History & Culture
History of Eritrea: The Beja Kingdoms, population movements, and the early expansion of Islam (8th-13th C.AD)
By Tewelde Beyene
May 5, 2005, 19:02

Between the 8^th and the 13^th C., a number of eventful political, cultural and ethnological factors entered into action marking the disintegration of the old Axumite state and the development of a post-Axumite Eritrean history with specific elements of continuity.

1. The shift of the political center: Theses obscure centuries witnessed not only the decline of Axum, but also the shift of the shift of the political center southward in the direction of Lake Hayq.

Semitisized Axumite peoples, driven into the hills of Tigray by the Beja invasion, extended their civilizing activities to the wild regions south of the capital, inhabited by the Agew in what is now southern Tigray, Begemeder, Dembya, Gojam, Agew Meder, Damot and Amhara. The rise of a new capital, Kubar, connected with a brief revival of the state in the second half of the 9^th C, was followed by the revolution of the Queen of Bani al-Hamwiyah, the rise of the Zagwe dynasty, and the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty with Yekunno Amlak. It was a complex historical process through which the nucleus of what was to be known as Ethiopia emerged.

The political relationships of this newly emerging entity with the Eritrean region will be considered in a subsequent chapter. Here we will be concerned with the most central events that dominated the Eritrean historical scenery, i.e. the Beja expansion, the spread of Islam and the movements and/or immigrations of peoples.

2. The Beja expansion and domination: Extended Kushitic groups, settled between Aswan and northern or north-western Eritrea, subject to periodical waves of expansion and builders of the Blemmiit state (destroyed by Silko of Nubia in the 6th C. AD), the Beja are mentioned in the Axumite sources as the target of especially Ezana's military campaigns.

The Zenafidj, under the pressure of a more northerly Hedareb Beja tribe and the early Arab settlements in the north of the Beja territory, began that expansion in Eritrea which was to result in the formation of five kingdoms described with unusual abundance of details by Al Ya'qubi: Naqis, Baqlin, Bazin, Jarin, Qat'a.

From Al Ya'gubi's account, material remains and local traditions, the area of Beja expansion appears to have included the whole coastal area north of Hirgigo, the Sahel roars, the Barka and Anseba valleys as well as most of the highland. The process did not entail the elimination or replacement if pre-existing populations, but rather the imposition of Beja supremacy.                                

Of this domination there are vivid traces in the local traditions. The Begattay of the Bilen traditions, the Dina  Fana of the Hamasien traditions, the Rom of the cycles of traditions spread in the Sahel and surrounding areas, the Belew and  Kelew remembered in the highland traditions, are various denominations referring to the Beja expansion and rule in the period under review.

Often, in the sources, the Beja kingdoms are associated with gold mines and their exploitation which is interesting for the mineralogical history of Eritrea. However, so far the only traces of such exploitation seem to be the tunnels of Midri-Zion, the auriferous quarz in a Meraguz village, and Al Aswani's questionable reference to the Massawa hinterland with the term of ma'eden.

3. Movement of peoples: This same period is remarkable also on account of the movements of other peoples and ethnic groups. Such movements represent an important stage in the history of the formation of the Eritrean population.

Before speaking of the two groups in movement in this period, i.e., the Saho and the groups of Agew origin from beyond the Mereb, a mention must be made of the highland peoples of ancient local descent.

3.1 Highland peoples of ancient local descent. The Macada, the Golo, the Entertay and the Loggo are major groups of such a descent on the plateau. Particularly remarkable is the history of the Deqqi Menab. If their claim to connections with the queen of Sheba is only legendary, their origin from Dembeya or even Gondar does not seem to have better historical foundations. Removed from earlier settlements in territories now belonging to other groups in Dembesan and Carneshim, the Deqqi Menab fanned out across the plateau giving  origin to the following groups: a. the Deqqi  Teshim or Atoshim( Menabe-Zeray, Takkele-Agaba, Deqqi Teshim); b. the Meretta Qeyeh ( right bank of the Mereb) and Meretta Sebene (in the vicinities of the omonimous stream); c. the descendants od Akkele and his brother Guzay, who occupied  respectively the northerly and southerly parts of what was to be called Akkele Guzay up to Kaskesse. A third group related to Akkele and Guzay occupied and gave its own name to the Shimezana. Further south, branches of the Akkele and Guzay groups gave origin to other small entities.

