Medri Bahri

Medri Bahri ('Land of the Sea')
Medri Bahri ምድሪ ባሕሪ
1137–1890
Capital		Debarwa
Languages		Geez · Tigrinya
Government		Monarchy
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Established	1137
•	Italian Eritrea	1890
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Aksum Italian Eritrea
Today part of		Eritrea

Medri Bahri (Tigrinya: ምድሪ ባሕሪ^?) was a medieval kingdom in the Horn of Africa. Situated in modern-day Eritrea, it was ruled by the Bahri Negus (also called the Bahri Negasi), whose capital was located at Debarwa. At some periods in its' history, it was a vassal state of the Ethiopian Empire.

After the end of the Kingdom of Aksum, the Eritrean highlands were under the domain of Bahr Negash, which was ruled by the Bahr Negus. The area was then known as Ma'ikele Bahr ("between the seas/rivers," i.e. the land between the Red Sea and the Mereb river). It was later renamed under Emperor Zara Yaqob as the domain of the Bahr Negash, the Medri Bahri ("Sea land" in Tingrinya, although it included some areas like Shire on the other side of the Mereb, today in Ethiopia). With its capital at Debarwa, the state's main provinces were Hamasien, Serae that formed one district, and this was politically, the most important district in the territory, and Akele Guzai. Later, Akele Guzai rejected the rule of the Bahr Negassi and remained independent, but was internally divided into several small free districts.

Turks briefly occupied the highland parts of Baharnagash in 1559 and withdraw after they encountered resistance and pushed back by the Bahrnegash and highland forces. In 1578 they tried to expand into the highlands with the help of Bahr Negash Yisehaq who has switched alliances due to power struggle, and by 1589 once again they were apparently compelled to withdraw their forces to the coast. After that Ottomans abandoned their ambitions to establish themselves on the highlands and remained in the lowlands until they left the region by 1872.

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