Tigray Province
Tigray Province, also known as Tigre, was a historical province of northern Ethiopia that overlaid the present day Afar and Tigray regions. Akele Guzai borders with the Tigray province. It encompassed most of the territories of Tigrinya-speakers in Ethiopia. Tigray was separated from the northern Tigrinya speaking territories by the Mareb River, now serving as the state border to Eritrea, bordering Amhara region in the south.
The great majority of inhabitants were Orthodox Christians, with the exception of a small, but important Muslim subgroup and a few Catholics. Protestantism is only a very recent urban phenomenon. Despite a general impression of ethnic and cultural homogeneity, there were a few ethnic minorities, especially at the borders of Tigray, belonging to a non-Tigrinya groups, such as the Saho-speaking Irob at the north-eastern border to Eritrea, the people|Raya in the south-east, the Agaw-speaking H̬amta in Abergele north of Wag, a few Kunama in the Habesha Kunama woreda east of Humera, and scattered peripheral groups in the western lowlands across the tekeze, such as the Chare of the Sellim Bet and Tukrir in the Humera area.
Tigray went through numerous administrative changes in the course of its history. In 1991 Tigray was radically reshaped. During the reign of Haile Selassie I and also the following Derg period, Tigray did not yet encompass Wolkait, while Enderta in eastern Tigray extended over large Afar areas including the salt plains, which were given to the Afar Region. Still, in the 1930s the regions south of Enderta, i.e. Wajjarat and Angot, formed the separate governorate called "Southern Tigray". Tigray is the result of a merger of diverse historical northern provinces, which were often independent from each other.
History
Today's unity of Tigrayan territories south of the Mereb river is a rather modern phenomenon. Most northern provinces were ruled by their governors, often descending from local dynasties and preserving a high degree of autonomy within the empire, e.g., in legal and judicial issues, taxation etc. Only rarely these territories were unified under one ruler.The core of today's Tigray was the most important northern province and bore the name "Tigray". Usually it controlled adjacent territories, which might be the reason why the term Tigray basically encompassed only Adwa, Aksum and Yeha, and regularly extended over Hawzen and Enticho. It included sometimes wider areas, such as Shire and Tembien, which, however, kept their separate identities and often their local governors.
Hawzen was an important province seemingly already in Aksumite times ; according to the, in the 13th century Hawzen encompassed wide areas from today's Hawzen to the Afar salt plains in the east. Consequently, over the centuries the realm of Tigray regularly extended over all these territories. Tembien was included in Tigray already in the 17th century, and at times also well before. An ancient permanent boundary of Tigray proper to the south is the Tekeze, in ancient sources equaled with the Nile River. Therefore, Tigray proper together with its dependencies was occasionally also called . Over a long period, the capital of Tigray proper was Hawzen in the sub-province Haramat. Already in the 17th century, this town served as a seat of governors. In the 19th century, it again served as the capital, e.g. of Wube Haile Mariam and negus Negusse. Adwa assumed the role of capital in the 18th century under Amde Haymanot, and again later.
Tigray was of strategic importance, both symbolically, as it included the sacred town of Aksum, and economically, due to important trade routes from the east and the north. It included fertile plains, and strategically important mountains. According to Markham in 1869, the Abyssinians say "Who holds Amba Tsion holds Tigré". Still in the 20th century, Tigray proper was a province of its in the framework of a wider homonymous province, also called Tigray. Even if well before the 20th century occasionally the term Tigray already extended over areas outside of Tigray proper, local parlance preserved the old provincial names, and the term Tigray is still used by rural people of Tigray as referring only to Adwa Awrajja, while other regions of modern Tigray are still considered to be "outside Tigray" by elders and rural people.
Several names of the other northern provinces in today's Tigray are very ancient, and persisted from their first mention in ancient inscriptions or medieval documents until modernity, while others only existed temporarily, shaped for the needs of newly appointed governors. Historical provinces are Shire, Adyabo, Haramat, Geralta, Tembien, Agame, Sira, Wemberta, Enderta, Sehart, Selewa, Wejjarat, Rayya Azebo, and in the west Sellemt and Wälqayt, and finally, the Mezega lowlands including the former Muslim sultanate in the west successively included into the sphere of influence of Welqayt. Some smaller territories were at times independent from the rulers of these greater provinces; the exact boundaries could change quickly following the political fortunes of their rulers.
The spiritual core of Tigray was and is Aksum. Even if being formally under the rulership of the central province, the town enjoyed a special status, as a free city with its self-government. Its administrators were the, a governor appointed by the Ethiopian ruler, and the, the mayor elected by the male members of the seven "Aksumite clans" of Aksum,,,,,,,. These encompassed the entire whole indigenous city population, who was not to pay any taxes. The represented the sphere of the Ethiopian state and often descended from the local leading families; if he was a layman, he appointed an for the administration of church issues. Aksum as the guardian of the Tables of the Law was regarded as "a church". On this ground, its priests did not allow atse Yohannes IV to permanently establish his royal there, who therefore used Mekelle as his capital. The city population managed to defend their traditional self-government - with the being independent from the - even throughout the 20th century politics of centralization by atse Haile Selassie I.
