Gibe (region)
The Gibe region refers to a historical area in the southwest of today's Ethiopia , west of the Gibe and Omo rivers and north of the Gojeb river . The kingdoms of Oromo and Sidama once lay here : Gera , Gomma , Garo , Gumma , Jimma and Limmu-Ennarea .
In the north, the Gibe region bordered the settlement area of the Macha Oromo tribe.
Until the middle of the 1500s, this area was part of the Sidama kingdoms Ennarea , Hadiya , Janjero and Kaffa , which were under the Solomon dynasty . With the immigration of the Oromo and the associated destruction of Hadiya, isolation of Janjero and the shrinking of the areas of Ennarea and Kaffa, the region was divided. In Gibe the Oromo came under the cultural influence of the Kingdom of Kaffa, from which they adopted the concept of hereditary monarchy (also referred to as Moti in all kingdoms except Limmu-Enerea, where for historical reasons the king was known as Supera ) and the delimitation of their states Barriers took over.
These barriers consisted of palisades or dead hedges that stretched for miles. Between these barriers and those of the neighboring kingdom was a neutral strip (called moga ) that was not cultivated and was only inhabited by robbers and bandits. The individual kingdoms could only be entered at guarded gates or kella . Customs duties were levied on them.
The economy of these kingdoms was based on the export of gold , coffee , slaves and musk of the civet . GWB Huntingford explains that slaves were captured in raids on the Macha tribe in the north and the Sidama kingdoms of Kaffa and Janjero. He also presents evidence that 7,000 people have been sold to Ethiopia or abroad each year.
From 1886 to 1900, the Gibe region, like the rest of south-western Ethiopia, was almost completely annexed after a series of conquest campaigns by generals of Emperor Menelik II . Through skillful diplomacy, the Kingdom of Jimma managed to postpone this fate until the death of its king Abba Jifar II .
literature
- ↑ Described in detail in George Wynn Brereton Huntingford: The Galla of Ethiopia; the Kingdoms of Kafa and Janjero . International African Institute, London 1955, pp. 55ff
- ^ Charles Fraser Beckingham, George Wynn Brereton Huntingford: Some Records of Ethiopia, 1593-1646 . Hakluyt Society, London 1954, pp. Lxxviii. Also detailed in Huntingford: The Galla of Ethiopia . P. 57f
- ^ Huntingford: The Galla of Ethiopia . P. 31