Walasma of Ifat

Who he is

Name

Umar Walasma (Umar ibn Dunya-hawaz), first lord of Ifat in the dynasty's own tradition; whether he rules on 1 January 1200 is not pinned

Title

Lord of Ifat (Awfat)

Since

Not pinned: modern lists that follow the dynasty's tradition date the house from 1185 or 1187, and give Umar a start in 1197, without a source that can be checked

Born

Not known; the History of the Walashma says he died in 1276 (674 AH in Cerulli's reckoning) at the age of 120, which is legend

Family

Walasma (Walashma) house, tracing its line through Shaykh Yusuf (Aw Barkhadle) to Yusuf ibn Ahmad al-Kawneyn and, by claim, to Aqil ibn Abi Talib; al-Maqrizi says the family first settled in Jabarta, in the Zeila country, before moving inland to Ifat

Confidence

low

Wikipedia 'Umar Walasma' (Cerulli; al-Maqrizi; Ibn Khaldun; Pankhurst; Cuoq); Taddesse Tamrat 1972, p. 124

Overlord

Not pinned: al-Maqrizi says a king of Abyssinia (hati) appointed Umar as the first ruler of Ifat (Pankhurst thought Yekuno Amlak, Cuoq more likely a Zagwe king); Levtzion says the Makhzumi held Ifat; Ibn Khaldun says the forebears of the Walasma were tributary to Damot.

What it holds

• Ifat: the escarpment and foothills east of the Shewan plateau, round modern Ataye and Shewa Robit (the lowland edge toward the Awash shared with Afar herders)

How it was acquired

Settlement from the Zeila country (al-Maqrizi), appointment by a Christian king (al-Maqrizi) or refuge (Ibn Khaldun): versions differ.

Allies and rivals

Overlords or neighbours: the Makhzumi sultans; Damot; the Christian kings. The house marries into the Makhzumi line in 1271 and destroys it after 1276.

How things stand that morning

Not pinned: Ifat is a Muslim district on the edge of the sultanate; its lord on 1 January 1200 is not securely known.

Wealth

The caravan road from Zeila to Shewa passes through Ifat; later (fourteenth century) al-Umari calls Ifat one of the richest Muslim provinces of Ethiopia.

Military

No figures.

Threats

• Damot
• The Makhzumi sultans

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1271-1285Marriage alliance with the sultan Dil-Marrah (1271), conquest of Shewa begun in 1276, Walalah burned in 1277, the Makhzumi line ended by 1285, and the sultanate of Ifat founded.Depends on: The rise of the house over three generations. Stopped by: Far beyond the opening of play.

Places of note

• Gendebelo (Asbari): A trading town of Ifat in the fourteenth century, identified with the ruins of Asbari: later than 1200.

Where the sources disagree

• The dates 1185, 1187 and 1197 for the house or for Umar come from late dynastic tradition reproduced without source in modern lists; treat them as unproven.

Evidence: Dynastic tradition and fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Arabic writers.

On the map: Rough block; the eastern edge follows the modern Amhara-Afar boundary.

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