Tigrayans

The Tigrayan people (Tigrinya: ተጋሩ, romanized: Təgaru or ትግራዎት, Tigrawot) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group indigenous to the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia. They speak Tigrinya, an Afroasiatic language belonging to the North Ethio-Semitic language branch, and written in the Geʽez script serves as the main and one of the five official languages of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is also the main language of the Tigrinya people in central Eritrea, who share ethnic, linguistic, and religious ties with Tigrayans.

According to the 2007 national census, Tigrayans numbered approximately 4,483,000 individuals, making up 6.07% of Ethiopia’s total population at the time. The majority of Tigrayans adhere to Oriental Orthodox Christianity, specifically the Tigrayan Orthodox Tewahedo Church, although minority communities also follow Islam or Catholicism.

Historically, the Tigrayan people are closely associated with the Aksumite Empire whose political and religious center was in Tigray, and later the Ethiopian Empire. Tigrayans played major roles in the political history of Ethiopia, including during the 17th-century Zemene Mesafint (Era of the Princes), and later in the 20th century through events the Woyane rebellion and the Ethiopian Student Movement, or movements like Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which became the dominant faction in the coalition that overthrew the Derg in 1991 and ruled Ethiopia through the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) until 2018.

Like other northern highland peoples, Tigrayans often identify with the broader Habesha (Abyssinian) identity—a term used historically to describe the Semitic-speaking Christian populations of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Highlands.

Areas where Tigrayans have strong ancestral links are: Enderta, Agame, Tembien, Kilite Awlalo, Axum, Southern Tigray and Western Tigray.