Senafe

Senafe is a market town on the edge of the northern highlands, near the ancient ruins of Metera. Its valleys and terraces supported barley, teff and livestock, and the town's market drew traders from the highlands and the lowlands beyond the escarpment. Roads from the highland towns descended toward the Red Sea coast through this country.

A map published in 1454 places it on routes leading west to Axum and south toward Lake Ashenge. In 1625 the Jesuit patriarch Afonso Mendes and his companions passed through Senafe after crossing the Danakil Desert from the coast, recording the towns and people along their route. The town was also named in a land grant made by Emperor Tekle Giyorgis to Ras Wolde Selassie in 1794–95, and it remained a stop on the roads between the coast and the highland kingdom.