By Mengesha R. Endalew
Abstract
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ethiopia’s Tigrayan elites harbored deep-seated resentments toward the Shewa Amhara ruling class, mainly driven by the suppression of the 1943 Tigrayan peasant rebellion. These resentments catalyzed the rise of ethnonational consciousness within Tigray, manifested through deliberate attempts to undermine Ethiopian culture, tradition, and heritage with a paradoxical ownership claim of Abyssinian history. Tigray’s pivotal role as the nucleus of the Aksumite civilization within the broader Abyssinian context is palpable memory.
This civilization extended across territories such as Eritrea and Amhara, encompassing various less-visible groups. Tigrayans featured prominently in the Solomonic Dynasty, stretching from the legendary Queen of Sheba to the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution that toppled Emperor Haile Selassie (r. 1930–1974). Before the advent of Italian imperialism in Eritrea and the Southward expansion of Menelik II (r. 1889–1913), the Tigrigna-speaking regions, along with the Amhara, had served as the epicenter of the Abyssinian politics and cultural sphere. This paper scrutinizes the emergence of Tigrayan ethno-nationalism amid the Marxist Revolution, juxtaposing it against entrenched Ethiopian values. It also highlights the historical significance of Welkait (a generic term used to refer to an area west of river Tekezé that includes Welkait itself, Telemt, Teg,edé, and Humera) and Raya – areas annexed by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in 1991 and still in contention. The author offers an allencompassing analysis, incorporating a wealth of secondary and primary historical sources, including archives, chronicles, inscriptions, memoirs, traveler accounts, and oral narratives.
Note from the Editor : The journal article was published on The Journal of The Middle East and Africa. Full article is available here
Mengesha R. Endalew is a PhD Candidate at Texas Tech University, History Department, and a Fulbright-Hays Fellow at Addis Ababa University. He holds an MA in Museum Science from Texas Tech University, an MA in Heritage Management from Sorbonne University, and a BA in Applied History from Addis Ababa University.
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