Debarwa

Perched on a high rock above the Mereb River, Debarwa was a principal residence of the Bahr Negash, a powerful lord of the northern Ethiopian highlands. The Portuguese traveler Francisco Álvares described his fortress-like house, guarded by hundreds of horsemen. The town had a lively Thursday market, where traders bartered goods and women played an important part in commerce.

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi's forces overran the region in 1535. Seven years later Cristóvão da Gama's Portuguese expedition spent the rainy season at Debarwa, finding that inhabitants had fled with their herds into the mountains. Ottoman expansion from Massawa brought further fighting; Emperor Sarsa Dengel captured the town in 1576 and ordered the Ottoman fort and mosque destroyed. Debarwa remained a notable centre into the next century, though Adwa later overtook it in regional importance.