Agaws, also known as Agews, are a Cushitic ethnic group from Ethiopia and Eritrea. They are a part of the Cushitic peoples as a whole, albeit they are most closely associated with the Qemant. They converse in Agaw languages, which belong to the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family and have great mutual intelligibility. Because the Agaw are a minority population in both Ethiopia and Eritrea, they are subjected to substantial assimilation pressures, and their languages are officially listed as critically endangered. The Agaw people were thought to practice a “Hebraic religion” similar to the Qemant by travelers and outside observers, however some practiced Ethiopian Orthodoxy and many were Beta Israel Jews. Only a small percentage of people have converted to Islam in the previous centuries. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, thousands of Agaw Beta Israel converted to Christianity (both voluntarily and brutally) and joined the Falash Mura, however many are now returning to Judaism.
