Aari or Ari are a tribal Omotic people indigenous to Omo Valley of Ethiopia. According to 2007 census there are 289,835 ethnic Aari in Ethiopia, which makes up around 0.29% of the country's total population. Nearly all Aari speak the South Omotic Aari language, though more than half of them are multilingual and can also speak other languages such as Amharic. [1] : 73 [2]
Until the 19th century, Aari people lived under independent chiefdoms. The divine ruler of the Aari tribal societies were called baabi.
In the late 1800s, the Omo River region was conquered by the Ethiopian Empire under Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, which resulted in the widespread adoption of Amharic culture and the Amharic language there. [3] By the early 1900s, the Amhara rulers had consolidated their control over the region and many Aari became serfs. [4] Aari culture experienced significant decline during this time, although it and the Aari language survived. [3] In 1974 Derg, a Soviet-backed militia, overthrew the monarchy. The revolution brought down the feudal system under which the Aari had been forced to live, which allowed farming communities to keep their harvests and livestock and resulted in improved prosperity. After the Derg was overthrown in 1991, Ethiopia adopted a federalist system that granted self-determination to the country's ethnic groups, allowing the Aari to reclaim a degree of sovereignty over their lands. Particularly since 2000, the Aari's social and economic situations have improved dramatically [5] and interest in education has flourished; most Aari towns today have at least one primary school. [6]
The Ari peoples of Ethiopia comрrise different occupational groups and their society is socially divided and stratified according to each Aari individual's respective occupation. The lower castes of the society is composed of potters, tanners and blacksmiths and collectively named as mana in the Aari language. Blacksmiths (faka mana)i who also do woodworking are marginalized and occupy an inferior position to tanners and potters (tila mana). Kantsa is the name given to the agriculturalist caste which holds a privileged position in the society. Intermarriage between mana and katsa is forbidden and considered as taboo according to Ari customs. The occupational segregation and caste-based endogamy practiced among the Ari have been revealed by advances in archaeogenetics to be one the oldest continuous caste systems in existence. [7] After the introduction of Christianity the social division between Christian Aari belonging to differing castes have reported to become less important. More of the societies make agriculture their livelihood, and most of them practice mixed farming. [8]
Most Aari follow either Protestant Christianity or traditional beliefs. A few practice Orthodox Christianity. [9]
After conquest by the Ethiopian Empire in the late 1800s, many Aari were forced to convert to Orthodox Christianity, [3] although this religion became heavily stigmatized due to its association with the invading forces and perceived economic exploitation by Orthodox priests. [10] In the 1950s, large numbers became Protestants as a result of Western missionary work (especially by SIM). Today, the vast majority of Aari Christians are Protestants. [10]
The Omotic languages are a group of languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia, in the Omo River region and southeastern Sudan in Blue Nile State. The Geʽez script is used to write some of the Omotic languages, the Latin script for some others. They are fairly agglutinative and have complex tonal systems. The languages have around 7.9 million speakers. The group is generally classified as belonging to the Afroasiatic language family, but this is disputed by some linguists.
Amharas are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group indigenous to Ethiopia, traditionally inhabiting parts of the northwest Highlands of Ethiopia, particularly inhabiting the Amhara Region. According to the 2007 national census, Amharas numbered 19,867,817 individuals, comprising 26.9% of Ethiopia's population, and they are mostly Oriental Orthodox Christian.
Endogamy is the cultural practice of mating within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting any from outside of the group or belief structure as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. Its opposite, exogamy, describes the social norm of marriage outside of the group.
Aari is an Omotic language spoken by the Aari people in the South Omo Zone of Ethiopia.
The Mursi are a Surmic ethnic group in Ethiopia. They principally reside in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, close to the border with South Sudan. According to the 2007 national census, there are 11,500 Mursi, 848 of whom live in urban areas; of the total number, 92.25% live in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR).
The culture of Ethiopia is diverse and generally structured along ethnolinguistic lines. The country's Afro-Asiatic-speaking majority adhere to an amalgamation of traditions that were developed independently and through interaction with neighboring and far away civilizations, including other parts of Northeast Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and Italy. By contrast, the nation's Nilotic communities and other ethnolinguistic minorities tend to practice customs more closely linked with South Sudan or the African Great Lakes region.
