Wube Haile Maryam

Wube Haile Maryam of Semien, (1799 – 1867), also called by his title Dejazmach Wube, Webé; his name is also given in European sources as ‘‘Ubie’’, was one of the major figures of 19th century Ethiopia, during the closing decades of the Zemene Mesafint (lit: Era of the princes) a period of regional lords vying for power, prestige and territory amid a weakened authority of the emperors.

The regional ruler and Dejazmach of his hereditary province of Semien, and later as the overlord Tigrayan ruler of the Tigray Province and other coastal territories in what is now part of central Eritrea. Wube is remembered in Eritrea and Tigray for barbarous military raids. A major claimant to the Ethiopian throne during his era, Wube was defeated and imprisoned in 1855 by another contender Kassa Hailu, the future emperor Tewodros II. Some sources date Wube's defeat as the end of Ethiopia's Zemene Mesafint. He died in chains in 1867