page_title: Tigrayans
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tigrayans / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Palace complex of Yohannes IV (Atse Yohannes Museum) in Mekele, Ethiopia Русский: Ансамбль дворца Йоханныса IV в городе Мэкэле, Эфиопия
context_page_description: The Tegarus are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the highlands of Eritrea and the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. They speak the Tigrinya language, a direct descendant of the Ge’ez language that was spoken in late antiquity.
  In Eritrea they make up about 55% of the population, i.e. above three million people, and in Ethiopia there are about 4.5 million Tegarus, according to the 2007 census, most of them in the Tigray Region. Over 90% of Tegarus are Christians. The great majority are Ethiopian Orthodox Christian and Eritrean Orthodox Christian, but there are minorities of Muslims, Beta Israel, and since the 19th century, Protestants in Eritrea and Catholics mainly in Akele Guzay and Agame. Most Tegarus are traditionally agriculturalists, practicing plough agriculture and also keeping cattle, sheep and goats, and in many areas bees Some Tegaru groups have a strong local identity and used to have their own traditional, quite autonomous self-organization, sometimes dominated by egalitarian assemblies of elders, sometimes by leading families or local feudal dynasties.
context_section_description: The majority of Tegarus trace their origin to early Semitic-speaking peoples whose presence in the region dates back to at least 2000 BC, based on linguistic evidence (and known from the 9th century BC from inscriptions). According to Ethiopian traditions, the Tegaru nobility; i.e. that of the former Kingdom of Tigray, trace their ancestry to the legendary king Menelik I, the child born of the queen of Sheba and King Solomon as do the priests of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (Ge'ez ካህን kāhin). Menelik I would become the first king of the Solomonic dynasty of rulers of Ethiopia that ended only with the deposing of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.
  The first possible mention of the group dates from around the 8th to 10th centuries, in which period manuscripts preserving the inscriptions of Cosmas Indicopleustes (fl. 6th century) contain notes on his writings including the mention of a tribe called Tigretes.
  A Portuguese Map in the 1660 shows Medri Bahri consisting of the three highland provinces of Eritrea and distinct from Ethiopia. The Bahre-Nagassi ("Kings of the Sea") alternately fought with or against the Abyssinians and the neighbouring Muslim Adal Sultanate depending on the geopolitical circumstances. Medri Bahri was thus part of the Christian resistance against Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi of Adal's forces, but later joined the Adalite states and the Ottoman Empire front against Abyssinia in 1572. That 16th century also marked the arrival of the Ottomans, who began making inroads in the Red Sea area. Bruce noted "They next passed the Mareb, which is the boundary between Tigre and the Baharnagash". James Bruce in his book published in 1805 located Tigré (a region based arbitrarily by James Bruce on the Language of Tigrinya) between Red Sea and the Tekezé River and stated many large governments, such as Enderta and Antalow, and the great part of Baharhagash were part of Tigré region based on the language of Tigrinya.
  By the beginning of the 19th century Henry Salt (Egyptologist), who travelled in the interior of Abyssinia, divided the "Abyssinia" region, like James Bruce into three distinct and independent states. These three great divisions(based arbitrarily on Language) are Tigré, Amhara, and the province of Shoa. Henry considers Tigré as the more powerful state of the three; a circumstance arising from the natural strength of the country, the warlike disposition of its inhabitants, and its vicinity to the sea coast; an advantage that has secured to it the monopoly of all the musquets imported into the country. He divided the Tigré kingdom into several provinces as the centre where it was considered the seat of the state being referred as Tigré proper. Provinces of this kingdom includes Enderta, Agame, Wojjerat, Temben, Shiré and Baharanegash. Hamasien, a district of Baharanegash, is the furthest north and narrowest part of Tigré, and Henry places Bejas or Bojas as the people who live north of Tigré state. By the time Henry made his travel to Abyssinia the seat of the empire, Gondar, was ruled by Gugsa of Yejju, an Wollo commander who ruled from 1798 up to 1825 as enderase to the powerless emperors with Solomonic dynasty.
caption: Mekelle palace of Emperor Yohannes IV (emperor of the whole Ethiopian Empire).
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