History of Tembien


Tembien is a historic region in Tigray and one of the former provinces of Ethiopia. It is a mountainous area of that country. During the reforms in 1994–95, the old provinces were replaced with regions, zones and woredas. The area of the former province is now split over the woredas of Dogua Tembien and Kola Tembien.
It was located east of the Semien Province and north of Abergele, a historic district of the Begemder province. On the east, it was bordered by the Enderta Province.
The original capital of the province was Melfa, west of the current town of Hagere Selam; later on Abiy Addi, nowadays located in Kola Tembien, became the capital. The region reached a highpoint in the Tsatsen mountains at 2828 meters above sea level, just south of Hagere Selam.

Prehistory

Tembien holds numerous prehistoric sites, which have been dated to the Middle Stone Age in Ayninbirkekin, or Pastoral Neolithic in Aregen and Menachek.
The Dabo Zellelew cave in Aregen at a height of about 2000 metres, has been explored over 14.4 m but its distance is claimed to be way longer. It contains lithic tools, potsherds, engravings and paintings of Pastoral Neolithic age.
The Mihdar Ab’ur cave in the village of Mahba in Aregen at a height of about 2500 metres, is some 64 m long. It contains engravings and paintings of Pastoral Neolithic age.
The Danei Kawlos cave in the Tsech'i gorge at the west of Menachek at a height of about 2020 metres, is some 13.5 metres long. It contains lithic tools, potsherds, and faunal remains of Pastoral Neolithic age.
Further down, the May Ila open-air site in the Tsech'i gorge at the extreme west of Menachek at a height of about 1990 metres. It contains blades, blade cores, and a few potsherds of Pastoral Neolithic age.
These sites are found on the routes that lead from the northwestern lowlands of Ethiopia to the northern highlands via Tembien that holds a large number of distributions of rock art sites.

Historical geography

The border between Tigray proper and Tembien traditionally was the Wer’i river. This is why Tembien was also called “Wer’i Mellash”.
Whereas several other Tigrinya-speaking provinces were less linked with the centre, Tembien was often linked with Tigray proper in a dynamic way. In the rainy season, Tembien became full autonomous because the Wer’i river was an unpassable border. However, during dry seasons Tembien accepted the authority of Tigray proper.

A history linked to ecology and seasonality

In Tembien's history, the farmers’ culture, life cycle and livelihood linked with the land are important.

Political ecology

There were hierarchical structures in which the large landowners owned most of the land, assumed positions and controlled the peasants. It was common that half of the crop yield needed to be given to the lord what led to great misery in the villages.

Importance of seasons

The seasons organised also the life: after the harvest, young men often migrated seasonally to
Young farmers, at the slack season, and in need of additional income, were often enrolled in armies, where they hoped to get noticed and receive a position. Hence, the war cycle followed the seasons. In the rainy seasons, when warfare was difficult anyway, the farmers were back on their land to plough and harvest.

Christianity in Tembien

As evidenced by the numerous monolithic churches in Tembien, the socio-political organisation is based on Orthodox Christianity since ancient times. There are even manuscripts referring to a mediaeval monastic movement, in which the leaders originated from Tembien. There is an important pilgrimage every year to the Abba Selama monastery, situated on an almost inaccessible rock that can only be reached at the peril of one's life. After Aksum, this would be the oldest church of Ethiopia, established by the first Syrian missionary, Frumentius, commonly named “Abba Selama”. The monastery was even represented on a 17th-century map of Ethiopia. Like Mount Athos in Greece, the local monks do not recognise the state authority over the monastery.
Emperor Yohannes IV was baptised at the St. Mary church of Melfa. It is painted with scenes of his reign, and there are numerous gifts of the Emperor present in the church. Nowadays, every church serves also as a meeting place for the community. On Sundays, the villagers meet in the church compound after church service around a cup of blessed siwa. This and other informal traditional meetings and associations allow self-organisation of the peasant communities.

The Tembien dynasty

Early rulers of Tembien

The first written source that mentions Tembien is about a war expedition of one of its late-Aksumite rulers against the Nubian Alodia kingdom.
Written sources particularly about “princes of Tembien” became more dense starting from the 14th C. Starting from the 17th century the title of lord of Tembien was transmitted in the same family, while also getting approval from the Ethiopian Emperor. Hence, the degree of autonomy could vary. We know that, in the 17th C., Tembien was part of the larger Agame, led by Kiflewahid, but after his death, Tembien became autonomous.

Emperor Yohannes IV

As of the 19th Century, both oral traditions and written documents mention that the rulers of Tembien were based in Melfa.
Best known is Emperor Yohannes IV, whose forefathers had managed to gain power through marriage with all the surrounding ruling families. Kassa controlled the Tembien highlands and later the whole of Tigray; ultimately he crowned himself king of kings of Ethiopia in 1872.

However, Emperor Yohannes IV did not establish his capital in Tembien, but in Mekelle and Adwa - these towns were well connected to the Red Sea and to inner Ethiopia. However Yohannes’ kept strong links with Tembien, as indicated by the establishment of a horse-track between Melfa and Mekelle, passing through the V-notched Ksad Mederbai. He also ordered to build the Abune Aregawi church in Zeyi, after being informed about the discovery of a large cave there. Also his successors kept connections with Tembien:
There were complex succession rules in Tembien, including transfer of positions through female lines. Some of the better-known 19th century higher ranked leaders of Tembien were:

First battle of Tembien

In 1935 and 1936, the Italians invaded Ethiopia, coming from the north. Tembien with its mountains and river gorges was a major obstacle on their way south. For instance, the armies of Seyoum Mengesha and Kassa Hailu regrouped there, and in January 1936, they caused important losses to the Italian army in the four-days First Battle of Tembien.

War crimes and suffering

However, at the end of February, a turning point came when the Italians targeted the counterattacking Tembien troops from the north and the south, with air force support and large-scale use of mustard gas. This Second Battle of Tembien led to the Italians capturing the Tembien highlands and the final retreat of ras Siyyum and ras Kasa to the south. Souvenirs of this period are still vivid, and particularly the people know the caves and other places where their grandparents went hiding for the Italian bomb and gas attacks.

Strategic places, battle fields, and war crime scenes in Tembien

Many strategic places, battle fields, and locations of mustard gas bombings during the Italian wars are located in Tembien. In history books, they are commonly named by their Italian transliteration of the original Tigrinya name. This inventory provides the list of warfare sites with the place name in Tigrinya, and their location.
As the Italians anticipated to stay for many years, they invested in road and other infrastructure projects, which also furthered some urbanisation along the roads, such as in Abiy Addi, which attracted settlers. Nevertheless, there was a centre of local resistance in Tembien, what greatly hindered a stable Italian presence. The Italians retreated in 1941.

First Woyane rebellion

The traditions of autonomy, the historical role in Tigrayan politics, and relative isolation on top of a massif made Tembien a centre of resistance after the Italian retreat. Tembien participated actively in the Woyane rebellion in 1943 that could only be put down with the help of the British Royal Air Force.

Capitals

For a long time, Melfa, west of Hagere Selam, was the capital of Tembien; later on, the administration was established in Abiy Addi, as it was easier of access.
In 1951, Gebru Gebrehiwot, the new governor, decided to create a new capital of Tembien. First the location of Melfa was chosen. As the inhabitants of Melfa rejected the idea, Hagere Selam was created as a new town. It used already to be an open-air market place – the place was a strategically located mountain saddle, also called "May Aleqti". In practice, the capital remained in Abiy Addi. It was only after the district of Dogu’a Tembien was created that Hagere Selam started to grow. Basic modern infrastructure came only in the early years 2000.
; the TPLF headquarters are located in this cliff, at right under the tree

Civil War

Both during the reign of Emperor Haile Sillasie and that of the military Derg regime, Tembien was marginalised, despite its closeness to Mekelle. In the 1980s, the TPLF, established its headquarters in a cave, again near Melfa, more particularly in Addi Geza'iti. From these underground rooms and offices cut out in sandstone cliffs, the TPLF carried out its political activities, including a major land reform; it was from here that the offensives were organised till the conquest of Addis Ababa in 1991.