Battle of Wofla

Battle of Wofla

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Wofla
partof=Ethiopian–Adal War
Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557)


caption=
date=August 28, 1542
place=modern Wofla, Ethiopia
result=Adal victory
combatant1=Adal Sultanate
Ottoman Empire
combatant2=Kingdom of Portugal
Ethiopian Empire
commander1=Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi
commander2=Cristóvão da Gama
strength1=between 600-900 Ottoman musketeers, 20 Ottoman horsemen, several thousand foot
strength2=about 290 Portuguese musketeers, unknown number of Ethiopian infantry
casualties1=unknown
casualties2=160 Portuguese killed, unknown number of Ethiopians; many wounded|

The Battle of Wofla was fought on August 28, 1542 near Lake Ashenge in Wofla (or Ofla) in the modern Ethiopian Region of Tigray (previously part of Wollo; its incorporation into Tigray instead of Amhara is therefore disputed), between the Portuguese under Cristóvão da Gama and the forces of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi. Reinforced with a superiority not only in numbers but in firearms, Imam Ahmad was victorious and forced the Portuguese, along with Queen Sabla Wengel and her retinue, to flee their fortified encampment and leave their weapons behind.

While fleeing the battlefield with 14 soldiers, Gama was captured by followers of Imam Ahmad, who had been led into the brush they had taken refuge in by an old woman. [R.S. Whiteway, editor and translator, "The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1441-1543", 1902. (Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1967), pp. 66f] He was then brought into the presence of the Imam Imam Ahmad, who tortured his captured opponent, then in the end the Imam drew his sword and cut off da Gama's head with his own hand. [Whiteway, "The Portuguese Expedition", p. 68]

References


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