Information AboutAgaw |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT AGAW | |
| ethnic groups in ethiopia | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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The Agaw are first mentioned in an inscription of Kaleb , king of Axum , and referred to in the writings of Cosmas Indicopleustes . Based on this evidence, a number of experts embrace a theory first stated by Edward Ullendorff and Carlo Conti-Rossini that they are the original inhabitants of the Ethiopian Highlands , and were either forced out of their original settlements or assimilated by Tigrinya and Amharic peoples. 1 They currently exist in a number of scattered enclaves, which include the Bilen in and around Keren in Eritrea ; the Qemant and the Qwara , who live around Gondar in the Semen Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region , west of the Tekezé River and north of Lake Tana ; a number of Agaw live south of Lake Tana, around Dangila in the Agew Awi Zone of the Amhara Region; and another group live around Sokota in the former province of Lasta , now part of the Amhara province, along its border with the Tigray region. Also included in this ethnic grouping are the Beta Israel , who formerly lived in the northern Amhara region with the Qemant and Qwara , but in the late 1990s nearly all of this group had emigrated to Israel . SUBGROUPS Northern Agaw are known as Bilen , cap. Keren Western Agaw are known as Qemant , cap. Gondar Eastern Agaw are known as Xamir , cap. Sokota Southern Agaw are known as Awngi , cap. Dangila NOTES # Taddesse Tamrat, ''Church and State in Ethiopia (1270 - 1527)'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 26. SEE ALSO |