Historical Origins
The origins of Ethiopic languages can be traced back to around the first millenium BC, when immigrants from south-west Arabia are said to have crossed the Red Sea into what is today known as Eritrea. New languages and cultures began to emerge when these people mixed with the African Cushitic population. Ge'ez was one of these early languages which has had an influence on Amharic. Ge'ez was the classic language of Axum Empire which existed in northern Ethiopia from the 1st to 6th centuries AD but it is also the current liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. After the Ethiopian power base shifted from the town of Axum to the Amhara region in northwestern Ethiopia between the 10th and 12th centuries AD, the use of Amharic became more widespread. As successive Ethiopian regimes tended to be Amhara led, the spread and development of the language continued.
Apart from the Italian occupation during the 1930s, Ethiopia has not been exposed to long periods of colonial domination. Extensive bodies of Amharic literature and a sophisticated grammar and vocabulary were able to evolve, therefore, unhindered by the influence of dominating languages. Although the written language was initially the domain of the Church and elite, modernization in the 19th and 20th centuries encouraged its use amongst Ethiopians from all backgrounds, particularly during the literacy campaigns of the 1970s.
The 1990s have now seen a greater emphasis on other regional languages in education, literacy and communication in the bureaucracy. For example, Oromos use Oromo languages in the south, Tigre people use Tigrinya in the north. Howerver, there is little variation in Amharic dialects between regions.