Coordinates: 12°30′N 37°00′E / 12.500°N 37.000°E / 12.500; 37.000

Begemder

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Location of Begemder within the Ethiopian Empire
Guzara royal castle; built by Emperor Minas in 1560

Begemder (Amharic: በጌምድር; also known as Gondar or Gonder) was a province in northwest Ethiopia. The alternative names come from its capital during the 20th century, Gondar.

Etymology

A plausible source for the name Bega is that the word means "dry" in the local language, while another possible interpretation could be "sheep," where rearing of sheep is beg in Amharic. Thus, Begemder likely refers to "land that rears sheep" or "the dry area."[1] Another etymology is that the first two syllables come from the Ge'ez language baggi` for sheep (Amharic: beg medir) "Land of Sheep." Beckingham and Huntingford note that Begemder originally applied to the country east of Lake Tana, where water is scarce, and concluded, "The allusion to the lack of water suggests Amharic baga, "dry season," as a possible source of the name."[2]

History

The earliest recorded mention of Begemder was on the Fra Mauro map, (c.1460). And then latter from Emperor Lebna Dengel, in his letter to the King of Portugal (1526), where he described Begemder as one of the provinces under his subdivision of his empire. [citation needed]

According to Alexander Murray Begemder was bordered on the north by Semien, on the east by Lasta and Angot, on the south by Amhara, and on the west by Dembiya.[3]

Many have assert that in the past Wegera, Semien, Welkait, Tsgede and Abergele were districts of Begemder, but with time they got independence and Became their own provinces.[4]

Begemder first Become the central of Ethiopian civilisation during the reign of Emperor Minas when He shifted his capital from shewa into Emfraz.[5]

In 1636 Emperor Fasilidis founded Gondar as his capital and started the Gondarine period.[6] Gondar served as the capital of Ethiopia for more than 200 years. This period saw profound achievements in Ethiopian art, architecture, and innovations such as the construction of the royal complex Fasil Ghebbi, and no less than 44 churches that were built around the area.[7] Eventually the Gondar period ended With the arrival of Ras Mikel sehul from Tigray that assassinated Emperor Iyoas I in 1769 which marked the beginning of the Zemene Mesfint period.

The 18th century Scottish explorer James Bruce that visited Ethiopia, wrote that the people of Begemder are the Best soldiers in Ethiopia.[8]

During much of the Zemene Mesfint period Begemder was under the control of the Yejju ruling class. their capitals were in Filakit and Debre Tabor. The Yejju rule in Begemder ended when Kassa Hailu defeated the last yejju ruler Ras Ali II in the Battle of Ayshal in 1853, and forced him out of Begemder where he escaped to his relatives in the Yejju province.[9][10]

Begemder's boundaries were revised as a result of Proclamation 1943/1, which created 12 taklai ghizats from the existing 42 provinces of varying sizes.[11] Begemder had an estimated population of 3 million in the 1984 cenus.[12] With the adoption of the new constitution in 1995, Begemder was divided between two new ethnic regions. Northern Begemder became part of Tigray Region, while the remainder became part of the Amhara Region.[citation needed]

As for currently the areas which were annexed from Begemder into Tigray (Weilkait and Tsegede) are administered as part of the Amhara region under the North Gondar Zone.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ahland, Colleen (1920). አዲስ የአማርኛ መዝገበ ቃላት. Addis Abeba, Ethiopia: አርቲስቲክ ማተሚያ ቤት. p. 20.
  2. ^ C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford, Some records of Ethiopia, 1593–1646 (London: Hakluyt Society, 1954), pp. 230f
  3. ^ Murray, Alexander (1808). Account of the Life and Writings of James Bruce ...: Author of Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, & 1773. A. Constable.
  4. ^ Huntingford, G. W. B. (1989). Some Records of Ethiopia, 1593-1646: Being Extracts from The History of High Ethiopia or Abassia by Manoel de Almeida Together with Bahrey's History of the Galla. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-05271-5.
  5. ^ Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. The Red Sea Press. p. 285. ISBN 978-0-932415-19-6.
  6. ^ See the discussion in Solomon Getamun, History of the City of Gondar (Africa World Press, 2005), pp. 1-4
  7. ^ Connah, Graham (2004). Forgotten Africa: An Introduction to Its Archaeology. Psychology Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-415-30590-7.
  8. ^ Bruce, James (1860). Bruce's Travels and Adventures in Abyssinia. A. & C. Black. p. 83.
  9. ^ Mordechai, Abir (1968). Ethiopia: the Era of the Princes: The Challenge of Islam and Re-unification of the Christian Empire, 1769-1855. London: Longmans, Green. pp. 139–140.
  10. ^ Selassie (2013-12-19). Ethiopian Revolution. Routledge. pp. 16–17. ISBN 9781317847946.
  11. ^ Bereket Habte Selassie, "Constitutional Development in Ethiopia", Journal of African Law, 10 (1966), p. 79.
  12. ^ "THE 1984 POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS OF ETHIOPIA" (PDF). p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-13.
  13. ^ Tesfa, Wassy (April 15, 2022). "Welkait: The Redline that cannot be crossed in Ethiopia".


12°30′N 37°00′E / 12.500°N 37.000°E / 12.500; 37.000

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