Sokota

Sokota was the seat of the Wagshum, rulers of the highland country of Lasta who claimed descent from the last king of the Zagwe dynasty. The nearby church of Wuqir Meskale Kristos holds the mummified remains of several Wagshums. The town's name may derive from an Agaw word for a fortified village. Set among the northern Ethiopian mountains, it became a centre of local authority long after the Zagwe kings had ruled the highlands.

In 1746 soldiers of Emperor Iyasu II burned Sokota, the first surviving record to mention the town. Later accounts describe a palace of the Wagshums there, a three-storey building attributed to craftsmen who had worked at Gondar. By 1813 Ras Haile Wand Bewossen held his palace at Sokota and reviewed his troops there each year.