Merid Wolde Aregay (1934 or 1935 – 2008) was an Ethiopian historian and a scholar of Ethiopian studies. Merid Wolde Aregay was born in

Adwa Adwa ( ti, ዓድዋ; amh, ዐድዋ; also spelled Aduwa) is a town and separate woreda in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is best known as the community closest to the site of the 1896 Battle of Adwa, in which Ethiopian soldiers defeated Italian ...

in 1927 according to the

Ethiopian calendar The Ethiopian calendar ( am, የኢትዮጲያ ዘመን ኣቆጣጠር; Oromo: Akka Lakkofsa Itoophiyaatti; Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓዉደ ኣዋርሕ), or Ge'ez calendar ( Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓዉ ...

. He earned his BA in 1956 from what was called University College of Addis Ababa, now

Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa University (AAU) ( am, አዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest university in Ethiopia. AAU has thirteen campuses. Twelve of these are situated in Addis Ababa, ...

. From there, he was sent to earn an MA in education from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(1957), then a

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in history from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

(1959). He completed his doctorate at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

in London (1971). He learned a variety of languages, both Ethiopian and foreign: "beside Amharic (Tigriñña,

Geʽez Geez (; ' , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient Ethiopian Semitic language. The language originates from what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Today, Geez is used as the main liturgi ...

, some Oromo) and several European languages beside English (Italian, French, Portuguese)". With his knowledge of Portuguese, he was the pre-eminent scholar on the history of the Portuguese Catholic influence and interaction in Ethiopian history. His writings covered a variety of topics, regions, and periods of Ethiopian history. He is also remembered for his positive interactions with his many students, as he spent so much time in his office that it was his "second home". During the time of the

Derg The Derg (also spelled Dergue; , ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership formally " c ...

in Ethiopia, he helped take care of

Bahru Zewde Bahru Zewde (born 1947 in Addis Ababa) is an Ethiopian historian and author. He writes extensively about modern Ethiopian history (1855 to the present) and is now an emeritus professor at Addis Ababa University where he once served as the Head of t ...

, who was imprisoned for five years.p. 285. Bahru Zeude. 2012. Taddese Tamrat. Personal memories. ''Rassegna di Studi Etiopici'' Nuova Serie, Vol. 4 (47) pp. 285-287.

References

1930s births 2008 deaths People from Adwa Addis Ababa University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni University of Chicago alumni Alumni of SOAS University of London Ethiopianists Ethiopian academics Ethiopian historians 20th-century historians {{ethiopia-bio-stub