya, Ats Tiwodros Ina Ye Itiopiya Andinet (Addis Ababa: Kuraz Publishing

Agency, 1981 E. C.), p. 301.

107

Zen`eb, p.27.

108

Zen`eb, pp. 33-34.

109

Informants: (Afemir) Ashagrie Chekol.

110

Tekle Tsadik Mekuriya, Atse Tiwodros Ina Ye Itiopiya Andinet (Addis Ababa: Kuraz Publishing

Agency, 1981 E. C.), p. 246.

111

Gebre Selassie Welde Aregay, (Tarik Zemen Ze Dagmawi Minylik Niguse Negesit Ze Itiyopiya (Addis

Ababa: Berhan Ena Salam Printing Press, 1959 E.C.), p. 74.

112

Belay Makonnen (Liqe Hiruyan), Itegie Taytu Be Debre Mewi (Addis Ababa: Tana Publishing

Enterprise, 2003 E.C), pp. 28, 44-47.

The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020

Haimanot are said to have conspired against Emperor Yohannes IV (r. 1872-89) near the river

called Tul, to the east of Debre Mewi.

113

All the developments mentioned above must have led to the termination of Yibaba as an urban

center probably by the 1880s. Today, it is a rural village in the locality of Kotti Maryam. Only

the ruined enclosure walls averaging one to two meters in height and some parts of the

foundation of its seventeenth century palace are still visible amidst privately owned farm

lands.

114

5. Conclusion

During the Gondarine period, Yibaba was perhaps one of the most important urban centers of the

kingdom. It served as regional capital and royal residence since about the early decades of the

seventeenth century. This also reveals two other things such as the economic importance of the

fertile region surrounding Yibaba and the efforts of Gondarine period monarchs to control

regional political tendencies in the regions south of Lake Tana by temporarily seating at Yibaba.

Like other traditional Ethiopian urban centers, the town of Yibaba flourished partly because it

was a regional capital. Nevertheless, as the political system waned due to the Zemene Mesafint

(Era of Warlords), the town also began to fade away and eventually degenerated into a rural

village centering on the church of Yibaba Kidane Mihret. Hence, it is a lost town.

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