Ethiopia and Adal · 1529-1543

Ethiopia and Adal: war in the Horn

In 1529 the Sultanate of Adal invaded the Christian Ethiopian Empire, and for fourteen years the Horn of Africa was at war. Ottoman muskets and Portuguese soldiers joined in. Students look at the war from both sides.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1530 to AD 1650
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 1529 the Sultanate of Adal invaded the Christian Ethiopian Empire, and for fourteen years the Horn of Africa was at war. Ottoman muskets and Portuguese soldiers joined in. Students look at the war from both sides.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate the Ethiopian highlands, the Sultanate of Adal, Harar and the Red Sea coast.
  • Describe the main events of the war from Shimbra Kure (1529) to Wayna Daga (1543).
  • Explain how outside powers, the Ottomans and Portugal, changed a regional war.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1530

Two neighbors

Open the map in 1530 and find the labels Ethiopia and Adal. Which one holds the highlands, and which the lowlands towards the Gulf of Aden?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1530

Great powers nearby

Zoom out and turn on Trade Routes. Find the Ottoman Empire to the north and the Portuguese sea route to India. Why did both great powers care about the Red Sea?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1650

After the war

Move the slider to 1650. Which state has disappeared? Which new names do you see in the region?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Both sides fought in the name of religion. Were religion and politics separate in this war?
  2. Adal had help from the Ottomans and Ethiopia from Portugal. How do outside powers change a local war?
  3. Much of what we know comes from a chronicle written by a scholar on Adal's side. What might it leave out?
  4. After fourteen years of war both states were exhausted. Who gained in the end?
  5. Ethiopia today has both Christian and Muslim citizens. How should a country remember a war fought between its own faiths?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Suleiman the Magnificent, whose empire supplied musketeers to Adal. Discuss: why would a sultan in Istanbul care about a war in the Horn of Africa, and what could he gain from it?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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