Wag is a highland district in the Amhara
Region of Ethiopia
, in the
approximate location of the modern Wag
Hemra Zone. The district seat is the town of
Sokota, which has been a major market center for
centuries.
James Bruce states that Wag was given to
the heirs of the deposed
Zagwe
dynasty, when the
Solomonic
dynasty was restored to the throne of Ethiopia in
1270. The head of the fallen Zagwe family accepted the
district as well as the title of
Wagshum as
part of the settlement for their loss. However, the province is
mentioned for the first time only in the fourteenth century.
References
- G.W.B. Huntingford, The historical geography of Ethiopia
from the first century AD to 1704, (Oxford University Press:
1989), p. 100