First mention of Tigray in ancient sources
The oldest inscriptions and texts referring to the population of the Aksumite kingdom and its neighbors do not know the term Tigray yet; they show an ethnic diversity, which has partially disappeared today. A variant of the term Tigray, first appears in a 10th-century gloss to Cosmas Indicopleustes, i.e. after the Aksumite period; according to this source important groups of the region were the "" and the "", the latter being the Aksumites. The toponym Tigray is probably originally ethnic, the "" then meant "the tribes near Adulis". These are believed to be the ancient people from whom the present-day Tigray, the Eritrean tribes Tigre, and Biher-Tigrinya descended from. The term might even not be Ethiosemetic and predate the Sabaean presence in Ethiopia. It is not excluded that the term from a list of southern peoples and countries allegedly subdued by Pharaonic Egypt in the 15th century BC may already be linked with the term Tigray; in this case, it should mean a region within or in the vicinity of Punt.Population history
Tigray was densely populated since ancient times; research in Lake sediments of Ashenge show that ecological change started with first dense settlements ca. 4,000 years ago. Today's Tigray region is the result of a complex process of internal migrations, cultural assimilation, and also expansion, as well as of unification, separation, and reunification of diverse Tigrinya sub-groups and provides; starting from an early age Tigray was marked by dynamics of interaction between Cushitic-speaking groups and Semitic-speakers, whose language and political culture makes Tigray deeply. Place names are usually of Cushitic and Semitic origin; several of the latter can be linked with toponyms in southern Arabia. Pre-Aksumite inscriptions show that Tigray was marked by a Sabaean-influenced kingdom, which had merged with local culture. In later Aksumite times migration again linked both sides of the Red Sea, with Aksumite settlements also on the Arabian side. Toponyms indicate that the Tigray highlands had an important Agaw population in ancient times ; north of Tigray there was a Beja migration after the fall of Aksum, and later several migrations of Agaw groups.Overpopulated Tigray was a source for migrations over centuries, e.g., to the south, numerous southern groups claiming origin from Tigray. There are numerous other examples of groups who migrated from Tigray at different times. For example, oral traditions collected by Conti Rossini report on such migrations. The important sub-group is found both in Tigray and Akele Guzay. One of the last important migrations from Tigray took place in the 19th century, when atse Yohannes IV placed Tigrayan lords as governors over the Mereb Mellash, such as was Alula Engeda from Tembien. Many Tembienay settled especially in the Asmara area, mixing with the local inhabitant. The foundation of the Italian Colonia Eritrea attracted further migrants from Tigray.
The population of Tigray has preserved ancient self-designations, usually linked with the names of their historical provinces ; etymologically some can be linked to the Ethio-Sabaean past, but most are of unclear etymology. Inhabitants of Tigray call themselves . Examples for other ancient province names and self-designation are Agame, Rayya, Səra, Tembien, etc. In oral tradition, the terms 'Again' and 'Sabawiyan' for the inhabitants of Tigray proper and Agame are still in use. Other ancient ethnonyms are still preserved in names of villages or small districts.
Modern Tigray
Modern Tigray as a united province has its origin in the unification of its provinces by atse Yohannes IV and his successors. This did not, however, change the ancient claims for autonomy by local leaders and by several quite egalitarian, non-feudalist peasant communities. After its heyday under Yohannes, Tigray was heavily challenged, and was gradually reduced in importance within Ethiopia, and outside influence within Tigray increased. Tigray oral traditions preserve numerous poems and legends which report on Tigray resistance against non-Tigray lords.Leading to the Battle of Adwa, Tigray was described as one of the two regions - alongside the region Shewa - which played a significant role in keeping Ethiopia's independence.
Much of Tigray was briefly occupied by the Italians in the format of the 1896 Battle of Adwa. Against, Tigray was one of the major battlegrounds during the Italian War 1935–36, with initial success by the Ethiopians in the First Battle of Tembien in January 1936, and their dramatic defeat in the Second Battle a month later; after the Battle of Maychew in southern Tigray, the Ethiopian government collapsed.
During the Italian occupation, Tigray was included in Eritrea, and then after 1941 reunified with restored Ethiopia. Haile Sellasie's harsh measures to establish control by the central government, however, quickly led to local resistance. Significantly, the Woyone rebellion started in the province of Wejjerat, which was especially marked by egalitarian structures. After the rebels had captured the capital Mekelle, heavy bombing by the British in 1943 ended the uprising. This was followed by a further process of marginalization of Tigray, which was heavily affected by the 1970s and 1980s famines.
The decline of Tigrayan ethnic population in Ethiopia, Kobo & Sanja, during Haile Selassie's rule is likely to have been his immense oppression & systematic persecution against non-Amhara ethnic people of Ethiopia. For example, on the 1958 Tigray famine, Haile Selassie refused to send basic emergency food aid to Tigray province even though he had the money; so in consequence over 100,000 people died of the famine.
Later on, the Mengistu Haile Mariam-led military dictatorship also used the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia as government policy for counter-insurgency strategy, and for "social transformation" in non-insurgent areas. Due to organized government policies that deliberately multiplied the effects of the famine, around 1.2 million people died in Ethiopia from this famine where majority of the death tolls were from Tigray province.