Social Groups
Amhara
African Peoples
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The Amhara are a Semitic-language-speaking ethnic group of the Ethiopian highlands, historically the dominant group in the Ethiopian imperial state and the source of Amharic, Ethiopia's long-standing administrative and literary language. Amhara society is historically Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, organized around highland plow-agriculture villages and a hierarchical land-tenure and church-parish structure. Amhara political and cultural dominance within the historical Ethiopian empire is a genuinely debated topic in Ethiopian scholarship, contested particularly by Oromo and other nationalist historiographies.
Facts
Group TypeSourced to the subject's own account Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountHorn of Africa (northern and central Ethiopia) 1 Primary LanguageSourced to the subject's own account Subsistence ModeSourced to the subject's own accountHistorically settled plow agriculture (cereal cultivation, notably teff) in the Ethiopian highlands. 1 Disputed
Population Estimateapproximately 20 to 30 million 1 Sourced to the subject's own accountEthiopian census figures on ethnicity are politically contested; the most recent full national census was conducted in 2007, so more recent totals are projections rather than direct counts. Sources
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