Provinces of Eritrea
Theprovinces of Eritreaexisted since pre-Axumite times and became administrative provinces fromEritrea's incorporation as a colony ofItalyuntil the conversion of the provinces into administrative regions. Many of the provinces had their own local laws since the 13th century.
Overview[edit]
InItalian Eritrea,the Italian colonial administration had divided the colony into eight provinces (administrative regions) called Akele Guzay, Barka, Denkalia, Hamasien, Sahel, Semhar, Senhit and Serae. These administrative regions relied heavily upon the historical political boundaries in the region, including, but not exclusively, that of local nobility. These provinces of Eritrea were also used by the Federated Eritrean Government from 1952 to 1962 and as districts (awrajja) in Eritrea when it was annexed byEthiopiafrom 1962 to 1991.
Afterindependence,the Provisional Government of Eritrea converted the original eight provinces of Eritrea (from the Italian colonial period) to nine provinces by splitting the Barka province in two (the north known as Barka Province and the south asGash-SetitProvince), while at the same time separatingAsmarafrom the rest of Hamasien. On April 15, 1996, the Government of Eritrea converted the then nine provinces of Eritrea into six administrative regions.
Akele Guzai[edit]
Akele Guzai(ምድረ ቡር ) was a historical province of Eritrea until 1996 when the newlyEritreangovernment consolidated all provinces intosix regions.It extends fromDekemhareto the town ofSenafe.The province's estimated population was 460,000 in 1990 and had an area of 8400 km2 km2,is mostly consisted ofTigrinyaandSahoethnic groups. Akele Guzai is home to more than three-fourths of the total Saho-speaking population in Eritrea. The Tigrinya people of Akele Guzai are mostly followers of theEritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churchwhile theSahoare predominantly majority fromSunni Muslim.The province of Akele Guzai is now mostly part of theNorthern Red Sea Regionand theSouthern Region.
History[edit]
Akele Guzai is one of the most ancient regions of Eritrea. It has an inscriptional record going back to at least the 9th century BC, the earliest example of theGe'ez script.The province was part ofDʿmt,[1]which would evolve into theKingdom of Aksum.[2]
Akele Guzai's name has been connected to theGazeof theMonumentum Adulitanum(which later medieval Greek notes in the margins associate with theAksumitepeople[3]).[4]If the note regarding the Gaze is accurate, it would connect the name of Akele Guzai to theAgʿazyānorAgʿazi(Ge'ez speakers) of the Kingdom ofDʿmtin Eritrea and northernEthiopia.This connection has been rejected by linguists in modern times, however, due to the lack of the middlevoiced pharyngeal fricativein thetriliteral roots,which is usually preserved inTigrinya.[5]
Along withAgamein Ethiopia, it was a main center of Aksumite culture (second only to Western Tigray, where the capital was located), with a distinct sub-culture that separated the two regions from that of Western Tigray (Shire,Axum,Yeha), Central Eritrea (Serae, Hamasien, andAdulis), and frontier areas in northern Eritrea and Central Ethiopia.[6][7]
In theMiddle Ages,parts of southern Akele Guzai were briefly part of the larger province ofBur,Ethiopia, which also includedAgame,some northeasternAfar lowlands,and theBuri Peninsula;southern Akele Guzai and Agame were part of "Upper" (La'ilay) Bur, while the lowlands were further distinguished as "Lower" (Tahtay).[8]
Barka[edit]
Barkawas a province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was divided between the present-dayGash-BarkaandAnsebaregions. Its capital wasAgordat.It had an area of 12,819 mi2(20630.180736000002 km2).[9]
Denkalia[edit]
Denkaliawas a province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was divided between present-dayNorthern Red SeaandSouthern Red Searegions of Eritrea. Its capital wasAssab.
Hamasien[edit]
Hamasien(Ge’ez:ሐማሴን;Tigrinya:ሓማሴን) is a historical province including and surrounding the Eritrean capital namedAsmara.Hamassien province had a population of 623,000 people in 1987 and an area of 4,400 km2.[10]In 1996 the province was divided and distributed amongst the modernMaekel,Debub,Northern Red Sea,Gash-Barka,andAnsebaregions.
