Ambalage is a town in southern Tigray,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. This town has a latitude and longitude of {{coord, 12, 56, N, 39, 31, E with an elevation of 2445 to 2480 meters above sea level and is located along

Ethiopian Highway 2 The A2 Highway is a trunk road in Ethiopia. It connects the capital Addis Ababa with Mekelle, as well as with Wukro, Adigrat, Axum, Shire and Humera. Ethiopian the A2 has a length of . Route Towns and cities along the A2 include, from north ...

. Ambalage is located just south of the mountain

Amba Alagi Imba Alaje is a mountain, or an amba, in northern Ethiopia. Located in the Debubawi Zone of the Tigray Region, Imba Alaje dominates the roadway that runs past it from the city of Mek'ele south to Maychew. Because of its strategic location, Emba ...

, from which the name of the town was derived. An 'amba' is a flat-topped mountain (

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by ...

History

During the

Woyane rebellion The Woyane rebellion () was an uprising in Tigray Province, Ethiopia against the centralization process from the government of Emperor Haile Selassie which took place in May–November 1943. The rebels called themselves the ''Woyane'', a name b ...

in 1943, Basha Gugusa, one of the first Woyanne leaders, led the battle of Ambalage in the month of September 1943. In the battle of Ambalage, the rebels gained victory over the Imperial army which was well equipped and supported by British airpower. The Weyane forces outnumbered those of the government, but their advantage in numbers was offset by artillery and British air power.

Geography

Ambalage is located on the north shore of a stream which runs west towards the Tekeze. Just north of Ambalage, the highway climbs to a height of 3090 meter at the Alagi Pass near the mountain Amba Alagi. Towards the south (

Dessie Dessiè City which is politically oppressed by the past Ethiopian government systems due to the fact that most of the population follow Islamic religion. Dessie ( am, ደሴ, Däse; also spelled Dese or Dessye) is a town in north-central Ethiopia ...

), the road climbs more gently to a height of 2990 meter before going down to

Maychew Maychew, also Maichew ( ti, ማይጨው, "salt water"), is a town and woreda in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It is located at 665 km north of Addis Ababa along Ethiopian Highway 2. According to Ethiopia’s agro-ecological setting, Maychew ...

. Ambalage is in the Southern Zone of the

Tigray Region The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is ...

. Populated places in the Tigray Region