Introduction

The primary objective of this chapter is to examine the historical and social development of Tigray from its origins in ancient Axum through its marginalisation which began in Abyssinia and continued in the Amharadominated modern empire-state of Ethiopia. Historically as part of the Abyssinian core Tigrayans have held a privileged position in society. However, from the tenth century state power generally shifted southward from Tigray, briefly to the Agaw, and then to the Amhara lands, culminating in Shoa in the late nineteenth century. Tigrayan power within the nexus of Abyssinia varied according to, first, the importance of external trade, for which access to Tigray was essential, and secondly, the progressive ecological degradation of the territory's land, both of which fostered emigration south.

However, political and economic marginalisation, exacerbated in this century by modernisation, cannot alone provide an explanatory framework for peasant revolt since similar processes were being experienced throughout the non-core areas of the Ethiopian empire without producing such a dramatic response as that which took place in Tigray. An explanation of revolution in Tigray must thus draw the linkage between historically rooted structural factors, the focus here, and a range of political factors which will be examined in the following chapters.

Tigray: emergence and decline

The known history of Tigray began with the establishment of the Axumite empire, but these origins remain obscure.