The Amhara people are an ethnic group inhabiting the northern and central
highlands of Ethiopia, particularly the Amhara Region. According to the 2007
national census, they numbered 19,867,817 individuals, comprising 26.9%
of the country's population. They speak Amharic, an Afro-Asiatic language of the
Semitic branch, and are one of the Habesha peoples.
Etymology The present name for the Amharic
language and its speakers comes from the medieval province of Amhara. The latter
enclave was located around Lake Tana at the headwaters of the Blue Nile, and
included a slightly larger area than Ethiopia's present-day Amhara Region.
The further derivation of the name is debated. Some trace it to amari or
mehare. The Ethiopian historian Getachew Mekonnen Hasen traces it to an ethnic
name related to the Himyarites of ancient Yemen. Still others say that it
derives from Ge'ez ዓም and ሓራ, although this has been dismissed by scholars such
as Donald Levine as a folk etymology. History
Certain Semitic-speaking peoples, notably the Habesha, built the Kingdom
of Aksum around two millennia ago, and this expanded to contain what is now
Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, and at times, portions of Yemen and Sudan.
The region now known as "Amhara" in the feudal era was composed of several
provinces with greater or less autonomy, which included Gondar, Gojjam, Wollo and
Shewa. The traditional homeland of the Amhara people is the central highland
plateau of Ethiopia. For over two thousand years they have inhabited this
region. Walled by high mountains and cleaved by great gorges, the ancient
realm of Abyssinia has been relatively isolated from the influences of the rest
of the world. The region is situated at altitudes ranging from roughly 7,000 to
14,000 feet, and at a 9 o to 14 o latitude north of the equator. The rich
volcanic soil combines with a generous rainfall and cool, brisk climate to
offer the Amhara a stable agricultural and pastoral existence. However, because
the Amhara were an expansionist, militaristic people who ruled their
country through a line of emperors, the Amhara people can now be found all over
Ethiopia. Following the end of the ruling Agaw
Zagwe dynasty, the Solomonic dynasty governed the Ethiopian Empire for many
centuries from the 1270 AD onwards. In the early 15th century, Abyssinia sought
to make diplomatic contact with European kingdoms for the first time since
Aksumite times. A letter from King Henry IV of England to the Emperor of
Abyssinia survives. In 1428, the Emperor Yeshaq sent two emissaries to Alfonso V
of Aragon, who sent return emissaries who failed to complete the return trip.
The first continuous relations with a European country began in 1508 with
Portugal under Emperor Lebna Dengel, who had just inherited the throne from his
father. This proved to be an important
development, for when the Empire was subjected to the attacks of the Adal
Sultanate General and Imam, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, Portugal assisted the
Ethiopian emperor by sending weapons and four hundred men, who helped his son
Gelawdewos defeat Ahmad and re-establish his rule. This Ethiopian–Adal War was
also one of the first proxy wars in the region as the Ottoman Empire and
Portugal took sides in the conflict. When Emperor Susenyos I converted to
Roman Catholicism in 1624, years of revolt and civil unrest followed
resulting in thousands of deaths. The Jesuit missionaries had offended the
Orthodox faith of the local Ethiopians, and on 25 June 1632 Susenyos's son,
Emperor Fasilides, declared the state religion to again be Ethiopian Orthodox
Christianity, and expelled the Jesuit missionaries and other Europeans.
Sometime in the late Middle Ages, the Amharic and Tigrinya languages began to
be differentiated. Amhara warlords often competed for dominance of the realm with
Tigrayan warlords. While many branches of the Imperial dynasty were from the
Amharic speaking area, a substantial amount were from Tigray. The Amharas
seemed to gain the upper hand with the accession of the so-called Gondar line
of the Imperial dynasty in the beginning of the 17th century. However, it soon
lapsed into the semi-anarchic era of Zemene Mesafint, in which rival warlords
fought for power and the Yejju Oromo inderases had effective control, while
Emperors were just figureheads. The Tigrayans only made a brief return to
the throne in the person of Yohannes IV, whose death in 1889 allowed the base to
return to the Amharic speaking province of Shewa.
