Tigurats

The origin of the word Tigurat (‘tɪɡʊrat’) remains disputed. One view holds that the name comes from the word “Tegeret” ('təgərət’) (v., sing., fem.) (“ተገረት”) (ግ፣ ንጽል፣ ኣንስ) which stands for “ascend”. The word "Tegeru" ('təgəru’ ) (v., pl.) (“ተገሩ”) (ግ፣ ብዙ) ascribes to the ascension of the earliest indigenous people to the mountainous highland part of Eritrea as first settlers of the plateau.

Tigurat people literally, thus, means the ascended people, referring to the highland people in Eritrea. Tigurat tribe, supposedly known as "Tigretes", were first mentioned around 300 BC near Adulis.[2][3] This identification is long held account of Tigrigna and Tigre speaking people on Eritrean side of the border.

Another theory relates to the narrative of Tigrayan people in Tigray, Ethiopia. This theory states that Tigrayan people (Tigrinya: ተጋሩ; tägaru) are Tigrigna speaking people in Eritrea and Tigrinya-speaking people in present-day Tigray region (of Ethiopia), with the exclusion of Tigre speaking people in Eritrea.[6][7][8][9][10] This theory is recounted by Tigrinya speaking people on the Ethiopian side of the border.

Etymological and chronological evidences of the names “Tigray” or “Tigrayan” or "Tegaru" or "Tigrawot" are not yet available for the latter theory. Besides, it implicitly embraces non-Semitic inhabitants of Tigray as Tigrayans while failing to factor in Tigre people in Eritrea.[11]

It has to be remembered that the discord between these two narratives has been there for centuries, igniting several wars as a result. Eritrean-Ethiopian (1998 - 2000) border war was the latest.[12]

Tigurat people are very close kin to Tigrayan people in Tigray, Ethiopia. Both Tigurats and Tigrayans were supposedly the same people up to around the 8th century, sharing the Aksumite Kingdom before its demise.[13]

Tigurats in Eritrea and Tigrayans in Ethiopia grew apart in lexical, societal construction and dialect from around 9th Century, right after the conquest of the Red Sea coast by the Abbasid Caliphate.[14][15] The conquest cut all the trade routes and relationships of the Aksumite Kingdom had with the outside world. This led the kingdom into its final demise. At the time Tigrayans in Tigray abandoned the declining Kingdom of Aksum and looked south towards the Agaw people.[16] Together with the Agaw, they established a dynasty known as the Zagwe Dynasty with Lalibela as its center.[16][17]

Since then the divergence between the two Tigrigna language speaking people has been on record for the last one millennium. However, unwittingly he term Tigray-Tigrigni (‘Təgray-Tɪɡrɪgnɪ’) (ትግራይ ትግሪኚ) was used by Tigrigna speakers in Ethiopia to manifest the distinction.

Tigrigni was used to refer to the people who speak Tigrigna language on the Eritrean side of the border. Likewise, Tigray was used to describe to the speakers of Tigrinya on the Ethiopian side of the border.[11][18]

The Eritrean version of the language is spelled as "Tigrigna" "ትግርኛ" and pronounced differently implying the actual dialect adhered by Eritrean Tigrigna speakers. Similarly, the Ethiopian version of the language is spelled as "Tigriyna" "ትግርና" and pronounced in line to the dialect adhered by Tigrinya speakers in Ethiopia.

The Tigrigna speaking Tigurats in Eritrea and Tigrinya speaking Tigrayans in Ethiopia have been erroneously portrayed as the same people sharing common ancestors with the exclusion of Tigre speaking Tigurats from the domain. The exclusion of Tigre speaking Tigurats is considered a conscious misrepresentation and disregard to the historical context, and cannot be a tenable argument.[14]

On the other hand, Tigrigna speaking Tigurats in Eritrea, with the exception of a few communities along the border, do not consider themselves the same people to Tigrinya speaking Tigrayans. To the contrary, some Tigrayans prefer to consider themselves as the same people with Tigrigna speaking Tigurats in Eritrea sharing common ancestors.[16]

Rather both Tigrigna and Tigre speaking Tigurats were the same people up until the 13th century. At the time, both Tigurat people were also believed to have spoken the same language known as Ge’ez and adhered to the Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

However, Tigre speaking Tigurats in Eritrea were forced to submit and convert into Islam following the expansion of Islam in the 11th century[19] and the subsequent conquest of Ottoman Empire to the Red Sea Coast and northern highlands in the 15th century. Tigre speaking Tigurats, thus, were cut from interaction outside of their community and obliged to keep most of the Ge’ez dialect. Tigrigna speaking Tigurats, on the other hand, diverged from Ge’ez developing a different dialect to adapt the changing dynamics in their surroundings since the 11th century.

