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The Provinces of Eritrea existed between Eritrea's incorporation as a colony of
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
until the conversion of the provinces into administrative regions.


Overview

In Italian Eritrea, the Italian colonial administration had divided the colony into eight provinces (administrative regions) called Akele Guzay, Barka, Denkalia, Hamasien, Sahel, Semhar, Senhit and Serae. These administrative regions relied heavily upon the historical political boundaries in the region, including, but not exclusively, that of local nobility. These Provinces of Eritrea were also used by the Federated Eritrean Government from 1952-1962 and as districts ( awrajja) in Eritrea when it was annexed by
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
from 1962-1991. After
independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
, the Provisional Government of Eritrea converted the original eight Provinces of Eritrea (from the Italian colonial period) to nine provinces by splitting the Barka province in two (the north known as Barka Province and the south as
Gash-Setit Gash-Setit is a designated national wildlife reserve and historical area of western Eritrea where its considered to be the northern most point of Africa for elephant habitat. It is located in much of Omhajer District and Haykota District betw ...
Province), while at the same time separating Asmara from the rest of Hamasien. On April 15, 1996, the Government of Eritrea converted the then nine Provinces of Eritrea into six administrative regions.


Akele Guzai

Akeleguzay Akele Guzai Eritrea (ምድረ ቡር Madre Bur) was a province kingdom of Tigrinya civilization consisting of Akeleguzay and bordering to (ምድረ ባሕሪ Madre Bahri) ruled by King of Kings in Shewa Ethiopia. The people of Akeleguzay define themselves as midre bur and the part of themselves as due to their common heritage of ምድረ ቡር። people around these two ብሩራዉያን call them.bur Later Akeleguzay became a province in the interior of Eritrea until 1996 when the newly independent national government consolidated all provinces into six regions. The province's estimated population was 460,000 in 1990 and had an area of 8400 km2 km2, is mostly consisted of
Tigrinya (; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literatur ...
and Saho ethnic groups. Akele Guzai is home to more than three-fourths of the total Saho-speaking population in Eritrea. The Tigrinya people of Akele Guzai are mostly followers of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Roman Catholic while the Saho are predominantly majority from Sunni Muslim. The province of Akele Guzai is now mostly part of the
Northern Red Sea Region The Northern Red Sea Region (, it, Regione del Mar Rosso Settentrionale, ) is an administrative region of Eritrea. It lies along the northern three quarters of the Red Sea, and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and the coastal city of Massawa. ...
and the Southern Region.