Hamasien's population predominantly followOriental Orthodox Christianityand are members of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, with a considerable minority from theSunniMuslim,Roman Catholic,andLutherancommunities. Hamasien was politically influential within the Eritrean highlands, in Eritrea and the whole region.[citation needed]
History[edit]
The former province Hamassien was the political and economic center of Eritrea; judging from excavations in the Sembel area outside Asmara, it has been so since at least the 9th century BC. The earliest surviving appearance of the name "Hamasien" is believed to have been the region ḤMS²M, i.e. ḤMŠ, mentioned in aSabaicinscription of theAxumitekingEzana.[11][12]The region may have been mentioned as early asPuntitetimes by Ancient Egyptian records as 'MSW (i.e. "Amasu" ), a region of Punt.[12]
During the early medieval centuries, it was ruled by the Raesis of the Hazega and Tseazega Raesi Woldemichael Solomon Gomida and the Bahri negasi making their center of administration inDebarwa.According toFrancisco Álvares,writing in the early 16th century, the Raesi of the Tseazegas (Habtesulus) had been able to collect tax by extending their authority almost as far asSuakinin modernSudan.
Hamsien appears on indigenous maps of the northernHorn of Africain the 15th century.[13][14]It was governed by a chief called Zarsanāy in the sixteenth century during theAdal Sultanateoccupation.[15]
Hamassien would be ruled by a governor known as theBahr Negashduring theZagweandSolomonic dynasties.With the decline of the importance of the Midri Bahri in the 17th century, the province enjoyed a period of communal rule under councils of village elders, the so-calledshimagilewho enforced traditional laws which had prevailed uniquely in the region alongsidefeudalauthority since ancient times.[16]Following the death of Emperor Yohannes at theBattle of Gallabat,Hamasien was occupied by the Italians, who incorporated it into their colony of Eritrea and making one of its villages, Asmara, the capital of the colony, a status it retains today as the capital of the sovereign country of Eritrea.[17]
Sahel[edit]
Sahelwas a former province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was absorbed into the present-dayNorthern Red Searegion. Its capital wasNakfa.
Semhar[edit]
Semharis the name of a former province of Eritrea, which has now become almost incorporated into theNorthern Red Sea Regionwhen the number and names of provinces were unilaterally changed in 1996.[18]The province was thinly settled withMassawaas the provincial capital.[19]The population is mainlyTigre,Afar, Saho and Tigrinya. The Tigre and Tigrinya language are mainly spoken. The population is mainly pastoralist and agro-pastroalist.
It is a common name for Eritrean females and at times males as well.[citation needed]Semhar is also a city in Eritrea.
Senhit[edit]
Senhitwas a former province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was absorbed into the present-dayAnsebaregion. Its capital wasKeren.
Serae[edit]
SeraeorSeraye(Tigrigna/Tigre/Ge’ez:ሰራየ) is a former province of Eritrea which had an estimated population of 515,000 in 1990 (the most populous province) and an area of 8,608 km2(3,324 sq mi).[20][10]The province is home to two of the Eritrean ethnic groups namely theTigrinyaandTigre.It has since been incorporated primarily into theDebubRegion, though some western districts have become part of the Gash-Barka region. It is believed that the name of the province is from the "dark forests" which once thrived on its fertile ground.[21]
Today the region is home to twelve monasteries of theEritrean Orthodox Churchas well as a number of new factories in the town ofMendefera.
