113-595: The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray ; officially the Tigray National Regional State ) is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia . The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan , Irob and Kunama people . Its capital and largest city is Mekelle . Tigray is the fifth-largest by area, the fourth-most populous, and the fifth-most densely populated of the 11 regional states. Tigray
226-461: A PIE stem * blōkó- , which supposedly gave Old Armenian peɫem "to dig" and Welsh bwlch "crack", though the word may not be of Indo-European origin. The basic parts of the modern plough are: Other parts include the frog (or frame), runner, landside, shin, trashboard, and stilts (handles). On modern ploughs and some older ploughs, the mould board is separate from the share and runner, so these parts can be replaced without replacing
339-632: A successful referendum earlier that year. The new region was split off from the SNNPR and consisted of Keffa , Sheka , Bench Sheko , Dawro , and West Omo Zones , along with Konta special district. On 19 August 2023 the South Ethiopia Regional State created following the 2023 South Ethiopia Region referendum with the remainder becoming the Central Ethiopia Regional State , thus dissolving
452-559: A 6.5% growth in GDP and a 3.6% rise in per capita income. Instead per capita income declined 0.8% over this period. Famine scholar Alex de Waal observes that while the famine that struck the country in the mid-1980s is usually ascribed to drought, "closer investigation shows that widespread drought occurred only some months after the famine was already under way". Hundreds of thousands fled economic misery, conscription, and political repression, and went to live in neighboring countries and all over
565-460: A Semitic-speaking presence in Tigray, Eritrea and northern Ethiopia at least as early as 2000 BC. It is now believed that Sabaean influence was minor, limited to a few localities and disappearing after a few decades or a century, It may have represented a trading or military colony, in some sort of symbiosis or military alliance with the civilization of Dʿmt or some other proto- Aksumite state. After
678-573: A broken piece to be replaced. In 1833 John Lane invented a steel plough. Then in 1837 John Deere introduced a steel plough; it was so much stronger than iron designs that it could work soil in US areas previously thought unsuitable for farming. Improvements on this followed developments in metallurgy: steel coulters and shares with softer iron mould boards to prevent breakage, the chilled plough (an early example of surface-hardened steel), and eventually mould boards with faces strong enough to dispense with
791-491: A clumsy construction necessitated large plough-teams, and this meant that large areas of land had to be reserved as pasture. In China, where much less animal power was required, it was not necessary to maintain the mixed arable-pasture economy typical of Europe: fallows could be reduced and the arable area expanded, and a considerably larger population could be supported than on the same amount of land in Europe. The upper parts of
904-487: A couple of months. The farmers are adapted to this, but the problem arises when rains are less than normal. Another major challenge is providing water to urban areas. Smaller towns, but particularly Mekelle, face endemic water shortages . Reservoirs have been built, but their management is sub-optimal. Besides elephants in Western Tigray and the endemic gelada baboon on the highest mountains, large mammals in
1017-748: A different direction. In 2018 and 2019, after multiple village discussions that were often vigorous in the more remote areas, 21 independent urban administrations were added and other boundaries re-drawn, resulting in an increase from 35 to 88 woredas in January 2020. Following the 2020 Tigray regional election , on 4 November, after the attacks by TDF on Northern Command units in Tigray, the Ethiopian military launched counterattacks. Ethiopian and Amhara forces advanced through southern Tigray, while Eritrean troops occupied northern border towns. Amhara militias continued to control Western Tigray as of 2023. Warfare,
1130-443: A field leaves a row of sods partly in the furrows and partly on the ground lifted earlier. Visually, across the rows, there is the land on the left, a furrow (half the width of the removed strip of soil) and the removed strip almost upside-down lying on about half of the previous strip of inverted soil, and so on across the field. Each layer of soil and the gutter it came from forms a classic furrow. The mould-board plough greatly reduced
1243-583: A group of military officers. The committee elected Major Mengistu Haile Mariam as its chairman and Major Atnafu Abate as its vice-chairman. In July 1974, the Derg obtained key concessions from the emperor, Haile Selassie, which included the power to arrest not only military officers but government officials at every level. Soon both former Prime Ministers Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Habte-Wold and Endalkachew Makonnen , along with most of their cabinets, most regional governors, many senior military officers and officials of
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#17327725326491356-431: A hydraulic cylinder on each bottom. When an obstruction is encountered, the plough bottom hinges back and up in such a way as to pass over the obstruction, without stopping the tractor and plough. The bottom automatically returns to normal ploughing position as soon as the obstruction is passed, without any interruption of forward motion. The automatic reset design permits higher field efficiencies since stopping for stones
1469-539: A marked population increase, beginning around AD 1000. Before the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220), Chinese ploughs were made almost wholly of wood except for the iron blade of the ploughshare. These were V-shaped iron pieces mounted on wooden blades and handles. By the Han period the entire ploughshare was made of cast iron . These are the earliest known heavy, mould-board iron ploughs. Several advancements such as
1582-692: A millennium. Major changes in design spread widely in the Age of Enlightenment , when there was rapid progress in design. Joseph Foljambe in Rotherham , England, in 1730, used new shapes based on the Rotherham plough, which covered the mould board with iron. Unlike the heavy plough, the Rotherham, or Rotherham swing plough consisted entirely of the coulter, mould board and handles. It was much lighter than earlier designs and became common in England. It may have been
