Battle of Wayna Daga The Battle of Wayna Daga ( Amharic for " Grape - cultivating altitude " ) occurred on 21 February 1543 east of Lake Tana in Ethiopia . Led by the Emperor Galawdewos , the combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeated the Somali - Ottoman army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al - Ghazi . Tradition states that Ahmad was killed by a Portuguese musketeer , who had charged alone into the Muslim lines . Once the Imam ' s soldiers learned of his death , they fled the battlefield . Background . At the Battle of Wofla ( 28 August 1542 ) , Imam Ahmad had crushed the Portuguese expeditionary force , killing most of its men , capturing practically all of the firearms they had , and capturing and killing its leader , Cristóvão da Gama . By any reasonable assessment , the Imam enjoyed a decisive victory over his greatest foe ; armies in the Horn of Africa melted away with the death of their leaders . He then reduced the number of the mercenary Ottoman arquebus iers to 200 , and relying on his own forces retired to Emfraz near Lake Tana for the coming rainy season . Miguel de Castanhoso states that these arquebusiers left his service because they were upset that he beheaded da Gama , whom they wanted to present to the Ottoman emperor . However , Beckingham notes that a Hadhrami chronicle states that some of them threatened the Imam ' s life unless he gave them 10 , 000 ounces of gold , to which he " gave a very favorable reply " . When the rest of the group learned of their success , they came to the Imam and made a similar demand ; deciding that he had no further need of their services , he sent them home giving them 2 , 000 ounces of gold . However , Gama had inspired a fierce loyalty in his surviving followers , all but 50 of whom had reassembled after their defeat around Queen Sabla Wengel , and taken refuge at " The Mountain of the Jews " , which Whiteway identifies as Amba Sel . De Castanhoso , writing decades after the fact , states that after the Emperor Gelawdewos had joined the survivors , and seeing the number of men who flocked to the Emperor ' s standard , at Christmas " we went to the Preste , and begged him to help us avenge the death of Dom Christovão . " Gelawdewos agreed to march against the Imam . The Portuguese firearms which had been stored at Debre Damo were produced . A message was sent to a company of Portuguese soldiers who had proceeded to Debarwa to find passage home , but they failed to respond in time for the coming battle . The allied forces spent the following months marching the provinces before heading to Imam Ahmad ' s camp next to Lake Tana . On 13 February 1543 , they defeated a group of cavalry and infantry led by the Imam ' s lieutenant Sayid Mehmed in Wogera ( roughly corresponding to the modern woreda of the same name ) , killing Sayid Mehmed . From the prisoners it was learned that the Imam was camped only 5 days ' march away at Deresgue , and flush with victory the army marched to confront their enemy . Location . As with many of the battles in Castanhoso ' s narrative , published 20 years after the events they describe , the exact location where the two forces encountered one another is not known . General histories of Ethiopia are vague : Paul B . Henze , in his " Layers of Time " , implies the battlefield was near Lake Tana , and in a footnote states that much of the combat activity at this time " would seem to have been in Gaynt " , the former province located southeast of Lake Tana . Richard Pankhurst in " The Ethiopian : A History " places the engagement in " Western Bagemder " , which covered the area corresponding to the contemporary Debub Gondar Zone . Lastly , the name itself is of little help : " Wayna Daga " is the traditional Amharic word for the climatic regions between the higher , mountainous " Daga " elevations ( 2 , 600 meters above sea level and above ) and the lowland " Qolla " elevations ( between 1 , 400 and 2 , 000 meters above sea level ) . Most of the lands around Lake Tana fall into this middle climatic region . Whiteway , in his introduction to Castanhoso ' s account , discusses the evidence he was able to compile for its location . Castanhoso himself does not name the place ; it was Pedro Páez who first provided the name of " Wayna Daga " . Paez ' s younger contemporary , Jerónimo Lobo , locates the battle at a place called " Granhi Berr Jaaf Granhi " , or " Granhi ' s Gate , Granhi ' s Tree " ; Lobo was told the locale acquired this name when Imam Ahmad , finding himself mortally wounded in the battle , " in great pain and rage , took the unsheathed scimitar with which he was fighting and struck a blow on the trunk of a tree near him " . Lobo adds that he was shown the place , tree and mark . James Bruce , travelling south of Dengel Ber over three centuries later , mentions passing " the small village of Waindega , famous for the decisive battle fought between King Claudius and the Moor Gragne " , adding in a footnote that the village was " otherwise called Graneber . " However , as Whiteway points out , " The difficulty that presents itself to my mind is , to understand by what possible strategy one army starting from Darasgue , and the other from Woggera , neither desiring to avoid an engagement , and both starting - places being north of Lake Tzana , the decisive battle could have taken place at its south - west corner . " Bruce may have been of the same mind , for earlier in his lengthy account of Ethiopian history , when he recounts the Battle of Wayna Daga Bruce appears to indicate the two armies fought at the north - east corner of the lake . Whiteway notes that two explorers , Combes and Tamisier , who crossed the mountainous country north - east of Lake Tana in 1835 call that region " Ouenadega " or Wayna Daga , and he concludes his discussion