Bur () was a large (vaguely delimited) historical province, across the present-day Ethio-Eritrean border.
As happened with other regions, it was divided into Upper Bur and Lower Bur. Its territory covered parts of
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 ...
, the entire
Akele Guzay and lands further to the east, including perhaps even 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 ...
.
The hagiography of Zemikael Aregawi narrates the people of Bur's rebellion against Kaleb. The same rebellion is recalled by the hagiographic tradition of the
Sadqan, the "Righteous ones", who, before going to Metera, Bereknaha, Sorya, etc., together reached the "desert of Bur". Later, some other hagiographies indicate that from the 14th century Bur fell into the sphere of the Ewostateans' religious movement.
In the first half of the 15th century. Bur seems to have been ruled by a ''shum'', whom ''atse''
Zera Yaqob put under the supremacy of the ''baher negash'', along with the governors of
Shire
Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginn ...
,
Hamasen
Hamasing () or is a historic urban area of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It is located in the southern end of Gushan District between the foot of Ape Hill and Yancheng District, another historic quarter.
History
The name ''Hamasing'' was derived from J ...
and
Seraye
The Provinces of Eritrea existed between Eritrea's incorporation as a colony of Italy until the conversion of the provinces into administrative regions.
Overview
In Italian Eritrea, the Italian colonial administration had divided the colony into ...
. In the time of ''atse''
Lebna Dengel, the office of ''shum'' was occupied by Zamal, who, being a favorite of the Emperor, fought with him against Ahmad Ibrahim al-Gazi and was killed on 11 March 1529 in the battle at Sembara Kare.
After the defeat of ''baher negash'' Yashaq in 1578, Bur fell under the rule of the
Tigray ''mekonnen''. The Turks, who tried to invade Bur, were beaten back and the head of their commander was sent to ''atse''
Gelawdewos
Galawdewos ( gez, ገላውዴዎስ, 1521/1522 – 23 March 1559) also known as Mar Gelawdewos ( amh, ማር ገላውዴዎስ), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 3 September 1540 until his death in 1559, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His ...
. During the reign of ''atse''
Susanyos, however, challengers of the central secular and ecclesiastic authorities and "pretenders to the throne", such as Yaqob, and the false "Melkite" metropolitan, appear to have found some support among the ethnically and religiously heterogenous population of Bur. As a result, the Emperor sent punitive expeditions against Bur.
As a coastal region, Bur was obviously of some economic importance for the emperors. Bur appears in the Chronicle of ''atse''
Iyasu II
Iyasu II (Ge'ez: ኢያሱ; 21 October 1723 – 27 June 1755), throne name Alem Sagad (Ge'ez: ዓለም ሰገድ), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1730 to 1755, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Emperor Bakaffa and Empres ...
as a part of Tigray, called "the land of Bur which brings
he tribute of20 shekels of gold". In the later periods some smaller territorial units appeared in the area of Bur and the name of Bur fell out of use.
Bur appears on indigenous maps of the northern Horn of Africa since the 15th Century.
[Smidt W (2003) Cartography, in: Uhlig S (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, vol. 1: 688-691]
References
{{Reflist
History of Ethiopia
History of Eritrea