Tigray

Tigray may refer to:

See also

Tigray Province

Tigray was a province of the Ethiopian Empire and of the PDRE until 1995. Known by its French spelling Tigré into the 20th century, its governors were powerful rulers in their own right and it was sometimes accorded the status of a separate kingdom. It gradually absorbed its neighboring provinces, including Semien, Tembien, Agame, and Enderta province and was superseded by the Tigray Region following the adoption of the 1995 constitution.

History

Proto-Tigrayan-Tigrinyans and Proto-Amharas, also known as Habeshas, were the main ethnicity of Kingdom of Aksum in the first millennium CE. Their language, a form of Ge'ez, remained the language of the later Ethiopian imperial court as well as the Ethiopian Church.

In the 14th century the Tigrinya-speaking lands (Tigray-Mereb Melash) were divided into two provinces, separated by the Mereb River by the newly enthroned Amhara Emperors. The governor of the northern province received the title Baher Neagsh (Ruler of the sea), whereas the governor of the southern province was given the title of Tigray Mekonen (Lord of Tigray). The Portuguese Jesuit, Emanuele Baradas' work titled "Do reino de Tigr" and written in 1633-34 states that the "reino de Tigr" extended from Hamasien to Enderta, from the borders of Dankel to the Tekeze. He remarked that Tigray extended to the watershed of Semien although the political power of the Tigray Mekonen did not extend beyond the Tekeze. He also stated that Tigray-Mereb Melash was divided into twenty-four smaller political units (principalities), twelve of which were located south of the Mereb and governed by the Tigray Mekonen based in Enderta. The other twelve were located north of the Mereb under the authority of the Baher Negash, based in the district of Serae.

Tigray Region

Tigray Region (ትግራይ ክልል Tigrāy Kilil) is the northernmost of the nine ethnic regions (kililoch) of Ethiopia. Containing the homeland of the Tigray people, it was formerly known as Region 1. Its capital is Mekelle.

Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, the Afar Region to the east, and the Amhara Region to the south and southwest. Besides Mek'ele, other major cities in Tigray include Hawzen, Abiy Addi, Adigrat, Adwa, Axum, Humera, Korem, Maychew, Qwiha, Shire (Inda Selassie), Wukro and Zalambessa, as well as the historically significant town of Yeha.

History

Following the conclusion of the Ethiopian Civil War, although the area which became the Tigray Region was thought by inhabitants in the rest of Ethiopia to be the beneficiaries of enormous funds from an Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government dominated by fellow Tigrayans, in reality even emergency assistance was slow to materialize. John Young, who visited the area several times in the early 1990s, attributes this delay in part to "Budgetary restraints, structural readjustments, and lack of awareness in Addis Ababa of conditions in the province", but notes "an equally significant obstacle was posed by an entrenched, and largely Amhara-dominated central bureaucracy which used its power to block even authorised funds from reaching Tigray." At the same time, a growing urban middle class of traders, businessmen and government officials emerged which was both suspicious and distant from the victorious EPRDF. The ruling party attempted to address these challenges in forums with its middle class critics, as well as the establishment of a number of charitable non-governmental organizations controlled by the EPRDF, which include Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray, Relief Society of Tigray, and Tigray Development Association.