Battle of Wofla

The Battle of Wofla was fought on August 28, 1542 near Lake Ashenge in Wofla (Ofla) between the Portuguese forces under Cristóvão da Gama and the forces of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi. Reinforced with a superiority not only in numbers but in firearms, Imam Ahmad was victorious and forced the Portuguese, along with Ethiopian Queen Seble Wongel and her retinue, to flee their fortified encampment and leave their weapons behind.

Battle of Wofla
Part of the Ethiopian–Adal war
DateAugust 28, 1542
Location
Modern day Ofla, Ethiopia
Result Adal Sultanate victory
Belligerents
Adal Sultanate

Portuguese Empire

Ethiopian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi Cristóvão da Gama 

While fleeing the battlefield with 14 soldiers, Cristóvão da Gama, with his arm broken from a bullet, was captured that night by followers of Imam Ahmad, who had been led into the bush they had taken refuge in by an old woman.[1] He was then brought into the presence of the Imam Ahmad, who tortured and executed his captured opponent, eventually decapitating him with tweezers.[2]

References
  1. R.S. Whiteway, editor and translator, The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1441-1543, 1902. (Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1967), pp. 66f
  2. Whiteway, The Portuguese Expedition, p. 68

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