The Kingdom of Kaffa was a kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia from 1390 to 1897, with its first capital at Bonga. The Gojeb River formed its northern border, beyond which lay the Gibe kingdoms; to the east the territory of the Konta and Kullo peoples lay between Kaffa and the Omo River; to the south numerous subgroups of the Gimira people, and to the west lay the Majangir people.[1] The native language, also known as Kaffa, is one of the Omotic group of languages.
Kaffa was divided into four sub-groups, who spoke a common language Kefficho, one of the Gonga/Kefoid group of Omotic languages; a number of groups of foreigners, Ethiopian Muslim traders and members of the Ethiopian Church, also lived in the kingdom. There were a number of groups of people, "but with the status of submerged status", who also lived in the kingdom; these included the Manjo, or hunters; the Manne, or leatherworkers; and the Qemmo, or blacksmiths.[2] The Manjo even had their own king, appointed by the King of Kaffa, and were given the duties of guarding the royal compounds and the gates of the kingdom.[3] The kingdom was overrun and conquered in 1897, and was eventually annexed by Ethiopia.
The land where this former kingdom lay is in the southern parts of the Ethiopian Highlands with stretches of forest. The mountainous land is very fertile, capable of three harvests a year.
History
Phallic warrior headgear (17th century)
The Kingdom of Kaffa was founded c.1390 by Minjo, who according to oral tradition ousted the Mato dynasty of 32 kings. However, his informants told Amnon Orent, "no one remembers the name of a single one." The first capital Bonga was either founded or captured by Bon-noghe; it was later replaced by Anderaccha, but Bonga retained its importance.[4]
During the 16th century, the Emperor of EthiopiaSarsa Dengel convinced the kingdom to officially accept Christianity as its state religion. As a result, the church of St. George was dedicated at Baha; the building preserved a tabot bearing the name of Emperor Sarsa Dengel. Over the following centuries the influence of the Ethiopian government grew weak, and Christianity more or less disappeared, although the church of St. George was used as a "male house of ritual of George" until late in the 19th century when Christian practices were reintroduced.[5]
Crown of the kings of Kaffa
Beginning with Gali Ginocho (1675–1710), the kings of Kaffa began to expand the borders of their kingdom, annexing the neighboring small Gimira states of She, Benesho and Majango. The neighboring state of the Welayta came under their control in the reign of Tato Shagi Sherocho (1775–1795), who extended the boundaries of his kingdom as far as the Omo to the southeast and almost to the confluence of the Omo and the Denchya to the south.[6] It was during the reign of King Hoti Gaocho (1798–1821), that the territory of the Kaffa kings reached its maximum. According to Orent, the traditions of the Kaffa people relate that he ruled far and wide, conquering wherever he went, even as far afield as Wolleta and Kambaata. "To this day," concludes Orent, "some people still talk about the time that their ancestors defeated all their enemies and sat at the foot of a famous tree in Wolliso and decided not to go farther into Shoa province."[7]
Around the 18th century the kingdom was invaded by the Mecha Oromos. But due to its difficult terrian, Kaffa was able to repel the invasion. However all territories north of the Gojeb river was lost to the Oromos.[8][9]
Gaki Sherocho in 1897
The last Kaffa king, Gaki Sherocho, resisted for months the combined armies of Welde Giyorgis Aboye, Ras Damisse, and King Abba Jifar II of Jimma, until he was captured 11 September 1897, and was first sent to Ankober, then to Addis Ababa. Kaffa was then held as a fief by Wolde Giyogis until 1914.[3] During his visit to Kaffa in 1897, Alexander Bulatovich had the opportunity to study the culture of the inhabitants, describing them in his book With the Armies of Menelik II, emperor of Ethiopia, identifying a number of practices in common with the more familiar Amhara people.[10] After the annexation into Ethiopia, the inhabitants suffered greatly due to the slave-raids organized by Abba Jifar II, and the region almost became uninhabited. During the reorganization of the provinces in 1942, the former kingdom was enlarged by the addition of a number of other kingdoms from the Gibe region to become Kaffa Province.[11]
Economy
A coffee cup from the era of the Kaffa Kingdom.
In Kaffa, Maria Theresa thalers (MT) and salt blocks called amoleh were used as currency (as in the rest of Ethiopia) as late as 1905, which circulated at a rate of four or five amolehs to 1 MT.[12]
The economy was based on exports of gold, civet oil, and slaves. Crops grown included coffee and cotton. However, according to Richard Pankhurst, the amount of coffee exported was never large: he cites an estimate for its production in the 1880s at 50,000 to 60,000 kilograms a year.[13] Livestock was raised, and honeybees kept in barrels (called gendo) which were hung in trees.[14]
Sarsa Dengel, also known as Sarsa the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne name was throne name Melak Seged I.
This is a list of monarchies of Ethiopia that existed throughout the nation's history. It is divided into kingdoms that were subdivisions of Ethiopia, and kingdoms that were later conquered by Ethiopia. Ancient kingdoms fall into neither category.
