It was formed in 1936 from parts of the conquered Ethiopian Empire following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.

It had a population of more than two million inhabitants (In 1940 11,200 were Italians settlers, mostly in the capital Gondar).

The region was a stronghold of fierce Ethiopian resistance against the Italians.

By 1940, the last areas of guerrilla activity was around Lake Tana and southern Gojjam, under the leadership of the degiac Mengesha Gembere and Belay Zeleke.

[1] Main colonial governors: Agenore Frangipani; Guglielmo Nasi; Enrico Cerulli; Pietro Gazzera; Luigi Frusci; Alessandro Pirzio Biroli