Al Matamma

Al Matamma lies in the western approaches to the Ethiopian highlands, where routes from the Sudanese plains lead towards Gondar. Merchants travelled through this frontier country between the Nile and Ethiopia, carrying goods across the lowlands and escarpment. Nearby Ras al-Fil was contested by the rulers of Sennar and Ethiopia; in the eighteenth century it came under Ethiopian authority. The route remained a link between the highland kingdom and its western neighbours.