Editing Addis Ababa (section)

===Middle Ages===
Mount [[Entoto]], a high tableland to the north of current Addis Ababa, is one of a handful of sites put forward as a possible location for a medieval imperial capital known as Barara. This permanent fortified city was established during the early to mid-15th century and it served as the main residence of several successive emperors up to the early 16th-century reign of [[Dawit II|Libne Dengel]].<ref name="persee.fr">{{cite journal |last1=Pankhurst |first1=Richard |title=Barara, the Royal City of 15th and Early 16th Century (Ethiopia). Medieval and Other Early Settlements Between Wechecha Range and Mt Yerer |journal=Annales d'Éthiopie |year=2009 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=209–249 |doi=10.3406/ethio.2009.1394 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ethio_0066-2127_2009_num_24_1_1394}}</ref> The city was depicted standing between [[Mount Zuqualla]] and Menegasha on a map drawn by the Italian cartographer [[Fra Mauro]] in around 1450, and it was razed and plundered by [[Ahmed Gragn]] while the imperial army was trapped on the south of the [[Awash River]] in 1529, an event witnessed and documented two years later by the Yemeni writer Arab-Faqih. The suggestion that Barara was located on Mount Entoto is supported by the very recent discovery of a large medieval town overlooking Addis Ababa located between rock-hewn Washa Mikael and the more modern church of Entoto Maryam, founded in the late 19th century. Dubbed the Pentagon, the 30-hectare site incorporates a castle with 12 towers, along with 520 meters of stone walls measuring up to 5-meter high.<ref name="persee.fr"/> Described a "metropolis", Barara is estimated to have a population exceeding 160,000 people,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/26052539/The_shapes_of_medieval_Addis_Ababa |title=The shapes of medieval Addis Ababa |last=Vigano |first=Marco |access-date=11 April 2025 |via=Academia}}</ref> comparable to the largest European towns in 1500 CE, Paris and Naples.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/78567188/An_Introduction_to_Ethiopian_History_Axum_to_pre_Gondar_our_Middle_Ages |title=An Introduction to Ethiopian History, Axum to pre-Gondar, our 'Middle Ages'. |last=Vigano |first=Marco |via=Academia |access-date=11 April 2025}}</ref>