History

Akele Guzai is the of the most ancient regions of Eritrea. It has an inscriptional record going back to at least the 9th century BC, the earliest example of the Ge'ez script. The province was part of , which would evolve into the Kingdom of Aksum. Akele Guzai's name has been connected to the ''Gaze'' of the
Monumentum Adulitanum The Monumentum Adulitanum was an ancient bilingual inscription in Ge'ez and Greek depicting the military campaigns of an Adulite king. The original text was inscribed on a throne in Adulis ( Ge'ez: መንበር ''manbar'') written in Ge'ez in b ...
(which later medieval Greek notes in the margins associate with the
Aksumite The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in wh ...
people). If the note regarding the Gaze is accurate, it would connect the name of Akele Guzai to the ''Agʿazyān'' or ''
Agʿazi Agʿazi is the name of a region of the Aksumite Empire in what consists today of Eastern Tigray, Amhara and Southern Eritrea. History The earliest attestation of this name can be found in the determined ''nisba''-form yg'ḏyn in three pre-Aksu ...
'' (Ge'ez speakers) of the Kingdom of in Eritrea and northern
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
. This connection has been rejected by linguists in modern times, however, due to the lack of the middle
voiced pharyngeal fricative The voiced pharyngeal approximant or fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ?\. Epiglott ...
in the triliteral roots, which is usually preserved in
Tigrinya (; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literatur ...
. Instead, the name may be connected with the Agazian clan conquered by the 4th-century king Ezana of Axum, and the ''Agʿaze'' (unvocalized 'GZ, referring either to a person or a group) of the Hawulti at Matara. Along with
Agame Agame () was a former province in northern Ethiopia. It includes the northeastern corner of the Ethiopian Empire, borders Akele Guzai in Eritrea, Tembien, Kalatta Awlalo and Enderta in the south, and both the Eritrean and Ethiopian Afar lowlan ...
in Ethiopia, it was a main center of Aksumite culture (second only to Western Tigray, where the capital was located), with a distinct sub-culture that separated the two regions from that of Western Tigray ( Shire, Axum,
Yeha Yeha ( gez, ይሐ ''yiḥa'', older ESA 𐩥𐩢 ''ḤW''; Old South Arabian: 𐩺𐩢𐩱 ''Yḥʾ'') is a town in the Maekelay Zone of the northern Tigray Region in Ethiopia. It likely served as the capital of the pre-Aksumite kingdom of D'm ...
), Central Eritrea (Serae, Hamasien, and
Adulis Adulis (Sabaean: ሰበኣ 𐩱 𐩵 𐩡 𐩪, gez, ኣዱሊስ, grc, Ἄδουλις) was an ancient city along the Red Sea in the Gulf of Zula, about south of Massawa. Its ruins lie within the modern Eritrean city of Zula. It was the e ...
), and frontier areas in northern Eritrea and Central Ethiopia. In the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, parts of southern Akele Guzai were briefly part of the larger province of Bur, Ethiopia, which also included
Agame Agame () was a former province in northern Ethiopia. It includes the northeastern corner of the Ethiopian Empire, borders Akele Guzai in Eritrea, Tembien, Kalatta Awlalo and Enderta in the south, and both the Eritrean and Ethiopian Afar lowlan ...
, some northeastern Afar lowlands, and the
Buri Peninsula The Buri Peninsula extends from central Eritrea north into the Red Sea. Geography The Buri Peninsula is an area of land in the Ghela'elo Subregion of Eritrea, that juts out into the Red Sea. To its west lies the Gulf of Zula, also known as Ann ...
; southern Akele Guzai and Agame were part of "Upper" (La'ilay) Bur, while the lowlands were further distinguished as "Lower" (Tahtay).


Barka

Barka was a province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was divided between the present day
Gash-Barka Gash-Barka ( ti, ጋሽ-ባርካ, it, Regione di Gasc-Barca) is an administrative region of Eritrea. It is situated in the south-west of the country, bordering the Anseba region to the north, and the Maekel (Central) and Debub (Southern) region ...
and Anseba regions. Its capital was
Agordat Agordat; also Akordat or Ak'ordat) is a city in Gash-Barka, Eritrea. It was the capital of the former Barka province, which was situated between the present-day Gash-Barka and Anseba regions. History Excavations in Agordat uncovered pottery r ...
. It had an area of 12,819 mi² (20630.180736000002 km).


Denkalia

Denkalia was a province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was divided between present day
Northern Red Sea The Northern Red Sea Region (, it, Regione del Mar Rosso Settentrionale, ) is an Regions of Eritrea, administrative region of Eritrea. It lies along the northern three quarters of the Red Sea, and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and the coastal ...
and
Southern Red Sea The Southern Red Sea Region (, it, Regione del Mar Rosso Meridionale, ) is an administrative region of Eritrea. It lies along the southern half of the Red Sea, and contains the coastal city of Assab. It borders the Northern Red Sea Region, and h ...
regions of Eritrea. Its capital was Assab.


