Medri Bahri

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Medri Bahri
ምድሪ ባሕሪ
c. 1578-1879/1890
Medri Bahri at its height
Medri Bahri at its height
CapitalDebarwa (Until 17th century)
Tsazega (17th century–19th century)
Common languagesTigrinya · Tigre · Beja · Ge’ez
Religion
Orthodox Tewahedo
GovernmentElective monarchy
Bahri Negasi 
• 1841–1879
Ras Woldemichael Solomon
Historical eraEarly modern period
• Established
~1578
• Zara Yaqob creates the post of Bahri Negash
c. 1450
• independence from Ethiopia
1578
1554
1869
1874-1876
• Invaded by Yohannes IV
1879
• Invaded by the Kingdom of Italy
5 February 1885
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Ethiopian Empire
Ethiopian Empire
Italian Eritrea
Today part ofEritrea
Ethiopia
This article contains Ethiopic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Ethiopic characters.

Medri Bahri (Amharic: ምድሪ ባሕሪ, English: Sea Kingdom), known in Tigrinya as Mereb Melash,[1] was a kingdom which emerged from the weaking of the Ethiopian Empire in the Early Modern Period to the Italian conquest of the region. It was situated in modern-day Eritrea, and was ruled by a Bahri Negasi, also called the Bahr Negash in Amharic, or "king of the sea" in English.

In 1680, Medri-Bahri’s political process was described by the German scholar J. Ludolph as being a republican monarchy. This republican political process was found no where else in the Horn of Africa and was distinct to the kingdom of Medri Bahri.[2] During this timeperiod the Medri Bahri can, likewise, first be seen in foreign maps of the region depicting it and its Bahri Negasi as independent from Abyssinia.

History[edit]

Medieval[edit]

After the fall of the Kingdom of Axum a number of Beja kingdoms started appearing in the country north of the Mareb River, while south of it was controlled by the Zagwe dynasty. The Baqlin, Basin and Jarin kingdoms were some of the more well organized and notable ones. About 600 years ago those were replaced by another Beja kingdom known as Belew, which governed the majority of the Eritrean lowlands. "...between the 12th and 16th centuries CE peoples of mixed Beja and Arab ancestry known as the Balaw (Belew) seem to have been politically dominant in much of Eritrea (Conti Rossini 1928; Munzinger 1 864; Zaborski 1 976). The Beja were known to be in the Asmara area (see Conti Rossini 1928) and are remembered in the oral traditions of people residing in the Hamasien region that includes the Asmara Plateau." The Belew kingdom was hugely influential on the history and culture of the Eritrean people, as in the Tigrinya speaking eritrean highlands you can find people who trace their ancestry to the arabized Bejas of the Belew Kingdom, along with place names originating in that era. The area from the Eritrean highlands to the Red Sea was known as Ma'ikele Bahr ("between the seas/rivers," i.e. the land between the Red Sea and later as the Mereb river) in Tigrinya.[3] It was later renamed to the Amharic domain of the Bahr Negash ("King of the sea"), the Medri Bahri ("Land of the Sea," "Sea land") during the Ethiopian Empire (although it included some areas like Shire on the other side of the Mereb, today in Ethiopia).[4] In the 13th century, the ruler of the Tigrinya speaking people to the north of the Zagwe domain was known as the "Tigray Makonnen,"[5] and the Enderta based Makonnen Ingida Igzi supported Yekuno Amlak during his rebellion against them. His descendants would later claim independence from the Solomonic Dynasty, culminating in the warrior king Amda Seyon's conquest of Enderta.[6] Afterwards he would place his son, Bahr Seged, as the ruler of the Mekelle Bahr.[7] The first time the title Bahr Negash appears is during the reign of Emperor Zara Yaqob (r. 1433-1468), who perhaps even introduced that office.[8] His chronicle explains how he put much effort into increasing the power of that office, placing the Bahr Negash above other local chiefs and eventually making him the sovereign of a territory covering Shire, in what is now Tigray, and the highlands (Tigrinya: ከበሳ) of what is now Eritrea including Hamasien and Seraye.[8][9] To strengthen the imperial presence in the area, Zara Yaqob also established a military colony consisting of Maya warriors from the south of his realm[8]. Near the end of his reign, in 1464/1465, Massawa and the Dahlak archipelago were pillaged by emperor Zara Yaqob, and the Sultanate of Dahlak was forced to pay tribute to the Ethiopian Empire[10].

