Amhara (Ethiopia)

Amhara National Regional State

Last modified: 2001-10-24 by zeljko heimer
Keywords: amhara | ethiopia |
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by Jaume Ollé

• Presentation of Amhara
• Flag of Amhara

See also:

• Ethiopia
• Clickable map of Ethiopian subdivisions
• Ethiopian Flag Stamps

Presentation of Amhara

Amhara, according to the Ethiopian Parliament site, "consists of 10 administrative zones, one special zone, 105 woredas, and 78 urban centers." "The capital city of the State of Amhara is Bahir-Dar" and "the Sate of Amhara is located in the north western and north central part of Ethiopia. The State shares common borders with the state of Tigray in the north, Afar in the east, Oromiya in the south, Benishangul/Gumuz in the south west, and the Republic of Sudan in the west." Finally, "The State of Amhara covers an estimated area of 170,752 square kilometers."
This is an ethnical state, with 91.2% of the population (of 13,834,297) belonging to the Amhara ethny.
Ethiopia changed it's internal division probably when it changed regime and flag in 1996. Back then, the city of Bahir-Dar made the border between the provinces(?) of Gojam to the south and Gonder to the north. It also means that the change was not simply a rearrangement of the internal borders, but whole new borders where created because Gonder bordered Eritrea and Amhara does no border Eritrea.
Jorge Candeias, 15 December 1999

Flag of Amhara

The flag is golden with a broad red diagonal across the center, charged with a golden star in the center. There's no information on the symbology involved here, but it's interesting to note that the neighboring state of Tigray has the same colours.
Jorge Candeias, 15 December 1999

Amhara traitional color is yellow and second red. The colors probably from medieval catalan orign, are widely used, including for the main amharic footbol team. Tigray colors are derived from the flag of the main revoltionary party and they come from socialism and progresm - same colors but different meaning.
By the way, the flag image as published in [flm] Flagmaster nr. 93 (Spring 1999), is apparently wrong in the size of the diagonal stripe.
jaume Ollé, 18 December 1999