Western Tigray: Home to Ancient Tigrayan Polities and their people

By: Negasi Awetehey Nega

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1. Abiy Ahmed (PM) Makes the Indisputable Disputable

Amhara´s expansionists have claimed that “Tigray annexed lands from Amhara.” This invalid narrative has been used to commit ethnic cleansing of Tigrayans in western Tigray with full support from the treasonous Ethiopian regime and invading forces of Eritrea. The expansionists have used the support and blessing of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to undertake the ethnic cleansing, and change its demography, built environment, social landscape, and language.

1. Origin and Development as a State

Archeological sites in Tigray demonstrate a rich, continuous history, which can be dated as far back as the Middle Stone Ages. The emergence of organized societies gave rise to polities and states, known as Pwnt (2500 BC) and DMT (1000 BC), which were precursors to the Aksumite Empire (100 BC-800 AD).

Tigray’s history can be conceived in three main phases, the first covering the period of antiquity up to the 19th century (hereafter: historic Tigray); the second, from the late 19th century until the fall of the Derg in 1991 (provincial Tigray); and the third, spanning the era of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, in which Tigray has been an autonomous member state since 1991 (EPRDF´s Tigray).

While Historic Tigray developed organically, as a project of the Tigrayans themselves, Provincial Tigray was a victim of ‘de-Tigraying’ projects, through which successive emperors sought to disrupt historical continuities by flaking the region into artificially imposed lines and borders (e.g. Mereb Milash, Tekezze Milash, etc). Milahses were bifurcators of one (in identity) people. This involved all-around marginalization and strategic territorial reduction of the historic one as a means of bolstering the modern Ethiopian empire. These imposed borders, however, never stuck in the collective minds and memories of the Tigrayan people. It was also a time when Tigrayans opposed the reduction and claimed territorial restoration of their organic Tigray. For instance, Gessese Ayele (see his letter on page 19), Shire province’s parliament member, urged emperor Hailesilasie I that the restoration of Tigray’s historical borders to the south (Aluweha) and to the west (Walqayt) would be fair and just for economic and historical reasons.

In the EPRDF era, Tigray restored its right to self-determination but continued to be one-quarter of the historic one. However, since the start of the war on Tigray in 2020, Tigray’s borders are once again under threat from Amhara expansionists. Indeed, the underlying intention for the war on Tigray is the destruction of Tigray and the extermination of Tigrayans. It is genocide, as several experts have rightly called it.

The Tigray People

Located in the strategic position of the Horn of Africa, the people of Tigray have been known to the outside world since remote antiquity. That is why Phillipson (2004) states Tigray people as the direct descendants of Aksumites. As Wolbert Smidt (2012), a professor of historical anthropology, has noted: historic Tigray retains many ancient self-designations linked to the names of historical provinces. Etymologically, some can be linked to the Pre-Aksumite/Aksumite times. The people are the result of the long process and internal dynamics of the millennial interaction of its Cushitic and Semitic people.

Tigray is the historic land of continuities. In the remainder of this article, the evidence linking modern-day Western Tigray to its historical roots is presented.

1. Western Tigray in Prehistory and Pre-Aksumite

Archaeological clues indicate that the current Western Tigray including outlying areas up to Semen, Metema, and Rasi Dejena were probably the primary resource base, corridor, and home of the Pre-Aksumite polities.

Myrrh, incense, and frankincense from Tigray have been exchanged throughout Northeast Africa and the Near East (Getachew, 2022). This starts in the pre-Aksumite times when Tigray served as a center of circuitous contact with the world. Western Tigray is a territory with an extant of the same Boswellia species (see: current distribution map in the areas); it seems to have been the primary source since antiquity. More fascinating, the first elephant evidence is found in western Tigray, Ba`ati Gaewa rock art depiction. Tekle (2019) who documented the art plausibly suggests the same animal existed around the Tekeze River from late prehistoric times up to modern times. He supplements his argument with the presence of an African elephant (see also its current distribution map figure 1) in the Kafta-Sheraro National Park located to the west of the same rock art site. To sum up, this part of Tigray may have been the possible primary resource base of frankincense, myrrh, and elephants in pre-Aksumite times.

Archaeologists have found evidence of cultural links between West Aksum, and the Sudan steppes (Finneran, 2005). Obsidian resources were likely exported from the northern horn to Egypt around 4000 BC through trade routes located in the present-day North Western and Western Tigray areas (Hatke, 2013). Bard et.al., (2000) have also stated that Western Tigray might have been an entryway for the movement of domesticated cattle from Sudan to the northern horn of Africa around 3000–2000 BC. A comparative study of lithic artifacts from the Gash Delta of Eastern Sudan and from Seglamen (near Aksum) (Phillipson, 2017) also supports this. In addition, Pre-Aksumite rock art sites identified in Tigray (e.g. Tembien, Tselemti) and Sudan are under the common category of Ethiopia and horn of Africa Ethiopian-Arabian Style and share affinities in theme, style, and chronology. This all proves the significance of the territory as a corridor.

