Ottoman–Ethiopian War (1557–1589)
| Ottoman–Ethiopian War (1557–1589) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Expansion of the Ottoman Empire | |||||||||
King of Abyssinia faces the Ottoman Sultan in contemporary Japanese painting | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Ethiopian Empire |
Ottoman Empire • Egypt Eyalet • Yemen Eyalet Medri Bahri Adal Sultanate | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Gelawdewos Menas Sarsa Dengel Yeshaq (1557–1561) |
Özdemir Pasha (POW) Beylerbey Ahmad Pasha † Kedwart Pasha † Yeshaq † Ga'ewa Barakat ibn Umar Din † Muhammad ibn Nasir | ||||||||
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The Ottoman–Ethiopian War was a period of military conflicts lasting from 1557 to 1589 between the Ottoman Empire and its allies on one side and the Ethiopian Empire on the other. The war was triggered with the Ottoman Empire invading territories of the Ethiopian Empire starting in 1557, when Özdemir Pasha took the port city of Massawa and the adjacent city of Arqiqo, followed by Debarwa, then capital of the Bahr Negus Yeshaq. The conflict continued over the next three decades and would only end in 1589. From the 1550s-70s the Adal Sultanate was destroyed due to Sarsa Dengel's Sack of Harar (1559) and slaying of the following Sultan at the Battle of Webi River. Afterwards, like Ottoman rule in North Africa, Yemen, Bahrain, and Lahsa, the Turks had no "effective, long term control" outside of the port and island where there was a direct Ottoman presence.
Yeshaq sought the assistance of emperor Gelawdewos. Upon being reinforced by a large Abyssinian army, he recaptured Debarwa, taking all the gold the invaders had piled within. After growing Disillusioned with the new Emperor of Ethiopia, Menas, he revolted with Ottoman support in 1560. He then pledged his allegiance again with the crowning of Emperor Sarsa Dengel. However, not long after, Yeshaq revolted once again with Ottoman support only to be defeated by the Emperor once and for all along with his Ottoman ally, the beylerbey of habeş, Ahmad Pasha at the Battle of Addi Qarro where both were killed. The Ottomans abandoned their further territorial ambitions in 1589 after a series of defeats at the hands of the Ethiopian Emperor Sarsa Dengel. As a result, the Ottomans were left with domain over Massawa, Arqiqo, and some of the nearby coastal environs, which were soon transferred to the control of Beja Na'ibs (deputies).