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 Region
In 1943, open resistance broke out all over southern and eastern Tigray under the slogan, "there is no government; let's organize and govern ourselves." Throughout Enderta awraja including, Mekelle, Didibadergiajen, Hintalo, Saharti, Samre and Wajirat, Raya awraja, Kilte-Awlaelo awraja and Tembien awraja, local assemblies, called gerreb, were immediately formed. The gerren sent representatives to a central congress, called the shengo, which elected leaders and established a military command system. Although the Woyane rebellion of 1943 had shortcomings as a prototype revolution, historians, however, agree that the Woyane rebellion had involved a fairly high level of spontaneity and peasant initiative. It demonstrated considerable popular participation and reflected widely shared grievances. The uprising was unequivocally and specifically directed against the central Shoan Amhara regime of Haile Selassie I, rather than the Tigrayan imperial elite.