3.2 Saho expansion. Favored by the decline of Axum's control of the area between the sea and the highland, the following originary Saho divisions, coming from the territory south of the Arafali bay, spread through various parts of Eritrea, leaving behind various nucleuses at each stage of their itinerary. The Irob, setting out from northern Dancalia, through the Laasghide valley, reached first eastern Agame; then moving northward, after a brief permanence around Meserreha, they settled definitively near the Muna river, where Cafna became their center. Subsequent movements brought Irob groups to the north of the Belesa in Eggela Hatzin and Eggela Hames; forced to dislodge from there, they settled on the Mereb with the name of Rora and with ramifications towards Seraye. In similar conditions other minor nucleuses were scattered here and there in Akkele Guzay and Seraye. The Debri Mela are a second small Saho division; they settled near the Emba Debra; today the core group is found in Womberta. The third and major Saho division, the Haso Tor'a included various groups,which , moving from the torrid Samoti plains, followed different direction: one group moved towards Addi Grat, another to the Shimezana, while the main section, the Hazo , remained in the lower areas, A branch of the latter however, the Tor'a, could expand in to Semhar. Two Tor'a subgroups, in their turn, continuing their journey northwards, reached separately the Laba and the Anseba rivers where they became the aristocratic classed of, respectively, the Mensa'e and the marya. The last Saho division the Assaworta, represent perhaps the most recent Saho expansion. They occupied the region between Akkele Guzay and the western band of the Gulf of Arafali.

4- Immigration of peoples of Agew stock: Political upheavals in Ethiopia, following the decline of Axum, sparked off a series of population movements from Lasta to Eritrea.

-The Bilen have vivid traditions about the migration (the earliest) of the House of Ghebre Tarque from Lasta to mid Anseba valley as a consequence of the invasions of their homeland by a queen from the South (second half of the 10^th century.) thus the Eritrean Bogos tribes came to exist, subject to further expansion due to successive immigrations.

The Zagwa represents another Agew immigration from Lasta following the Amhara onslaught on the Zagwe dynasty in the second half of the 13^th century. Moving through the Agame province, Addi Arba'ete and Digsa, they penetrated into Seraye (meraguz) and Hamasien (Liban) leaving scattered nucleused in the other villages.

In the same circumstances as the above, the Adkeme Melega gradually occupied much of Seraye. This resulted in the struggle between the newcomers and the Belew who dominated the region, and to the eventual transfer of political supremacy to the Adkeme Melega. The displaced and surviving Belew groups settled in various places in the plateau. Communities', such as the Tedrer. The Deq Itayes and various other nucleuses trace their origin back to such groups.

5-The expansion of Islam: Along with the Beja expansion and other population movements, the early expansion represents another important development in the period under consideration. Up to the 10^th century, the expansion was minimal, for it was limited to the Dahlak Island and many other coastal settlements of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Here the earlier Muslims were mainly of Arab or non African origin, which propagated Islam among the predominantly nomadic peoples in the lowlands who were their immediate neighbors. It was after the 10^th century, particularly with the rise of the Fatinids in Egypt and the consequent revival of the trade in the Red Sea, that the influence of Islam gained a growing impetus in the region. Trade and trade routes were therefore the major channels of penetration of Islam into Eritrea and beyond.

The Dahlak Island was the major gateway for the founders of the Muslim families in the Eritrean region. After having remained under Axumite rule throughout the 7^th cent., the archipelago was annexed by the Arabs at the beginning of the 8^th cent., during the Ummayyad rule, as a consequence of repeated maritime conflicts. After a period of rebellion to the Abbassid rule, and as much brief Ethiopian influence (the nature and the extent of which still difficult to assess), in the 10^th century the Archipelago fell under the dependence of the Ziadids of Yemen. In the 13^th century, during the period of internal dissentions in the Arab world, Dahlak established its own autonomous Sultanate. The more than two hundred Arab inscriptions and the monumental water cisterns are important historical remains of the period, the proof of the high level of cultural development.