Jaldessa (also transliterated Jeldessa, Gildessa, Guildessa, Gheldessa) is a village in eastern Ethiopia. Located in the Shinile Zone of the Somali Region of Ethiopia.
Issa Ugaas Rooble pictured with his nephew Jardon in 1885
In its early history the area of Jaldessa was part of the Emirate of Harar.[1] W.C. Barker, writing in 1842, mentions it as a stopping place in the territory of the Nole Oromo, on the caravan route between Zeila and Harar.[2]
The present-day town of Jaldessa (45 km north of Harar), was founded in 1875 by the Egyptians who set up a fort to secure supply from the coast and stationed a contingent of Sudanese soldiers with an Egyptian officer. Jaldessa then became an important station along the trade route between Harar and the Red Sea coast.[3] A market was set up and people built huts around the station, which was fortified with stones and hedgerows, the Somali on one side and the Oromo on the other. Jaldesa, Balawa, and the fertile region of this district are inhabited by Gurgura farmers. They are fiercely independent and were the only tribe to recount battling with the Ottomans in the nearby hills in the 1500s AD. In the 1990s this area was dominated by the Gurgura Liberation Front. Its population increased to 1,500 and doubled or tripled on market days. After the Egyptians left Harar in 1885, Britain took possession of Jaldessa and stationed a garrison of 19 Indians and 20 Somalis, however, these soldiers were soon imprisoned by the troops of Amir Abdullahi who took control of the area. The party of Italian explorer Count Pietro Porro was ambushed and slaughtered at Jaldessa in April 1886, which provided Menelik II of Shewa with an excuse to attack Harar.[4] Between the Shewan victory at Chelenqo and the foundation of Dire Dawa, Jaldessa was the seat of the various governors, such as the Armenian Sarkis Terzian and later Ato Mersha Nahusenay. The opening of the Addis Ababa - Djibouti Railway and the birth of Dire Dawa diminished the strategic importance of Jaldessa.[5]
Early in the Ogaden War, Jaldessa was captured by Gurgura Somali units as they closed in on Dire Dawa; it was recaptured 4 February 1978 by the Ethiopian Ninth Division with Cuban tank and artillery shock troops.[6]
Harar, known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey, is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saints.
Dire Dawa is a city in eastern Ethiopia near the Oromia and Somali Region border and one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia. Dire Dawa alongside present-day Sitti Zone were a part of the Dire Dawa autonomous region stipulated in the 1987 Ethiopian Constitution until 1993 when it was split by the federal government into a separately administered chartered city.
Amir Abdullahi, formally Abd Allah II ibn 'Ali 'Abd ash-Shakur or Amir Hajji 'Abdu'llahi II ibn 'Ali 'Abdu's Shakur, was the last amir of Harar and ruled from late 1884 to 26 January 1887, when the state was terminated, following the defeat of the Harari troops at the Battle of Chelenqo on 9 January.
The Dir is one of the largest and most prominent Somali clans in the Horn of Africa. They are also considered to be the oldest Somali stock to have inhabited the region. Its members inhabit Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, and northeastern Kenya.
The Gadabuursi, also known as Samaroon, is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family.
The Issa is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family.
Barento is one of the two major subgroups of the Oromo people, a Cushitic ethnic group. They live in the West Hararghe Zone, East Hararghe Zone, Arsi zone, of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia while the other subgroup named Borana Oromo inhabiting Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Addis Ababa, West Shewa Zone, West Welega Zone and Borena Zone of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia.
Shinile is a woreda in Somali Region, Ethiopia. Part of the Sitti Zone, Shinile is bordered on the south by Dire Dawa, on the west by Erer, on the north by the Afar Region, on the east by Ayesha, and on the southeast by Dembel and Jijiga Zone. Towns in Shinile include Adigale, Harewa, Milo, and Shinile; villages include Jaldessa, Marmaarsa, and Toome.
The Ethio-Djibouti Railway is a metre gauge railway in the Horn of Africa that once connected Addis Ababa to the port city of Djibouti. The operating company was also known as the Ethio-Djibouti Railways. The railway was built in 1894–1917 to connect the Ethiopian capital city to French Somaliland. During early operations, it provided landlocked Ethiopia with its only access to the sea. After World War II, the railway progressively fell into a state of disrepair due to competition from road transport.
Erer is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the Sitti Zone of the Somali Region, it is located 51km east of Shinile. It is the administrative center of Erer woreda.
The Harari people are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group which inhabits the Horn of Africa. Members of this ethnic group traditionally reside in the walled city of Harar, simply called Gēy "the City" in Harari, situated in the Harari Region of eastern Ethiopia. They speak the Harari language, a member of the South Ethiopic grouping within the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic languages.
Italian Ethiopia, also known as the Italian Empire of Ethiopia, was the territory of the Ethiopian Empire which was occupied by Italy for approximately five years. Italian Ethiopia was not an administrative entity, but the formal name of the former territory of the Ethiopian Empire which now constituted the Governorates of Amhara, Harar, Galla-Sidamo, and Scioa after the establishment of Italian East Africa.
The Harla, also known as Harala, Haralla are an ethnic group that once inhabited Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti. They spoke the now-extinct Harla language, which belonged to either the Cushitic or Semitic branches of the Afroasiatic family.
The Oromo expansions, also known as the Oromo migrations or the Oromo invasions, were a series of expansions in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Oromo. Prior to their great expansion in the 16th century, the Oromo inhabited only the area of what is now modern-day southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. Over the centuries due to many factors, mostly the wars between Adal Sultanate and Ethiopia would further encourage the numerous Oromo tribes to expand towards central and eastern modern Ethiopia.
The Emirate of Harar was a Muslim kingdom founded in 1647 when the Harari people refused to accept Imām ʿUmardīn Ādan as their ruler and broke away from the Imamate of Aussa to form their own state under `Ali ibn Da`ud.
The Gurgura, Gorgorah or Gurgure is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family.
The Makayl-Dheere also known as Makaahiil-Dheere (Makayldheere), is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Makahiil sub-clan of the Gadabuursi Dir clan family.
The Egyptian invasion of the Eastern Horn of Africa namely Hararghe and western Somaliland was part of a conflict between the Sultan of Aussa, Oromo, Somali tribesmen, and the Khedivate of Egypt from 1874 to 1885. In 1874, the Egyptians invaded Eastern Ethiopia namely Hararghe and western section of Somaliland and ruled it for 11 years.
This is chronology of Dire Dawa, a self-governing city in eastern Ethiopia, beginning with annexation from Emirate of Harar by Emperor Menelik II.
This is timeline of Harar, a city in eastern Ethiopia from the initial history to present.
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