The plateau inside the great loop of the Abay, south of Lake Tana.
Its western part, Agaw Midir round modern Injibara and Dangila, is the country of the Awngi-speaking Agaw; the rest of the plateau was home to Agaw and other peoples, with the Gafat on both banks of the Abay in the south. Taddesse Tamrat notes that the Zagwe kings had contacts in Gojjam (the Gadla Lalibela; a Gojjam chronicle tells of the battle between Lalibela and his brother there), but the Christian conquest and settlement of Gojjam belong to the fourteenth century under Amda Seyon. Drawn as self-governing peoples under loose Zagwe influence.
Who holds it
- Title
- Agaw headmen; no ruler recorded
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
Zagwe influence in the hagiographies (the Gadla of Na'akueto La'ab says Zagwe power extended into Gojjam); not shown to be governed.
What it holds
- Agaw Midir (the Awngi Agaw)
- The central and eastern Gojjam plateau inside the Abay loop
How things stand that morning
Self-governing on the evidence; no event recorded.
Customs
Agaw clans under their own headmen (no assemblies recorded for this date).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Hagiographic mentions and later history.
On the map: Western edge toward the Gumuz and Shinasha lowlands of Metekel is a guess.
Sources and studies
- Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia 1270-1527 (Oxford 1972), ch. I-II (peoples of the highlands, the 'Sidama' plateau, Christian expansion into Amhara and Shewa)
- Wikipedia, 'Na'akueto La'ab' (the Gadla on Zagwe power in Gojjam)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.