Hamasien

Hamasien ( Ge’ez: ሐማሴን;
Tigrinya (; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literatur ...
: ሓማሴን) is a historical province including and surrounding the Eritrean capital named Asmara. Hamassien province had a population of 623,000 people in 1984 and an area of 4,400 km2. In 1996 the province was divided and distributed amongst the modern Maekel,
Debub Debub Region, also known as the South Region (Tigrinya: ዞባ ደቡብ, it, Regione del Sud), is an administrative region of Eritrea. The region was formed on 15 April 1996, from the historical provinces of Serae and Akele Guzai. It lies alo ...
,
Northern Red Sea The Northern Red Sea Region (, it, Regione del Mar Rosso Settentrionale, ) is an Regions of Eritrea, administrative region of Eritrea. It lies along the northern three quarters of the Red Sea, and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and the coastal ...
,
Gash-Barka Gash-Barka ( ti, ጋሽ-ባርካ, it, Regione di Gasc-Barca) is an administrative region of Eritrea. It is situated in the south-west of the country, bordering the Anseba region to the north, and the Maekel (Central) and Debub (Southern) region ...
, and Anseba regions. Hamasien's population predominantly follow
Oriental Orthodox Christianity The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent o ...
and are members of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, with a considerable minority from the Sunni Muslim,
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
, and
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
communities. Hamasien was politically influential within the Eritrean highlands, in Eritrea and the whole region.


History

The former province Hamassien was the political and economic center of Eritrea; judging from excavations in the Sembel area outside Asmara, it has been so since at least the 9th century BC. The earliest surviving appearance of the name "Hamasien" is believed to have been the region ḤMS²M, i.e. ḤMŠ, mentioned in a
Sabaic Sabaean, also known as Sabaic, was an Old South Arabian language spoken between c. 1000 BC and the 6th century AD, by the Sabaeans. It was used as a written language by some other peoples of the ancient civilization of South Arabia, including the ...
inscription of the
Axumite The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in wha ...
king
Ezana Ezana ( gez, ዔዛና ''‘Ezana'', unvocalized ዐዘነ ''‘zn''; also spelled Aezana or Aizan) was ruler of the Kingdom of Axum, an ancient kingdom located in what is now Eritrea and Ethiopia. (320s – c. 360 AD). He himself employed the ...
.Wolbert Smidt: "Ḥamasen," in Siegbert Uhlig, ed., Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005). The region may have been mentioned as early as Puntite times by Ancient Egyptian records as 'MSW (i.e. "Amasu"), a region of Punt. During the early medieval centuries, it was ruled by the Raesis of the Hazega and Tseazega and the Bahri negasi making their center of administration in Debarwa. According to
Francisco Álvares Francisco Álvares ( – 1536-1541) was a Portuguese missionary and explorer. In 1515 he traveled to Ethiopia as part of the Portuguese embassy to emperor Lebna Dengel accompanied by returning Ethiopian ambassador Matheus. The embassy arriv ...
, writing in the early 16th century, the Raesi of the Tseazegas (Habtesulus) had been able to collect tax by extending their authority almost as far as
Suakin Suakin or Sawakin ( ar, سواكن, Sawákin, Beja: ''Oosook'') is a port city in northeastern Sudan, on the west coast of the Red Sea. It was formerly the region's chief port, but is now secondary to Port Sudan, about north. Suakin used to b ...
in modern Sudan. Hamsien appears on indigenous maps of the northern Horn of Africa in the 15th century. Despite the Emperor of Ethiopia's allegations and grants of control of the country of the Bahri negesitat the Zagwe and Solomonic dynasties, the 1984 "Proceedings of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples" declares that "There was no administration that connected Hamassien and Serae to the centre of the
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
n Kingdom With the decline of the importance of the Midri Bahri in the 17th to 19th centuries, the province enjoyed a period of communal rule under councils of village elders, the so-called ''shimagile'' who enforced traditional laws which had prevailed uniquely in the region alongside feudal authority since ancient times. The region appeared in European maps as 'The Republic of Hamasien'. Following the death of Emperor Yohannes at the Battle of Gallabat, Hamasien was occupied by the Italians, who incorporated it into their colony of Eritrea and making one of its villages, Asmara, the capital of the colony, a status it retains today as the capital of the sovereign country of Eritrea.


