ABSTRACT
The Christian districts in Showa, an important centre of caravan trade, probably benefitted to some extent from the prosperity generated by commerce.1 Isolated and beyond the borders of Zagwe interest, they became a refuge for political and religious malcontents from the Zagwe kingdom, but were also under constant pressure from their neighbours. Following the decline of their power about the middle of the thirteenth century, the Zagwe kings lost control of the northern provinces. In the general chaos which ensued, Christianity suffered a reverse and Islam gained ground at its expense. All this probably made the Showan and Amhara Christians an ideal infrastructure for the ‘revivalist’ political-cultural movement led by Yekuno Amlak, which in 1270 overthrew the last of the Zagwe rulers.
