Medri Bahri (Tigrinya: ምድሪ ባሕሪ) was a medieval Tigrigna Kingdom, also known as Mareb Melash (beyond the river Mareb). It was situated in modern-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, and was ruled at times by the Bahri Negus (also called the Bahri Negasi, Bahr Negash, or "king of the sea" in English). It lasted from the 12th century AD to the Italian colonization in 1889. It survived several threats like the invasion of Imam Gran and the Ottoman Red Sea expansion, albeit Medri Bahri irretrievably lost its access to the Red Sea due to the latter. The relation to the Ethiopian empire in the south varied from time to time, ranging from autonomy, to tributary status, to de facto annexation. At first the residence of the Bahr Negash was at Debarwa, but during the 17th century it was relocated to th