Lasta (
Amharic
Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...
: ላስታ ''lāstā'') is a historic district in northern
Ethiopia. It is the district in which
Lalibela is situated, the former capital of Ethiopia during the
Zagwe dynasty and home to 11 medieval rock-hewn churches. Its original name in the Middle Ages was Begwena.
According to
G.W.B. Huntingford, Lasta is first mentioned in the fourteenth century, although it obviously had been inhabited long before that. In the 18th century the
Czech Franciscan Remedius Prutky listed Lasta as one of the 22
provinces of Ethiopia still subject to the Emperor, but singled Lasta out as one of the six he considered "large and truly deserving of the name of kingdom."
[J.H. Arrowsmith-Brown (trans.), ''Prutky's Travels in Ethiopia and other Countries'' with notes by Richard Pankhurst (London: Hakluyt Society, 1991), p. 131] Its neighbor to the west was
Begemder, and to the north,
Wag.
See also
*
Lasta (woreda), the present district of the same name
*
Wagshum
References
Provinces of Ethiopia
{{Ethiopia-geo-stub