1. Western Tigray in Aksumite Period

Resource base, Corridor, and home of the polity

In the 1st millennium AD, Western Tigray continued to be a key trade route between the Aksumite polity and the Kushites/Nubians of Sudan (Hatke 2013). The 6th century Cosmos Indicopleustes known for his Christian Topography work recorded expeditions from the center of the kingdom to a place called sasu near modern Sudan (Phillipson, 2009).

Northwestern and western Tigray up to outlying Semen, Metema, and Raesi Dejena areas were the probable prime sources of elephants, incense, myrrh, gold, and frankincense to the Aksumite polity of Historic Tigray.

Incense is documented to be an alternative medium of exchange in Tigray. It is hard to trace incense from the archaeological records but there are incense burners used for burning incense during rituals in many Aksumite contexts in Tigray. Shire Indasilasie remained a hub for frankincense production and processing in western Tigray up to the 18th century (Getachew, 2022) probably a continuity of the long-spanned Aksumite trend. The other significant resource was the elephant population. There are records from the Ptolemaic period of early Aksumite mentioning the hunting of elephants in western Tigray. It is also documented in the 18th-century travelers’ account (see: routes of Abyssinia: 253 ) that there were elephants across Tekeze areas. Besides, historical evidence confirms elephants were also used for transportation (e.g. obelisks) and warfare by the Aksumites in the early first millennium AD (Tekle, 2019), and western Tigray might have been the primary source.

An ethnographic study by Smidth and Gebremichel (2012) came up with the conclusion that gold mining is a traditional practice: gold jewelry is in high demand in Tigray. In fact, Aksumites had cold coinage. Many of the gold mining and panning sites are found in Northwestern and western Tigray. The same study remarked that modern gold mines in Tigray follow an ancient pattern. Hence, it is probable that Western Tigray has been one of the primary sources of gold for the Aksumite polity and people.

Geographic and physical reports on western Tigray and its outlying areas as an integral part of Historic Tigray are corroborated by ancient inscriptions made by Aksumite kings. King Ezana’s inscription from the 4th century and the stone inscription in Aksum attributed to King Ella Amida (RIE 186) mention that the inhabitants of Semen were paying tributes to the Aksumite kings. Furthermore, inscription RIE 277 mentions a mountain covered with snow (snow-covered), (see: Phillipson, 2012). According to historical sources, this mountain was either the mountain chains of Lemalmo or Mt. Ras Dashen, i.e, the highest peak in the Aksumite territory. It is a continuity of this foundation, Lemalmo, and semen are mentioned by Portuguese traveler Emanuel Baradas as the border of Tigray in the early 17th century.

Walya Ibexes are represented in the rock arts, particularly paintings of 3000BC-1000BC in Tigray. Ibex findings include figurines and freezes, and royal seals mostly found in yeha, the epicenter of the DMT polity. As Finneran (2007) and Manzo (2009) state, ibex (existing in semen mountains) seems to have been associated with the sacred animal found in many spaces across ancient Tigray.

Figure 1: Bronze seals with ibex models dating to the early first millennium BC (left); Walya ibex from Semen national park (right)

Figure 2: Rock paintings with Walya ibex from (western Tigray: Tselemti (left: Tekle 2011) Walya Ibex freezes from Yeha (right: Phillipson, 2012)

Another ancient Aksumite inscription with toponyms (possibly walqayt) from western Tigray is the inscription of Hatsani Daniel (Phillipson, 2012). The Geez inscription RIE 193–4 with:

`` WYLQ: possibly Walqayt, the area southwest of Aksum and beyond the northward bend of the Takeze`` P. 77.

Figure 3. Map to illustrate the expansion and conquests of the Aksumite kingdom, according to prevailing identifications of names recorded in the fourth-century royal inscriptions (Phillipson, 2012).

If the interpretation is right, implies walqayt as a domain under the Aksumite state as well as the presence of power devolutions to local leaders under the Aksumite kings. Common as it is clearly indicated in various inscriptions and liturgical works, there was an inherent practice of power dispensations in the Aksumite state. There was an administrative structure cascaded with hierarchical titles catered to them as emperor, king, and local chiefs. Hence, Tigray had different local chiefs who worked for the state, of which Walqayt may have been one with local rulers in the core territory.

Apart from archaeological and historical sources, the church’s mounting evidence specifically describes the Tigrayannes of western Tigray. In this regard, the monastery of Aba Samuel Walduba in Walqayt which was founded by a Tigrayan monk Abba Samuel from Aksum in the 14th century is a case in point example. Oral tradition pushes the date of establishment as a religious place back to the middle Aksumite times, 490 AD.

