Begemder
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Begemder (also Gondar or Gonder after its capital) was a province in the northwestern part of Ethiopia. There are several proposed etymologies for this name. One is that it came from Bega (Beja) plus meder (land) (meaning land of the Bega or Beja), as an inscription of Emperor Ezana of Aksum describes his movement of 4400 conquered Beja to a not yet located province named Matlia.[1] Another is that the first two syllables come from the Ge'ez baggi` for sheep (Amharic beg), although Beke claimed that sheep have never been pastured there, nor could they be raised there. Beckingham and Huntingford note that Begemder originally applied to the country east of Lake Tana, where water is scarce, and conclude, "The allusion to lack of water suggests Amharic baga, "dry season", as a possible source of the name."[2]
The earliest recorded mention of Begemder was on the Fra Mauro map, (c.1460), where it is described as a kingdom. While Emperor Lebna Dengel, in his letter to the King of Portugal (1526), also described Begemder as a kingdom, he included it as a subdivision of his empire.
Following the restoration of Ethiopian rule, in 1942 Semien was added to Begemder. With the adoption of the constitution in 1995, Begemder was divided between the new ethnic regions (or kilil): a strip in the southwest corner became part of the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, another strip in the northwestern corner became part of the Mi'irabawi Zone of the Tigray Region, and the remainder became the core of the Amhara Region.
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Coordinates: 12°30′N 37°00′E / 12.5°N 37°E
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