Kingdom of Damot
Kingdom of Damot | |||||||||||
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| c. 10th/13th century–c. 16th century | |||||||||||
The kingdom of Damot and its neighbours circa 1200 AD | |||||||||||
| Capital | Maldarede 9°23′N 37°34′E / 9.39°N 37.56°E | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Gonga, and other North Omotic languages | ||||||||||
| Religion | Paganism, Christianity | ||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
| Motalami | |||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | c. 10th/13th century | ||||||||||
• Conquered by Ethiopia | c. 1316 | ||||||||||
• Dissolution (By the 16th century, Damot was further fragmented and ultimately overrun during the Oromo expansion) | c. 16th century | ||||||||||
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The Kingdom of Damot (Amharic: ዳሞት) was an medieval kingdom in what is now western Ethiopia. The territory was positioned below the Blue Nile. Possibly formed in the 10th century, it was a powerful state by the 13th century that forced the Sultanate of Showa to pay tributes. It also annihilated the armies of the Zagwe dynasty that were sent to subdue its territory. Damot conquered several Muslim and Christian territories. The Muslim state Showa and the new Christian state under Yekuno Amlak formed an alliance to counter the influence of Damot in the region.
Some academics have claimed that Damot was equivalent to the Kingdom of Wolaita, with the most famous ruler of Damot, Motolomi Sato, coming from the Wolaita Malla dynasty which ruled from the 13th-16th century, before being replaced by the Tigre Malla dynasty amid the Oromo expansion.: 59 Part of the kingdom's former northern territory continued to be under Ethiopian rule as the province of the same name around Gojjam.