Bench (people)

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The Bench (alternative spelling Benč , German rarely also Bensch ) are an ethnic group that predominantly lives in the Bench Maji zone in the region of the southern nations, nationalities and peoples in southwest Ethiopia . They were also called Gimira in the past , which is now an outdated term. Information on the number of benchmarks ranges from around 175,000 (Abbink 2003) to 353,526 (Ethiopian census 2007).

The bench live sedentary and build u. a. Sorghum, barley, corn, bananas, ensete and other root vegetables, cotton as the most important sales product and Kat . They also keep cattle. Your Bench language (including the dialects She and Mer) is one of the omotic languages .

The Bench have lived in their present area for a long time. Traditionally, they lived as a segmented, dispersed society. They are divided into patrilinear organized descent groups or clans. Their society also includes groups of low standing, such as taskes (“tanners”) and band (“hunters”), who do not marry members of other groups and who have particular eating habits. There are political-religious leaders ( tyat / koms ), who are usually recognized as mediators between people and spirits ( kahnan ), and a supreme leader ( benchtyat ).

At the end of the 19th century, the Bench were incorporated into the Empire of Ethiopia (or its province of Kaffa ) without forcible conquest , but were affected by the negative consequences of political and economic subordination. So they suffered under the gäbbar system - which made them subservient to the state and subject to Amharic settlers - and from slave hunts. In 1913, Lij Iyasu fought the Bench and captured thousands during a raid.

The role of the kahnan grew after their incorporation into Ethiopia, they established a complex hierarchical system of rule based on tributes in the form of food, livestock, money, and corporal labor, giving them control over the payment of bridal prices between the exogamous clans. Under Ethiopian rule, many were kahnan at balabbat .

Under the Derg regime, a number of Kahnan were disinherited, persecuted and some were also executed. In the 1970s and 1980s, some Bench were among the leading opponents of the regime in the region. After the fall of the Derg in 1991, many aspects of the traditional society and religion of the Bench revived.

The bench are closely linked to the neighboring Me'en . Their area is densely populated and most of the forests have already been cleared for settlement and agricultural land. Agricultural land is therefore becoming scarce.

swell

Single receipts

  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), p. 84