Enderta Province

Enderta or Inderta (Ge'ez: እንደርታ) is a former historical province of Ethiopia; it is located in the eastern edge of the Tigray highlands. Enderta is bordered on the west by Tembien, on the south and southwest by Lasta and Wag, on the east by denkel (southern Red Sea region of Eritrea), and on the north by Agame and Adwa.[1][2] Mekelle was formerly the capital of the province. Enderta's local administration of Denkel/Afar up to the edges of Aseb under its jurisdiction seems to have been highly, interlinked with the operation of the salt trade and its taxation system; the entire tasks of salt caravan organization being the responsibility of the bäalgada, title assumed by the governor of Endärta, since at least the Medieval period.[3][4]

Notable Bea'al gadas included the mighty Ras Robel, grandfather of Emperor Sertse-Dengel as well as the paternal ancestor of Ras Suhul Mikael, Ras Faris the great, Ras Woldeselassie the great and Ras Araya Dimtsu, maternal uncle of Emperor Yohaness.[citation needed]

Historically, the province of Enderta had been ruled by its own hereditary governors, at least, since the restoration of the solomonic dynasty in 1270.[5][6][7][8][9] Starting in 1855 and beginning with Ras Araya dimtsu of Enderta[10] his immediate relations and descendants known collectively as Enderta Mesafint would rule the Tigrinya speaking provinces for more than 120 years until the down fall of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974 from their capitals in Antalo first then from Mekelle both in Enderta; the last of these Enderta Mesafint being Ras Mangasha Seyum, thus, making Enderta the center of power where important political, economical as well as governmental decisions were made for more than 120 years within Tigray.

  1. ^ Salt, A Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 379
  2. ^ Ethiopian Mapping Authority, 1997
  3. ^ ed. by Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Teferra and Shiferaw Bekele, Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Trondheim 2009, 185
  4. ^ Tsegay B.Gebrelibanos, The Ethiopian Salt Trading System in the 20th Century: A View from Mäqäla, Northern Ethiopia
  5. ^ Roland Oliver, the Cambridge History of Africa c. 1600 to c. 1790, p. 132.
  6. ^ Taddesse, "Church and State", p. 73
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Taddesse, p. 73 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ J.D. Fage, The cambridge history of Africa from c. 1050 to c. 1600, p. 125.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mansfield Parkyns, p. 93 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ R.A. Caulk, Bad men of the Borders: Shum and Shifta in North Ethiopia in the 19th century, Book 2nd Annual Seminar of Department of history, PART 1,pg 41