Battle of Baçente

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Baçente
partof=the Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557)
Abyssinian–Adal War


caption=
date=February 2, 1542
place=Amba SenaytR.S. Whiteway, editor and translator, "The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1441-1543", 1902. (Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1967), p. lii f.] , Tigray province, Ethiopia
result=Portuguese victory
combatant1=
combatant2=Muslim forces from Adal
commander1=Cristóvão da Gama
commander2=unnamed officer of Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi
strength1=400 Portuguese musketeers
strength2=1500 archers and "buckler men"
casualties1=8 killed, 40 wounded
casualties2=practically all killed|

The Battle of Baçente was fought on February 2, 1542 when a Portuguese army under Cristóvão da Gama took a hillfort held by Muslim forces in northern Ethiopia. The Portuguese suffered minimal casualties, while the defenders were reportedly all killed.

Queen Sabla Wengel advised against this attack, arguing that Gama should wait until her son the Emperor Gelawdewos could march north from Shewa and join the Portuguese. However, Gama was concerned that if he marched around this Muslim-held strongpoint, the local peasantry would be disappointed and stop providing supplies for his troops. [Whiteway, p. 32.]

After a probing attack to learn the defenders defences, which Queen Sabla Wengel initially mistook for a defeat, Gama ordered an attack from three side directions on the following day. The defenders were annihilated, with neglegible losses to the Portuguese. Nine horses and a number of mules were captured, which afterwards proved useful. A mosque, which had originally been a church before the hillfort was occupied by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi's men, was reconsecrated as a church and dedicated to "Our Lady of Victory", and mass was celebrated there the next day. The expeditionary force spent the rest of February there, recovering from the battle. [Whiteway, pp. 33-7.]

The Portuguese "Baçente" has been identified as referring to Amba Senayt in Haramat by R.S. Whiteway.

Notes