Author(s) :

Awegichew Amare Agonafir.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

The historic organization of the medieval Ethiopian military regiments awaits a comprehensive historical study. The present study examines the role of the Čäwa military regiments in stimulating cultural interaction among peoples of diverse identities across regions. The primary sources for the study are royal chronicles of Ethiopian emperors, hagiographies, missionaries' accounts and other contemporary sources. It is found that from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the Ethiopian Čäwa military regiments had exhibited three major experiences. These are the organization of a mixed ethno-religious and multi-lingual regiments, settlement of the Čäwa in newly integrated regions and remote frontiers and their intermingling with the local population. These long processes of interaction and cultural exchange have stretched to the shifting political geography of the Ethiopian state.

No. of Downloads :

3