Enderta is bordered on the west by Tembien, on the south and southwest by Lasta and Wag, on the east by denkel (southern Red Sea region of Eritrea), and on the north by Agame and Adwa.
Hintalo (also known as Antalo) had originally been Enderta's capital city; it is located on a high plateau beneath the south face of Amba Aradam, making the town a natural fortress.
[9] After the fall of the Axumite empire some time in the late 9th century AD, the center of economical as well as political power shifted to the south, while the many provinces in the north were governed by the Tigray Mekonen based in Enderta.
[13] The Emperor's appointees were unpopular, described as "men who were not born from Adam and Eve who were called Halestiyotat," a term literally meaning "bastard of mixed or low origins".
[13] To consolidate his control in the region, Amda Seyon established a military colony of non Tigrayan troops at Amba Senayata, the center of the rebellion, and appointed his queen consort, Bilén Saba, as governor of Enderta, along with a new batch of officials below her.
[citation needed] By the Zemene Mesafint, or Era of Princes (1769–1855), the province of Enderta assumed great prominence when its nobility ascended to power.
However, Wolde Selassie remembered how the older man (Suhul Michael) had his father killed, and spent the years until the old Ras died in exile amongst the Wollo Oromo and in Gojjam.
The two fought many battles but Ras Gebra Meskel was on the losing side; this prompted Wolde Selassie to head for Gondar to claim the governorship of Enderta.
[9] Ras Wolde Selassie was known to be one of the bravest princes in the records of Abyssinia after engaging successfully in more than forty battles and rising to the level of Betwoded Enderase while a governor of all provinces as well as the major counties of Tigray, Gondar and Merebmilash (Eritrea) between 1790 and 1816.
He then turned his attention to the coast, slowly but surely imposing his suzerainty over the Muslim authorities there until he finally could control and tax their trade inland; he used the revenues, to train, reform and re-equip his army and when the 19th century opened, Wolde Selassie was by far Abyssinia's leading figure and certainly the main champion of the Solomonic tradition.
[21] According to Paul Henze, Ras Wolde Selassie was the first ruler of this period to have close contact with Europeans, hosting three British diplomats, George Annesley, Viscount Valentia, his secretary Henry Salt, and Pearce.
Revealing himself a realist, and speaking, Salt says, with 'great sincerity', he nevertheless expressed the fear that his country: might not be able to supply any quantity of valuable commodities sufficient to recompense our merchants for engaging in so precarious a trade; more especially as the Abyssinians were not much acquainted with commercial transactions...Could any plan, however, be arranged for obviating these difficulties...he would most readily concur in carrying it into effect.
[22] Wolde Selassie's effort, however, did bear fruit in the long term when his successors Dejazmatch Wube of Semien and Tigray and Emperor Yohanness of Ethiopia followed up on the treaty that was struck between him and the kingdom of Britain.
[24] Another British envoy, Mansfield Parkyns, adds, "Wolde Selassie reigned for twenty-five years, and during this long period obtained and maintained for himself the character of a good and wise prince".
With the death of Emperor Tewdros in 1868, Ethiopia was once again divided into three rival over lords: Wagshum Gobaze ruler of Amhara, Wag and Lasta, Dajazmtach Kasa Mercha of Tigray and Menilek, heir to the throne of Shawa.
He was, however, soon effectively challenged by Dajazmach Kasa who was more powerful militarily, in part on account of the gift of arms he had received from the Napier expedition, and assistance given him by a former member of the British force, John Kirkham who had volunteered to train his army on European lines.
Gobaze set out with 60,000 men to capture the city of Adwa, but Kassa, making good use of his British guns, defeated him at the battle of Assam, on 11 July 1871; He then proclaimed himself Emperor Yohannes IV, on 21 January of the following year.
Yohannes pleaded with the British to stop their Egyptian allies, and even withdrew from his own territory in order to show the Europeans that he was the wronged party and that the Khedive was the aggressor.
The Egyptians aware of the extent of their defeats in 1875-6, as well as the apparent invincibility of the emperor's army, abandoned their expansionist ambitions in this part of Africa, as it turned out for ever.
The Ethiopian victories of Gndat and Gura were important in that they helped to consolidate the internal political position of Yohannes, and assisted him forge a considerable measure of national unity.
Yohannes went on to repel and quel on multiple occasions Italian and Sudan mahdist aggressions with his famed generals such as Ras Alula Aba Nega.
According to Augustus B. Wylde who claimed to have heard the story from a priest who managed to escape the slaughter, wrote how Yohannes' uncle Ras Areya Dimtsu of Enderta stood beside the body of his dead master with "a few of his soldiers and the bravest of the king's servants, who had lost their all, and had no more prospects to live for".
Ras Areya was last seen standing alongside the box containing the king's body, after having expended all his ammunition, with his shield and sword in his hands, defending himself, till at last he was speared by a Dervish from behind, and died fighting gamely like the fine old warrior that he was; according to Wylde, as he saw death come Ras Areya announced "that he was now old and done for, that his time had come, and it was useless at his age to serve another master that he knew little about, and it was better to die like a man fighting unbelievers, than like a mule in a stable.
The woyane uprising in Tigray seems to have arisen when administrative corruption and greed ignited a situation of existing instability and insecurity, one awash with weaponry in the wake of the Italian defeat.
During the rainy season of 1943 the rebels under the leadership of Fitawrari Yeebio Woldai and Dejazmach Neguise Bezabih, hailing from Enderta,[33] which was the heart of the woyane rebellion,[34] were busy organizing their forces; and after celebrating the Ethiopian New Year on 12 September, they went on the besieged government garrison at Quiha.
During the next three weeks, the Weyane forces fought hard against Ras Abebe's Ethiopian troops, who were bolstered by a small contingent of British officers and specialists.
Basha Gugusa, one of the first Woyanne leaders, led the battle of Ambalage in the month of September 1943 to victory over Imperial army which was well equipped and supported by British airpower.
The total annihilation of government forces heavily supported by the British army sent a signal to the Emperor, that "the Tigrians weren't only brave fighters but also astute strategist" said Hailemariam when he gave an interview to Wegahta magazine.
This is a form of old age democratic process through which elected and assigned elders are representing their constituency in social, political, and governmental affairs within the empire of Ethiopia.
[43] Within villages and major towns throughout Enderta during the monarchy time, many individuals became 'big men' by accumulating great wealth and acquiring a following of poorer households that were dependent for food and oxen, a debt repaid with labor and loyalty.