1695-404: A mouldboard plough: The share , landside and mould board are bolted to the frog, which is an irregular piece of cast iron at the base of the plough body, to which the soil-wearing parts are bolted. The share is the edge that makes the horizontal cut to separate the furrow slice from the soil below. Conventional shares are shaped to penetrate soil efficiently: the tip is pointed downward to pull
1808-408: A mounted point is somewhere between the last two types. Makers have designed shares of various shapes (trapesium, diamond, etc.) with bolted point and wings, often separately renewable. Sometimes the share-cutting edge is placed well in advance of the mould board to reduce the pulverizing action of the soil. The mould board is the part of the plough that receives the furrow slice from the share. It
1921-416: A plough body hits an obstruction are a cheaper overload protection device. Trip-beam ploughs are constructed with a hinge point in the beam. This is usually located some distance above the top of the plough bottom. The bottom is held in normal ploughing position by a spring-operated latch. When an obstruction is encountered, the entire bottom is released and hinges back and up to pass over the obstruction. It
2034-568: A plough was known to the Romans as an aratrum . Celtic peoples first came to use wheeled ploughs in the Roman era. The prime purpose of ploughing is to turn over the uppermost soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface while burying weeds and crop remains to decay . Trenches cut by the plough are called furrows. In modern use, a ploughed field is normally left to dry and then harrowed before planting. Ploughing and cultivating soil evens
2147-438: A ploughman could easily lift. This limited the construction to a small amount of wood (although metal edges were possible). These ploughs were fairly fragile and unsuitable for the heavier soils of northern Europe. The introduction of wheels to replace the runner allowed the weight of the plough to increase, and in turn the use of a larger mould-board faced in metal. These heavy ploughs led to greater food production and eventually
2260-409: A rebellion broke out all over southern and eastern Tigray under the slogan, "there is no government; let's organize and govern ourselves". Throughout Enderta Awraja, including Mekelle , Didibadergiajen, Hintalo , Saharti, Samre and Wajirat, Raya Awraja, Kilte-Awlaelo Awraja and Tembien Awraja, local assemblies, called gerreb, were formed. The gerreb sent representatives to a central congress, called
2373-615: A result of the war. As of 2023, the region is run by the Interim Regional Administration of Tigray . Tigray is often regarded as the cradle of Ethiopian civilization. Its landscape has many historic monuments. Three major monotheistic religions, Judaism , Christianity and Islam arrived in Ethiopia through the Red Sea and then Tigray. Given the presence of a large temple complex and fertile surroundings,
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#17327725326492486-436: A step below famine. Tigray is situated between 12° – 15°N and 36° 30' – 40° 30'E. A 2006 national statistics report stated the land area as 50,079 km (19,336 sq mi). The 2011 National Statistics gave an area of 41,410 km (15,990 sq mi), but the sum of the figures it gave for the Tigray zones was substantially different, rendering the 2011 report internally inconsistent. The figure of 50,079 km
2599-410: Is Tigrinya , similar to that of southern Eritrea. The estimated population as of 2019 is approximately 5,443,000. The majority of the population (c. 80%) are farmers, contributing 46% to the regional gross domestic product (2009). The highlands have the highest population density, especially in eastern and central Tigray. The much less densely populated lowlands comprise 48% of Tigray's area. Although
2712-1251: Is a birdwatcher 's paradise. Detailed inventories list at least 170 bird species, including numerous endemic species. Species belonging to the Afrotropical Highland Biome occur in the dry evergreen montane forests of the highland plateau but can also occupy other habitats. Wattled Ibis can be found feeding in wet grassland and open woodland. Black-winged Lovebird , Banded Barbet , Golden-mantled or Abyssinian Woodpecker , Montane White-eye , Rüppell's Robin-chat , Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher and Tacazze Sunbird are found in evergreen forest, mountain woodlands and areas with scattered trees including fig trees , Euphorbia abyssinica and Juniperus procera . Erckel's spurfowl , Dusky Turtle Dove , Swainson's or Grey-headed Sparrow , Baglafecht Weaver , African Citril , Brown-rumped Seedeater and Streaky Seedeater are common Afrotropical breeding residents of woodland edges, scrubland and forest edges. White-billed Starling and Little Rock Thrush can be found on steep cliffs; Speckled or African rock pigeon and White-collared Pigeon in gorges and rocky places but also in towns and villages. Species belonging to
2825-1045: Is an Ethiopian relative of Lilac-breasted Roller , which is an intra-tropical breeding migrant of south and east Africa, and of European Roller , an uncommon Palearctic passage migrant. Black-billed Barbet , Yellow-breasted Barbet and Grey-headed Batis are species from the Sahel and Northern Africa but also occur in Acacia woodlands in the area. The most regularly observed raptor birds in crop fields in Tigray are Augur buzzard ( Buteo augur ), Common Buzzard ( Buteo buteo ), Steppe Eagle ( Aquila nipalensis ), Lanner falcon ( Falco biarmicus ), Black kite ( Milvus migrans ), Yellow-billed kite ( Milvus aegyptius ) and Barn owl ( Tyto alba ). Birdwatching can be done particularly in exclosures and forests. Eighteen bird-watching sites have been inventoried in Enderta and Degua Tembien and mapped. Like other Regions in Ethiopia, Tigray
2938-732: Is bordered by Eritrea to the north, the Amhara Region to the south, the Afar Region to the east, and Sudan to the west. Towns in Tigrai include: Mekelle , Adigrat , Axum , Shire , Adwa , Humera , Dansha , Mai Kadra , Enticho , Wukro , Agula'e , Freweyni , Korarit , Adi Daero , Ketema Ngus , Adi Remets , Sheraro , Abiy Addi , Atsbi , Hawzen , Adi Gudom , Adi Shu , Chercher , Korem , Maychew , Alamata , Mekoni , Rama , May Tsebri , Addi Remets , Hagere Selam , Dowhan and Zalambessa . Tigray's official language
3051-408: Is necessary to back up the tractor and plough to reset the bottom. This construction is used to protect the individual bottoms. The automatic reset design has only recently been introduced on US ploughs, but has been used extensively on European and Australian ploughs. Here the beam is hinged at a point almost above the point of the share. The bottom is held in the normal position by a set of springs or
