Katama

Katama (Amharic: ከተማ kätäma) was the name of a medieval fortified Ethiopian military encampment, that was typically situated on top of an amba. These royal military camps served as the capital of the empire and was an important element of the political and social organization of the Ethiopian state until the 17th century. Later the term was used in the 19th and 20th centuries as any kind of dense urban settlement that functioned as a center of an administrative unit.^[1]