Amba Mariam

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amba Mariam is a village in central Ethiopia. It was known as Magdala or Meqdela (መቅደላ meḳdelā) during the reign of Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia. Located in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, Amba Mariam has has a longitude and latitude of 11°12′N, 39°17′E.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 1,899, of whom 988 were males and were 911 females.^[1]

[edit] History

Following his victory at Derasge on 9 February 1855, Tewodros II made this village the administrative center of his empire while he subdued the neighboring Oromo territory. In 1867, he imprisoned several British diplomats over a perceived insult from Queen Victoria at Magdala. A British military expedition led by Sir Robert Napier rescued the diplomats, landed at Zula and marched on Magdala, which they reached in April, 1868. Abandoned by the nobility and his followers, and after his remaining troops engaged the British forces 11 April, Tewodros withdrew into the fortress on Amba Mariam and killed himself with a pistol a few days later as the final assault began. This incident is fictionalized in Flashman on the March.

The British entered the capital, and Sir Napier allowed his troops to loot and burn Magdala, including its churches, before departing from Ethiopia. (His army departed from Zula 19 April.) They took a large number of treasures and religious items such as tabots, which today can be seen in various museums and libraries in Europe, as well as in private collections. A few items have been returned to Ethiopia, the most important being the crown of Tewodros II, which King George V personally presented to the future Emperor Haile Selassie on his visit to England in 1925.

Little remains of Tewodros's capital; the most visible item being Tewodros' cannon "Sebastopol".