Asfa Wossen
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Asfa Wossen (c.1770 - c.1808) was a Meridazmach of Shewa, an important Amhara noble of Ethiopia. He was the son of Amha Iyasus; Mordechai Abir notes that he was one of Amha Iyasus' 48 offspring.1
During his reign, Shewan control over the tributary states of Geshe, Antzioka, Efrata, Moret and Marra Biete were strengthened. One step in this process led Asfa Wossen to follow the advice of his father confessor and embrace the doctrine of the Sost Lidet in order to absorb the key state of Marra Biete.2
Abir considers Asfa Wossen "more of an administrator than a war leader", noting the Meridazmach's administrative innovations of Shewa. "However, when the need arose, Asfa Wossen proved himself to be as brave and talented a warrior as he was a good administrator."3 Once he secured his control over the Christian parts of Shewa, Asfa Wossen campaigned viciously against the Oromo of the plains of Shewa, the Tuloma Oromo, the Mogar Oromo, the Abichu who dwelled at the headwaters of the Awash River, and the Oromo tribes living in the mountains of Garra Korfu.
According to Henze, some of Asfa Wossen's administrative measures included tax reforms, and placing a personal representative in each district. Henze quotes the opinion of a contemporary chronicler, who wrote that "under Asfa Wossen a small group of five or six Amhara couild travel without danger from Bulga to Debre Libanos, taking the shortest route through the Galla [Oromo] area."4
About the time Asfa Wossen had made some progress in consolidating his hold on Shewa, Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I made camp in Geshe, ready to wage war on this growing threat to his realm. Mutual friends (and the pressure of his general Wolde Selassie upon the Emperor) made peace between the two. Meridazmach Asfa Wossen paid tribute to the Emperor, who then returned to Gondar; this was the last time an Emperor exacted tribute from Shewa until the reign of Tewodros II.5
In his last years, Asfa Wossen lost his sight, and underwent a period of suffering. Following his death, his body was buried in his capital of Ankober.6
[edit] Notes
- Abir, Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes; The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire (1769-1855) (London: Longmans, 1968), p. 148 n.3.
- Abir, p. 148.
- Abir, p. 149.
- Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 128.
- Abir, p. 150.
- Abir, p. 151.
| Preceded by Amha Iyasus |
Rulers of Shewa | Succeeded by Wossen Seged |
