After the Battle of Magdala in 1868, the victorious British expedition looted a great many books and artifacts not only from the city of Maqdala but also from the Ethiopian Christian church of Medhane Alem.
[1] According to Henry M. Stanley, the loot included "an infinite variety of gold, and silver and brass crosses", as well as "heaps of parchment royally illuminated".
Fifteen elephants and almost two hundred mules were required to bear the loot to the nearby Dalanta Plain for auction.
[citation needed] In the mid-20th century, world law and opinion gradually came to ban looting, most notably codified in the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The Ethiopian government started requesting the return of the looted goods within three years of the battle, with some small success.