3164-577: Is not practical on larger ploughs. When an obstruction is encountered, the spring release mechanism in the hitch permits the plough to uncouple from the tractor. When a hydraulic lift is used on the plough, the hydraulic hoses will also usually uncouple automatically when the plough uncouples. Most plough makers offer an automatic reset system for tough conditions or rocky soils. The re-set mechanism allows each body to move rearward and upward to pass without damage over obstacles such as rocks hidden below soil surface. A heavy leaf or coil-spring mechanism that holds
3277-540: Is personified and debating with another tool, the hoe , over which is better: a Sumerian disputation poem known as the Debate between the hoe and the plough . In older English, as in other Germanic languages , the plough was traditionally known by other names, e.g. Old English sulh (modern dialectal sullow ), Old High German medela , geiza , huohilī(n) , Old Norse arðr ( Swedish årder ), and Gothic hōha , all presumably referring to
3390-457: Is practically eliminated. It also reduces costs for broken shares, beams and other parts. The fast resetting action helps produce a better job of ploughing, as large areas of unploughed land are not left, as they are when lifting a plough over a stone. Manual loy ploughing was a form used on small farms in Ireland where farmers could not afford more, or on hilly ground that precluded horses. It
3503-523: Is presumably why the standard Han plough team consisted of two animals only, and later teams usually of a single animal, rather than the four, six or eight draught animals common in Europe before the introduction of the curved mould-board and other new principles of design in the 18th century. Though the mould-board plough first appeared in Europe in early medieval, if not in late Roman, times, pre-eighteenth century mould-boards were usually wooden and straight (Fig. 59). The enormous labour involved in pulling such
Tigray Region - Misplaced Pages Continue
3616-427: Is responsible for lifting and turning the furrow slice and sometimes for shattering it, depending on the type of mould board, ploughing depth and soil conditions. The intensity of this depends on the type of mould board. To suit different soil conditions and crop requirements, mould boards have been designed in different shapes, each producing its own furrow profile and surface finish, but essentially they still conform to
3729-598: Is subdivided into administrative zones, and further into woredas or districts. Up to January 2020, these were the woredas of Tigray: In 2018 and 2019, after multiple village discussions that were often vigorous in the more remote areas, 21 independent urban administrations were added and other boundaries re-drawn, resulting in an increase from 35 to 94 woredas in January 2020: Mekelle , home to Mekelle University , Mekelle Institute of Technology , Tigray Institute of Policy Studies , Admas University, Microlink College, Nile College, and Mekelle College of Teacher Education
3842-647: Is supported by the Google Maps area calculator. The East African Orogeny led to the growth of a mountain chain in the Precambrian (up to 800 Ma [million years ago]), which was largely eroded afterwards. Around 600 Ma, the Gondwana break-up led to the presence of tectonic structures and a Palaeozoic planation surface , that extents to the north and west of the Dogu'a Tembien massif. Subsequently, there
3955-470: Is the capital of Tigray, near the geographic center of the state. Regions of Ethiopia Ethiopia is a federation subdivided into ethno-linguistically based regional states ( Amharic : plural: ክልሎች kililoch ; singular: ክልል kilil ; Oromo : singular: Naannoo ; plural: Naannolee ) and chartered cities (Amharic: plural: አስተዳደር አካባቢዎች astedader akababiwoch ; singular: አስተዳደር አካባቢ astedader akabibi ). This system of administrative regions replaced
4068-430: Is the origin of the acre . The one-sided action gradually moved soil from the sides to the centre line of the strip. If the strip was in the same place each year, the soil built up into a ridge, creating the ridge and furrow topography still seen in some ancient fields. The turn-wrest plough allows ploughing to be done to either side. The mould board is removable, turning to the right for one furrow, then being moved to
4181-402: Is very short, except at the rear bottom of the plough. The heel or rear end of the rear land side may be subject to excessive wear if the rear wheel is out of adjustment, and so a chilled iron heel piece is frequently used. This is inexpensive and can be easily replaced. The land side is fastened to the frog by plough bolts. The frog (standard) is the central part of the plough bottom to which
4294-637: Is why they are called hand-ards . However, domestication of oxen in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilisation , perhaps as early as the 6th millennium BC, provided mankind with the draft power needed to develop the larger, animal-drawn true ard (or scratch plough). The earliest surviving evidence of ploughing has been dated to 3500–3800 BCE, on a site in Bubeneč , Czech Republic. A ploughed field, from c. 2800 BCE,
4407-474: The Bahre Negash , based in the district of Serae . The Book of Aksum , written and compiled mainly in the period from the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries, shows a traditional schematic map of Tigray with the city of Aksum at its center, surrounded by the 13 principal provinces: "Tembien, Shire, Serae, Hamasien, Bur , Sam’a, Agame , Amba Senayt, Garalta , Enderta , Sahart and Abergele." During
4520-524: The COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia , and a locust outbreak contributed to an emergency food situation in the region by January 2021 . Approximately two million people faced food shortages, with a critical situation in Shire Inda Selassie , hosting 100,000 refugees. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network indicated that parts of central and eastern Tigray were likely in emergency phase 4,
4633-543: The Mareb River , which is currently constitutes the border between the Ethiopian province of Tigray and Eritrea. After the loss of power of the Bahr negus in the aftermath of Bahr negus Yeshaq 's rebellions, the title of Tigray mekonnen gained power in relation to the Bahr negus and at times included ruling over parts of what is now Eritrea, especially in the 19th century. By the unsettled Zemene Mesafint period ("Era of
Tigray Region - Misplaced Pages Continue
4746-412: The Red Sea . Others, including Joseph Michels, Henri de Contenson, Tekletsadik Mekuria, and Stanley Burstein, have viewed Dʿmt as the result of a mixture of Sabaean and indigenous peoples. The most recent research, however, shows that Ge'ez , the ancient Semitic language spoken in Tigray, Eritrea and northern Ethiopia in ancient times, is not likely to have been derived from Sabaean . There is evidence of
4859-823: The Somali-Masai Biome . Hemprich's Hornbill and White-rumped Babbler are found in bushland, scrubland and dense secondary forest, often near cliffs, gorges or water. Chestnut-Winged or Somali Starling and Rüppell's Weaver are found in bushy and shrubby areas. Black-billed wood hoopoes have some red at the base of the bill or an entirely red bill in this area. Species belonging to the Sudan-Guinea Savanna Biome : Green-backed eremomela and Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver . Species that are neither endemic nor biome-restricted but that have restricted ranges or that can be more easily seen in Ethiopia than elsewhere in their range: Abyssinian Roller
4972-668: The Western world , creating an Ethiopian diaspora . Toward the end of January 1991, a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) captured Gondar , the ancient capital city, Bahar Dar , and Dessie . John Young, who visited the area several times in the early 1990s, attributes this delay in part to "central budget restraint, structural readjustment, and lack of awareness by government bureaucrats in Addis Ababa of conditions in
5085-1057: The ard (scratch plough). The modern word comes from the Old Norse plógr , and is therefore Germanic, but it appears relatively late (it is not attested in Gothic ) and is thought to be a loan from one of the north Italic languages . The German cognate is "pflug", the Dutch "ploeg" and the Swedish "plog". In many Slavic languages and in Romanian the word is "plug". Words with the same root appeared with related meanings: in Raetic plaumorati "wheeled heavy plough" ( Pliny , Nat. Hist. 18, 172), and in Latin plaustrum "farm cart", plōstrum, plōstellum "cart", and plōxenum, plōximum "cart box". The word must have originally referred to
5198-409: The carruca heavy plough in Europe seems to have accompanied adoption of the three-field system in the later 8th and early 9th centuries, leading to improved agricultural productivity per unit of land in northern Europe. This was accompanied by larger fields, known variously as carucates , ploughlands, and plough gates. The basic plough with coulter, ploughshare and mould board remained in use for
5311-574: The provinces of Ethiopia in 1992. As of August 2023, there are twelve regional states and two chartered cities ( Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa ). Being based on ethnicity and language, rather than physical geography or history, the regions vary enormously in area and population; the most notable example is the Harari Region , which has a smaller area and population than either of the chartered cities. The word " kilil " more specifically means "reservation" or "protected area". The ethnic basis of
5424-575: The "Reino de Tigr" (Kingdom of Tigray) extended from Hamasien to Temben , from the borders of Dankel to the Adwa mountain. He also stated that Tigray-Mereb Melash was divided into 24 smaller political units (principalities), twelve of which were located south of the Mereb and governed by the Tigray Mekonen, based in Enderta . The other twelve were located north of the Mereb, under the authority of
5537-594: The 11th century the Tigrinya-speaking lands (Tigray- Mareb Melash ) were divided into two provinces, separated by the Mereb River, by the newly enthroned Agaw emperors. The governor of the northern province received the title Bahre Negash (Ruler of the sea), whereas the governor of the southern province was given the title of Tigray Mekonen (Lord of Tigray). The Portuguese Jesuit Emanuele Baradas's work titled "Do reino de Tigr", written in 1633–34, states that
5650-562: The Derg's violent rule, coupled with the draining effects of constant warfare with the separatist guerrilla movements in Tigray, led to a drastic fall in general productivity of food and cash crops. In October 1978, the Derg announced the National Revolutionary Development Campaign to mobilize human and material resources to transform the economy, which led to a Ten-Year Plan (1984/1985-1993/1994) to expand agricultural and industrial output, forecasting
5763-573: The Imperial court were imprisoned. In August 1974, after a proposed constitution creating a constitutional monarchy was presented to the emperor, the Derg began a program of dismantling the imperial government in order to forestall further developments in that direction. The Derg deposed and imprisoned the emperor on 12 September 1974 . In addition, the Derg in 1975 nationalized most industries and private and somewhat secure urban real-estate holdings. But mismanagement, corruption, and general hostility to
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#17327725326495876-587: The Middle Ages, the position of Tigray Mekonnen ("Governor of Tigray") was established to rule over the area. Other districts included Akele Guzay (now part of Eritrea ), and the kingdom of the Bahr negus , who ruled much of what is now Eritrea and Shire district and town in Western Tigray. At the time when Tigray Mekonnen existed simultaneously with that of Bahr negus, their frontier seems to have been
5989-590: The Princes"), both designations had declined to little more than empty titles, and the lord who succeeded them used (and received from the Emperor) the title of either Ras or Dejazmach , beginning with Ras Mikael Sehul . Rulers of Tigray such as Ras Wolde Selassie alternated with others, chiefly those of Begemder or Yejju , as warlords to maintain the Ethiopian monarchy during the Zemene Mesafint. In
6102-522: The SNNPR. Plough A plough or ( US ) plow (both pronounced / p l aʊ / ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or steel frame with a blade attached to cut and loosen the soil. It has been fundamental to farming for most of history. The earliest ploughs had no wheels; such
6215-538: The Tertiary silicified lacustrine deposits : Pila (gastropod) ; Lanistes sp.; Pirenella conica ; and land snails ( Achatinidae indet.). All snail shells, both fossil and recent, are called t’uyo in Tigrinya language , which means ‘ helicoidal ’. As Tigray holds a wide variety of rock types , there is expectedly a varied use of rock. Overall, the region is semi-arid . The wet season lasts only for
