An Ethiopian imperial town: The forgotten historical geographies of ʾAmba Čara

Abstract

This article engages in examining the historical geography of ʾAmba Čara in the modern period of Ethiopia since 1850s. Ethiopian imperial history began in the Aksum era of the first century A.D., when an emperor moved from the country's capital and founded a number of temporary royal towns in order to develop and strengthen his kingdom. ʾAmba Čara was one of these towns. There is a dearth of research and limited literature on the subject; no one has sought to thoroughly examine the history of ʾAmba Čara previously. In this study, primary and secondary sources were used to explore the geographies of the site. Letters, chronicles, and traveler accounts served as the study's main information sources. On the other hand, data came from secondary sources including books, articles, journals, and oral histories. This study makes clear the significance of ʾAmba Čara's location, particularly since the middle of the nineteenth century, as a religious assembly center, a passageway, a convenient military training and organization center, and a temporary king's residence. This study, which also offers the first historical geography of the place, shows how ʾAmba Čara's contributed enormously to the socio-cultural and political development of the modern Ethiopian empire, starting in the middle of nineteenth century.