Medri Bahri

Medri Bahri, meaning Land of the Sea, was a semi-autonomous Christian highland realm north of the Mereb River, with its seat at Debarwa; its governors bore the title Bahr Negash, or king of the sea. Local governors ruled there from at least the twelfth century, and the office drew wealth from caravan routes to the Red Sea ports of Massawa and Hirgigo.

During the Ethiopian-Adal war the highlands were overrun in 1535, while in 1541 the Bahr Negash Yeshaq helped bring a Portuguese expedition to the emperor's aid. Ottoman troops seized Massawa and Debarwa in 1557; Yeshaq twice rebelled with Ottoman backing and was killed in 1578.

From the mid-seventeenth century the governorship became hereditary under the Hab Sellus family, confirmed by Emperor Fasilides around 1663. The family's rival branches disputed the highlands through the Zemene Mesafint era.