The languages of Ethiopia include the official languages of Ethiopia, its national and regional languages, and a large number of minority languages, as well as foreign languages.
South Omo Zone is a zone in the Ethiopian South Ethiopia Regional State. South Omo is bordered to the south by Kenya, to the west by West Omo Zone, to the northwest by Keffa Zone, to the north by Ari Zone and Gofa Zone, to the northeast by Gardula, Ale Zone and Konso and to the east by the Oromia Region. The administrative center of South Omo is Dimeka.
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of the Horn of Africa.
The Welayta, or Wolaitans are an ethnic group located in Southwestern Ethiopia. According to the most recent estimate (2017), the people of Wolayta numbered 5.83 million in Welayta Zone. The language of the Wolayta people, similarly called Wolaytta, belongs to the Omotic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Despite their small population, Wolayta people have widely influenced national music, dance, and cuisine in Ethiopia.
Konta, previously called Ela, is a zone in the Southwest Region of Ethiopia. It is named after Konta people who speak the dialects called Kontatsuwa, Omotic languages. Before joining to Southwest Ethiopia Regional states, Konta was special woreda. This zone is bordered on the south by the Omo River which separates it from the Gamo Zone, Gofa Zone, and Selamgo woreda, Debub Omo Zone, on the west by the Keffa Zone, on the north by Oromia Region,Dedo and Mancho woreda, and on the east by the Dawro Zone; the Denchya River defines the southern part of the boundary with the Keficho Shekicho Zone. The administrative center is Ameya; other towns include Chida.
Basketo Zone is a zone in the South Ethiopia Regional State of Ethiopia, named after its inhabitants, the Basketo people. It was formerly a part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR)'s, and included in to South Ethiopia Regional State in 2023 after a referendum.
Bako Gazer is one of the woredas in the South Ethiopia Regional State. It is also called Southern Aari as it is part of the homeland of Aari people. Part of the Debub Omo Zone, Bako Gazer is bordered on the south by Bena Tsemay, on the west by the Mago River which separates it from Selamago, on the north by the Basketo special woreda and Gelila, on the northeast by the Gamo Gofa Zone, and on the east by Male. The administrative center of this woreda is Jinka; other towns in Bako Gazer include Tolta and Wub Hamer. Gelila and Male woredas were separated from Bako Gazer.
Kersa is a woreda in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. It is bordered on the south by Dedo, on the southwest by Seka Chekorsa, on the west by Mana, on the north by Limmu Kosa, on the northeast by Tiro Afeta, and on the southeast by Omo Nada. Towns and cities in Kersa include Jimma, the zone's capital, and Serbo.
The Weyto are a caste living in the Amhara region along the shore of Lake Tana in northern Ethiopia. They worship the Nile River. They currently live in Bahir Dar, Abirgha, Dembiya and Alefa. The Weyto also made up part of the population of the Blue Nile Falls and Fogera, where currently their presence has not been ascertained.
The Kwegu are an ethnic group that lives on the western banks of the Omo River in the newly formed South Ethiopia Region. Some members of the Kwegu also live on the eastern banks of the river among the Mursi. Previously they were hunter-gatherers, but today they are engaged in a mixed economy of hunting, farming, beekeeping, and fishing.
Semen Ari is a woreda in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region in Ethiopia.
Music and politics have been closely intertwined throughout the history of Ethiopia.
Diplomat is a 2012 Ethiopian spy thriller film directed by Naod Gashaw and produced by Mekdi Productions. Premiered on 15 January 2012, the film stars with Mahlet Shumete (Kidist) and Meron Getnet (Melat) as members of intellegence team at National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) while Andrias Asnakew as Rick is double agent on a mission who want to attack against Ethiopia by assassinating foreign presidents in order to deter Ethiopia's diplomatic relationship.
Amharization is a process of making dominance of Amhara traditions, culture and language above other ethnic groups in Ethiopia. During the Imperial rule, Amhara enjoyed greater influence, from imposing Amharic language and culture to dominate the Ethiopian politics. Amhara elites also aspired to build Ethiopian nation. Amhara dominance has been since during the Derg era until 1991.