by locating the battle there . The battle . Once the Ethiopian - Portuguese army found the army of Imam Ahmad , they set up camp nearby ; Emperor Gelawedewos advised against engaging the enemy right away , hoping that the 50 missing Portuguese soldiers would arrive soon as " in that country fifty Portuguese are a greater reinforcement than one thousand natives . " Over the following days , each camp preceded to harass the other with cavalry raids . The allied side had the better of the exchange , keeping their opponents from venturing from their camp for supplies , until the Somalis managed to kill the leading Ethiopian soldier , " Azmach " Keflo , which demoralized the Ethiopian troops . Faced with the potential desertion of his force , Galawedewos decided he could wait no longer and prepared for an assault the next day . The two forces started the main battle early the next day , with the Somali - Ottoman force divided into two groups . At first , the Muslim side succeeded in driving the allied side back , until a charge by the Portuguese and Ethiopian cavalry broke up the charge . At this point Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al - Ghazi , with his son at his side , took to the field and led a renewed assault . It was in this charge that the Imam was killed by a bullet to his chest which threw him from his horse , although the sources differ in how he died . According to Castanhoso , the Imam was recognized by the Portuguese arquebusiers , who directed their combined firepower at him , and one of the arquebuses in the group fired the fatal shot . Although he was an eyewitness to the battle , Castanhoso constantly emphasizes in his account the corporate identity of the Portuguese expedition after Gama ' s death : " We bore before us the banner of Holy Compassion ( " Sancta Misericordia " ) ; the Preste had sought to appoint one of us Captain , but we desired none save the banner of himself to lead us , for it was not to be anticipated that we should follow another , having lost what we had lost . " There is another tradition , at least as old as João Bermudes , and repeated by every other near - contemporary source ( e . g . , Gaspar Correia , Jerónimo Lobo ) , that gives the credit of Imam Ahmad ' s death to one João de Castilho ; João charged into the Somali troops so he could fire upon Ahmad Gragn at point - blank range , an audacious act resulting in his death . Both Castanhoso and the story of João de Castilho return to agreement about Imam Ahmad ' s fate after this point : at the end of the battle , when Emperor Galawedewos offered his sister ' s hand in marriage to the man who killed the Imam , an Ethiopian soldier presented the Imam ' s head as proof of the deed ; but a subsequent investigation revealed that the Portuguese had wounded him before the soldier had cut off the Imam ' s head , " thus he did not give his sister to that man , nor did he reward the Portuguese , as it was not known who wounded him " . Aftermath . As they heard of the death of the Imam , his followers fled the battlefield . Armies of that time and place tended to pledge their loyalty to a leader , not to a cause ; most of his followers pragmatically looked to their own well - being . An exception was the captain of the Ottoman arquebusiers , who seeing Imam Ahmad ' s wife Bati del Wambara managed to escape with a group of the surviving Ottoman arquebusiers , 300 horsemen of her personal guard , and as much of the Imam ' s treasure as they could carry . The moment they left their camp , the victorious Ethiopian army poured in , slaughtering everyone they encountered except for women and children . Amongst the women were numerous Christian captives and , as Castanhoso tells the story , " some found sisters , others daughters , others their wives , and it was for them no small delight to see them delivered from captivity . " According to Bruce , there remained one enemy leader with a sizable force still at large , under one Joram . This Joram had driven Gelawadewos " from his hiding - place on Mount Tsalem , and forced him to cross the Tacazze on foot , with equal danger of being drowned or taken . " Joram had been unable to join the Imam before the battle , and Emperor Gelawadewos learned he was hastening towards him , unaware that the battle had already been lost . Gelawadewos sent out a party who successfully ambushed him , " which closed the account of Claudius with his father ' s enemies . " The father of the " Bahr negus " , who had despaired of the rightful Emperor being restored to power and had come to be a valuable supporter of the Imam , sought pardon from Gelawadewos , offering Imam Ahmad ' s son in exchange ; despite the Emperor ' s anger at the man ' s betrayal , out of respect for the " Bahr negus " , who had provided critical help in getting the Portuguese expedition into Ethiopia , Gelawadewos consented to the offer . The Imam ' s son later proved a useful prize , for he was later exchanged for the Emperor ' s own brother , Menas , who later succeeded Gelawadewos . A number of other Christians who had joined Imam Ahmed Gragn accompanied the " Bahr negus " ' father into camp , but not having the influence or bargaining chip he did , the Emperor ordered the execution of some of them . Other individuals who sought his safe - conduct , the Emperor Gelawadewos granted it , " for there were so many that had he ordered all to be killed , he would have remained alone . " By Easter ( 25 March ) , it became clear to Gelawdewos that he would not be able to make a circuit of his newly - won empire to impress his authority on all parts of it before the start of the rainy season , so he set up camp " three leagues away " in an unnamed location on the shores of Lake Tana . Once the rains had ended , Emperor Gelawdewos began the long task of consolidating his rule .