Districts[edit]
- Tsilima ጽልማ
- Debub ደቡብ
- GuH'tsi'A ጉሕጭዓ
- Mai Tsa'eda ማይጻዕዳ/ ማጫዕዳ
- Enda Azmach Oqbit እንዳዝማች ዑቕቢት
- Deqi Bokhri ደቂ ቦኽሪ
- Meraguz መራጉዝ
- QoHain ቆሓይን
- Gundet ጒንደት
- Aila ዓይላ
- Sef'a ሰፍኣ
- Harfe Gurotto ሃርፈጒረቶ
- Deqi Digna ደቂ ድግና
- Deqi Aites ደቂ ጣዒስ
- Medri Wedi’Sebera ምድሪ ወዲ’ሰበራ
- Dembelas ደምበላስ
- Zaide'kolom ዛይደ'ኮሎም
- Anagir ዓናግር
- Tekela ተኸላ
- Kuno Redae ኲኖ ረዳእ
- Etan Zere ዕጣን ዘርአ
- Misyam ምስያም
- Medri Felasi ምድሪ ፈላሲ
- Timzea - ትምዝኣ
History[edit]
Serae/Seraye which in old books called as Sarawi (ሰራዊ)[22][23]is an ancient entity which was a region of the Kingdom ofD'mt,[24]which would evolve in theKingdom of Aksum.During theZagweandSolomonic dynasties,theBahr Negashwould be centered inDebarwain the province of Seraye.[25]Serae was bound by regions of Akele Guzay in the east, Hamassien in the North, Tigray proper (Adwa/Shire/Axum) in the south and Gash-Setit in the west During this Axumite period, the region became a successful trading region as it lay between theRed Seaport ofAdulis,Asmara, andAxum.
In his tablet,Ezanamentions several peoples he had subjugated and refers to himself as the ruler ofAksum,Himyar,Sheba(Saba') and Rydan inYemen.He also mentions 'Sarawi' as one of the people he subjugated. Furthermore, he mention that he subjugated the king of 'Sarati', (this name crops up in different forms of one of which is Sarawi. It stands for the Eritrean province of 'Serae'), and says that he came to an understanding with him concerning the passage of trade caravans to 'Adulis' peacefully across his country. However, the names of these kingdoms disappeared after the fourth century A.D. Following the fall of Aksum as a united kingdom after the Hamiti Beja tribes overran the Eritrean highlands in the 8th century A.D., the province serae formed an independent state under the administration of its ruler who was called 'Cantibai'.[26]Some scholars wrote that the name Serae origin comes from theSaratorSarawat Mountainsin South Arabia.[27]
Serae appears on indigenous maps of the northern Horn of Africa in the 15th century.[13][14]
TheBahr Negashexisted until the 1600s. The province had its own written native administration codes that was used from the beginning of the 1400AD, which was named as the law ofAdkeme-Miligae.The book existed until the come of the anti Christian jihadistAhmad Gragnin the 1600s, burning churches and killing the believers and progressing northwards from present-day eastern Ethiopia and Somaliland, as a result the book was lost/burnt at that time. The people of Serae were administered without the book verbally until the arrival of the Italians in the end of the 19th century. In 1938 again the book of native law code was written of elderly and knowledgeable people from seven villages (Adi Mongonti, Mayduma, Kudo Felasi, Bet Gabriel, Qine Hayela, Adi Hyis, and May Leham) representing the whole awraja Serae except the Logo Tchiwa which had its own codes in addition to theAdkeme-Miligae.This Law had more liberal customs and low restrictions on women's rights for land ownership than any other laws in the country.[28]
Despite theemperor of Ethiopia's allegations and grants of control of the country of the Bahri negesitat theZagweandSolomonic dynasties,the 1984Proceedings of thePermanent Peoples' Tribunalof the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoplesdeclares that "There was no administration that connected Serae and Hamassien to the centre of the Ethiopian Kingdom.[29]Most of Serae and Akeleguzay are together now inside the Southern region of Eritrea.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Sabbe, O.Saleh,History of Eritrea, translated by Muhamad Fawaz al-Azem. Published 1970 by Dar al-Masirah in Beirut, Lebanon, p19
- ^Fattovich, Rodolfo, "Akkälä Guzay" in Uhlig, Siegbert, ed.Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C.Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz KG, 2003, p. 169.