In the 1520s, Medri Bahri was described by the Portuguese traveller and priest Francisco Alvares. The current Bahr Negash bore the name Dori and resided in Debarwa, a town on the very northern edge of the highlands. Dori was an uncle of emperor Lebna Dengel, to whom he paid tribute.[11] These tributes were traditionally paid with horses and imported cloth and carpets.[12] Dori was said to wield considerable power and influence, with his kingdom reaching almost as far north as Suakin, plus he was also a promoter of Christianity, gifting the churches everything they needed.[13] By the time of Alvares' visit, Dori was engaged in warfare against some Nubians after the latter had killed his son. The Nubians were known as robbers and generally had a rather bad reputation.[14] They originated somewhere five to six days away from Medri Bahri, possibly Taka (a historical province named after Jebel Taka near modern Kassala,[15] however P. L. Shinnie suggests an origin in the area around Old Dongola, but this region could not be reached from Eritrea within five - six days[16]

Yeshaq (Bahr Negus), the local ruler during the Ethiopian-Adal war, escorted a Portuguese force arriving to assist the Abyssinians against the neighbouring Ottoman-backed invasion at the Battle of Wayna Daga. Yeshaq's father had previously betrayed Dawit II and sided with Adal, but the emperor forgave his distant relative. The Ottomans later invaded the Red Sea coast which was reconquered by Ethiopian Emperor Gelawdewos. However, Yeshaq later allied with the Ottoman general Özdemir Pasha and Mohammed IV Mansur of the Sultanate of Harar and the against Abyssinia before being defeated and killed by Sarsa Dengel.[17] The territory became an Ottoman province or eyalet known as the Habesh Eyalet. Massawa served as the new province's first capital. When the city became of secondary economic importance, the administrative capital was soon moved across the Red Sea to Jeddah. Its headquarters remained there from the end of the 16th century to the early 19th century, with Medina temporarily serving as the capital in the 18th century.[18][19]

In 1692, Iyasu I undertook an expedition in the Mareb river valley, against the Dubani, or Nara, in present-day Gash Barka. At the sound of the musket, the tribesmen were terrified and fled.[20] His Royal Chronicle[21] recounts how when the Ottoman Naib of Massawa attempted to levy a tax on Iyasu's goods that had landed at Massawa, he responded with a blockade of that island city until the Naib relented.

18th-19th century[edit]

The Scottish traveler James Bruce reported in 1770 that Medri Bahri was a distinct political entity from Abyssinia, noting that the two territories were frequently in conflict. During the Zemene Mesafint, Wube Haile Maryam (the ruler of Simien and Tigre) led devastating raids into the region.

The kingdom was reconquered by Ethiopia in 1879, when Ras Alula seized control of the region after the betrayal of Ras Woldemichael Solomon, who had initially supported Yohannes IV during the Ethiopian-Egyptian War but later switched sides and fought against the Ethiopians. The Emperor would then exact collective punishment on the local populus, which caused native rebellions against southern rule. Some local rulers like the well known Bahta Hagos who initially fought against the Ethiopian Empire but would later travel to Addis Abeba and ally with Menelik II against Italy[22], or former Askari and Ras Alula's ally, Dejazmatch Debeb of Battle of Segheneyti fame[23] would fight alongside the Ethiopian leadership. The region then became an Italian colony in 1890 after Menelik relinquished Ethiopia's claims to the Eritrean highlands in the Treaty of Wuchale[24][25]. The last ruler to claim the title of Bahri Negasi was Emperor Haile Selassie I after the Ethiopian annexation of Eritrea, although the legitimacy of this is in contention.

