The British explorer Henry Salt, who notes that the Tigrinya name of the lake is Tsada Bahri ("White Sea") from the number of birds which cover its surface, records a local tradition that a large city once stood on the site of Hashenge, but "it was destroyed, in his displeasure, by the immediate hand of God.

On August 29, 1542, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, the leader of the Adal Sultanate, advanced upon the Portuguese stockade near Ofla on the southern side of Ashenge, where he fought the Battle of Ofla and prevailed, afterwards capturing and killing the leader Cristóvão da Gama.

[2] On 3 April 1936, thousands of soldiers of the Ethiopian Empire were killed with poison gas all around Lake Ashenge.

On 4 April, Emperor Haile Selassie I looked with despair upon the horrific sight of the dead bodies of his army ringing the poisoned lake.

There was a poor woman with a baby who let Saint Mary enter her house about to make flat bread when she opens dough it will be filed and bow to her st mary tells her that God is displeased of the because the city intends to destroy and tells her to follow her Don't look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley.