Tigray

Tigray

Historic region of northern Ethiopia. Its dramatic landscape includes plateau regions more than 10,000 ft (3,000 m) high and plains below sea level. Though vegetation is sparse, the population engages in agriculture and stock raising. Tigray contains the core of the ancient Aksum kingdom, as well as Ethiopia's oldest known town, the 3,000-year-old Yeha. It formerly controlled trade routes from the Red Sea to the empire in the south. Its status declined when it lost control of the coast in the 16th century; it was subsequently dominated by the south and was later threatened by the Egyptian, Sudanese, British, and Italian armies. A rebellion begun in 1975 against the Ethiopian government aggravated the effects of a disastrous drought and famine in 1984–85. In 1999 Ethiopia's border war with Eritrea led to the displacement of more than 300,000 people in Tigray, and famine is a persistent threat.