 It was one of the political centers of Bete Amhara, the original homeland of Amharic speaking people, whose territorial reach extended from Lake Hayq and the Beshillo River in the north, the Afar and Argobba lowlands in the east, the Abbay River in the West, and the Awash River just south of modern Addis Ababa.With the rise of the so-called Solomonic Dynasty in 1270 under Emperor Yekuno Amlak (born in the Maqdalla region) and until the establishment of Gondar as the new imperial capital around 1600, the Debre-Birhan to Mekane-Selassie region was the primary seat of the roving Wolloye-Shewan emperors.This period is most significant in the formation of the medieval Ethiopian state, the spread and consolidation of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity (following the example set by the Zagwe kings in preserving the Axumite heritage) and propagating to the core provinces (besides Tigray/Eritrea, Wolkayt, and Lasta) of Bete Amhara, Gojam, Begemdir, northern Shewa, Gafat, and Damot

The region’s recorded history, in fact, goes back to the first decades of the second millennium.