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Friday, January 5, 2018

Medri Bahri

Introduction
Medri Bahri was a kingdom in Eritrea.  It lasted 751 years!!!!!  The Saho, Tigre, Tigrinya peoples lived there.  It came after the fall of Aksum.  It had 2 main areas of control.  It was ruled by a king.  This nation was Christian.  Sometimes they cooperated and other times they fought Ethiopians and Somalis.  Travelers wrote about it.
History
Medri Bahri means Sea Land.  It was between the Red Sea and a Mereb River.  The ruler was called was called Bahr Negasi, which means King of the Sea.  The 2 provinces were called Hamasien and Akele Guzai. Hamasien (Ham and Shem) was the most important area of the kingdom.  Akele Guzai became independent later on. Medri Bahri was constantly warring with Abyssinia and Adal Sultanate.  The Turks invaded in 1558 CE.  They encountered resistance, so they left.  James Bruce went to Medri Bahri in 1770.  He observed it was independent of Abyssinia and @ war with it.
Tribes
Saho: They speak a Cushite language.  Most of them live in Eritrea.  They are related to the Afar tribe.  Most of them are Muslims; a few of them are Christians.  They have their own system of law.  They have a meeting called Rahbe.  A large number of people will come to solve a dispute.  A person that is something like a lawyer (madarre) will give the ukals (elders) suggestions to solve the problem.  If 2 people have a problem they go to an ukal and he/she will appoint a shimagale (mediator) 4 the dispute.  There are @ least  9 clans of Soho.
Tigre: They speak a Semitic language.  Most of them live in Eritrea.  They are related 2 the Beja and Tigrinya.  Islam is the most popular religion among the Tigre.
Tigrinya: They speak a Semitic language.  Most of them live in Eritrea and Ethiopia. They are mostly Christian.  They eat a lot of vegetables and some spicy meats.  They don't eat pork and they fast 7 times a year.  They also have clans.
Bahr Negassi (Kings of the Sea)
Yeshaq was a Bahr Negus in the 16th century.  He helped Abyissia when was invaded by Adal Sultanate.

Woldenmichael Solomon was the last true king of Medri Bahri.  He was a member of the Tigrinya tribe.  He fought the Ethiopians to keep his independent.  He made a treaty with an enemy.  His enemy attack after signing the treaty and he was overthrown.

Conclusion
This was a great kingdom.  It lasted a long time and it fought hard for there freedom. This Kingdom had 3 amazing tribes and it was Christian.  The people come from a mixture of Hamites and Shemites.  I give this kingdom an A.

References
www.revolvy.com
wikipedia.org
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Medri_Bahri.html
https://mdrebahri.wordpress.com/
http://www.eritrea.be/old/eritrea-history.htm
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad18
http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Eritrea.html  



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