Tigray province

Tigray was a province of the Ethiopian Empire and of the PDRE until 1995. Known by its French spelling Tigré into the 20th century, its governors were powerful rulers in their own right and it was sometimes accorded the status of a separate kingdom. It gradually absorbed its neighboring provinces, including Semien, Tembien, Agame, and Enderta province and was superseded by the Tigray Region following the adoption of the 1995 constitution.

Proto-Tigrayan-Tigrinyans and Proto-Amharas, also known as Habeshas, were the main ethnicity of Kingdom of Aksum in the first millennium CE. Their language, a form of Ge'ez, remained the language of the later Ethiopian imperial court as well as the Ethiopian Church.

In the 14th century the Tigrinya-speaking lands (Tigray-Mereb Melash) were divided into two provinces, separated by the Mereb River by the newly enthroned Amhara Emperors. The governor of the northern province received the title Baher Neagsh (Ruler of the sea), whereas the governor of the southern province was given the title of Tigray Mekonen (Lord of Tigray). The Portuguese Jesuit, Emanuele Baradas' work titled "Do reino de Tigr" and written in 1633-34 states that the "reino de Tigr" extended from Hamasien to Enderta, from the borders of Dankel to the Tekeze. He remarked that Tigray extended to the watershed of Semien although the political power of the Tigray Mekonen did not extend beyond the Tekeze. He also stated that Tigray-Mereb Melash was divided into twenty-four smaller political units (principalities), twelve of which were located south of the Mereb and governed by the Tigray Mekonen based in Enderta. The other twelve were located north of the Mereb under the authority of the Baher Negash, based in the district of Serae.

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