ʾAmḥarā
Names
አምሐራ፡↗ normalized: ʾAmḥarā↗ alt: አምኀራ፡↗ normalized: ʾAmḫarā↗ alt: አማራ፡↗ normalized: ʾAmārā↗ Ethiopia↗ Dabra Libānos↗ ʾAbbāy↗ Bašǝlo↗ Borkannā↗ Kasam↗ Šawā↗ Ṭānā↗ Ethiopia↗ Wallo↗ Before: 1994 North Wallo↗ After: 1994 South Wallo↗ After: 1994
አምሐራ፡gez
alt: አምኀራ፡gez
alt: አማራ፡gez
History
history: ʾAmḥarā is the name of a historical area in central Ethiopia↗ . This place-name does not appear in the sources of the Aksumite period and its earlierst preserved mention can be found in a manuscript of the Golden Gospel of Dabra Libānos↗ dating to 1322 . These mentions became numerous in Ethiopic medieval sources and increased over time. The importance of this area seems to have increased after the fall of the Zāgʷe↗ and the re-establishment of the Solomonic dynasty in the late 13th century . ʾAmḥarā is also referred to as a "kingdom" in correspondence between Solomonic and Egyptian rulers, in Arabic historiography as well as in Medieval European maps. Different sources give information on the borders and territories of ʾAmḥarā. For instanc Hiob Ludolf↗ 's Historia Aethiopica (1681 ) situates ʾAmḥarā between the rivers ʾAbbāy↗ in the west, Bašǝlo↗ in the north, Borkannā↗ in the eas and Kasam↗ in the south. In the pre-17th century Ethiopian empire, ʾAmḥarā was the heart of the empire and the core of the political and religious power, protected by the richer but more heterogeneous and unstable Šawā↗ . From the mid-16th century , ʾAmḥarā started to decline due to invasio, sacking and destruction by Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-Ġāzī↗ 's forces and Oromo groups as well as to religious and political struggles. The centre of the imperial power moved to the lake Ṭānā↗ and the physiognomy of ʾAmḥarā changed, up to its disintegration in the second half of the 19th century . The territorial concept of historical ʾAmḥarā was not re-utilised in later administrative divisions of Ethiopia↗ : its territories were first included into the province of Wallo↗ Before: 1994 and then divided into the North Wallo↗ After: 1994 and South Wallo↗ After: 1994 zones.
Secondary Bibliography
-
Nosnitsin, D. and Red. 2014. ‘Amhara’, in A. Bausi and S. Uhlig, eds, Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, V (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2014), 236a–239b.
-
Mantel-Niećko, J. 2003. ‘Administrative division’, in S. Uhlig, ed., Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, I (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003), 97b–103a.
For a table of all relations from and to this record, please go to the Relations view. In the Relations boxes on the right of this page, you can also find all available relations grouped by name.
Select one of the keywords listed from the record to see related data
t:country | ኢትዮጵያ |
Coordinates | 11.0000 39.2500 |
Use the tag BetMas:LOC6568Amhara in your public hypothes.is annotations which refer to this entity.