Argobba (people)
 
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Settlement areas of Argobba in Ethiopia (approximate, according to) |
The Argobba (also Argoba , Argʷabba ) are an ethnic group in Ethiopia . They are Muslims and live on the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands and in the vicinity of the city of Harar .
Areas
Their settlement areas except Harar stretch along the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands and formerly belonged to the provinces of Shewa and Wollo . You are surrounded by Amharen , Oromo and Afar . According to Encyclopaedia Aethiopica , the number of Argobba in these ancestral areas is around 30,000. In the 2007 census, around 140,000 people were counted as Argobba, including almost 70,000 in the Amhara region , around 31,000 in Oromia , 21,600 in the Afar region , 6,500 in the region of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples , 5,000 in Addis Ababa , 3,200 in Somali and 2,300 in Harar .
The Argobba in Harar live southeast of the city of Harar near Bisidimo , Fedis and Hundana . The city gate of Harar pointing in this direction is called Argob bari , "Gate of Argobba".
language
Their original language, Argobba , is that äthio- Semitic language which the Amharic is most closely related. However, a majority of the ethnic Argobba have given up this language in favor of Amharic, Oromo , Afar and, in Harar, partly also Harari . In 1994 there were 10,900 speakers of the Argobba, while the number of the ethnic Argobba was 62,831.
Society and culture
Argobba villages usually include at least a mosque, a weaving mill, a central square and marketplace, and a Koran school. They are usually on top of hills or in elevated places ( called amba ). Houses are either rectangular, made of wood or stone, or huts with roofs made of earth and hay. The Argobba livelihoods are agriculture, weaving and trade. They farm with the help of ox plows and in marginal areas, where they gain the greatest possible yield with adapted cultivation techniques such as building terraces . The most important crops are sorghum, corn, peas, beans, lentils and khat , and some also keep sheep and goats. Legumes, grains, milk and occasionally meat are staple foods.
Blacksmiths and potters are outsiders in Argobba society, as with other Ethiopian ethnic groups. Cousin marriages are considered particularly desirable. Weddings with members of other ethnic groups ( exogamy ) are culturally rejected because the Argobba are careful to preserve their cultural characteristics. In Harar, Argobba men marry Oromo women, but marriages between Argobba women and Oromo are rare. With the exception of a few wealthy people who practice polygamy , the Argobba live monogamous. Argobba women can own and inherit property, but ancestry is exclusively patrilineal .
Amharic-speaking Argobba in the earlier Shewa distinguish themselves from Christian Amhars through their Islamic faith, while the language is the most important distinguishing feature from other Muslim groups. Traditionally, the Argobba wear typical clothing such as turban (maʿammamiya), tunic (ǧallabiya, cf. Djellaba ) and shawl (šərrəṭ) to emphasize their ethnic and religious identity and to stand out from other ethnic groups. Since machine-made clothing and silver- and gold-colored jewelry became available, the Argobba are no longer completely dependent on hand-spun and hand-woven clothing. At Harar they took over the clothes and hairstyles of the Oromo.
history
The Argobba believe that they are descended from Arab immigrants from the tribe of the Prophet Mohammed who brought Islam to Ethiopia. Accordingly, they derive their name from Arab gäbba (Amharic "Arabs came in"). Similar legends of origin can be found in a number of Muslim ethnic groups in the Horn of Africa and are generally not verifiable. In fact, there are indications that Arabs first settled on the coast in what is now Eritrea and from there migrated south along the edge of the highlands to Wollo and Shewa. In the areas of Shewa now known as Yifat , they therefore adopted an Amharic dialect. Stone houses and the terracing of fields are common on the Arabian Peninsula, but in Ethiopia a clear distinguishing feature between Argobba and its neighbors. The first major migrations to the east are said to have taken place at the time when the Christian Empire of Ethiopia expanded south and the Sultanate of Shewa ceased to exist. Around 1200, Argobba, coming from the west, reached Harar , where Islam had been introduced earlier from Zeila on the northern Somali coast.
