Ga'ewa or Ga‘ǝwa ( Ge'ez: ጋዕዋ), pp. 348–49. was a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

queen (regent) in the north of the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

in the sixteenth century. Her kingdom stretched from

Metemma Metemma ( Amharic: መተማ), also known as Metemma Yohannes is a town in northwestern Ethiopia, on the border with Sudan. Located in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Metemma has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 68 ...

in the west to the area south of the

Mareb Marib ( ar, مَأْرِب, Maʾrib; Old South Arabian: 𐩣𐩧𐩨/𐩣𐩧𐩺𐩨 ''Mryb/Mrb'') is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of '' Sabaʾ'' ( ar, سَبَأ), which some scholars ...

river in the Ethiopian province of Tigray.. According to the '' Chronicle of King Gälawdewos'', an account of the reign of the Ethiopian emperor Gälawdewos (1540–59), Ga'ewa was the queen of Säläwa, a region in central Tigray. According to the '' Futūḥ al-Ḥabasha'' (Conquest of Abyssinia), an account of the campaigns of Aḥmad Grāñ (died 1543), she was the queen of Mäzäga, a region that has not been conclusively identified. It has been located north of the Tekezé river and bordering the

Funj Sultanate The Funj Sultanate, also known as Funjistan, Sultanate of Sennar (after its capital Sennar) or Blue Sultanate due to the traditional Sudanese convention of referring to black people as blue () was a monarchy in what is now Sudan, northwestern E ...

in the west. After the death of her brother, Mäkättar, sultan of Mäzäga, she took over the regency on behalf of her nephew Nafî. The ''Futūḥ al-Ḥabasha'' describes her as "a woman of good counsel, intelligent and wise". She reportedly launched several raids against the Christian

Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...

. In 1557, the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

under Özdemür Pasha took Massawa from the '' bahr negus'' Yeshaq and massacred the monks of

Debre Damo Debre Damo (), also spelled Debre Dammo, Dabra Dāmmo or Däbrä Dammo), is the name of a flat-topped mountain, or amba, and a 6th-century monastery in Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The mountain is a steeply rising plateau of trapezoidal shape, abou ...

. In a counteroffensive, Yeshaq defeated the Ottomans and invaded Mäzäga. Ga'ewa's troops were defeated and she fled to

Debarwa Debarwa ( ) is a market town in central Eritrea. It is situated about 25 kilometers south of the capital Asmara, and has a population of about 25,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Debarwa district (''Tsilima'') in the Debub ("Southern") ad ...

and the protection of the Ottomans. She tried to persuade Özdemür to liberate Mäzäga by telling him where she had hidden her treasure, but Yeshaq took Debarwa before the Ottomans could mount an expedition., p. 92. In folklore and oral traditions, Ga'ewa is often confused with the semi-legendary tenth-century queen

Gudit Gudit ( gez, ጉዲት) is the Classical Ethiopic name for a personage also known as Yodit in Tigray, and Amharic, but also Isato in Amharic and Ga'wa in Ţilţal. The personage behind these various alternative names is portrayed as a power ...

. In some places, such as the village of Addi Akaweh, they are explicitly identified as one and the same person. Another tradition makes her the wife of Aḥmad Grāñ. The oral traditions of the village of Sǝfra Ga‘ǝwa depict its namesake as a wealthy woman with several herds of cattle.

Places named after her

*Addi Ga‘ǝwa ("country of Ga'ewa") *Qǝṣri Ga‘ǝwa ("enceinte of Ga'ewa") *Mǝ‘raf Ga‘ǝwa ("resting place of Ga'ewa") *Mäqabǝr Ga‘ǝwa ("tomb of Ga'ewa") *Sǝfra Ga‘ǝwa ("place of Ga'ewa")

Places named after her

Notes

Further reading