Wag is a traditional highland

Highland (geography)

The term highland or upland is used to denote any mountainous region or elevated mountainous plateau. Generally speaking, the term upland tends to be used for ranges of hills, typically up to 500-600m, and highland for ranges of low mountains.The Scottish Highlands refers to the mountainous...

 district in the Amhara Region

Amhara Region

Amhara is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia, containing the homeland of the Amhara people. Previously known as Region 3, its capital is Bahir Dar....

 of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, in the approximate location of the modern Wag Hemra Zone

Wag Hemra Zone

Wag Hemra is a Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Its name is a combination of the former province of Wag, and the dominant local ethnic group, the Kamyr Agaw. Wag Hemra is bordered on the south by Semien Wollo, on the southwest by Debub Gondar, on the west by Semen Gondar, on the north and...

. Weld Blundell

Herbert Weld Blundell

Herbert Joseph Weld Blundell was an English traveller in Africa, archaeologist, philanthropist and yachtsman. He shortened his surname from Weld Blundell to Weld, in 1924.-Life to 1922 :...

 described the district as bounded on the south by the mountains of Lasta

Lasta

Lasta is a historic district in north-central Ethiopia. It is the district in which Lalibela is situated, the former capital of Ethiopia during the Zagwe dynasty and home to 11 medieval rock-hewn churches....

, on the east and north by the Tellare River, and the west by the Tekezé

Tekezé River

The Tekezé River, also known as the Takkaze River, is a major river of Ethiopia, and forms a section the westernmost border of Ethiopia and Eritrea for part of its course. The river is also known as the Setit in Eritrea, western Ethiopia, and eastern Sudan. According to materials published by the...

. The major urban center is the town of Sokota, which has been a major marketplace for centuries.

James Bruce

James Bruce

James Bruce was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia, where he traced the origins of the Blue Nile.-Youth:...

 states that Wag was given to the heirs of the deposed Zagwe dynasty

Zagwe dynasty

The Zagwe dynasty was an historical kingdom in present-day Ethiopia. It ruled large parts of the territory from approximately 1137 to 1270, when the last Zagwe King Za-Ilmaknun was killed in battle by the forces of Yekuno Amlak...

, when the Solomonic dynasty

Solomonic dynasty

The Solomonic dynasty is the Imperial House of Abyssinia. Its members claim lineal descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the latter of whom tradition asserts gave birth to the first King Menelik I after her Biblically described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem .-Overview:The dynasty, a...

 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.