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Debre Birhan
Debre Birhan () is a city in central Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, about 120 kilometers north east of Addis Ababa on Ethiopian highway 2, the town has an elevation of 2,840 meters, which makes it the highest town in Africa. It was an early capital of Ethiopia and afterwards, with Ankober and Angolalla, was one of the capitals of the kingdom of Shewa. Today, it is the administrative center of the North Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region. History Origins Debre Birhan was founded by Emperor Zara Yaqob, in response to a miraculous light that was seen in the sky at the time. Believing this was a sign from God showing his approval for the death by stoning of a group of heretics 38 days before, the emperor ordered a church built on the site, and later constructed an extensive palace nearby, and a second church, dedicated to Saint Cyriacus. Zara Yaqob spent 12 of the last 14 years of his life in Debre Birhan. Historian Richard Pankhurst offers t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tigray Region
The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray; officially the Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob people, Irob and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is the fifth-largest by area, the fourth-most populous, and the fifth-most densely populated of the 11 regional states. Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north, the Amhara Region to the south, the Afar Region to the east, and Sudan to the west. Tigray's official language is Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, similar to that of southern Eritrea. The Tigray region had an estimated pre-war population of 7,070,260. The majority of the population (c. 80%) are farmers, contributing 46% to the regional gross domestic product (2009). The highlands have the highest population density, especially in Misraqawi Zone, eastern and Maekelay Zone, central Tigray. The much less densely populated lowlands comprise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Cyriacus
Cyriacus (, fl. 303 AD), sometimes Anglicized as Cyriac, according to Christian tradition, is a Christian martyr who was killed in the Diocletianic Persecution. He is one of twenty-seven saints, most of them martyrs, who bear this name, of whom only seven are honoured by a specific mention of their names in Roman Martyrology. Life Of the Saint Cyriacus who, together with Saints Largus and Smaragdus and others (of whom Crescentianus, Memmia and Juliana are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology), is venerated on 8 August, all that is known with certainty, apart from their names and the fact of their martyrdom, is that they were buried at the seventh milestone of the Via Ostiensis on that date. However, legend has it that Cyriacus was a Roman nobleman who converted to Christianity as an adult and, renouncing his material wealth, gave it away to the poor. He spent the rest of his life ministering to the slaves who worked in the Baths of Diocletian. Under the reign of Western Roman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sahle Selassie
Sahle Selassie (Amharic: ሣህለ ሥላሴ, 1795 – 22 October 1847) was the Negus, King of Shewa from 1813 to 1847. An important Amhara people, Amhara noble of Ethiopia, he was a younger son of Wossen Seged. Sahle Selassie was the father of numerous sons, among them Haile Melekot, Haile Mikael, Seyfe Sahle Selassie, Amarkegne and Darge Sahle Selassie; his daughters included Tenagnework, Ayahilush, Wossenyelesh, Birkinesh, and Tinfelesh. He was the great-grandfather of Haile Selassie, the last Emperor of Ethiopia. Biography When their father had been murdered, Oromo people, Oromo rebels in Marra Biete kept Sahle Selassie's older brother Bakure from promptly marching to their father's capital at Qundi to claim the succession. Although still a teenager, Sahle Selassie seized this chance at rule by rushing from the monastery at Sela Dingay where he was a student "and probably with the support of his mother Zenebework's Menzian kinsmen was proclaimed the ''Ras (title), Ras'' and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rulers Of Shewa
This article lists the rulers of Shewa, a historical region of Ethiopia. c. 960–1270 According to tradition, the Solomonic dynasty (1270–1974) was descended from king Solomon and queen Makeda via the kings of Axum. After Axum was destroyed by Gudit in the 10th century, the royal family fled to Shewa and reigned there for 330 years before the accession of Yekuno Amlak. A line of kings ruled at Shewa during the time of the Zagwe dynasty and claimed descent from Dil Na'od, the last king of Axum. The 1922 regnal list of Ethiopia includes eight unnumbered kings described as "8 generations of an Israelitish dynasty" who "did not mount the throne". 1682–1889 Claiming Solomonic descent, Nagasi Krestos established Shewa as an autonomous region of the weakening Ethiopian Empire in the 17th century before requesting the title of ''Meridazmatch'', which would be adopted by his successors, and beginning a southern expansion of his realm that would culminate in the conquests o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asfaw Wossen (ruler Of Shewa)
Asfa Wossen (, ) was a ruler of Shewa of the Ethiopian Empire from about 1770 to 1808, an important Amhara noble of Ethiopia. He was the son of Amha Iyasus; Mordechai Abir notes that he was one of Amha Iyasus' 48 offspring. Reign According to Donald Levine, Asfa Wossen spent his youth in a monastery in Menz, where he became proficient at the traditional Amharic poetic genre known as '' qene''.Donald N. Levine, ''Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture'' (Chicago: University Press, 1972), p. 34 During his reign, Shewan control over the tributary states of Geshe, Antzioka, Efrata, Moret and Marra Biete were strengthened. One step in this process led Asfa Wossen to follow the advice of his father confessor and embrace the doctrine of the '' Sost Lidet'' in order to absorb the key state of Marra Biete. Abir considers Asfa Wossen "more of an administrator than a war leader", noting the Meridazmach's administrative innovations of Shewa. "However, when the nee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethiopian Highlands
The Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . It is sometimes called the "Roof of Africa" due to its height and large area. It is the only country in the region with such a high elevated surface. This elevated surface is bisected diagonally by the Great East African Rift System which extends from Syria to Mozambique across the East African Lakes. Most of the Ethiopian Highlands are part of central and northern Ethiopia, and its northernmost portion reaches into Eritrean Highlands, Eritrea. History In the southern parts of the Ethiopian Highlands once was located the Kingdom of Kaffa, a medieval and Early modern period, early modern state, whence the coffee plant was exported to the Arabian Peninsula. The land of the former kingdom is mountainou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gojjam
Gojjam ( ''gōjjām'', originally ጐዛም ''gʷazzam'', later ጐዣም ''gʷažžām'', ጎዣም ''gōžžām'') is a historical provincial kingdom in northwestern Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Markos. During the 18th century, Gojjam's western neighbors were Agawmeder in the southwest and Qwara in the northwest. Agawmeder, never an organized political entity, was gradually absorbed by Gojjam until it reached west to the Sultanate of Gubba; Juan Maria Schuver noted in his journeys in Agawmeder (September 1882) that in three prior months, "the Abyssinians considerably advanced their frontier towards the West, effacing what was left of the independent regions." Gubba acknowledged its dependence to Emperor Menelik II in 1898, but by 1942 was absorbed into Gojjam. Dek Island in Lake Tana was administratively part of Gojjam until 1987. The capital city is Bahir Dar. History The earliest recorded mention of Gojjam was during the medieval period, in a note in a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Begemder
Begemder (; also known as Gondar or Gonder) was a province in northwest Ethiopia. The alternative names come from its capital during the 20th century, Gondar. Etymology A plausible source for the name ''Bega'' is that the word means "dry" in the local language, while another possible interpretation could be "sheep," where rearing of sheep is ''beg'' in Amharic. Thus, ''Begemder'' likely refers to "land that rears sheep" or "the dry area." Another etymology is that the first two syllables come from the Ge'ez language ''baggi`'' for sheep (Amharic: ''beg medir'') "Land of Sheep." Beckingham and Huntingford note that Begemder originally applied to the country east of Lake Tana, where water is scarce, and concluded, "The allusion to the lack of water suggests Amharic ''baga'', "dry season," as a possible source of the name." Another, less likely, etymology proposed for the name is that it came from ''Bega'' ( Beja) plus ''meder'' (land) (meaning land of the Bega or Beja), as an in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tigray Province
Tigray Province (), also known as Tigre ( tigrē), was a historical province of northern Ethiopia that overlayed the present day Afar and Tigray regions. Akele Guzai borders with the Tigray province. It encompassed most of the territories of Tigrinya-speakers (and a few minority groups) 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 (95.5% in 1994), with the exception of a small, but important Muslim subgroup ( Jeberti) and a few Catholics (mainly Irob). 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-e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Amba Sel
The Battle of Amba Sel was fought on 28 October 1531, between the Ethiopians under their Emperor Dawit II, and the forces of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi of the Adal Sultanate The Adal Sultanate, also known as the Adal Empire or Barr Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate'', ''Adal Sultanate'') (), was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din III on th .... Battle The Battle of Amba Sel was one of the bloodiest battles waged in the whole war. The two armies fought fiercely and bravely until Addalu fell and was promptly beheaded by the Adalite soldiers. His men therefore fled, pursued by the Adalites who killed many Christians and took many others captives. Thousands of Christians were killed, including innumerable nobles and 3,000 cavalrymen, and some 200 noble men who were seized. The land was covered with corpses and blood ran like streams according to Arab Faqīh. The Imam then ordered all of the inha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ahmad Gragn
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (, Harari: አሕመድ ኢብራሂም አል-ጋዚ, ; 21 July 1506 – 10 February 1543) was the Imam of the Adal Sultanate from 1527 to 1543. Commonly named Ahmed ''Gragn'' in Amharic and ''Gurey'' in Somali, both meaning the left-handed, he led the invasion and conquest of Abyssinia from the Sultanate of Adal during the Ethiopian–Adal War. He is often referred to as the "King of Zeila" in medieval texts. Dubbed "The African Attila" by Orientalist Frederick A. Edwards, Imam Ahmed's conquests reached all the way to the borders of the Sultanate of Funj. Imam Ahmed won nearly all his battles against the Ethiopians before 1541 and after his victory at Battle of Amba Sel, the Ethiopian Emperor, Dawit II was never again in a position to offer a pitched battle to his army and was subsequently forced to live as an outlaw constantly hounded by Imam Ahmed's soldiers, the Malassay. Early years Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi was born in 1506 and hai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lebna Dengel
Dawit II (; – 2 September 1540), also known by the macaronic name Wanag Segad (ወናግ ሰገድ, ''to whom the lions bow''), better known by his birth name Lebna Dengel (, ''essence of the virgin''), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1508 to 1540, whose political center and palace was in Shewa. A male line descendant of the medieval Amhara kings, and thus a member of the House of Solomon, he was the son of Emperor Na'od and Empress Na'od Mogesa. The important victory over the Adal's Emir Mahfuz may have given Dawit the appellation "Wanag Segad," which is a combination of Geʽez and the Harari terms. Biography Early reign In contrast to previous emperors, Dawit had only one wife, Seble Wongel, whom he married around 1512–13. The couple had eight children: four sons and four daughters. Taking only one wife throughout his life was seen as a Christian act that fit with the ideals of the Church. Although she was well into her seventies, the Empress Mother El ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