Geography[edit]

Bahta Hagos

At its peak, the Medri Bahri stretched from the Red Sea to the Mareb River and beyond, covering areas of Shire (Including Inda Selassie) and its surrounding regions. This vast region was subdivided into three main provinces, namely Akele Guzai, Hamassien and Serae. Of these three, Serae was the most politically important district, as the most influential and important people took up residence there. As a consequence, this was also the wealthiest, the best maintained and the best protected district.[26] The Ethiopian Emperors gave the region the Amharic name "Medri Bahri" in reference to the Red Sea which Eritrea borders. In the Tigrinya language, however, it's referred to as "Mereb Melash," due to its location north of the Mareb River. This kingdom had a border to the south with Tigray Region, a province of the Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia.

Demographics[edit]

Medri Bahri was composed of the following modern ethnic groups: Tigrinya people, Bilen people, Saho people, Tigre people, and the Irob people.[27]

Notable people[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Caulk, Richard Alan (2002). "Between the Jaws of Hyenas": A Diplomatic History of Ethiopia (1876-1896). ISBN 9783447045582.
  2. ^ J. Ludolph(1977), Forschung, P. 38
  3. ^ Tamrat 1972, p. 74.
  4. ^ Daniel Kendie, The Five Dimensions of the Eritrean Conflict 1941–2004: Deciphering the Geo-Political Puzzle. United States of America: Signature Book Printing, Inc., 2005, pp.17-8.
  5. ^ Richard M. Trivelli, Afrika spectrum 33(1998) 3: p. 259.
  6. ^ Taddesse Church and State, p. 73
  7. ^ Taddesse Church and State, p. 74
  8. ^ a b c Pankhurst 1997, p. 101.
  9. ^ Connel & Killion 2011, p. 54.
  10. ^ Connel & Killion 2011, p. 160.
  11. ^ Pankhurst 1997, p. 102-104.
  12. ^ Pankhurst 1997, p. 270.
  13. ^ Pankhurst 1997, p. 102-103.
  14. ^ Pankhurst 1997, p. 154-155.
  15. ^ Werner 2013, p. 149-150 & note 14..
  16. ^ Connel & Killion 2011, p. 96.
  17. ^ Okbazghi Yohannes (1991). A Pawn in World Politics: Eritrea. University of Florida Press. pp. 31–32. ISBN 0-8130-1044-6. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  18. ^ Siegbert Uhlig (2005). Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 951. ISBN 978-3-447-05238-2. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
  19. ^ Jonathan Miran Red Sea Citizens: Cosmopolitan Society and Cultural Change in Massawa. Indiana University Press, 2009, pp. 38-39 & 91 Google Books
  20. ^ E. A. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Volume II : Nubia and Abyssinia' (London, (Routledge Revivals), 1949), pp. 414. https://books.google.com.gh/books?id=umMtBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA408&dq=history%20of%20ethiopia&hl=fr&pg=PA414#v=onepage&q&f=false.
  21. ^ Translated in part by Richard K. P. Pankhurst in The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles. Addis Ababa: Oxford University Press, 1967.
  22. ^ Henze, Paul B. (2000). Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia. New York: Palgrave. p. 165. ISBN 0-312-22719-1.
  23. ^ Bruner, S. (2014). Conflicting obituaries: The Abyssinian ‘outlaw’ Debeb as treacherous bandit and romantic hero in late nineteenth-century Italian imagination. Modern Italy, 19(4), 405-419. doi:10.1080/13532944.2014.939164
  24. ^ Connel & Killion 2011, p. 66-67.
  25. ^ Richard Alan Caulk (2002). "Between the Jaws of Hyenas": A Diplomatic History of Ethiopia (1876-1896). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 143–149. ISBN 978-3-447-04558-2.
  26. ^ Henry Salt: A Voyage to Abyssinia. Published in 1816 pp
  27. ^ Tronvoll 1998, p. 38.

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • d'Avray, Anthony (1996). Lords of the Red Sea. The History of a Red Sea Society from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries. Harrassowitz.

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