Mereja.Forum

[Noble Amhara]

Southern Ethiopia and the Christian Kingdom 1508-1708:
by Merid Wolde Aregai

Angot Section (Raya)


Immediately to the east of Beguna and south of the Azabo plains was Qeda, com- prising the mountains of Zabul and the surrounding lowlands. The lowlands were inhabited by the Doba and other pastoralists related to them, while on the mountains of Zabul were stationed
soldiers of the Jan Qantafa regiment. Angot, relatively the
1. The Prester John of the Indies, I, 200.
2. F.M.E. Pereira (trans. and ed.), Chronica de Susenvos, I,
2i-6, 3l4-, II, 189-90, 2+3.

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largest of these provinces, began somewhere near the Alaniata river and extended southwards up to Lake Raiq)- It included
the district which, during the wars of Ahniad Granh, came to be
occupid by the Yajju people, as well as the district of Ambassal where Amba Geshan was located. 2 Much of Angot was,
therefore, mountainous land, inhabited, by Christian Amhara who were engaged in farming. We do not know how far eastward it
stretched, but it seems to have touched upon the Danakil province. The plains below the escarpments may have been inhabited by pastoralists of the Zalan and Maya groups.
Danakil or Danka]. province began somewhere near the salt plains of Irho. Southwards it may have extended into the neighbourhood of Lake Abbe and the Awash river. The Muslim in- habitants of the province called themselves Afar. They were known as Dankale by their neighbours in the interior and as Danakil by the traders and travellers from Arabia. Much of Danakil province consisted of dry and barren plains, and the Afar, nearly all of whom were nomads, were forced to disperse
themselves over extensive areas. The Afar consisted of loosely
1.
2.
Alvarez puts the lake in the province of Amhara. The Prester John of the Indies, I, 2+9. Paez leaves it in Angot.
"Historia de Ethiopia", Rer. Aeth., II 278. So does Luis de Azevedo in his letter of July 22, l€07, ibid., XI, 128.
Paez says that Amba Geshan was within Amhara. "Historia de Ethiopia", ibid., II, 8o-8i. This is because during the reign of Susenyos the district of Ambassal was added to the province, then governed by his brother Yamana Chrestos.

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related tribes all of which recognized the authority of one chief. His residence was somewhere inland from the port of
Baylul, but probably nearer to Tigre than to Angot or Amhara.

Shewa Section

[Noble Amhara]

Southern Ethiopia and the Christian Kingdom 1508-1708:
by Merid Wolde Aregai

The Christian Amhara of Shewa

The population of Shawa at the beginning of the sixteenth century could be grouped
into three divisions. The Christian Amhara lived iu the northern and central districts of Marabete, Manz, Gesh, Gerarya (now Selale), Wagda, Selalesh (Today’s Selale) and in the southern plains bordering on the province of Fatagar. The eastern districts of Tagulat and Sarmat (Senbete?) had a mixed population of Christian and Muslim Amhara. The pre- dominantly pagan Gafat tribes lived in the western districts of Mugar, Endagebtan and Gendabarat. (South of Abay River in West Shewa Zone)

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The small provinces of Garth and Gedem, situated on the escarpments to the east of Amhara, were more military settlements than administrative divisions. Like Beguna and Qeda to the north, these provinces were strategically important for the defence of the highlands against encroachments from the nomads and pastoralists of the eastern lowlands. Ganh bordered
upon Angot and. Amhara, and. it seems to have been located to the south-east of the Haiq and Ardibbo lakes. Wasal, one of the biggest market towns of eastern Ethiopia, may have been in the province. Gedem lay south of Amhara and east of Gesh and Manz. It may have included the eastern slopes between the Robi and.
Borkanna rivers but ending just before reaching the arid plains to the left of the Awash river. Both Ganh and Gedem contained a very mixed and, apparently, fully integrated population of
Christian and Muslim Amhai'a as well as Christian and Muslim Afar from the nearby lowlands.
Ifat began at the edge of the escarpments, immediately to the east of the districts of Gesh, Tagulat and Sarmat. It
was probably bounded by Gedem on the north, by the Qassam river on the south and by the Awash on the east. Until the end of the thirteenth century it was an independent sultanate exercising
undisputed hegemony over seyeral sultanates and emirates which

[Noble Amhara]

Yekuno Amlak

The struggle with migrating pastoralists and. nomads from the eastern lowlands, which had continued at least since the thirteenth century, had certainly contributed much towards the shaping of political and military institutions in the highlands.
After Yekun.o Amlak overthrew the last Zagwe king and removed. the court from Lasta to Shawa, the most vulnerable of the frontier provinces, he caused. to be written a justifying charter known as the Kebra nagast. In it Yekuno Amlak was made a legitimate heir of the Aksumite kings, while the Zagwe rulers were shown as usurpers without just claims to the Ethiopian throne. The purpose of Yekuno Amlak in encouraging the legend. of legitimacy
seems tO have been to secure himself against dynastic and. factious conflicts and to unite the country behind him so that
he could concentrate on the defence of the highlands against invasion. The need for national reconciliation and unity was
so pressing that he had little difficulty in making his leader-
ship acceptable.
By this charter succession was limited. to Yekuno
Amlakts descendants in the male line. Although princesses and. their descendants were excluded from succession, neither Yekuno
Amlak nor those of his successors who helped in the completion of the ebra nagast wished to Insert the rule of priniogeniture.
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The omission could not have been accidential, as the emperor and his successors were concerned with 11mitin the opportunity for internal troubles. Yet although the institution of primo-
geniture could have effectively minimized contention over succession, Yekuno Amlak and his successors went to the trouble of establishing the mountain prison of Amba Geshan in which all
1 possible heirs were confined.
This development was probably dictated by the need for capable military leaders. The primary
function of an emperor was to provide military leadership. In the situation in which Ethiopia was in the thirteenth and four- teenth centuries, it could not afford to be saddled by incompe- tent commanders.
In the Hega wasertata mangest, it is said that the heir to the throne was chosen by the emperor and his soldiers.2
This interesting and illuminating document was originally a digest of the administrative and military reforms made by Amda Seyon. However, it was revised twice, first during the reign of Sarsa Dengel and then during that of lyasu I. The version

[Noble Amhara]

• Muger of Gafat
  Guder of Gafat
  
  Jenma of Amhara
  Tana of Amhara
  Gojjam of Amhara
  Beshilo of Amhara
  
  Didessa of Welayta
  
  Beles of Agew
  Fincha of Bizamo
  Wenberma of Shinasha
  Dabus of Shanqella