Chachaho and the Politics of the Northern Wallo-Bagemder Border

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	Chachaho and the Politics of the Northern Wallo-Bagemder Border
Author:	Crummey, Donald
Year:	1975
Periodical:	Journal of Ethiopian Studies
Volume:	13
Issue:	1
Pages:	1-9
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ethiopia
Subjects:	fortifications history 1600-1699 1700-1799 1800-1899 History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/41965878
Abstract:	Cäcäho marks the place at which the Italian road from Gondar to Dasse crosses the present Wällo-Bägémder border. The name itself applies to a river '(a northern tributary of the Bäselo), an area, a village, and a fortified position, evidently on the Wällo side. Its principal feature, however, is that it is an extremely narrow spur linking the plateau of Gayent in the west to the plateau of Zäbit Meda in the east. As such, Cäcäho indicates a critical strategic position on the chain of plateaux joining the Tana region in the west to Yäjju in the east. The author examines its position as a strategic axis for national power from the early seventeenth century onward up to the reign of Meniiek (1889-1913), by which time Cäcäho's strategic importance had diminished and it had become little more than the border between governorships. Map, notes.