Jimma is the largest city in southwestern Oromia Region, Ethiopia. It is a special zone of the Oromia Region and is surrounded by Jimma Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of 7°40′N36°50′E. Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administratively as a special Zone.
Bonga is a town, woreda and one of the multicapital of the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region in Ethiopia. Located in the Keffa Zone upon a hill in the upper Barta valley, it has a latitude and longitude of 7°16′N36°14′E with an elevation of 1,714 meters above sea level. Not confused with another town named "Bonga", near Gambela Region.
MotiAbba Jifar II was King of the Gibe Kingdom of Jimma.
The Kingdom of Jimma was an Oromo kingdom in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 18th century. It shared its western border with Limmu-Ennarea, its eastern border with the Sidamo Kingdom of Janjero, and was separated from the Kingdom of Kaffa to the south by the Gojeb River. Jimma was considered the most powerful militarily of the Gibe kingdoms.
The Kingdom of Gera was a kingdom in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the late 19th century. It shared its northern border with the Kingdom of Gumma, its eastern border with the Kingdom of Gomma, and was separated from the Kingdom of Kaffa to the south by the Gojeb River. With its capital at Chala, the Gera kingdom's territory corresponds approximately with the modern woreda of Gera.
The Gibe region was a historic region in modern southwestern Ethiopia, to the west of the Gibe and Omo Rivers, and north of the Gojeb. It was the location of the former Oromo and Sidama kingdoms of Gera, Gomma, Garo, Gumma, Jimma, and Limmu-Ennarea.
The Kingdom of Gomma was a kingdom in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 18th century. It was based in Agaro.
The Kingdom of Garo, also known as Bosha after its ruling dynasty, was an Oromo-Sidama kingdom in the Horn of Africa. Established by the Sidama people, it was situated on the periphery of the Gibe region of Ethiopia.
The Kingdom of Yamma was a small kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia. It lay in the angle formed by the Omo and the Jimma Gibe Rivers; to the west lay the Kingdom of Jimma and to the south the Kingdom of Garo. Three mountains — Mount Bor Ama, Mount Azulu and Mount Toba — all distinguish the location of the former kingdom.
Gaki Sherocho was the last king of the Kingdom of Kaffa from 6 April 1890 to 10 September 1897, in what is now Ethiopia. He is usually called by the Kaffa "Chinito", the diminutive of Taten Chini.
AbbaBahrey was a late 16th-century Ethiopian monk, historian, and ethnographer, from the southern region of Gamo. He is best known for his 1593 work on the history of the Oromo and their migrations in the 16th century, the "History of the Galla". This short work is considered the ultimate source for information on the sixteenth century history of the Oromo: Manuel de Almeida borrowed heavily from Bahrey in writing his history of Ethiopia, and Hiob Ludolf derived much of his information on the Oromo from Baltazar Téllez's abridgment of Almeida's work.
Ginbo is a district in the South West Region of Ethiopia. The name Ginbo comes from one of the provinces in the former Kingdom of Kaffa. That province, as well as the Kafficho provinces Bonga and Manjo, became districts with the Ethiopian conquest in 1896, and these districts were later merged to form the modern district.
The Gojeb River is eastward-flowing tributary of the Omo River in Ethiopia. It rises in the mountains of Guma, flowing in almost a direct line its confluence with the Omo at 7°20′25″N37°21′17″E.
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. For the most part the Oromo lived in northern Kenya prior to their migration in the 16th century. 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.
Ennarea, also known as E(n)narya or In(n)arya, was a kingdom in the Gibe region in what is now western Ethiopia. It became independent from the kingdom of Damot in the 14th century and would be the most powerful kingdom in the region until its decline in the 17th century. Being located on the southwestern periphery of the Ethiopian Empire, Ennarea was its tributary throughout much of its history, supplying the emperor with gold and slaves. The culmination of this relationship was the Christianization of the Ennarean elite in the late 1580s. From the late 16th century the kingdom came under increasing pressure by the Oromo, who finally conquered Ennarea in around 1710.
Menelik's Invasions was a series of wars and conquests carried out by Menelik II of Shewa to expand the Ethiopian Empire.
Aze was the Garad (chief) of the Hadiya seven houses which consisted of Siltʼe, Wolane, Ulbarag, Azernet, Barbare, Wuriro, and Gadabano, speakers of Semitic Harari language. He was defacto ruler of the Hadiya state. During the reign of Emperor Sarsa Dengel of Ethiopia, Aze initiated a revolt after killing the Abyssinian administrator Rom Sagad in Hadiya which led to his defeat at the Battle of Hadiya in 1569.
Damot was a historical region located in western Ethiopia. The region was situated south of Gojjam and covered most of Ethiopia's Welega Province. Until the fourteenth century it was ruled by its own independent kingdom, before its conquest by the Ethiopian Emperor Amda Seyon I, after which it would serve as an important province within the Ethiopian Empire during the medieval period.
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