Tigrinya people in the context of "Abyssinian-Adal War"

The Ethiopian–Adal War, also known as the Abyssinian–Adal War and Futūḥ Al-Ḥabaša (Arabic: فتوح الحبش, lit. 'Conquest of Abyssinia'), was a war fought between the Christian Ethiopian Empire and the Muslim Adal Sultanate from 1529 to 1543. The Christian Ethiopian troops consisted of the Amhara, Tigrayans, Tigrinya and Agaw people, and at the closing of the war, supported by the Portuguese Empire with no less than four hundred musketeers. The Adal forces were composed of Harla/Harari, Somali, Afar as well as Arab and Turkish gunmen. Both sides would see the Maya mercenaries at times join their ranks. The conflict was followed shortly by the 16th century Ottoman-Ethiopian War

Habesha peoples (Ge'ez: ሐበሠተ; Amharic: ሐበሻ; Tigrinya: ሓበሻ; commonly used exonym: Abyssinians) is an ethnic or pan-ethnic identifier that has historically been applied to Semitic-speaking, predominantly Oriental Orthodox Christian peoples native to the highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea between Asmara and Addis Ababa (i.e. the modern-day Amhara, Tigrayan, Tigrinya peoples) and this usage remains common today. The term is also used in varying degrees of inclusion and exclusion of other groups.

Tigrinya, sometimes romanized according to Italian spelling rules as Tigrigna, is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is primarily spoken by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples, native to Eritrea and to the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, respectively. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions.

Medri Bahri (Tigrinya: ምድሪ ባሕሪ, English: Land of the Sea) or Mereb Melash (Tigrinya: መረብ ምላሽ, English: Beyond the Mereb) was a kingdom autonomous from the Abyssinia ruled by the Bahr Negash. This kingdom was located north of the Mareb River and west of the Bur Province, in the Eritrean highlands (Kebassa) and some surrounding areas, mainly comprising the historical provinces of Hamasien and Seraye.

Abyssinia (/æbɪˈsɪniə/; also known as Abyssinie, Abissinia, Habessinien, or Al-Habash) was an ancient region in the Horn of Africa situated in the northern highlands of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. The term was widely used as a synonym for Ethiopia until the mid-20th century and primarily designates the Amhara, Tigrayan and Tigrinya-inhabited highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Sources disagree as to the current population of Eritrea, with some proposing numbers as low as 3.6 million and others as high as 6.7 million. Eritrea has never conducted an official government census.

The nation has nine recognized ethnic groups. Of these, the largest is the Tigrinya, who make up around 50% of the population; the Tigre people, who also speak Semitic languages, constitute around 30% of residents. Most of the rest of the population belong to other Afro-Asiatic-speaking communities of the Cushitic branch. Additionally, there are a number of Nilo-Saharan-speaking ethnic minorities and other smaller groups.

This is a list of ethnic groups in Ethiopia that are officially recognized by the government. It is a list taken from the 2007 Ethiopian National Census: Population size and percentage of Ethiopia's total population according to the 1994 and 2007 censuses follows each entry.

Ethiopia's population is highly diverse, containing over 80 different ethnic groups. Most people in Ethiopia speak Afro-Asiatic languages, mainly of the Cushitic and Semitic branches. The former includes the Oromo and Somali, and the latter includes the Amhara and Tigray. Together these four groups make up three-quarters of the population.

The Tigrayan people (Tigrinya: ተጋሩ, romanized: Təgaru) 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 descended from Geʽez, 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.