The Battle of Hadiya was fought between the forces of the
Hadiya led by their
Garad
Garad ( Harari: ገራድ, , , Oromo: ''Garaada'') is a term used to refer to a king, Sultan or regional administrator. It was used primarily by Muslims in the Horn of Africa that were associated with Islamic states, most notably the Adal Sultanat ...
(chief)
Aze, and the
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire, historically known as Abyssinia or simply Ethiopia, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day territories of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It existed from the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak a ...
under Emperor
Sarsa Dengel
Sarsa Dengel ( ; 1550 – 4 October 1597), also known as Sarsa the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne name was throne name Malak Sagad I (መለክ ሰገድ ). He is considered one of the greatest w ...
. The Hadiya ruler had refused to pay tribute to the Ethiopian emperor, which lead to the conflict.
Battle
Emir Uthman of
Harar
Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...
dispatched 500
Malassay
A Malassay (Harari language, Harari: መለሳይ ''Mäläsay'', Somali language, Somali: Maalasay) was a member of the elite cavalry units that formed the Adal Sultanate's household troops. According to Manfred Kropp, Malassay were the Harari peo ...
warriors donned in
cuirasses
A cuirass ( ; ; ) is a piece of armour
Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, o ...
to assist Hadiya however Aze's own men, who were large in number, refused to fight the invading Ethiopian army. Hadiya soldiers cited their refusal as being due to already having sustained heavy casualties during the
Oromo migrations
The Oromo expansions or the Oromo invasions (in older historiography, Galla invasions), were a series of expansions in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Oromo primarily documented by the ethnic Gamo monk Bahrey, but also mentioned in other Ch ...
. The Malassay of Harar, finding themselves alone in battle, were thus easily defeated by the Ethiopian forces.
See also
Battle of Hadiya (1600s)
Hadiya (also known as Adea, Hadia, or Hadya) was a medieval Muslim state in the southern part of its realm located south of Shewa and west of Sharkha regions of the Ethiopian Empire. The Hadiya Muslim state mainly composed of Cushitic Hadiyya p ...
References
Hadiya, 1569
Conflicts in 1569
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