Western Tigray | |
|---|---|
 Western Zone location in Ethiopia | |
| Country |  Ethiopia |
| Region |  Tigray |
| Largest city | Humera |
| Area | |
• Total | 12,323.35 km2 (4,758.07 sq mi) |
| Population (2012 est.) | |
• Total | 407,560 |
| • Density | 33/km2 (86/sq mi) |
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (June 2024) |
The Western Zone (Tigrinya: ዞባ ምዕራብ) is a zone in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It is subdivided into three woredas (districts); from north to south they are Kafta Humera, Welkait and Tsegede. The largest town is Humera. The Western Zone is bordered on the east by the North Western Zone, the south by the Amhara Region, the west by Sudan and on the north by Eritrea. Starting from the late 17th C., internal boundaries are clearly shown, with 37 maps (between 1683 and 1941) displaying a boundary that is located well south of the Tekeze River, or even south of the Simien mountains. Welkait is explicitly included within a larger Tigray confederation (periods 1707–1794; 1831–1886; and 1939–1941); it is briefly mapped as part of Amhara in 1891–1894 and part of Gondar from 1944 to 1990. At other periods it appears independent or part of a larger Mezaga ("dark earth") lowland region.[2]
Since November 2020, as part of the Tigray War, the administration of the Western Zone was taken over by officials from the Amhara Region.[3]
- ^ Geohive: Ethiopia Archived 2012-08-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Nyssen, Jan (2022-08-18), Western Tigray in 109 historical and 31 ethno-linguistic maps (1607–2014), doi:10.5281/zenodo.7007604, retrieved 2023-04-15
- ^ ""We Will Erase You from This Land": Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing in Ethiopia's Western Tigray Zone". Human Rights Watch. 2022-04-06.