Amhara Region
The Amhara Region, officially the Amhara National Regional State, is a regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara, Awi, Argobba, and Qemant people. Its capital is Bahir Dar which is the seat of the Regional Government of Amhara. Amhara is the site of the largest inland body of water in Ethiopia, Lake Tana, Grand Renaissance Dam and Semien Mountains National Park. Amhara is bordered by Sudan to the west and northwest and by these regions of Ethiopia: Tigray to the north, Afar to the east, Benishangul-Gumuz to southwest, and Oromia to the south. Towns and cities in Amhara include: Dessie, Gonder, Debre Birhan, Debre Tabor, Kombolcha, Weldiya, Debre Markos, Seqota, Kobo, and Metema. The Regions name is said to mean “noble” or “highland”.e
History
During the Ethiopian Empire, Amhara included several provinces, most of which were ruled by native Ras or Negus. The current Amhara region corresponds to often large parts of the former provinces of Begemder, Dembiya, Angot, Bete Amhara,Bezemo, Gojjam and Shewa. With the rise of the Solomonic Dynasty in 1270 under Emperor Yekuno Amlak in Bete Amhara near town Dessie around Lake Hayk and until the establishment of Gondar as the new imperial capital around 1600, the Debre-Birhan to Mekane-Selassie region was the primary seat of the roving Wolloye-Shewan emperors. This period is most significant in the formation of the medieval Ethiopian state, the spread and consolidation of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and propagating to the core provinces of Bete Amhara, Gojjam, Begemder, northern Shewa, Gafat, and DamotThe region's recorded history, in fact, goes back to the early 13th century. For example, St. George's Church in the town of Woreilu was established around 1200.
The parish of Mekane Selassie, near Neded and the home of the cathedral by the same name, served as a favourite royal playground. The construction of Mekane Selassie was begun by Emperor Naod and completed by his son Emperor Lebna Dengel. This was a year before the church was sacked and burned down in 1531 by the invasion led by Ahmad bin Ibrahim. Francisco Alvarez, who had earlier visited the church, confirms that its size was some 150 feet by 150 feet — wholly covered in gold leaf, inlaid with gems, pearls and corals
21st century
After the social movements of 2014–2017, Amhara nationalism developed strongly in the region, with a discourse that includes both issues of power balance between elites and territorial claims. Several local politicians, such as Dejene Maru backed by General Asaminew Tsige, were able to control armed factions.On 22 June 2019, factions of the security forces of the region attempted a coup d'état against the regional government, during which the President of the Amhara region, Ambachew Mekonnen, was assassinated. A bodyguard siding with the nationalist factions assassinated General Se'are Mekonnen – the Chief of the General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force – as well as his aide, Major General Gizae Aberra. The Prime Minister's Office accused Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige, head of the Amhara region security forces, of leading the plot, and Tsige was shot dead by police near Bahir Dar on 24 June.
In April 2023, a strife occurred between the regional special forces of federal government and Fano militia units, advancing to large scale protests in Gondar, Kobo, Seqota, Weldiya on 9 April. Further insurgency was escalated between the two belligerents, resulted in War in Amhara. Since August 2023, Fano militants and ENDF troops intermittently controlled most part of the region, leading to major human rights violations and subsequent state of emergency. Since the outbreak of the war, the region experienced internal displacements, extrajudicial killings and extensive property damages. According to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission reports, 45 civilians were killed in Amhara region by security forces for allegedly supporting Fano in late January 2024.
Geography
Water flow
The Amhara region is home to five lakes: Lake Tana, Lake Hayq, Lake Ardibbo, Lake Zengena and Lake Tirba.File:Blue Nile Falls Ethiopia II.jpg|thumb|The Blue Nile Falls near Bahir Dar
According to the Ethiopian government website, the Amhara Highlands receive 80% of Ethiopia’s total annual rainfall of and are the country's most fertile and climatically hospitable region. Lake Tana, in the Amhara Region, is the source of the Blue Nile—at Bahir Dar. When the Blue Nile's flow is at maximum volume, it supplies about two-thirds of the water of the Nile proper. Until the 1970 completion of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, the Blue Nile, together with the Atbara River to its north, caused annual Nile floods that contributed to the fertility of the Nile Valley. This aided the rise of ancient Egyptian civilization, which in turn enabled the development of Egyptian mythology.