The mention of Walduba as second of the five main religious sanctuaries in Tigray ``never molested by the troubles and horrors of Abyssinian war-Axum, Waldeba, Gundagundi, debre damo, debreabay`` in the book Abyssinia and its People, or Life in the land of Prester John in 1868 (see: page 13) supports its Tigrayan and Aksumite identity. This monastery is contemporary with and sibling of many churches and monasteries in other parts of post-Aksumite and medieval Tigray.

The newly discovered archaeological site Ketema Ra’isi is potentially informative for the archaeological journey to the western wards of the Aksumite capital, Aksum. It is located on the banks of the Tekeze River. The impressive findings are Christian Aksumite coins of the 4th century which confirms as the proper territory of Aksumites. The discoverer of the new site prospects: ``This will provide an archaeological link between the central-western Tigray and the southern lands of Sudan.`` p. 463.

1. Linguistic clues and evidence

A total of 575 toponyms, out of which 229 names prefixed addi: village, place, home; 49 names prefixed may: water, spring in Tigrigna, extracted from the ethnographic work of Giovanni Ellero, an Italian administrator of Walqayt during the Italian occupation in the 1930s show that all the toponyms in western Tigray are derived from the Tigrigna language (Nyssen, 2022). Some names (Wollel, Zana, Tsana, Tabir, Medebai Tabor, etc) are even identical to names known as Aksumite sites in Axum and its vicinity.

Tigrigna, as its people, is an ancient language thought to have originated from its Geez, the ancient one in the script. Its first known written work dates to the 13th century. As part of the Tigrayan Jewish, James Bruce`s 18th century MS Bruce 94 manuscript of texts records, western Tigray had Tigrigna-speaking Jews: ``in regions to the north and east of Gondär, namely Wälqayǝt, Ṭsägäde, Ṭsällämti and Wag Hǝmra they [Bete Israel or Jews people] spoke Tigrigna…``(Sophia Dege-Müller: 2020:14). There are also Tigrigna names of flat-topped areas (emba redai, emba felasha, Amba Adi Ero) where the Tigrayan Jews lived according to 19th and early 20th-century European travelers (see: Abbink, 1990: 444). Note that Bete Israel is an endonym while felasha is a term out of use due to its derogatory sense. The Tigrayan Jews associate their ethnogenesis with a tribe from Israel and trace their history to the history of the Ark of the Covenant, Pre-Aksumite times. As they had an entire life of revolt against the Amhara Christian monarchies, they were forced to live as locally disdained and settle in such like fortress mountains to defend themselves (Abbink, 1990). It is a reminder that there is a Jewish community in northwestern (shire and Sheraro areas) Tigray. So, Western Tigray has been another area for the same Jews in the times of historic Tigray.

To the dismay of the counterarguments flowing from the Amhara´s expansionist camp based on fictitious claims, all the toponyms in Walqayt and other villages are identical to the names in other parts of Tigray. The standard character of both those place names in Western Tigray and other parts of Tigray is etymologically are ancient names of Pre-Aksumite/Aksumite times. Despite the gradual assimilative role of Amharic as the language of imperial life, people in western Tigray before imperial Ethiopia were probably fully Tigrigna in composition. Even, toponyms of mountains, rivers, and villages in the already Amharaized northern Gonder (outlying of western Tigray) have ancient Tigrigna names. According to the ethnographer Giovanni Ellero, an Italian administrator during the Italian occupation in the 1930s, ``in all villages (under Walqayt administration), the people were reported to speak Tigrinya, with mostly passive knowledge of Amharic. Those who were literate wrote in Amharic; Ellero mentions that all communication with the administration was in Amharic`` (Nyssen, 2022).

The recent Jan Nyssen´s work Western Tigray in 108 historical and 21 ethno-linguistic maps (1607–2009) shows the Tigrigna composition of the last 400 years. This makes fully eternal Tigrigna character” of Walqayt and the surrounding districts’ during its entire history, despite the modern expansion of the Amharic language. This Tigrigna composition also works for the Aksumite and Pre-Aksumite times which is supported by historical and archeological evidence discussed across the paper. But, the serious impact of the continuous assimilation, language prohibition, cultural predation, administrative pressure, and economic untying and dismantling from the rest of Tigray on the linguistic composition can not be undermined. Tigrigna has never had assimilator role.

1. Tekeze, River of Tigrayan Civilizations

Tekeze (meaning river in Geez and Tigrigna) River is mentioned in the Aksumite Ezana inscription. Of course, some (see: Marrassini, 2014) have also identified the mention in the Ezana inscription with the Atbara River (the lower course of Tekeze in Sudan). The river and its landscape were located within the polity domain. The river´s significance as a feature in the core of the polities is briefly discussed below.

