Battle of Jazja
DateBetween 1424 & 1433
Location
Jazja, Ethiopia
Result Adalite victory
Belligerents
Ethiopian Empire Adal Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Yeshaq I Jamal ad-Din II
Strength
Great multitude of horsemen 500 horsemen
Casualties and losses
Heavy Unkown

The Battle of Jazja was an armed engagement fought between the Ethiopian Empire and the Adal Empire. The Adalites were victorious.[1]

Prelude

After the hostilities were opened again between the two powers, Yeshaq I assembled an even army bigger than before in an attempt to occupy the region, Yeshaq, according to the Islamic historian al-Maqrizi, hired a group of Mamluks led by al-Tabingha to train his army in gunnery and swordfighting, they also taught him the secrets of Greek fire.[2] This is the earliest reference to firearms (Arabic: naft) in Ethiopia.[3] Despite having an advantage over his foe, Yeshaq and his armies were routed at the 2nd Battle of Yedaya.

Battle

After his loss at Yedaya at the hands of Jamal ad-Din II, Yeshaq this time was said to have assembled a great multitude of horsemen, in order to utterly destroy all the Mohammedans dwelling in Abyssinia. The Ethiopians moved and invaded the region of Jezja, the Muslims under the command of Jamal ad-Din met them there with 500 horsemen and they fought till the Ethiopians were routed, they were pursued for three days and suffered so many casualties that the land was reportedly strewn with their corpses. The victorious Jamal ad-Din then burnt all the houses and churches of the christians and carried off numerous women and children, besides much booty, in the course of this expedition which lasted 3 months, the victors also captured a hundred saddled horses, besides numerous beasts without saddles.[4][1][5]

References

  1. 1 2 Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. The Red Sea Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-932415-19-6.
  2. ↑ Morié, Louis-J. Auteur du texte (1904). Histoire de l'Éthiopie (Nubie et Abyssinie) : depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours. L'Abyssinie (Éthiopie moderne) / par L.-J. Morié... p. 215.
  3. ↑ Richard Pankhurst, "Linguistic and Cultural Data on the Penetration of Fire-Arms into Ethiopia", Journal of Ethiopian Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1971), pp. 47–82.
  4. ↑ Al-Makrizi.), Ahmad (Ibn Ali (1790). Historia regum Islamiticorum in Abyssinia (in Arabic). Sam. et Joh. Luchtmans. p. 33.
  5. ↑ Budge E.a. Wallis (1828). History Of Ethiopia Nubia And Abyssinia. p. 303.
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