Semien Shewa Zone (North Shewa Zone)
North Shewa (ሰሜን ሸዋ) is a zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. North Shewa takes its name from the kingdom and former province of Shewa. The Zone is bordered on the south and the west by the Oromia Region, on the north by South Wollo, on the northeast by the Oromia Zone, and on the east by the Afar Region. The highest point in the Zone is Mount Abuye Meda (4012 meters), which is found in the Gish woreda; other prominent peaks include Mount Megezez. Towns in North Shewa include Ankober, Debre Birhan, and Shewa Robit.
The administrative subdivisions of this Zone have been renamed, divided, and their boundaries were redrawn numerous times between the 1994 and 2007 national censuses far more often than any other Zone in the Amhara Region. As a result, its subdivisions can be very confusing; Svein Ege, in his comparison of how the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) and the Ethiopian Mapping Authority reported the administrative boundaries in this Zone and how they changed between 1994 and 2004, stopped halfway through this Zone, stating that he had run out of time to perform field checking.
Northern Shewa the Amhara zone is the zone where the former kingdom, province currently zones of Shewa all started. The zone is also the launching pad for the expansion and annexation of the rest of southern Ethiopia. For example, R.H.Kofi Darkwah writes that "like his father before him, the major conquests of Sahla Selassie were made in the south and south west." Sahla Selassie is the grandfather of Menelik II. (Shewa Menilek and the Ethiopian Empire(1813-1889) page 26.).
The administrative subdivisions of this Zone have been renamed, divided, and their boundaries were redrawn numerous times between the 1994 and 2007 national censuses far more often than any other Zone in the Amhara Region. As a result, its subdivisions can be very confusing; Svein Ege, in his comparison of how the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) and the Ethiopian Mapping Authority reported the administrative boundaries in this Zone and how they changed between 1994 and 2004, stopped halfway through this Zone, stating that he had run out of time to perform field checking.
Northern Shewa the Amhara zone is the zone where the former kingdom, province currently zones of Shewa all started. The zone is also the launching pad for the expansion and annexation of the rest of southern Ethiopia. For example, R.H.Kofi Darkwah writes that "like his father before him, the major conquests of Sahla Selassie were made in the south and south west." Sahla Selassie is the grandfather of Menelik II. (Shewa Menilek and the Ethiopian Empire(1813-1889) page 26.).
Map - Semien Shewa Zone (North Shewa Zone)
Map
Country - Ethiopia
Flag of Ethiopia |
Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out to the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithic period. Southwestern Ethiopia has been proposed as a possible homeland of the Afroasiatic language family. In 980 BCE, the Kingdom of D'mt extended its realm over Eritrea and the northern region of Ethiopia, while the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region for 900 years. Christianity was embraced by the kingdom in 330, and Islam arrived by the first Hijra in 615. After the collapse of Aksum in 960, a variety of kingdoms, largely tribal confederations, existed in the land of Ethiopia. The Zagwe dynasty ruled the north-central parts until being overthrown by Yekuno Amlak in 1270, inaugurating the Ethiopian Empire and the Solomonic dynasty, claimed descent from the biblical Solomon and Queen of Sheba under their son Menelik I. By the 14th century, the empire grew in prestige through territorial expansion and fighting against adjacent territories; most notably, the Ethiopian–Adal War (1529–1543) contributed to fragmentation of the empire, which ultimately fell under a decentralization known as Zemene Mesafint in the mid-18th century. Emperor Tewodros II ended Zemene Mesafint at the beginning of his reign in 1855, marking the reunification and modernization of Ethiopia.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
ETB | Ethiopian birr | Br | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
AM | Amharic language |
EN | English language |
OM | Oromo language |
SO | Somali language |
TI | Tigrinya language |