 Agaw horsemen from Awi | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Horn of Africa | |
 Ethiopia | 899,416 (2007)[1] |
 Eritrea | 100,000 (2012)[2] |
| Languages | |
| Agaw • Amharic • Tigrinya | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Ethiopian Orthodox · Eritrean Orthodox · Catholic), Traditional religions, Judaism, Islam (Sunni) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
The Agaw or Agew (Ge'ez: አገው, romanized: Agäw, modern Agew) are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the northern highlands of Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea.[4] They speak the Agaw languages, also known as the Central Cushitic languages, which belong to the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family,[5] and are therefore closely related to peoples speaking other Cushitic languages.
The Agaw peoples in general were historically noted by travelers and outside observers[6] to have practiced what some described as a “Hebraic religion”, though some also practiced Ethiopian Orthodoxy,[7] and many were Beta Israel Jews. Thousands of Agaw Beta Israel converted to Christianity in the 19th and early 20th century (both voluntarily and forcibly),[8] becoming the Falash Mura.
- ^ "Census 2007" Archived March 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, first draft, Table 5.
- ^ "Bilen". Joshua Project. Venture Center. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ Joireman, Sandra F. (1997). Institutional Change in the Horn of Africa: The Allocation of Property Rights and Implications for Development. Universal-Publishers. p. 1. ISBN 1581120001.
- ^ Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. 2010-04-06. ISBN 9780080877754. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
- ^ Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. 2010-04-06. ISBN 9780080877754. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
- ^ Gamst, Frederick C. (1969). The Qemant - A Pagan-Hebraic Peasantry of Ethiopia. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 29.
- ^ Gamst 1969, p. 30.
- ^ Gamst 1969, p. 119–121.