Menz

Menz or Manz (Leslau transliteration: Mänz) is a former province of Ethiopia, located inside the boundaries of the modern Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region. William Cornwallis Harris described Menz as lying "westward" of Gedem but between that former province and Marra Biete.

Donald Levine explains that Menz was divided into three parts: Mama Meder in the center; Lalo Meder in the south; and Gera Meder in the north. Further, he defines its boundaries as "the Mofar River in the south, the Adabay and Wanchet rivers in the west, the Qechene River in the north, and in the east a long chain of mountains which pour forth the waters that drain across Manz and which divide it from the lowlands of Efrata, Gedem, and Qawat." This would roughly equate to the modern woredas of Gera Midirna Keya Gebriel and Mam Midrina Lalo Midir.

Menz is first mentioned in the Glorious Victories of Amda Seyon (who ruled in the early 14th century), where it is called "Manzehel", and mentioned again in the Royal Chronicles of Baeda Maryam. This small province came to form the core of the autonomous Ethiopian state of Shewa. Negasi Krestos, a leading warlord of Menz, extended his power to the south by conquest, proclaimed himself ruler of Shewa, and defeated all of his rivals. Menz afterwards retained its identity as a subregion of Shewa. During the reign of Haile Selassie, Menz was incorporated into the province of Shewa, although it retained its conservative nature. Based on discussions with neighboring peoples, Johann Ludwig Krapf wrote that the people of Menz "have the character of being brave, quarrelsome, inhospitable, inherently brave, and if they are educated, they can change their behaviour, and they are resilient in nature, and they are born with truth." Krapf continues, observing

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