Kings and their demesnes · The Makhzumi sultanate of Shewa · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Sultan of Shewa

The reigning sultan of the Makhzumi house, ruling from Walalah over the Muslim communities of the eastern Shewan plateau and escarpment, through lords of towns such as Kalgur and Hadbaya and with a judiciary of Muslim scholars (a chief judge is named in the thirteenth-century chronicle).

His name for 1 January 1200 is not known. See the realm record.

Who he is

Name
Not known for 1 January 1200
Title
Sultan of Shewa
Since
Not pinned
Family
Makhzumi dynasty (claimed descent from Wudd ibn Hisham al-Makhzumi)
Confidence
low

No summary of the Shewa chronicle reached names a sultan for the years round 1200; its named sultans are of the 1260s-1280s (Dil-Marrah, Dil-Gamis, and the puppet installed in 1285).

What it holds

  • Walalah, the capital
  • The plateau and escarpment between Christian north Shewa and the Awash

How it was acquired

By descent in the Makhzumi house.

Allies and rivals

As the realm record.

Wealth

The Zeila trade road; farming and herds.

Military

No figures.

Threats

  • Damot
  • Rivals in his own house
  • The Walasma of Ifat

Places of note

  • Walalah: Capital, position after Huntingford (not confirmed).

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: One late-thirteenth-century chronicle.

On the map: Reconstruction; see the realm record.

Primary sources for Sultanate of Shewa

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Glory of the Kings, Yeshaq of Aksum (compiler) (1314 to 1322 in Ge'ez; the colophon claims an Arabic version of 1225). Nothing on events, but the ideology that unmade the Zagwe: the story that Ethiopia's rightful kings descend from Solomon and Menelik, compiled a century after 1200 to justify Yekuno Amlak's seizure of the throne in 1270 and to brand the Zagwe as usurpers. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia, 'Sultanate of Showa'
  2. African History Extra, 'A Muslim kingdom in the Ethiopian highlands' (after Labadie's edition of the Dhikr al-tawarikh)
  3. Wikipedia, 'Ali Baziyu' (the Shewa chronicle's annals of the 1270s and 1280s)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.