Siege of Mukha

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Siege of Mukha
Date1423
Location
Result

Adalite victory

  • 10,000 Abyssinian soldiers convert to Islam
Belligerents
Ethiopian Empire Adal Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Yeshaq I Mansur ad-Din
Strength
30,000 imperial Ethiopian soldiers Unknown

The siege of Mukha was fought in 1423[1] between the Ethiopian Empire and the Adal Empire. Sultan Mansur ad-Din was victorious after a siege lasting two months.[2]

Prelude[edit]

Early in his reign he launched an expedition against an Ethiopian Christian monarch, Emperor Dawit and drove him to Yedaya which was described as his royal seat, destroyed the Solomonic army , where according to Maqrizi, he was captured and killed.[3]

His death however presumed to be an event of major importance, is not recorded by the Ethiopian Chronicles. The Ethiopian historian Taddesse Tamrat argues it's because the Ethiopian royal chronicles often deliberately attempted to suppress the violent deaths of the kings whose reigns they extol.[4]

The siege[edit]

In 1423, Mansur resumed the war against the Ethiopian Empire, after defeating the imperial Ethiopian forces under Emperor Yeshaq I at Yedaya, the imperial seat of the region.

He then advanced to Mukha mountain (or Moha), where 30,000 imperial soldiers were besieged for two months before a truce was declared. The soldiers were given the choice of either embracing Islam or returning home, of which about 10,000 were said to have converted to Islam, while the remainder returned home.[5][6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Pankhurst, Richard. (1997). The Ethiopian borderlands: essays in regional history from ancient times to the end of the 18th century. Thomas Leiper Kane Collection (Library of Congress. Hebraic Section). Lawrenceville, N.J.: Red Sea Press. ISBN 0-932415-18-0. OCLC 36543471
  2. ^ Morié, Louis-J. Auteur du texte (1904). Histoire de l'Éthiopie (Nubie et Abyssinie) : depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours. L'Abyssinie (Éthiopie moderne) / par L.-J. Morié... p. 215.
  3. ^ Budge E.a. Wallis (1828). History Of Ethiopia Nubia And Abyssinia. p. 302.
  4. ^ Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. The Red Sea Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-932415-19-6.
  5. ^ ZEWDE, BAHRU (1997). "ON THE ETHIOPIAN PERIPHERY The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century. By RICHARD PANKHURST. Lawrenceville: The Red Sea Press, 1997. Pp. xii + 489
  6. ^ Budge, E. A. Wallis (2014-08-01). A History of Ethiopia: Volume I (Routledge Revivals). doi:10.4324/9781315762722