Tigray Province
Tigray (, ) is a historical region and province of Ethiopia. It encompasses most of the territories of Tigrinya-speakers (and a few minority groups closely linked with them) in Ethiopia; Tigray is separated from the northern Tigrinya territories by the River Mereb, now serving as the state border to Eritrea.
Tigray Province
Temporarily, the northern provinces were unified under one to two rulers, since at least the 14th century, mainly the "təgre mäkännən", usually seated in the Hawzen or Adwa area (i.e. Tigray proper), and, further north, the bahər nägash, who controlled the trade routes to the Red Sea. Only rarely all territories were unified in one hand; examples being "dejazmach" Kəflä Wahəd in the late 16th century, the 17th century ruler "dejazmach" Gäbrä Krəstos of Hamasen, in the 18th century "dejazmach" Amdä Haymanot, succeeded by the much more powerful "ras" Mikael Səhul, and, finally, in the 19th century "atse" Yohannes IV and his family members.