Ittu-Oromo

The Ittu ( Oromo : Ittuu ; also Itu , Ettu , Etu ) are a subgroup of the Oromo , the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia . Its heartland is the Chercher highland area in the northeast of the Oromia region .

history

The Ittu were one of three subgroups of the Barentuma-Oromo (next to the Anniyya and the Afran Qallu ) who migrated from Bale to the northeast to Harerge in the 16th century . They consider themselves to be descendants of the fifth son of Baarentuu , the mythical forefather of the Barentu. The Ittu, like Anniyya and Afran Qallu, worshiped Mormors in Bale as their place of origin and holy place. For about a century they served Odaa Bultum in the Chercher area as a common political and religious center and meeting place ( cheffe or chaffee ) until they each established their own centers of this kind at the beginning of the 18th century. Odaa Bultum, however, remained an important religious center that pilgrims had to visit on their way to Mormor.

Around 1600, the Ittu were known for their riding skills and, with their cavalry, were the most powerful Oromo group in Harerge. In 1612 they joined other Oromo in the attack on the rich Ethiopian province of Gojjam . Emperor Susneyos had to mobilize all his forces to defend the province. With armed force and diplomacy he succeeded in winning the Ittu on his side, and he settled Ittu in Gojjam and Dembeya , where they were supposed to help in the defense against other Oromo.

In the Chercher highlands, the Ittu settled as nomadic cattle herders between the settled farmers of the Harari and perhaps also the Ḥarla or Ḥaräla (a forerunner people named in traditions, which cannot be assigned in detail). Silt'e , which remained in Chercher while other eastern Gurage had moved further west around 1560, were largely assimilated by the Ittu. A mutual dependency developed between farmers and pastoral nomads. At the end of the 18th century the Ittu took over agriculture themselves, which they combined with cattle farming. Land became the measure of prosperity, and a land- owning upper class developed, whose members were called abbaa burqaa or "Lord of the Spring ".

From the city of Harar , Islam was brought to the Ittu by traders, preachers, and teachers, but did not spread very widely until the 19th century. Rather, the Ittu and other Oromo are said to have met the Muslim missionaries at times with hostility. Only after the conquest of their territory by Dejazmach Wolde Gabriel and their incorporation into Ethiopia in 1886, numerous Ittu converted to Islam. This conversion was a form of passive resistance against the gäbbar system, which was introduced under Menelik II and which made the Ittu farmers subordinate to the state, subordinate to Amharic settlers. The transition to Islam was not complete until the 1950s. In 1973 Muslim Ittu continued to make pilgrimages to the sacred tree of Odaa Bultum, laying grass on its lower branches and smearing butter in hollow parts of its trunk. Other holy places from pre-Islamic times were also integrated into the practice of Islam.

The Ittu also offered armed resistance against the Ethiopian state power. In 1948, Muhammad Ǧilole led an uprising. The Oromo Liberation Front became active in Chercher from 1974.

economy and society

The settlement area of the Ittu extends roughly between Afdem and the rivers Shabelle and Awash , the core area is Chercher . In the area of the former Harerge province (which was divided into the new regions of Oromia and Somali in 1991 ), this is the most agriculturally productive region. The Ittu grow coffee, khat , teff , maize, sorghum, finger millet, beans and oilseeds , they make honey and they keep cattle. Chercher's fattening bulls are known throughout Ethiopia.

The Ittu in Chercher have two subgroups, which are divided into gosa (clans):

Galaan: Alga, Baabbo, Elle, Gaamo, Gaadulla, Qallu
Kura: Addayye, Arroojjis, Bayy, Waayyu.

swell

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Mohammed Hassen: Ittuu , in: Siegbert Uhlig (Ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica , Volume 3, 2008, ISBN 978-3-447-05607-6
↑ ^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. 65, 116-120, 173)

[EA-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Mohammed Hassen: Ittuu , in: Siegbert Uhlig (Ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica , Volume 3, 2008, ISBN 978-3-447-05607-6

[BRAUK-2] Ulrich Braukämper: Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia. Collected Essays , Göttinger Studien zur Ethnologie 9, 2003, ISBN 978-3-8258-5671-7 (pp. 65, 116-120, 173)