Imba Alaje is a mountain, or an amba, in northern Ethiopia. Located in the Debubawi Zone of the Tigray Region, Imba Alaje dominates the roadway that runs past it from the city of Mek'ele south to Maychew. Because of its strategic location, Emba Alaje has been the location of several battles. As Anthony Mockler describes it, It was [a] real amba, flat-topped, covered with crevices and canyons and caves, impregnable on the north and north-east where the Tug Gabat ran round its flanks through precipitous ravines, falling steeply away in the rear to the spur of Antalo, behind which lay the broad plain of Mahera. The village of Adi Gura is located on the north side of the mountain at an elevation of 2700 meter. The larger town of Ambalage is located five kilometer to the south of the mountain. Geology The mountain is largely composed of Alaji Basalts, the youngest succession of the Ethiopian flood basalts. The most recent flows are only 15 million years old. The geological formation was called after Imba Alaje by geologist William Thomas Blanford, who accompanied the British Expedition to Abyssinia in 1868. In roadcuts, there are conspicuous outcrops of whitish interbedded lacustrine sedimentary deposits. Hydrology There are many springs on the slopes of the mountain. On the northern flank at Addi Gura'i, the Mercy water bottling plant is located. Alagi Pass Just three kilometers to the southeast of the top of Amba Alagi is the Alagi Pass. Here, the Ethiopian Highway 2 crosses the mountain ridge at an elevation of 3090 meter above sealevel. To the south, the road starts climbing from Ambalage at 2450 meters. History The first mention of Imba Alaje is in the Chronicle of Emperor Baeda Maryam (1468–1478 AD), who personally led an expedition against the Dobe'a, who lived around Imba Alaje and raided the caravan routes. In the early 19th century, Ras Wolde Selassie controlled the amba, and used it on 18 August 1811 to imprison Gebre Guro, the brother of Sabagadis, for 18 months because he had rebelled against the Ras. The road built from the coast south to Magdala during the British 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia passed through Imba Alaje. A generation later, the mountain was the scene of a battle in February 1889 between Ras Alula Engida and Ras Seyoum Gebre in which Alula was wounded. First Battle of Imba Alaje The first Battle of