The Amhara have contributed many rulers over the centuries, including Haile
Selassie, who was of mixed heritage. Haile Selassie's mother was paternally
of Oromo descent and maternally of Gurage heritage, while his father was
paternally Oromo and maternally Amhara. He consequently would have been
considered Oromo in a patrilineal society, and would have been viewed as
Gurage in a matrilineal one. However, in the main, Haile Selassie was regarded as
Amhara, his paternal grandmother's royal lineage, through which he was able to
ascend to the Imperial throne. The Amharic language is the official
language of Ethiopia. From the time when modern Ethiopia was the realm of
Abyssinia, the Amhara and the Tigray filled the ranks of the political elite
of the country. Until 1974, most of the Ethiopian emperors were Amhara .
One possible source of confusion stems from the mislabelling of all Amharic
speakers as Amhara, and the fact that many people from other ethnic groups
have Amharic names. Another is the fact that most Ethiopians can trace their
ancestry to multiple ethnic groups. The last Emperor, Haile Selassie, often saw
himself a member of the Gurage people on account of his ancestry, and his
Empress, Itege Menen Asfaw of Ambassel, was in large part of Oromo descent. The
expanded use of Amharic language results mostly from its being the language of
the court, and was gradually adopted out of usefulness by many unrelated groups,
who then became known as Amhara no matter what their ethnic origin.
Language The Amhara speak the Amharic language as
a mother tongue. It belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic
family. Amharic is the working language of the
federal authorities of Ethiopia. It was for some time also the language of
primary school instruction, but has been replaced in many areas by regional
languages such as Oromifa and Tigrinya. The Amharic language is transcribed
using the Ethiopic or Ge'ez script, an abugida.
Religion The predominant religion of the Amhara
for centuries has been Christianity, with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church playing a central role in the culture of the country. According to the
1994 census, 81.5% of the population of the Amhara Region were Ethiopian
Orthodox; 18.1% were Muslim, and 0.1% were Protestant. The Ethiopian Orthodox
Church maintains close links with the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
Easter and Epiphany are the most important celebrations, marked with
services, feasting and dancing. There are also many feast days throughout the
year, when only vegetables or fish may be eaten.
Marriages are often arranged, with men marrying in their late teens or early
twenties. Traditionally, girls were married as young as 14, but in the 20th
century, the minimum age was raised to 18, and this was enforced by the
Imperial government. Civil marriages are common, as well as churches. After a
church wedding, divorce is frowned upon. Each family hosts a separate wedding
feast after the wedding. Upon childbirth, a priest will visit the
family to bless the infant. The mother and child remain in the house for 40
days after birth for physical and emotional strength. The infant will be
taken to the church for baptism at 40 days or 80 days.
Culture = Art=
Ethiopian art is typified by religious paintings. One of the most notable
features of these is the large eyes of the subjects, who are usually biblical
figures. Amhara painting is a dominant art form in Ethiopia. It is usually oil
on canvas or hide, and it normally involves religious themes. Ethiopian
paintings from the Middle Ages are known by art historians from Europe and
America as distinct treasures of human civilization. The Amhara are also
weavers of beautiful patterns embellished with embroidery. They are
fine gold- and silversmiths and produce delicate works of filigree jewelry and
religious emblems. = Agriculture=
About 90% of the Amhara are rural and make their living through farming,
mostly in the Ethiopian highlands. Prior to the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution,
absentee landlords maintained strict control over their sharecropping
tenants, often allowing them to accumulate crippling debt. After 1974,
the landlords were replaced by local government officials, who play a similar
role. Barley, corn, millet, wheat, sorghum,
and teff, along with beans, peppers, chickpeas, and other vegetables, are the
most important crops. In the highlands one crop per year is normal, while in
the lowlands two are possible. Cattle, sheep, and goats are also raised.
