Shewa (; ; Somali: Shawa; , ), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa, is a historical region of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

which was formerly an autonomous kingdom within the

Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire, historically known as Abyssinia or simply Ethiopia, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day territories of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It existed from the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak a ...

. The modern Ethiopian capital

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

is located at its center. The towns of Debre Berhan, Antsokia, Ankober,

Entoto Mount Entoto () is the highest peak on the Entoto Mountains, which overlooks the city of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. It reaches 3,200 meters above sea level. Overview It is a historical place where Emperor Menelik II resided and built ...

and, after Shewa became a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa have all served as the capital of Shewa at various times. Most of northern Shewa, made up of the districts of

Menz Menz or Manz (, romanized: ''Mänz'') is a former Subdivisions of Ethiopia, subdivision of Ethiopia, located inside the boundaries of the modern Semien Shewa Zone (Amhara), Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region. William Cornwallis Harris describe ...

, Tegulet,

Yifat Yifat (, more accurately romanized as "Yif'at") is a kibbutz in Galilee, northern Israel. Located adjacent to the town Migdal HaEmek and short distances from the cities of Afula and Nazareth. It falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Re ...

, Menjar and Bulga, is populated by Christian

Amharas Amharas (; ) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group indigenous to Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa, traditionally inhabiting parts of the northwest Highlands of Ethiopia, particularly the Amhara Region. According to the 2007 national census, Amh ...

, while southern Shewa is inhabited by the Gurages and eastern Shewa has large Oromo and Argobba

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

populations. The monastery of Debre Libanos, founded by Saint Tekle Haymanot, is located in the district of Selale, Oromia Modern Shewa includes the historical Endagabatan province.

History

Shewa first appears in the historical record as part of a

state ( Makhzumi dynasty), which

G. W. B. Huntingford George Wynn Brereton Huntingford (19 November 1901 – 19 February 1978) was an English linguist, anthropologist and historian. He lectured in East African languages and cultures at SOAS, University of London from 1950 until 1966.Walalah. In 2006, a team of French archaeologists uncovered three urban centers believed to have been remnants of the former Sultanate of Ifat, with the Nora site in eastern Shewa being the most notable among them.

Yekuno Amlak Yekuno Amlak (); throne name Tesfa Iyasus (; died 19 June 1285) was Emperor of Ethiopia, from 1270 to 1285, and the founder of the Solomonic dynasty, which lasted until 1974. He was a ruler from Bete Amhara (in parts of modern-day Wollo and ...

based his uprising against the

Zagwe dynasty The Zagwe dynasty () was a medieval Agaw monarchy that ruled the northern parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It ruled large parts of the territory from approximately 1137 to 1270 AD, when the last Zagwe King Za-Ilmaknun was killed in battle by the ...

from an enclave in Shewa. He claimed Solomonic forebears, direct descendants of the pre-Zagwe Axumite emperors, who had used Shewa as their safe haven when their survival was threatened by Gudit and other enemies. This is the reason why the region got the name "Shewa" which means 'rescue' or 'save'. This claim is supported by the '' Kebra Nagast'', a book written under one of the descendants of Yekuno Amlak, which mentions Shewa as part of the realm of Menelik I. Aksum and its predecessor

Dʿmt Dʿmt (Unvocalized Ge'ez: ደዐመተ, ''DʿMT'' theoretically vocalized as ዳዓማት, *''Daʿamat'' or ዳዕማት, *''Daʿəmat'') was an Ethio- Sabaean kingdom located in present-day Eritrea and the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia. ...

were mostly limited to Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea during the 1st millennium BCE. However, Shewa eventually became a part of Abyssinia upon the rise of the Amhara Solomonic dynasty. Dawit I and his successors stayed in

Fatagar A medieval map of Fatagar and surrounding areas Fatagar (Amharic: ፈጠጋር) was a historical province that separated Muslim and Christian dominions in the medieval Horn of Africa. In the eleventh century it was part of the Muslim states, then ...

(part of Shewa) for a long time in Tobya (Yifat, Fatagar). The province served as the birthplace of the future emperors

Zara Yaqob Zara Yaqob (; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Qostantinos I (; "Constantine"). He is known for the Geʽez literature that flourished during his reign, th ...

and Dawit II. Zara Yaqob and Na'od would then make Debre Berhan and Zway their capitals respectively. In 1528 Shewa was overrun by Muslim invaders from the Sultanate of Adal to the east, and its ancient cities were destroyed. Most of Shewa was overrun by the Oromos during the late 16th century. Its eastern fringe was reportedly inhabited by the

Harla people The Harla, also known as Harala, Haralla were an ethnic group that once inhabited Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti. They spoke the Harla language, which belonged to either the Cushitic languages, Cushitic or Ethiopian Semitic languages, Semitic br ...