6328-753: The Tigrayan imperial elite. Following the outbreak of the Ethiopian Revolution in February 1974, the first signal of any mass uprising was the actions of the soldiers of the 4th Brigade of the 4th Army Division in Nagelle in southern Ethiopia. The Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, or the Derg ( Ge'ez "Committee"), was officially announced 28 June 1974 by
6441-452: The body in its working position under normal conditions resets the plough after the obstruction is passed. Another type of auto-reset mechanism uses an oil (hydraulic) and gas accumulator. Shock loads cause the oil to compress the gas. When the gas expands again, the leg returns to its working ploughing position after passing over the obstacle. The simplest mechanism is a breaking (shear) bolt that needs replacement. Shear bolts that break when
6554-517: The bottom of the shaft with bits of rope, which made them more fragile than the Chinese ones, and iron mould-boards did not appear in Europe until the 10th century. The first indisputable appearance after the Roman period is in a northern Italian document of 643. Old words connected with the heavy plough and its use appear in Slavic , suggesting possible early use in that region. General adoption of
6667-476: The capital of the 3,000-year-old kingdom of Dʿmt may have been near present-day Yeha . Dʿmt developed irrigation schemes, used the plough , grew millet , and made iron tools and weapons . Some modern historians, including Stuart Munro-Hay, Rodolfo Fattovich, Ayele Bekerie, Cain Felder , and Ephraim Isaac consider this civilization to be indigenous, although Sabaean -influenced due to the latter's dominance of
6780-549: The content of the upper 12 to 25 centimetres (5 to 10 in) layer of soil, where most plant feeder roots grow. Ploughs were initially powered by humans, but the use of farm animals is considerably more efficient. The earliest animals worked were oxen. Later, horses and mules were used in many areas. With the Industrial Revolution came the possibility of steam engines to pull ploughs. These in turn were superseded by internal-combustion -powered tractors in
6893-446: The coulter. By the time of the early 1900s, the steel plough had many uses, shapes and names. The "two horse breaking plough" had a point and wing used to break the soil's surface and turn the dirt out and over. The "shovel plough" was used to lay off the rows. The "harrow plough" was used to cover the planted seed. The "scratcher" or "geewhiz" was used to deweed or cultivate the crop. The "bulltongue" and "sweeps" were used to plough
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#17327725326497006-514: The council. Each region also has an executive committee, whose members are selected by the president from among the councilors and approved by the council. Each region has a sector bureau, which implements the council mandate and reports to the executive committee. Ethiopia was historically divided into provinces . The current system of administrative regions was introduced in 1992 by the Transitional Government of Ethiopia , and
7119-470: The cut formed by the coulter, turning over the soil to the side. The ploughshare spread the cut horizontally below the surface, so that when the mould board lifted it, a wider area of soil was turned over. Mould boards are known in Britain from the late 6th century onwards. There are multiple types of ploughs available. When a plough hits a rock or other solid obstruction, serious damage may result unless
7232-528: The design. Using mathematical methods, he eventually arrived at a shape cast from a single piece of iron, an improvement on the Scots plough of James Anderson of Hermiston . A single-piece cast-iron plough was also developed and patented by Charles Newbold in the United States. This was again improved on by Jethro Wood , a blacksmith of Scipio, New York , who made a three-part Scots plough that allowed
7345-487: The early 20th century. The Petty Plough was a notable invention for ploughing out orchard strips in Australia in the 1930s. Use of the traditional plough has decreased in some areas threatened by soil damage and erosion . Used instead is shallower ploughing or other less-invasive conservation tillage . The plough appears in one of the oldest surviving pieces of written literature, from the 3rd millennium BC, where it
7458-585: The empire was Axum , now in northern Ethiopia. Today a smaller community, the city of Axum was once a bustling metropolis and a cultural and economic hub. Two hills and two streams lie on the east and west expanses of the city; perhaps providing the initial impetus for settling this area. Along the hills and plain outside the city, the Aksumites had cemeteries with elaborate grave stones, which are called stelae , or obelisks . Other important cities included Yeha , Hawulti-Melazo , Matara , Adulis , and Qohaito ,
7571-541: The fall of Dʿmt in the 5th century BC, the plateau came to be dominated by smaller, unknown successor kingdoms. This lasted until the rise of one of these polities during the first century BC, the Aksumite Kingdom , which succeeded in reunifying the area and is, in effect, the ancestor of medieval and modern states in Eritrea and Ethiopia using the name "Ethiopia" as early as the 4th century. The Kingdom of Aksum
7684-475: The fields were often cross-ploughed lengthwise and breadth-wise, which tended to form squarish Celtic fields . The ard is best suited to loamy or sandy soils that are naturally fertilised by annual flooding, as in the Nile Delta and Fertile Crescent , and to a lesser extent any other cereal -growing region with light or thin soil. To grow crops regularly in less-fertile areas, it was once believed that
7797-567: The first plough widely built in factories and commercially successful there. In 1789 Robert Ransome , an iron founder in Ipswich , started casting ploughshares in a disused malting at St Margaret's Ditches. A broken mould in his foundry caused molten metal to come into contact with cold metal, making the metal surface extremely hard. This process, chilled casting, resulted in what Ransome advertised as "self-sharpening" ploughs. He received patents for his discovery. James Small further advanced
7910-412: The frame carry (from the front) the coupling for the motive power (horses), the coulter, and the landside frame. Depending on the size of the implement, and the number of furrows it is designed to plough at one time, a fore-carriage with a wheel or wheels (known as a furrow wheel and support wheel) may be added to support the frame (wheeled plough). In the case of a single-furrow plough there is one wheel at
