ዓድዋ

Adwa (ዓድዋ, also spelled Adwa or Adua) is a town in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia whose Tigrinya name means approximately 'the land of awa' — awa referring to a type of local tree. On March 1, 1896, the Battle of Adwa transformed the town's name into something that transcended geography. Ethiopian forces under Emperor Menelik II and Empress Taytu Betul defeated the Italian army in what remains the most significant military victory of an African nation against a European colonial power in the modern era. The Italians had approximately 17,000 soldiers; the Ethiopians fielded over 100,000. Italy suffered approximately 7,000 dead, the single largest defeat of a European army on African soil before the Second World War.