- ^Stuart Munro-Hay,Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity.Edinburgh: University Press, 1991. Page 187 in"online version"(PDF).(838KiB)
- ^L. P. Kirwan,"The Christian Topography and the Kingdom of Axum" inThe Geographical Journal.The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), 1972. p.173.
- ^Alfred Felix Landon Beeston,"Review: Excavations at Aksum: An Account of Research at the Ancient Ethiopian Capital Directed in 1972-74", inBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.School of Oriental and African Studies, 1992.
- ^Stuart Munro-Hay,Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity.Edinburgh: University Press, 1991."Online version"(PDF).(838KiB),pp.36-37.
- ^Rodolfo Fattovich,"Some Data for the study of Cultural History in Ancient Northern Ethiopia" inNyame Akuma.Newsletter of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists in America, May 1977, pp. 6-18.
- ^"Bur" in Uhlig, Siegbert, ed.Encyclopaedia Aethiopica:A-C. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz KG, 2003.
- ^"how big is barka, eritrea - Google Search".google.Retrieved2018-04-03.
- ^abAdugna, Aynalem(1984) The spatial pattern in the Ethiopian population, p.200, Durham theses, Durham University
- ^Richard Pankhurst,The Ethiopian Borderlands(Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1997), p. 21.
- ^abWolbert Smidt: "Ḥamasen," in Siegbert Uhlig, ed., Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005).
- ^abNyssen, J., Tesfaalem Ghebreyohannes, Hailemariam Meaza, Dondeyne, S., 2020. Exploration of a medieval African map (Aksum, Ethiopia) – How do historical maps fit with topography? In: De Ryck, M., Nyssen, J., Van Acker, K., Van Roy, W., Liber Amicorum: Philippe De Maeyer In Kaart. Wachtebeke (Belgium): University Press: 165-178.
- ^abSmidt W (2003) Cartography, in: Uhlig S (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, vol. 1: 688-691
- ^Chekroun, Amélie.Le "Futuh al-Habasa": écriture de l’histoire, guerre et société dans le Bar Sa’ad ad-din (Ethiopie, XVIe siècle).l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. p. 336.
- ^With further detailed references see Wolbert Smidt: "Law: Traditional Law Books", in: ebd., 516-18. See also the article on the law of Ḥamasen: Wolbert Smidt: "Ḥəggi Habsəllus Gäräkəstos", in: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag 2007, vol. 3 (He-N), p. 10f.
- ^Haggai Erlich,Ras Alula and the Scramble for Africa(Lawrenceville: Red Sea,1996), chapters 11-13
- ^Mekonnen, Daniel Rezene (May 2008).Transitional justice: framing a model for Eritrea(Thesis thesis). University of the Free State.
- ^The Rising tide of cultural pluralism: the nation-state at bay?.Crawford Young. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press. 1993. pp. 183–184.ISBN0-299-13880-1.OCLC27680597.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: others (link) - ^Kurt, Hanevik,Eritrean amputee statistics
- ^Killion, Tom (1998).Historical Dictionary of Eritrea.The Scarecrow Press.ISBN0-8108-3437-5.
- ^Bertrand(1845) Voyage en Abyssinie execute pendant lesannees, p.106
- ^Alessandro Bausi,Corpus Scriiptorum Christianorum Orientalium:Scriptores aethiopics, p.217
- ^History of Eritrea, Old Races In Eritrea, Written by Othoman Saleh Sabe, translated by Muhamad Fawaz al-Azem. Published 1970 by Dar al-Masirah in Beirut, Lebanon, p19
- ^G. Marcus, Harold (1994).A History of Ethiopia.University of California Press. p. 27.ISBN9780520925427.
- ^Sabbe, O.Saleh,History of Eritrea, translated by Muhamad Fawaz al-Azem. Published 1970 by Dar al-Masirah in Beirut, Lebanon, p34
- ^John G.Jackson, Ethiopia and the origin of civilization, p29
- ^UN, FAO,Gender and Land Rights Database,Eritrea
- ^"Proceedings of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples".Session on Eritrea.Rome, Italy: Research and Information Centre on Eritrea. 1984.
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