Dobe'a

The Dobe'a were a people of medieval Ethiopia, living in northeastern Ethiopia between what are now Amhara, Tigray and Afar Regions.

They were first described, during the reign of Emperor Ba'eda Maryam (r. 1468-1478), as inhabiting the region between Enderta (in Tigray province) and Lake Ashenge (Today in Tigray Region, formerly part of the Amhara province of Wollo), neighboring the Afars of the vassal Dankali Sultanate on the east. The area was described by Francisco Álvares during his stay in Ethiopia as being five day's journey (ca. 100 km) in length, and extending far into Muslim Afar territory. One of their largest towns, Manadeley, situated on the edge of the Ethiopian Highlands and overlooking the Afar lowlands, was a market town of great size. Álvares describes it as a town of "very great trade, like a city or seaport," where any good could be found, and with merchants from a number of areas, such as Jeddah, Fez, elsewhere in Morocco, Tunis, Greece, Ormuz, Cairo, and India, as well as an uncountable number of people from surrounding regions in Ethiopia.

The Dobe'as tended numerous high quality cows (the largest in the world, according to Álvares), and subsisted mainly on banditry and pastoralism prior to the 15th century, when they converted to an agropastoral system and many converted to Christianity as a result of Campaigns taken by Emperor Ba'eda Maryam. The Dobe'a were ruled by 24 leaders, 12 of whom were often at war and 12 at peace.

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