Wollo Province

Wollo (Amharic: ወሎ, wellò) is a historical region and province in the northeastern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Dessie. The name "Wello" represents the Kereyo Oromo clan leader who first invaded Bete-Amhara and Midre-Gegn.

Location of Wollo within the Ethiopian Empire

The province formerly and historically was called Bete-Amhara. Its name was changed to Wollo following the invasion of Ethiopia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by nomadic oromo people. Peasant rebellions rocked the province, which included the Woyane rebellion in 1943, and revolts of the Yejju in 1948 and 1970.[1]

At the beginning of TPLF's rule of Ethiopia (between 1991 and 2018), Raya (i.e. Lasta & Wag) and Welkait were taken away from the Welo and Begemder provinces respectively and given to Tigray.[2] Therefore, until the 1995 administrative reorganization, Raya was part of Welo province. Raya was then split into two parts once ethnic federalism was established in Ethiopia (on 1995). One of the two parts with an Amhara majority (Kobo) went to the new Amhara Region, the other (Raya Azebo) which had a majority of (Tigrayans) was given to Tigray Region [3][4][5],.[6][7][8]

With the adoption of the 1995 constitution & the establishment of ethnic federalism system in Ethiopia, parts of the expanded Wollo province, which were mostly inhabited by Afar people were given to the new Afar Region. The new Amhara Region absorbed the remainder of the province in the Ethiopian Highlands and kept the name Wollo for its two new zones (South Wollo Zone & North Wollo Zone).

References
  1. Sarah Vaughan, "Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia" (University of Edinburgh: Ph.D. Thesis, 2003), p. 126
  2. This list of provinces is based on the map in Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia (London: James Currey, 1991), p. 86.
  3. "Bernard Leeman, THE REALM OF D'MT - ONE AND THE SAME AS QUEEN YODIT'S DAMOT?".
  4. Shaw, Thurstan (1995), The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns, Routledge, p. 612, ISBN 978-0-415-11585-8
  5. "The British Museum, "The wealth of Africa:- The kingdom of Aksum"" (PDF).
  6. Bereket Habte Selassie, "Constitutional Development in Ethiopia", Journal of African Law, 10 (1966), p. 79.
  7. "Sarah Vaughan, "Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia", PhD dissertation, p. 123, 2003" (PDF).
  8. The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia Results for Tigray Region. 1. Addis Ababa: Central Statistical Authority. 1995. p. 70.

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