The multi-ethnic sultanate of Adal included Afar, Argobba, Aderi and Somali.
Finds from villages, mosques and cemeteries indicate that the Argobba or their forerunners used to inhabit a larger area. Its current location in the midst of Amharen and Oromo on the edges of the former Ifat / Adal is due to the wars between Ethiopia and the Sultanate of Adal under Ahmed Graññ and the subsequent expansion of the Oromo in the 16th and 17th centuries. Century back. The northern Arsi-Oromo in the region of the Arba Gugu mention in lore that Orgobba lived in the area before them . The neighboring Karayu- and Ittu-Oromo sometimes attribute the ruins of terraces on the middle course of the Awash River to the Argobba; here, however, the traditions do not clearly differentiate between the Argobba and the Ḥaräla , a group that is mentioned in Ethiopian and Arabic sources and to which the Ittu attribute several ruins in northern Harerge . The ethnic grouping of the Ḥaräla is unclear and it is possible that there were links between them and the Argobba.
With the rise of the Kingdom of Shewa in the 17./18. In the 19th century, Amharen began to advance into the eastern edge of the highlands. Under Sahle Selassie and his successors, these areas were incorporated into Shewa in the 19th century. Taxation and the influx of Amharic settlers contributed to the decline of the Argobba economy, and after the opening of the railway line from Addis Ababa to Djibouti, the old trade routes that ran through Argobba areas lost their importance. Since the 1950s, Argobba have been harassed by Afar herdsmen from the lowlands, who advance to higher altitudes in search of pastureland. Some Argobba moved to cities like Debre Birhan , Dese , Adama and Manda . Their economy has increasingly shifted from agriculture to trade and weaving. During the famine in the mid-1980s , Argobba also survived by selling hand-spun wool and textiles made from it.
politics
The party coalition EPRDF , which has ruled Ethiopia since the fall of the Derg regime in 1991, has founded the Argobba party, Argoba National Democratic Organization ANDO, whose stated aim is to “secure the rights of the Argobba, who have been deprived of their identity and language under previous regimes were ". Meanwhile, an EPRDF-independent Argoba People's Democratic Movement (APDM) has emerged.
swell
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Abbebe Kifleyesus: Argobba ethnography , in: Siegbert Uhlig (Ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica , Volume 1, 2003, ISBN 3-447-04746-1
- ↑ Central Statistical Agency : Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census Results ( Memento of March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 4.7 MB), pp. 84, 88, 90, 92, 94, 98 , 102, 104
- ^ Philippe Revault: The Architecture of the House , in: Philippe Revault, Serge Santelli (ed.): Harar. A Muslim City of Ethiopia , Collection Architecture et société , Maisonneuve & Larose 2004, ISBN 978-2-7068-1875-2 (pp. 231, 234)
- ↑ 1994 Census / Ethnologue.com
- ↑ a b c Ulrich Braukämper: Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia. Collected Essays , Göttinger Studien zur Ethnologie 9, 2003, ISBN 978-3-8258-5671-7 (pp. 16–19, 22f., 27, 38, 108)
- ↑ Patrick Webb, Joachim Von Braun, Yisehac Yohannes: Famine in Ethiopia: Policy implications of coping failure at national and household levels , International Food Policy Research Institute, Research Report Series 92 , 1992, ISBN 978-0-89629-095-2 ( P. 49)
- ↑ ANDO says working to Ensure rights of Argoba nationality , in: Walta Information Center, February 7, 2009. Accessed April 4 of 2010.
- ^ Philippa Bevan, Alula Pankhurst: Power Structures and Agency in Rural Ethiopia. Development Lessons from Four Community Case Studies (PDF; 1.6 MB), Paper Prepared for the Empowerment Team in the World Bank Poverty Reduction Group, July 31, 2007 (p. 150)