Serae
Serae ሰራየ (or Seraye) is a former province of Eritrea which had an estimated population of 515,000 in 1990(the most populous province) and an area of 6800km2. The province is home to Three of the Eritrean ethnic groups namely the Tigrinyas, Tigre and Saho. It has since been incorporated primarily into the Debub Region, though some western districts have become part of the Gash-Barka Region. It is believed that the name of the province is from the "dark forests" which once throve on its fertile ground.[1]
Today the region is home to twelve monasteries of the Eritrean Orthodox Church as well as a number of new factories in the town of Mendefera
Districts
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- Tekela ተኸላ
- Tsilima ጽልማ
- Debub ደቡብ
- GuH'tsi'A ጉሕጭዓ
- Mai Tsa'eda ማይጻዕዳ/ ማጫዕዳ
- Enda Azmach Oqbit እንዳዝማች ዑቕቢት
- Deqi Bokhri ደቂ ቦኽሪ
- Meraguz መራጉዝ
- QoHain ቆሓይን
- Gundet ጒንደት
- Aila ዓይላ
- Sef'a ሰፍኣ
- Harfe Gurotto ሃርፈጒረቶ
- Deqi Digna ደቂ ድግና
- Deqi Aites ደቂ ጣዒስ
- Dembelas ደምበላስ
- Zaide'kolom ዛይደ'ኮሎም
- Anagir ዓናግር
- Medri Wedi'Sebera ምድሪ ወዲ ሰበራ
- Kuno Redae ኲኖ ረዳእ
- Etan Zere ዕጣን ዘርአ
- Misyam ምስያም
- Medri Felasi ምድሪ ፈላሲ
- Timzea - ትምዛእ ቅናፍና
History
Serae/ Seraye (Tigrigna(Geez) ሰራየ) was a region(awraja ኣውራጃ) of the Kingdom of D'mt ዳእማት ወይ ዳዕማት, which would evolve in the Aksum ኣክሱም and later on the center of kingdom of Medri Bahri(ምድሪ ባሕሪ) centered in Debarwa(ድባርዋ) with its leaders Bahri Negasi(ባሕሪ ነጋሲ). Seraye was bound by regions of Akeleguzay(ኣከለ ጉዛይ) in the east, Hamassien (ሓማሴን) in the North, Tigray proper( ዓድዋ፡ሽረ፡ኣክሱም) in the south and Gashin Setitn(ጋሽን ሰቲትን) in the west During this Axumite period, the region became a successful trading region as it lay between the Red Sea port of Adulis ኣዱሊስ, Asmara ኣስመራ, and Axum ኣክሱም. Bahri Negasi existed until the 1600s. The region(Awraja ኣውራጃ) had its own written native administration codes that was used from the beginning of the 1400AD, which was named as the law of Adkeme-Miligae ሕጊ ኣድከመ ምልጋእ. The book existed until the come of the anti Christian jihadist Ahmad Gragn ኣሕመድ ግራይ in the 1600s, burning churches and killing the believers and progressing north wards from present day eastern Ethiopia or around Somalia, and the book was lost/burnt at that time. The people of Serae/ Seraye were administered without the book verbally until the come of the Italians in the end of the 19th century. In 1938 again the book of native law code was written of eldely and knowlegable people from 7 villages( Adi Mongonti ዓዲ ሞንጐንቲ,Mayduma , Kudo Felasi ኩዶ ፈላሲ, Bet Gabriel ቤት ገብርኤል, Qine Hayela ቅነ ሓየላ, Adi Hyis ዓዲ ሕይስ and May Leham ማይ ለሓም) representing the whole awraja Seraye except the Logo Tchiwa ሎጎ ጭዋ which had its own codes in addition to the Adkeme Miligae.This Law had more liberal customary and low restrictions on women's right for land ownership than any other laws in the country. Most of Seraye and Akeleguzay are together now inside the Southern region (ዞባ ደቡብ).
References
- Killion, Tom (1998). Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3437-5.
2.^ Hanevik,Kurt."Eritrea amputee statistics by popuation". https://folk.uib.no/mfakh/LM/amputees.html 3.^ Book of,Women. "African women's health page 42". https://books.google.com.et/books?id=Sdx78njl-xYC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=Livestocks+in+Seraye&source=bl&ots=LpTGI7dk6e&sig=ACfU3U2kuEs2VW-usI5hy9pNkDVAqxF0gg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiS7Pr4ibTpAhVK1hoKHdTTBb0Q6AEwAHoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=Livestocks%20in%20Seraye&f=false