Lake Tana
Lake Tana contains several islands, whose numbers vary depending on the water level in the lake. In the early 17th century, according to a contemporaneous report by Manoel de Almeida, a Portuguese missionary, there were 21 islands, which he described as "formerly large, but now much diminished,” and seven or eight of them had monasteries on them. In the late 18th century, James Bruce visited the area and noted that, though the locals reported that there were 45 inhabited islands, he believed that "the number may be about eleven." A mid-twentieth-century account reported 37 islands and said that 19 of were the current or former sites of either monasteries or churches.The lake islands were the home of ancient Ethiopian emperors. Treasures of the Ethiopian Church are kept in the isolated island monasteries. The body of Yekuno Amlak is interred in the monastery of St. Stephen on Daga Island; other Emperors whose tombs are on Daga include Dawit I, Zara Yaqob, Za Dengel and Fasilides. Other important islands in Lake Tana include Dek, Mitraha, Gelila Zakarias, Halimun, and Briguida.
In the late 20th century, the scholar Paul B. Henze reported being shown a rock on the island of Tana Qirqos and being told it was where the Virgin Mary had rested during her journey back from Egypt. He was also told that Saint Frumentius, the bishop known for introducing Christianity to Ethiopia, was "allegedly buried on Tana Cherqos."
Landmarks
The Amhara region has the most world heritage sites of any region in Ethiopia and is endowed with natural and geographic wonders and ecosystems. The region contains Ethiopia's largest inland body of water Lake Tana, which is the source of the Blue Nile river. In 2015 Lake Tana was recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve for its enormous biodiversity, and national and international importance. The Semien Mountains National Park has been designated as one of the first natural World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the world, and the very first in Africa in the natural criteria since 1978. Chosen for its spectacular landscapes and global significance for biodiversity conservation. Situated within the Semien Mountains, Ethiopia's highest peaks Ras Dashen reaches an elevation of. The park also has Ethiopia's second and third highest mountains, Kidis Yared and Mount Bwahit. The park is home to endangered species found nowhere else in the world, examples of endemic fauna include the iconic walia ibex, the gelada baboon, and the Ethiopian wolf among others. The wide range of altitudes has given the country a variety of ecologically distinct areas, leading to the evolution of endemic species in ecological isolation.Amhara region also leads in cultural world heritage sites in Ethiopia, with the Rock Hewn Churches of Lalibela jointly added with Senegal's Gorée island as Africa's first World Heritage site by Unesco in the cultural criteria in 1978. Lalibela and its medieval monolithic churches attracts by far the most number of pilgrims annually of any religious site in Ethiopia. The New Jerusalem was built in response to the capture of old Jerusalem by Muslim forces during the Siege of Jerusalem, after which Muslims denied Ethiopian Christians pilgrimages to the Holy land. Unesco also added Fasil Ghebbi in 1979 as a cultural World Heritage Site. The Royal Enclosure of Fasil Ghebbi was the seat of the Ethiopian Emperors in Gondar the royal capital for more than two centuries. The Fasil Ghebbi consist of some twenty palaces, royal buildings, the royal library, a chancellery, a banqueting hall, stables for the horses, highly decorated churches, monasteries and unique public and private buildings that was built during the reign of several emperors in the Gondarine period. The complex covers an area of 70 square kilometers.
Demographics
Based on the 2007 census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia, the Amhara region has a population of 17,221,976. 8,641,580 were men and 8,580,396 women; urban inhabitants number 2,112,595 or 12.27% of the population. With an estimated area of, this region has an estimated density of 108.2 people per square kilometer. For the entire region, 3,983,768 households were counted, which results in an average for the region of 4.3 persons to a household, with urban households having on average 3.3 and rural households 4.5 people. The projected population as of 2022 was 32,134,988.In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the region's population was reported to be 13,834,297 of whom 6,947,546 were men and 6,886,751 women; urban inhabitants numbered 1,265,315 or 9.15% of the population.
According to the CSA,, 28% of the total population had access to safe drinking water, including 19.89% of rural inhabitants and 91.8% of urban inhabitants. Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for Amhara include the following: 17.5% of the inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 54% and for women 25.1%; and the regional infant mortality rate is 94 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is greater than the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants’ first month of life.