Sahel

Sahel was a former province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was absorbed into the present day
Northern Red Sea The Northern Red Sea Region (, it, Regione del Mar Rosso Settentrionale, ) is an Regions of Eritrea, administrative region of Eritrea. It lies along the northern three quarters of the Red Sea, and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and the coastal ...
region. Its capital was Nakfa.


Semhar

Semhar is the name of a former province of Eritrea, which has now become almost incorporated into the
Northern Red Sea Region The Northern Red Sea Region (, it, Regione del Mar Rosso Settentrionale, ) is an administrative region of Eritrea. It lies along the northern three quarters of the Red Sea, and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and the coastal city of Massawa. ...
when the number and names of provinces were unilaterally changed in 1996. The province was thinly settled with Massawa as the provincial capital. The population is mainly Tigre, Afar, Saho and Tigrinya. The Tigre and Tigrinya language are mainly spoken. The population is mainly pastoralist and agro-pastroalist. It is a common name for Eritrean females and at times males as well. Semhar is also a city in Eritrea.


Senhit

Senhit was a former province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was absorbed into the present day Anseba region. Its capital was Keren.


Serae

Serae or Seraye ( Tigrigna/ Tigre/ Ge’ez: ሰራየ) is a former province of Eritrea which had an estimated population of 515,000 in 1990 (the most populous province) and an area of . The province is home to two of the Eritrean ethnic groups namely the
Tigrinya (; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literatur ...
and Tigre. It has since been incorporated primarily into the
Debub Debub Region, also known as the South Region (Tigrinya: ዞባ ደቡብ, it, Regione del Sud), is an administrative region of Eritrea. The region was formed on 15 April 1996, from the historical provinces of Serae and Akele Guzai. It lies alo ...
Region, though some western districts have become part of the Gash-Barka region. It is believed that the name of the province is from the "dark forests" which once thrived on its fertile ground. Today the region is home to twelve monasteries of the
Eritrean Orthodox Church The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( ti, ቤተ ክርስትያን ተዋህዶ ኤርትራ) is one of the Oriental Orthodox Churches with its headquarters in Asmara, Eritrea. Its autocephaly was recognised by Pope Shenouda III of Alexandri ...
as well as a number of new factories in the town of
Mendefera Mendefera, (Tigrinya: መንደፈራ) formerly Adi Ugri, is an ancient town which is now the capital city of the Southern Region or Zoba Debub of Eritrea. One World-Nations Online, All countries of the world, Map of Eritrea The town's name der ...
.