according to the Karrayyu Oromo. According to oral traditions, Shewa had a powerful king named Sarako, who prevented the people from bearing arms. A certain giant arose against Sarako, and his children, and destroyed them. When the clans of the Borana, Gombichu and Ada, entered Shewa, they found no-one to stop them, since the children of Sarako had been killed. Enrico Cerulli believes that this tradition is related to the Amhara tradition of an arrogant king, which is attributed to Emperor Dawit II. However, he also notes that Sarako is the Gurage name for Emperor

, from this he concludes that the Oromo acquired the Sarako tradition through their contact with the Gurage. Negus Sahle Selassie

The Amhara Shewan ruling family was founded in the late 17th century by Negasi Krestos, who consolidated his control around Yifat and extended his territory to the south by conquering

, Tegulet and Merhabete from the Oromos. Upon rising to power, Sahle Selassie aligned himself to the Abichu Oromo and turn his attention to the Tulama Oromo, whom he defeated in the early 1820s. He followed this victory by rebuilding Debre Berhan, which had been burned in an Oromo raid, as well as a number of other towns and consolidated his hold by founding a number of fortified villages, like Angolalla, in the Abichu territory. He extended the frontier of Shewa into Bulga and Karayu, to the southeast into Arsi, and as far south as the territories of the Gurage. After a few years, Sahle Selassie felt his position secure enough that he proclaimed himself Negus, or king, of Shewa, Ifat, the Oromo and the Gurage peoples, without the authority of the Emperor of Ethiopia in

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on ...

. During the nineteenth century, the regions to the west of Shewa were predominantly influenced by the adjacent state,

Emirate of Harar The Emirate of Harar was a Muslim kingdom founded in 1647 when the Harari people refused to accept Imām ʿUmardīn Ādam as their ruler and broke away from the Imamate of Aussa to form their own state under `Ali ibn Da`ud. The Harar, city of Ha ...

. After the death of Sahle Selassie in 1847, Shewa fell under the rule of his son, Haile Melekot. Shewa soon attracted the attention of Emperor

Tewodros II Tewodros II (, once referred to by the English cognate Theodore; baptized as Kassa, – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to ...

, who mobilized his army in Wollo and advanced into Shewa in October 1855. The Emperor advanced into Tegulet and around the same time the Oromo seized the opportunity to rebel and burnt Ankober to the ground. Haile Melekot, decided to prevent Debre Berhan from falling into the hands of his enemy and had the town put to flames, he then fled to a nearby hill where he hoped to hide but soon died of an illness on November 10. After Haile Melekot' death, Tewdoros' opponents rallied behind the late king's son,

Menelik II Menelik II ( ; horse name Aba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), baptised as Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ማርያም ''sahlä maryam'') was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Et ...

. Tewdoros left his camp at Debre Berhan and pursued the boy to Bakarat where he was captured and imprisoned at his mountain stronghold in Amba Mariam. After crushing the Amhara opposition in the province, Tewdoros then turned his attention towards the Oromo and according to Zanab "exterminated all the Gallas, from Debre Berhan to Ankober so that their corpses covered the ground like a carpet."

, who escaped from Amba Mariam at the end of June 1865 when he was twenty one years old, quickly returned to war-ravaged Shewa. During the first part of his reign, he ordered the reconstruction of various fortified towns such as Ankober, Debre Berhan and Warra Ilu. These sites had the advantage of being in the center of his realm, enabling him to remain in contact with the Christians to the south and the Muslim Oromos in the northeast. The area around these town moreover had rich pastures capable of feeding numerous cavalry and other livestock. After the Egyptian-Ethiopian War, Emperor Yohannes IV, who was angered over Menelik's claim to be the Emperor, marched into Shewa and ravaged the towns. Menelik, realizing that resistance was futile, was forced to submit to Yohannes. Escaping influence from Yohannes, Menelik moved his capital south from Ankober to Mount Entoto in 1884. There, his wife

Taytu Betul Taytu Betul ( ''Ṭaytu Bəṭul'' ; baptised as Wälättä Mikael; 1851 – 11 February 1918) was Empress of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913 and the third wife of Emperor Menelik II. An influential figure in the anti-colonial resistance during th ...

was attracted to a nearby spring known as Finfinne by the local Oromo inhabitants. In the spring of 1886, Menelik chose the site for

, his future capital. Building began at once, and, when Menelik became emperor of the whole country in 1889, Addis Ababa became the capital of Ethiopia.

Notable people

* Meridazmatch and Negus of Shewa * People from Addis Ababa

References

{{coord, 9, 00, N, 39, 00, E, display=title, region:ET_type:country_source:GNS-enwiki Monarchies of Ethiopia Provinces of Ethiopia

History

Notable people

See also

References