Amhara people

Amharas (Amharic: አማራ, romanized: Āmara;^[11] Ge'ez: ዐምሐራ, romanized: ʾÄməḥära)^[12] are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group indigenous to Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa, traditionally inhabiting parts of the northwest Highlands of Ethiopia, particularly the Amhara Region.

According to the 2007 national census, Amharas numbered 19,867,817 individuals, comprising 26.9% of Ethiopia's population, and they are mostly Oriental Orthodox Christian (members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church).^[2]

They are also found within the Ethiopian expatriate community, particularly in North America.^[13][14] They speak Amharic, a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic branch which serves as the main and one of the five official languages of Ethiopia.^[15] As of 2018, Amharic has over 32 million native speakers and 25 million second language speakers.^[16]

The Amhara and neighboring groups in North and Central Ethiopia and Eritrea, more specifically the diaspora refer to themselves as "Habesha" (Abyssinian) people.^{[17][18][19][20][21]}

Historically, the Amhara held significant political position in the Ethiopian Empire. They were the origin of the Solomonic dynasty and all the emperors of Ethiopia were Amhara with the exception of Yohannes IV since the restoration of the dynasty in 1270.^[22][23]