Districts


History

Serae/Seraye which in old books called as Sarawi (ሰራዊ)Bertrand(1845) Voyage en Abyssinie execute pendant lesannees, p.106
Alessandro Bausi Alessandro Bausi (born 1963) is an Italian philologist working on Ethiopic texts and manuscripts. Bausi earned his PhD in 1992 from University of Naples "L'Orientale". Formerly Assistant (1995) and Associate Professor (2002) of Ethiopic Language ...
, Corpus Scriiptorum Christianorum Orientalium:Scriptores aethiopics, p.217
is an ancient entity which was a region of the Kingdom of D'mt, which would evolve in the Kingdom of Aksum and later the center of the kingdom of
Medri Bahri Medri Bahri ( ti, ምድሪ ባሕሪ, English: Land of the Sea Kingdom), also known as Mereb Melash, was an Eritrean kingdom emerged in 1137 until conquest by the Ethiopian Empire in 1879. It was situated in modern-day Eritrea, and was ruled by ...
centered in Debarwa with its leaders Bahri Negasi. Serae was bound by regions of Akele Guzay in the east, Hamassien in the North, Tigray proper ( Adwa/ Shire/ Axum) in the south and Gash-Setit in the west During this Axumite period, the region became a successful trading region as it lay between the
Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
port of
Adulis Adulis (Sabaean: ሰበኣ 𐩱 𐩵 𐩡 𐩪, gez, ኣዱሊስ, grc, Ἄδουλις) was an ancient city along the Red Sea in the Gulf of Zula, about south of Massawa. Its ruins lie within the modern Eritrean city of Zula. It was the e ...
, Asmara, and Axum. In his tablet,
Ezana Ezana ( gez, ዔዛና ''‘Ezana'', unvocalized ዐዘነ ''‘zn''; also spelled Aezana or Aizan) was ruler of the Kingdom of Axum, an ancient kingdom located in what is now Eritrea and Ethiopia. (320s – c. 360 AD). He himself employed the ...
mentions several peoples he had subjugated and refers to himself as the ruler of
Aksum Axum, or Aksum (pronounced: ), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire, a naval and trading power that ruled the whole regio ...
,
Himyar The Himyarite Kingdom ( ar, مملكة حِمْيَر, Mamlakat Ḥimyar, he, ממלכת חִמְיָר), or Himyar ( ar, حِمْيَر, ''Ḥimyar'', / 𐩹𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬) (fl. 110 BCE–520s CE), historically referred to as the Homerite ...
,
Sheba Sheba (; he, ''Šəḇāʾ''; ar, سبأ ''Sabaʾ''; Ge'ez: ሳባ ''Saba'') is a kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the Quran. Sheba features in Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions, particularly the Ethiopian Orth ...
(Saba') and Rydan in
Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
. He also mentions 'Sarawi' as one of the people he subjugated. Furthermore, he mention that he subjugated the king of 'Sarati', (this name crops up in different forms of one of which is Sarawi. It stands for the Eritrean province of 'Serae'), and says that he came to an understanding with him concerning the passage of trade caravans to '
Adulis Adulis (Sabaean: ሰበኣ 𐩱 𐩵 𐩡 𐩪, gez, ኣዱሊስ, grc, Ἄδουλις) was an ancient city along the Red Sea in the Gulf of Zula, about south of Massawa. Its ruins lie within the modern Eritrean city of Zula. It was the e ...
' peacefully across his country. However, the names of these kingdoms disappeared after the fourth century A.D. Following the fall of Aksum as a united kingdom after the Hamiti Beja tribes overran the Eritrean highlands in the 8th century A.D., the province serae formed an independent state under the administration of its ruler who was called 'Cantibai'. Some scholars wrote that the name Serae origin comes from the Sarat or Sarawat Mountains in South Arabia.John G.Jackson, Ethiopia and the origin of civilization, p29 Serae appears on indigenous maps of the northern Horn of Africa in the 15th Century.Smidt W (2003) Cartography, in: Uhlig S (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, vol. 1: 688-691 Bahri Negasi existed until the 1600s. The province had its own written native administration codes that was used from the beginning of the 1400AD, which was named as the law of Adkeme-Miligae. The book existed until the come of the anti Christian jihadist Ahmad Gragn in the 1600s, burning churches and killing the believers and progressing northwards from present-day eastern Ethiopia or around Somalia, and the book was lost/burnt at that time. The people of Serae were administered without the book verbally until the arrival of the Italians in the end of the 19th century. In 1938 again the book of native law code was written of elderly and knowledgeable people from 7 villages (Adi Mongonti, Mayduma, Kudo Felasi, Bet Gabriel, Qine Hayela, Adi Hyis, and May Leham) representing the whole awraja Serae except the Logo Tchiwa which had its own codes in addition to the Adkeme-Miligae. This Law had more liberal customs and low restrictions on women's rights for land ownership than any other laws in the country. Despite the Emperor of Ethiopia's allegations and grants of control of the country of the Bahri negesitat the Zagwe and Solomonic dynasties, the 1984 "Proceedings of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples," declares that "There was no administration that connected Serae and Hamassien to the centre of the Ethiopian Kingdom. Most of Serae and Akeleguzay are together now inside the Southern region of Eritrea.


See also

*
Regions of Eritrea The regions of Eritrea are the primary geographical divisions through which Eritrea is administered. Six in total, they include the Central, Anseba, Gash-Barka, Southern, Northern Red Sea and Southern Red Sea regions. At the time of independ ...


References

Subdivisions of Eritrea
Provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
{{Eritrea-stub