Adwa

Adwa stands in the highlands of Tigray at about 1,900 metres, on the plateau where cultivated fields, steep valleys and seasonal streams make up the landscape. Its location mattered more than its resources: the town sat on a major route between the interior and the Red Sea, and whoever held the plain could tax the caravans that carried goods from Gondar and Tigray down to the coastal markets.

The name is often explained as Adi Awa, the village of the Awa. By 1700 the town had become the residence of the governor of Tigray and had overtaken Debarwa as the most important town of the north. Its market was supervised by an official called the nagadras, and churches gathered around the town. The nearby monastery of Abba Garima, founded in the sixth century, kept famous gospel manuscripts, and European travellers passing through the highlands recorded the town because it lay along their routes.