= Cuisine= The Amhara people's cuisine and that of
Ethiopian cuisine in general consists of various vegetable or meat side dishes
and entrées, usually a wat, or thick stew, served atop injera, a large
sourdough flatbread made of teff flour. Kitfo being originated from Gurage is
one of the widely accepted and favorite food in Amhara and all over Ethiopia.
Tihlo prepared from roasted barley flour is very popular in Amhara, Agame, and
Awlaelo. Traditional Ethiopian cuisine employs no pork or shellfish of any
kind, as they are forbidden in the Islamic, Jewish, and Ethiopian Orthodox
Christian faiths. It is also very common to eat from the same dish in the center
of the table with a group of people. Validity of ethnic group status
Up until the last quarter of the 20th century, "Amhara" was only used to refer
to Amharic, the language, or the medieval province located in Wollo.
Still today, most people labeled by outsiders as "Amhara", refer to
themselves simply as "Ethiopian", or to their province. According to Ethiopian
ethnographer Donald Levine, "Amharic-speaking Shewans consider
themselves closer to non-Amharic-speaking Shewans than to
Amharic-speakers from distant regions like Gondar." Amharic-speakers tend to
be a "supra-ethnic group" composed of "fused stock". Takkele Taddese describes
the Amhara as follows: The Amhara can thus be said to exist in
the sense of being a fused stock, a supra-ethnically conscious ethnic
Ethiopian serving as the pot in which all the other ethnic groups are supposed
to melt. The language, Amharic, serves as the center of this melting process
although it is difficult to conceive of a language without the existence of a
corresponding distinct ethnic group speaking it as a mother tongue. The
Amhara does not exist, however, in the sense of being a distinct ethnic group
promoting its own interests and advancing the Herrenvolk philosophy and
ideology as has been presented by the elite politicians. The basic principle
of those who affirm the existence of the Amhara as a distinct ethnic group,
therefore, is that the Amhara should be dislodged from the position of supremacy
and each ethnic group should be freed from Amhara domination to have equal
status with everybody else. This sense of Amhara existence can be viewed as a
myth. Notable Amhara People
Yekuno Amlak, founder of the Solomonic Dynasty
Amda Seyon I, Emperor of the Ethiopian Empire
Dawit I, Emperor of the Ethiopian Empire Yeshaq I, Emperor of the Ethiopian
Empire Zara Yaqob, Emperor of the Ethiopian
Empire Baeda Maryam I, Emperor of the Ethiopian
Empire Gelawdewos, Emperor of the Ethiopian
Empire Menas of Ethiopia, Emperor of the
Ethiopian Empire Sarsa Dengel, Emperor of the Ethiopian
Empire Yaqob, Emperor of the Ethiopian Empire
Susenyos I, Emperor of the Ethiopian Empire
Fasilides, Emperor of the Ethiopian Empire
Iyasu I, Emperor of the Ethiopian Empire Tewodros II, Emperor of the Ethiopian
Empire Menelik II, Emperor of the Ethiopian
Empire Asrat Woldeyes, Surgeon
Belay Zeleke, patriot Getatchew Haile, philologist
Abune Petros, patriot Aba Gorgorios, Catholic priest
Aklilu Habte-Wold Prime Minister Wolde Giorgis Wolde Yohannes Minister of
the pen Heruy Wolde Selassie Foreign Minister
Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam Diplomat, patriot
Seifu Mikael Diplomat, Governor Workneh Eshete Surgeon, diplomat
See also Habesha people
History of Ethiopia Solomonic dynasty
References Further reading
Wolf Leslau and Thomas L. Kane, Amharic Cultural Reader. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz
2001. ISBN 3-447-04496-9. Donald N. Levine, Wax & Gold: Tradition
and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture ISBN 0-226-45763-X
External links Lemma, Marcos. "Who ruled Ethiopia? The
myth of 'Amara domination'". Ethiomedia.com. Archived from the
original on 28 March 2005. Retrieved 28 February 2005.
People of Africa, Amhara Culture and History