Welcome to Tigray Region!
Northern Ethiopia is the historic heartland of Ethiopia. Administratively, it consists of most of Amhara, all of Tigray, and the northern part of Afar. Historically, it encompassed the old provinces of Gojjam, Begmender, Tigray and Wollo.
The Tigray Region (Tigrinya: ክልል ትግራይ, Amharic: ትግራይ ክልል, romanized: Tigrāy kilil), officially the Tigray National Regional State (Tigrinya: ብሔራዊ ክልላዊ መንግስቲ ትግራይ, romanized: Bəh̩erawi Kəllelawi Mängəśti Təgray), is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob and Kunama people. Tigray is also known as Region 1 according to the federal constitution. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is the fifth-largest by area, the fifth-most populous, and the fifth-most densely populated of the 11 regional states.
Tigray's official language is Tigrinya, similar to that spoken in Eritrea just to the North. The estimated population as of 2019 is 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 percent of Tigray's area. 96 per cent of Tigrayans are Orthodox Christian.Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, the Amhara Region to the south and the Afar Region to the east and southeast. Besides Mekelle, major cities include Adigrat, Aksum, Shire, Humera, Adwa, Adi Remets, Alamata, Wukro, Maychew, Sheraro, Abiy Adi, Korem, Qwiha, Atsbi, Hawzen, Mekoni, Dansha, Adi Gudom, Indabaguna, Mai Tsebri, and Zalambessa.
The government of Tigray consists of the executive branch, led by the president; the legislative branch, which comprises the state council; and the judicial branch, which is led by the state supreme court. In early November 2020, a conflict between the Tigray Region, involving the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian federal government began, in which Eritrea took part on the side of the federal government, rapidly escalating into the Tigray War and destabilizing the region.