8023-617: The frame supporting the under-share (below-ground component). The heavy iron moldboard plow was invented in China 's Han Empire in the 1st and 2nd century, and from there it spread to the Netherlands , which led the Agricultural Revolution. The mould-board plough introduced in the 18th century was a major advance in technology. Chinese ploughs from Han times on fulfill all these conditions of efficiency nicely, which
8136-419: The front and handles at the rear for the ploughman to maneuver it. When dragged through a field, the coulter cuts down into the soil and the share cuts horizontally from the previous furrow to the vertical cut. This releases a rectangular strip of sod to be lifted by the share and carried by the mould board up and over, so that the strip of sod (slice of the topsoil ) that is being cut lifts and rolls over as
8249-457: The last three of which are now in Eritrea. By the reign of Endubis in the late 3rd century, Aksum had begun minting its own currency and was named by Mani as one of the four great powers of his time, along with China and the Sassanid and Roman empires. It converted to Christianity in 325 or 328 under King Ezana and was the first state to use the image of the cross on its coins. In
8362-470: The long sides and being dragged across the short sides without ploughing. The length of the strip was limited by the distance oxen (later horses) could comfortably work without rest, and their width by the distance the plough could conveniently be dragged. These distances determined the traditional size of the strips: a furlong , (or "furrow's length", 220 yards (200 m)) by a chain (22 yards (20 m)) – an area of one acre (about 0.4 hectares); this
8475-562: The lowering of large parts of the Horn of Africa . As a consequence a marine transgression occurred, leading to the deposition of marine sediments ( Antalo Limestone and Agula Shale). The region has an estimated 3.89 billion tons of mostly "excellent" quality oil shale . At the end of the Mesozoic tectonic phase, a new ( Cretaceous ) planation took place. After that, the deposition of continental sediments ( Amba Aradam Formation ) indicates
8588-458: The mid-19th century, the lords of Tembien and Enderta managed to establish an overlordship of Tigray. One of its members, Dejazmach Kahsay Mercha, ascended the imperial throne in 1872 under the name Yohannes IV . Following his 1889 death in the Battle of Metemma , the Ethiopian throne came under the control of the king of Shewa , and the center of power shifted south and away from Tigray. In 1943,
8701-440: The middle of the rows. All these metal plough points required being re-sharpened about every ten days, due to their use on rough and rocky ground. The first mould-board ploughs could only turn the soil over in one direction ( conventionally to the right), as dictated by the shape of the mould board; therefore, a field had to be ploughed in long strips, or lands . The plough was usually worked clockwise around each land, ploughing
8814-575: The mould board. Abrasion eventually wears out all parts of a plough that come into contact with the soil. When agriculture was first developed , soil was turned using simple hand-held digging sticks and hoes . These were used in highly fertile areas, such as the banks of the Nile , where the annual flood rejuvenates the soil, to create drills (furrows) in which to plant seeds. Digging sticks, hoes and mattocks were not invented in any one place, and hoe cultivation must have been common everywhere agriculture
8927-403: The original plough body classification. The various types have been traditionally classified as general purpose, digger, and semi-digger, as described below. The land side is the flat plate which presses against and transmits the lateral thrust of the plough bottom to the furrow wall. It helps to resist the side pressure exerted by the furrow slice on the mould board. It also helps to stabilise
9040-410: The other components of the bottom are attached. It is an irregular piece of metal, which may be made of cast iron for cast iron ploughs or welded steel for steel ploughs. The frog is the foundation of the plough bottom. It takes the shock resulting from hitting rocks, and therefore should be tough and strong. The frog is in turn fastened to the plough frame. A runner extending from behind the share to
9153-536: The other is borne upside-down in the air. At the end of each row the paired ploughs are turned over so that the other can be used along the next furrow, again working the field in a consistent direction. These ploughs date back to the days of the steam engine and the horse. In almost universal use on farms, they have right and left-handed mould boards, enabling them to work up and down the same furrow. Reversible ploughs may either be mounted or semi-mounted and are heavier and more expensive than right-handed models, but have
9266-404: The other side of the plough to turn to the left. (The coulter and ploughshare are fixed.) Thus adjacent furrows can be ploughed in opposite directions, allowing ploughing to proceed continuously along the field and so avoid the ridge–furrow topography. The reversible (or roll-over) plough has two mould-board ploughs mounted back to back, one turning right, the other left. While one works the land,
9379-436: The percentage of Muslims in Tigray is less than 5%, it has supposedly been historically Islam's doorway to the region and to Africa at large. 96% of Tigrayans are Orthodox Christian . After Armenians , ethnic Tigrayans have the highest percentage of Orthodox Christians in the world. The government of Tigray consists of the executive branch , led by the president, Getachew Reda ; the legislative branch , which comprises
9492-455: The plough is equipped with some safety device. The damage may be bent or broken shares, bent standards, beams or braces. The three basic types of safety devices used on mould-board ploughs are a spring release device in the plough drawbar, a trip beam construction on each bottom, and an automatic reset design on each bottom. The spring release was used in the past almost universally on trailing-type ploughs with one to three or four bottoms. It
9605-410: The plough moves forward, dropping back upside down into the furrow and onto the turned soil from the previous run down the field. Each gap in the ground where the soil has been lifted and moved across (usually to the right) is called a furrow. The sod lifted from it rests at an angle of about 45 degrees in the adjacent furrow, up the back of the sod from the previous run. A series of ploughings run down
