According to Antonio Cecchi, Sela Dingay was founded by Wossen Seged in 1804, naming the town after the historic district of Sela Dingay, although the local Debre Mitmaq church had been founded by Emperor Zara Yaqob, where he convened the Council of Debre Mitmaq in 1450 which resolved a rift in the Ethiopian Church over the observance of the Sabbath.
After he assumed control of Shewa, he joined in an alliance with Ras Wolde Selassie of Tigray to invade the territories of Ras Gugsa of Yejju.
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As Asfa Wossen had sons by a second wife, who came from the aristocracy in Menz, Wossen Seged feared that he would be passed over in favor of his younger half-brother and he rebelled against his father.
Woizero Zenebework was the wife of Wossen Seged, Meridazmach of Shewa; the mother of Negus Sahle Selassie, the first Negus of Shewa; the grandmother of Negus Haile Melekot of Shewa; and the great-grandmother of Emperor Menelik II.