Date 28 August 1542 | ||
600–900 Adal musketeers20 Adal horsemenseveral thousand foot About 290 Portuguese musketeers23 Ethiopian men unknown 160 Portuguese killed8 Ethiopians killed Combatants Similar Abyssinian–Adal war, Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts, Battle of the Gulf of Oman, Siege of Diu, Ottoman campaign against H | ||
Battle of wofla
The Battle of Wofla was fought on August 28, 1542 near Lake Ashenge in Wofla (or Ofla) in the modern Ethiopian Region of Tigray (previously part of Wollo; between the Portuguese 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 Queen Sabla Wengel and her retinue, to flee their fortified encampment and leave their weapons behind.
While fleeing the battlefield with 14 soldiers, Gama, with his arm broken from a bullet, was captured that night by followers of Imam Ahmad, who had been led into the brush they had taken refuge in by an old woman. He was then brought into the presence of the Imam Ahmad, who tortured his captured opponent, then in the end the Imam drew his sword and beheaded Gama.