9718-487: The plough to create the desired width of furrow. The share is a plane part with a trapezoidal shape. It cuts the soil horizontally and lifts it. Common types are regular, winged-plane, bar-point, and share with mounted or welded point. The regular share conserves a good cut but is recommended on stone-free soils. The winged-plane share is used on heavy soil with a moderate amount of stones. The bar-point share can be used in extreme conditions (hard and stony soils). The share with
9831-427: The plough while in operation. The rear bottom end of the landslide, which rubs against the furrow sole, is known as the heel. A heel iron is bolted to the end of the rear of the land side and helps to support the back of the plough. The land side and share are arranged to give a "lead" towards the unploughed land, so helping to sustain the correct furrow width. The land side is usually made of solid medium-carbon steel and
9944-588: The premiership of Abiy Ahmed , several new regions have been created. In November 2019, a referendum was held in the Sidama Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region , in which voters supported a proposal for Sidama Zone to become a region in its own right. The Sidama Region was created in June 2020. The South West Ethiopia Region was created on 23 November 2021 following
10057-764: The presence of less shallow seas, probably caused by a regional uplift. At the beginning of the Caenozoic , there was a relative tectonic quiescence, during which the Amba Aradam Sandstones were partially eroded, which led to the formation of a new planation surface. In the Eocene , the Afar plume , a broad regional uplift, deformed the lithosphere , leading to the eruption of flood basalts . Three major formations may be distinguished: lower basalts , interbedded lacustrine deposits and upper basalts . Almost at
10170-462: The president of Tigray was Gebru Asrat . In 1998, war erupted between Eritrea and Ethiopia over a portion of territory that had been administered as part of Tigray, which included the town of Badme . A 2002 United Nations decision awarded much of this land to Eritrea, but Ethiopia did not accept the ruling until 2018, when a bilateral agreement ended the border conflict . The text of this agreement has not been publicly availed. From 2001 to 2010
10283-506: The president was Tsegay Berhe . Between 2018 and 2020, as part of a reform aimed to deepen and strengthen decentralisation, woredas were reorganised, and new boundaries established. As smaller towns had been growing, they had started providing a larger range of services, such as markets and even banks, that encouraged locals to travel there rather than to their formal woreda centre. However, these locals still had to travel to their local woreda centre for most local government services - often in
10396-401: The province", but notes "an equally significant obstacle was posed by an entrenched, and largely Amhara-dominated, central bureaucracy which used its power to block government-authorised funds from reaching Tigray". At the same time, a growing urban middle class of traders, businessmen and government officials emerged that was suspicious of and distant from the victorious EPRDF. From 1991 to 2001,
10509-406: The rear of the plough controls the direction of the plough, because it is held against the bottom land-side corner of the new furrow being formed. The holding force is the weight of the sod, as it is raised and rotated, on the curved surface of the mould board. Because of this runner, the mould board plough is harder to turn around than the scratch plough, and its introduction brought about a change in
10622-918: The region, with scientific (italics), English and Tigrinya language names, are: The most common pest rodents with widespread distribution in agricultural fields and storage areas are three Ethiopian endemic species: the Dembea grass rat ( Arvicanthis dembeensis , sometimes considered a subspecies of Arvicanthis niloticus ), Ethiopian white-footed rat ( Stenocephalemys albipes ), and Awash multimammate mouse ( Mastomys awashensis ). Bats occur in natural caves , church buildings and abandoned homesteads. The large colony of bats that roosts in Zeyi cave comprises Hipposideros megalotis ( Ethiopian large-eared roundleaf bat ), Hipposideros tephrus , and Rhinolophus blasii ( Blasius's horseshoe bat ). With its numerous exclosures , forest fragments and church forests , Tigray
10735-411: The regions and choice of the word " kilil ", which can also be translated as homeland , has drawn fierce criticism from those in opposition to the ruling party who have drawn comparisons to the bantustans of apartheid South Africa . The regions are each governed by a regional council whose members are directly elected to represent woredas (districts). Each council has a president, who is elected by
10848-788: The same time, the Mekelle Dolerite intruded into the Mesozoic sediments, following joints and faults . A new magma intrusion occurred in the Early Miocene , which gave rise to phonolite plugs, mainly in the Adwa area and also in Dogu’a Tembien. The present geomorphology is marked by deep valleys, eroded as a result of the regional uplift. Throughout the Quaternary , deposition of alluvium and freshwater tufa occurred in
10961-617: The shape of fields – from mostly square fields into longer rectangular "strips" (hence the introduction of the furlong ). An advance on the basic design was the iron ploughshare, a replaceable horizontal cutting surface mounted on the tip of the share. The earliest ploughs with a detachable and replaceable share date from around 1000 BC in the Ancient Near East , and the earliest iron ploughshares from about 500 BC in China. Early mould boards were wedges that sat inside
11074-442: The share into the ground to a regular depth. The clearance, usually referred to as suction or down suction, varies with different makes and types of plough. Share configuration is related to soil type, particularly in the down suction or concavity of its lower surface. Generally three degrees of clearance or down suction are recognised: regular for light soil, deep for ordinary dry soil, and double-deep for clay and gravelly soils. As
11187-457: The share wears away, it becomes blunt and the plough will require more power to pull it through the soil. A plough body with a worn share will not have enough "suck" to ensure it delves the ground to its full working depth. In addition, the share has horizontal suction related to the amount its point is bent out of line with the land side. Down suction causes the plough to penetrate to proper depth when pulled forward, while horizontal suction causes
