Shewa
Shewa (also spelled
Shoa) is a historical region of
Ethiopia. Formerly an autonomous
kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire, the Ethiopian modern capital
Addis Ababa is located at its center.
The nucleus of Shewa is a mountainous terrain in what is currently the central area of Ethiopia, but historically it was Ethiopia's southernmost highland. Moreover, the highland of Shewa is separated from highlands to the north by a narrow lowland strip. Shewa was as defensible as any highland, and usually continued its traditional government even in cases when several surrounding lands were lost. In history, all this meant that Shewa could live a life somewhat unconcerned of events in Ethiopian politics. At times, it was a safe haven; at other times it was physically separated from the remainder of Ethiopia by enemies controlling the lowland.
The towns of
Debre Berhan,
Antsokia,
Ankober,
Entoto and, lastly, Addis Ababa have all served as the capital of Shewa at various times. Most of northern Shewa, made up of the districts of
Menz,
Tegulet,
Yifat,
Minjar,
Bulga is populated mostly by Christian
Amhara, while southern and eastern Shewa have large
Oromo and
Muslim populations. The great monastery of
Debre Libanos, founded by
Saint Takla Haymanot, is located in the district of
Selale in northern Shewa.
Shewa first appears in the historical record as a
Muslim state, which G.W.B. Huntingford believed was founded in
896, and had its capital at
Walalah. This state was absorbed by the Sultanate of
Ifat around
1285.
Yekuno Amlak based his uprising against the
Zagwe dynasty from Shewa. He claimed his Solomonic forebears, direct decendants of the pre-Zagwe Axumite Emperors, who had used Shewa as their safe haven when their survival was threatened by
Yodit Gudit and other enemies. This story, however, may be a later fabrication reflecting the similar conduct of
Lebna Dengel's family.
In the 16th century, Shewa was ravaged and separated from the rest of Ethiopia by the forces of
Ahmed Gragn; the region then came under pressure from the
Oromo, who succeeded during the first decades of the following century in settling in the depopulated areas and making themselves masters. Because of this destruction and isolation, little is known about the details of the history of Shewa until almost 1800. However, Emperor Lebna Dengel and some of his sons used Shewa as their safe haven when threatened by invaders.
The Shewan ruling family was founded by
Negassie in the late 17th century, who consolidated his control around Yifat. Traditions recorded about his ancestry vary: one tradition, recorded in 1840, claims his mother was the daughter of Ras Faris, a follower of Emperor
Susenyos who had escaped into
Menz; another tradition told by Serta Wold, a councilor of
Sahle Selassie, was that Negassie was a male-line descendant of Yaqob, the youngest son of
Lebna Dengel, and thus assert descent from the ancient ruling
Solomonic dynasty.
1 As these traditions are not contradictory, one relating to the female line of ancestry, the other to the male, they may both be true. Certainly the House of Shewa's claim to direct male line decent from Libne Dingel has never been widely questioned in Ethiopia. Thus the ruling family of Shewa were considered the junior branch of the
Solomonic dynasty after the senior Gondar branch.
Negassie's son,
Sebestyanos assumed the title of
Meridazmach ("Fearsome Commander"), which was unique to Shewa. His descendants continued to bear this title until Sahle Selassie of Shewa was declared king of Shewa in the 1830s. His grandson
Sahle Maryam eventually would succeed as Emperor of all Ethiopia at the end of the century under name
Menelek II. The title of "King of Shewa" was subsumed into the Imperial title of "Emperor of Ethiopia" when Menelek became Emperor.
Shewan kings spread their control towards the south and east, through lowland and desert, and succeeded in subjecting some regions under their rule. The Emperors of Ethiopia had long claimed these southern regions, and various direct and tributary relations had existed prior to the Gragn wars. The Oromo migrations that followed the end of the Gragn wars had cut off these old relationships and had drastically changed the demographics of the area. The kingdom of Shewa that Menelek II brought into the Ethiopian realm had been somewhat expanded, and thus added significantly to the total area of the empire. Ethiopia reached further frontiers through expansion to the east and south, resulting in the Shewan region as the physical center of the modern country.
In recent times, Shewa was a Governorate-General (Province) under the monarchy, and was then an Administrative Region of Ethiopia under the
Derg regime until
1984. In that year, upon the proclamation of "The Peoples Republic" under the now civilianized Derg, Shewa was split into four Administrative Regions, North Shewa, Southern Shewa, Eastern Shewa and Western Shewa. Following the fall of the Derg in 1991, the old historic provinces and regions were abolished, and the present
modern regions (based on ethnic and linguistic boundaries) were introduced.
See also: Rulers of Shewa# Mordechai Abir,
Ethiopia: the Era of the Princes (London: Longmans, 1968), pp. 144ff.