This part of the planet is considered the origin of the human race. It is believed that first ancestors of human race migrated to other parts of the world from this area. Bob Walter discovered the oldest evidence of stone tools near the coastal areas of Eritrea. The tools are believed to be 125 000 years old.[20]

Modern Tigurats are suggested to be descendants or an admixture of the ancient people who settled in Eritrea (Erythrea). It is noteworthy to mention that there were already people living on the Red Sea coast and Eritrean highlands from Palaeolithic and Neolithic ages and thus it is logical to assume there was intermingling between these people[21] and subsequent migrants.

Eritrea has seen migration and settlement of many people at different periods in its history. The Kunama, the Nara, the Beja, the Greeks, the Assyrians, the Indians, the Persians and the Kush have their respective origin of myths, like most ancient and medieval peoples.

Nubian Beja

Earliest Beja migrants to the highlands of Eritrea around 2000 BC.

Around 2000 BC early Beja pastoral people from Nubia (southern Egypt and northern Sudan) entered to Barka valley and northern highlands of Eritrea. Beja displaced the first wave of Kunama and Nara people southwards.[23]

Ona

Ona-Site, earliest settlement in Asmara around 800 - 350 BC.

The oldest settled pastoral and agricultural community lived in Ona around 800 BC. Ona site refers to the villages and towns around Asmara. Ona was the oldest known indigenous culture in the Horn Africa.[24] Archaeologist Peter Schmidt compared Asmara settlement to those of Athens and Rome.[25] Semitic language known as Tigre was also believed to be spoken in the region around 1000 BC.

D'mt

D'mt (Daamat) Kingdom around 500 BC.

D'mt (Daamat) was believed to be home for settled community in Southern Eritrean and Northern Ethiopia around 500 BC. Archaeological evidences for D'mt Kingdom are yet very scant.[26]

Adulis

The Greeks, the Romans, the Assyrians, the Persians and the Indians travelled to the political and trade centre called Adulis Kingdom on the Red Sea coast around 300 BC.[27] At the time Adulis was ruled by a Greek ruler, Zoskales.[27] The tribes near Adulis were supposedly known "Tigretes", making it the first mention of the Tigurat people of Eritrea.[2][3] Archaeological survey of islands on the Red Sea coast shows there were Roman settlers in the area around the 1st century AD.[28] The Agaw people of northern Ethiopia started to intermingle with the indigenous highland settlers in Eritrea, with the rise of the Aksumite Empire around 150 BC.[29]

Adulis Kingdom around 300 BC.

Aksumite Kingdom around 150 BC.

It is impossible to attribute the origin of Tigurats to a single race. Rather the Tigurats are considered an admixture of early settlers and migrants. The vast majority of Tigurats do not yet know their actual genealogical history. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, families devised a kind of master narrative story that purports to explain ancestral chronicles with historical combinations to the extent where it is next to impossible to look beyond these master narrative stories.[16] The Customary Laws of Eritrea have been promulgated as the main building blocks of the master narratives for the last eight hundred years.[30]

Although Tigrigna speaking and Tigre speaking Tigurats share a common heritage, their modern culture started to diverge from medieval era, when the expansion and conquest Islam in the Horn of Africa gained momentum.

Today, while Tigrigna speaking Tigurats kept their Orit (Torah) inclined version of Christianity from the 3rd AD; Tigre speaking Tigurats started to adopt Islam from early 17th century.[31] Tigre speaking Tigurats are mainly concentrated in the northern highlands of Eritrea.

The language of the Tigurat people has two dialects known as Tigrigna and Tigre, which uniquely use Ge'ez alphabets as their writing system. Tigre language is believed to have existed from around 1000 BC.[27] Inscriptions of Ge'ez alphabets from around 800 BC were also found in southern part of Eritrea.[6][27]

There are more than 3.7 million speakers of Eritrean Tigrigna dialect and more than 1.4 million speakers of Eritrean Tigre dialect in Eritrea.[4]

Large-scale emigration from Eritrea began as early as the mid-1970s, mainly into the Middle East, Sudan, Europe and North America. During the period when Eritrea was under the Ethiopian rule from 1952–1991, a number of Tigrigna speaking Tigurats were often forced into relocate to work in mainland Ethiopia.

The emigration of Tigurat people continued with massive increment under the first State of Eritrean government for two main reasons. The first one is because the government implemented a policy of indefinite national service recruitment with impunity. The other and main reason is because the government monopolisation of national economy through its party parastatals. policies and or labour service. As of 2017 a third of Tigurat population are estimated to be emigrated.[32]

Eritrea is categorised an ethnically heterogeneous country with nine recognised ethnic groups. According to the World Factbook the Tigurat people make up 85% of the population, with 55% Tigrigna speaking and 30% Tigre Speaking population.[4] However, Eritreans consider themselves ethnically homogeneous while recognising the existence of ethnic minorities.