Battle of Baçente

Battle of Baçente
	Part of the Somali-Portuguese conflicts
Date	February 2, 1542
Location	Amba Senayt, Tigray Province, Ethiopia
Result	Portuguese victory
Belligerents
Portuguese Empire	Adal Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Cristóvão da Gama	Unknown
Strength
1000 Portuguese musketeers	“1,500” archers and "buckler men"
Casualties and losses
8 killed, "several" wounded	Heavy casualties, "reportedly all killed"; Nine horses and multiple mules

The Battle of Baçente was fought on February 2, 1542, when a Portuguese army under Cristóvão da Gama took a hillfort held by Adalite forces in northern Ethiopia. The Portuguese suffered minimal casualties, while the defenders were reportedly all killed.

Queen

Ahmed Gragn having known of them.^[1] However, Gama was concerned that if he marched around this Muslim-held strongpoint, the local peasantry would be disappointed and stop providing supplies for his troops.^[3]

After a probing attack to learn the defenders' defences, which Queen Sabla Wengel initially mistook for a defeat, Gama ordered an attack from three sides directions on the following day. The defenders were annihilated, with negligible losses to the Portuguese. Nine horses and a number of mules were captured, which afterwards proved useful. "As a feat of arms, this capture of notable."[1] A mosque, which had originally been a church before the hillfort was occupied by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi's men, was reconsecrated as a church, and dedicated to "Our Lady of Victory", and mass was celebrated there the next day. The expeditionary force spent the rest of February there, recovering from the battle.^[4]

R.S. Whiteway identified the Portuguese "Baçente" as referring to Amba Senayt in Haramat.^[2]^{[verification needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1541-1543, as Narrated by Castanhoso With Some Contemporary Letters, the Short Account of Bermudez, and Certain Extracts from Correa, p.54 (2017)
^ ^a ^b R.S. Whiteway, editor and translator, The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1541-1543, 1902. (Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1967), p.Lii f.
^ Whiteway, p. 32.
^ Whiteway, pp. 33-7.

[Castanhoso-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1541-1543, as Narrated by Castanhoso With Some Contemporary Letters, the Short Account of Bermudez, and Certain Extracts from Correa, p.54 (2017)

[Whiteway-2] R.S. Whiteway, editor and translator, The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1541-1543, 1902. (Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1967), p.Lii f.

[3] Whiteway, p. 32.

[4] Whiteway, pp. 33-7.

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