11300-464: The shengo, which elected leaders and established a military command system. Although the first Woyane rebellion of 1943 had shortcomings as a prototype revolution, historians agree that it involved a fairly high level of spontaneity and peasant initiative. It demonstrated considerable popular participation and reflected widely shared grievances. The uprising was specifically directed against the central Shoan Amhara regime of Haile Selassie I , rather than
11413-411: The soil must be turned to bring nutrients to the surface. A major advance for this type of farming was the turn plough, also known as the mould-board plough (UK), moldboard plow (U.S.), or frame-plough. A coulter (or skeith) could be added to cut vertically into the ground just ahead of the share (in front of the frog), a wedge-shaped cutting edge at the bottom front of the mould board with the landside of
11526-554: The state council; and the judicial branch , which is led by the state supreme court. In early November 2020, a conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian federal government (with support from Eritrea) rapidly escalating into the Tigray War , destabilizing the region, and exposing a well-organized campaign to wipe out the region of ethnic Tigrayans. As many as 600,000 people were killed as
11639-409: The stilt (handle) and the other a share (cutting blade) dragged through the topsoil to cut a shallow furrow suitable for most cereal crops. The ard does not clear new land well, so hoes or mattocks had to be used to pull up grass and undergrowth, and a hand-held, coulter -like ristle could be made to cut deeper furrows ahead of the share. Because the ard left a strip of undisturbed earth between furrows,
11752-640: The three-shared plow, the plow-and-sow implement, and the harrow were developed subsequently. By the end of the Song dynasty in 1279, Chinese ploughs had reached a state of development that would not be seen in Holland until the 17th century. The Romans achieved a heavy-wheeled mould-board plough in the late 3rd and 4th century AD, for which archaeological evidence appears, for instance, in Roman Britain . The Greek and Roman mould-boards were usually tied to
11865-423: The time needed to prepare a field and so allowed a farmer to work a larger area of land. In addition, the resulting pattern of low (under the mould board) and high (beside it) ridges in the soil forms water channels, allowing the soil to drain. In areas where snow build-up causes difficulties, this lets farmers plant the soil earlier, as the meltwater run-off drains away more quickly. There are five major parts of
11978-676: The valley bottoms. In Tigray, there are two main fossil-bearing geological units. The Antalo Limestone ( upper Jurassic ) is the largest. Its marine deposits comprise mainly benthic marine invertebrates . Also, the Tertiary lacustrine deposits , interbedded in the basalt formations, contain a range of silicified mollusc fossils. In the Antalo Limestone : large Paracenoceratidae cephalopods ( nautilus ); Nerineidae indet.; sea urchins ; Rhynchonellid brachiopod ; crustaceans ; coral colonies ; crinoid stems. In
12091-591: The wheeled heavy plough, common in Roman north-western Europe by the 5th century AD. Many view plough as a derivative of the verb * plehan ~ * plegan 'to take responsibility' (cf. German pflegen 'to look after, nurse'), which would explain, for example, Old High German pfluog with its double meaning of 'plough' and 'livelihood'. Guus Kroonen (2013) proposes a vṛddhi -derivative of * plag/kkōn 'sod' (cf. Dutch plag 'sod', Old Norse plagg 'cloth', Middle High German pflacke 'rag, patch, stain'). Finally, Vladimir Orel (2003) tentatively attaches plough to
12204-585: Was a trading empire rooted in northern Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 100–940 AD, growing from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period c. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD. According to the Book of Axum , Axum's first capital, Mazaber, was built by Itiyopis, son of Cush. The capital was later moved to Aksum in northern Ethiopia. The Empire of Aksum, at its height, at times extended across most of present-day Eritrea , Ethiopia, Djibouti , Sudan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The capital city of
12317-402: Was also discovered at Kalibangan , India. A terracotta model of the early ards was found at Banawali , India, giving insight into the form of the tool used. The ard remained easy to replace if it became damaged and easy to replicate. The earliest was the bow ard, which consists of a draft-pole (or beam) pierced by a thinner vertical pointed stick called the head (or body), with one end being
12430-407: Was formalised in 1995 when the current Constitution of Ethiopia came into force. There were 13 regions initially, but five regions were merged to form the multi-ethnic Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region later in 1992, following the first elections of regional councils on 21 June 1992. The country's capital Addis Ababa , and Dire Dawa became chartered cities in 2004. During
12543-496: Was practised. Hoe-farming is the traditional tillage method in tropical or sub-tropical regions, which are marked by stony soils, steep slope gradients, predominant root crops, and coarse grains grown at wide intervals. While hoe-agriculture is best suited to these regions, it is used in some fashion everywhere. Some ancient hoes, like the Egyptian mr , were pointed and strong enough to clear rocky soil and make seed drills , which
12656-589: Was the deposition of sedimentary and volcanic formations, from older (at the foot of the massif) to younger, near the summits. From Palaeozoic to Triassic , Tigray was located near the South Pole. The (reactivate) Precambrian extensional faults guided the deposition of glacial sediments ( Edaga Arbi Glacials and Enticho Sandstone ). Later alluvial plain sediments were deposited ( Adigrat Sandstone ). The break-up of Gondwana ( Late Palaeozoic to Early Triassic ) led to an extensional tectonic phase , what caused
12769-399: Was used up until the 1960s in poorer land. It suited the moist Irish climate, as the trenches formed by turning in the sods provided drainage. It allowed potatoes to be grown in bogs (peat swamps) and on otherwise unfarmed mountain slopes. In the basic mould-board plough, the depth of cut is adjusted by lifting against the runner in the furrow, which limited the weight of the plough to what
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