Shewa

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Shewa , Shoa or Shoa ( Amharic ሽዋ šäwa ) is a historical province of Ethiopia .

The core area lies roughly in the middle of today's Ethiopia in the area around modern Addis Ababa and is characterized by mountains. In the north the region extends almost to the river Jarra, which marks the border between Shewa and Wollo , in the south its borders are with the city of Awassa , in the east it includes the former sultanate Ifat . It has its highest elevation in the Wariro (3898 m) in the Gurage Mountains . In the south and east of the country the Awash flows , in the north-east the Abbai , to which the main mountain rivers of the country, including the Jamma , flow. In the north, the Shewa highlands are separated from other highlands by a narrow plain. Because of this special situation, Shewa was easy to defend and was able to continue his usual government work even after losing several surrounding countries. In the past, Shewa was little influenced by events in Ethiopian politics. At times it provided a safe haven and at other times it was separated from the rest of Ethiopia by the plains ruled by enemies.

The old capital was Ankober . During the feudal fragmentation in the 18th and 19th centuries, Shewa remained the most important of the small kingdoms of Ethiopia in the war against Amhara and Tigray . The Solomonic dynasty of the last emperor Haile Selassie came from there. The most famous king of Shoah was Menelik, who later became Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia and founder of Addis Ababa.

The Kingdom of Shewa

In the history books, Shewa first appears as a Muslim emirate . According to GWB Huntingford , it was founded in 896 and its capital was in Walalah . It was at the favorable point on the edge of the great African rift valley and controlled one of the most important trade routes of the Middle Ages. It connected the Christian centers of the highlands with the Islamic ports on the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea . That sultanate was incorporated into Ifat around 1285 , which therefore considered itself to be Shewa's "heir".

Yekuno Amlak served Shewa as a base for his revolt against the Zagwe dynasty . He claimed to be the ancestor of the Solomonic dynasty , who had come to Shewa as descendants of the Aksum emperors when they were threatened by Gudit and other enemies. His lineage would therefore be longer than that of the Zagwe . This tradition, which can be found in the Lebna Dengels family , may have been invented at a later time.

In the 16th century , Shewa was devastated by the troops of the neighboring Sultanate of Adal under Ahmed Graññ and isolated from the rest of Ethiopia. As a result, the area came under pressure from the Oromo , who in the first decades of the following century managed to settle in the depopulated area and make themselves rulers. Due to the isolation and destruction, little is known about Shewa's history until around 1800. What is certain, however, is that Shewa served the Emperor Lebna Dengel and some of his sons as a place of refuge when they were threatened by intruders.

King Sahle Selasse

The royal house of the Shewa was founded by Negassi Krestos at the end of the 17th century. This consolidated his sphere of influence around Yifat. There are several accounts of his ancestry: According to a source from 1840, his mother was the daughter of Ras Faris , a follower of the emperor Sissinios , who fled to Menz ; Serta Wold , a consultant to Sahle Selassie , however, reports that Negassi was a direct descendant on the paternal line of Yaqob , Lebna Dengel's youngest son . Accordingly, Negassi came directly from the ancient Solomon dynasty . 1

Since one tradition relates to the maternal line and the other to the paternal line, both can be true. The direct descent of the Shewa royal family in the male line of Lebna Dengel in Ethiopia has certainly never been questioned. The Shewa dynasty was therefore regarded as the younger branch of the Solomon dynasty; in contrast to the older branch of the Gondar.

The son of Negassis, Sebastian , took the title Meridazmatch ("fearsome general") , which is unique for Shewa . Up until Sahle Selassie's accession to the throne in the 1830s, all descendants carried this title. His grandson Sahle Mariam became Menelik II Emperor of all Ethiopia at the end of the century . The title "King of Shewa" was included in the imperial title " Emperor of Ethiopia " when Menelik took office .

The Shewas kings extended their sphere of influence to the south and east into the plains and desert areas and subjugated further areas. The Ethiopian emperors had long since laid claim to these southern areas and so there were direct relationships and dependencies with these countries even before the Graññ wars . The migration of the Oromo after the end of the Graññ Wars had led to a break in these old relationships and to a drastic change in the composition of the population in this area. At the time of Menelik II the kingdom had grown considerably and therefore increased the total area of ​​the empire considerably. Ethiopia continued to expand east and south, making the Shewa region the center of the new country.

Shewa in modern times

During the Italian occupation of 1936-41, Shewa was initially abolished as an administrative name, but was reintroduced in 1938 in the form of the Shewa Governorate (Italian Scioà ). In the again independent Ethiopia, Shewa was one of the provinces of the country. Under the Derg regime, the capital Addis Ababa was split off in 1981 , and in 1987 Shewa was divided into the four provinces of North, East, South and West Shewa.

After the fall of the Derg regime in 1991, the provinces were abolished and the administrative structure of Ethiopia was reorganized according to ethnolinguistic criteria. The area of ​​Shewa was divided into the regions Oromia and Amhara . The names of the zones North Shewa , West Shewa and East Shewa in Oromia and North Shewa in Amhara are derived from the former province.

archeology

So far, the medieval kingdom of Shewa was only known from written sources. In 2007, French archaeologists from the Center d'Etudes des Mondes Africains identified three ruins. Mosques, cemeteries and remains of fortification walls have been found in Asbäri , Masäl and Nora . Arabic inscriptions have been found in some places.

See also

literature