Rivers are considered the most important geographical feature of ancient civilizations. For example, the Egyptian civilization had the Nile River. It is not surprising that settlements often were founded along rivers; similarly, Tekeze contributed to the emergence of settlements and the development of ancient Tigrayan polities. The presence of rock art (3000–1000 BC) in Mai Lemin-Gebriel and Bea´ati Gae’wa located across the River Tekeze in Tselemti and other settlement sites along both banks of the river (western Tigray and northwestern Tigray) boosts the ancient significance of the river. Inherently, the rock art territory is contemporary with and part of the wider rock art complex of Tigray which has more than 20 rock art sites.

Contemporary people on the banks of Tekeze shared their artistic skills and ecological understanding by using rock panels as canvases, which was the fashion and sophistication of the time in the rest of Tigray. Thematically, the arts portray wild and domestic animals and significantly the herding and domestication of animals. Given the conducive nature of the area with the river and tributaries, its contribution to the domestication of animals in Tigray and beyond seems to have been immense.

Related to the aforementioned clues, changes in climate and environmental factors played a role in the rise and fall of the river, which in turn probably contributed to the rise and fall of the Aksumite polity. In line with this archaeological discovery, Michael Harrower (2019), in his findings on Water, Geography, and Aksumite Civilization, also came to the conclusion that water was clearly important to past polities in Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite times. It is probable that the life of the animals, people, and polities might have been highly associated with the Tekeze River and its tributaries.

The river was historically important to direct the routes of traders, polities, and other travelers. For example, the Kebra Nagast, which took on its current form in the 13th century, claims that legendary Menelik I (Son of King Solomon and Queen Sheba of the 10th century BC) returned to Ethiopia by following this river from Egypt. This indicates that the Tekezé River served and has been perceived as an early link between Ethiopia and Egypt via Sudan. Archaeologists reconstructed (see: Phillips, 1997: 440–441) that the main overland route from the western side of the Red Sea, through the Aksum and Kassala areas, probably via or near the Gash (Mereb) and Atbara (lower course of Tekeze) rivers to Aswan is a well-traveled trading route for a long period of time. This further signifies the connecting role of the river with the world superpowers of the time and other immediate neighbors.

As a prominent geographic feature, travelers may have perceived or been told by informants under the ruling monarchies the river was a rough border because it is far from Aksum, the perceived center of Tigray. In some cases, travelers’ reference is neither history nor linguistic composition but the administrative king or ruler. Besides, the Amhara/Ethiopian rulers of the modern past centered in their organic base (Gonder, Shoa, and Addis Abeba) had used it, as they used geographic features in other areas too, as a border for administration at some point, but it was completely incompatible with the linguistic composition and historical continuity in particular and the people´s identity in general. It has never been a border marking people’s identity or a frontier for the Tigrayan people and polities, who knew the world and were known to the outside world throughout their history through trade and diplomatic connections.

1. Conclusion

Taking the organic nature of Tigray, modern imperial time political boundaries which created provincial Tigray were incompatible with the primordial Tigray. Consequently, imposed lines and layers in history made a new center (the palace and its base) and periphery (Tigray). Despite this reduction project by the recent imperial rulers, 99.9% of western Tigray history falls in Tigray.

The archeological and historical evidence undoubtedly tell us these areas have been a core part of the pre-Aksumite, Aksumite time polities, and following times. The shreds of evidence in travel accounts and maps of the 17th, 18th, and 19th (see: work of Jan Nyssen) centuries refer to Walqayt as part of Tigray, in turn, prove before had been part of the ancient polities of Tigray.

The factual historical evidence and archaeological makeup showing cultural, religious, linguistic, anthropological, and sociological continuities and patterns in northwestern, western Tigray, and outlying areas in current Amhara clearly nullifies the Tekeze — Tigray, and Amhara identity demarcator. It, of course, has sometimes been imposed and used as a default line which has been causing the bifurcation of one identity into two.

Western Tigray, for Tigray, is not a modern claim to a specific piece of land, but a link to a continuous history dating back millennia. In Western Tigray, memory, history, heritage, territory, and people are inextricably linked as body and soul, as well as a by-product of long-spanned civilizations, as is the case elsewhere in Tigray. Hence, its people are Agazians, Aksumites, or Tigrayans in their (primordial) identity. As millennials people, western Tigray belongs to the core territory, an Aksumite´s proper territory, for example.

Leaving aside the invalid and illegal nature of the irredentist claim they campaign on, the fact that there is no archaeological data or any historical evidence from the Amhara´s expansionist camp that challenges this material and historical evidence demonstrates the fictitiousness of their narrative, and their intention to destroy the legacy and cohesion of Tigray’s territory and people.