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Kambata : The “Meltilng Pot” of Ethiopian Society
Compiled by Tesfaye Habisso
“History is for human self- knowledge. Knowing yourself means knowing, first, what it is to be a person ; secondly, knowing what it is to be the kind of person you are; and thirdly, knowing what it is to be the person you are and nobody else is . Knowing yourself means knowing what you can do; and since nobody knows what they can do until they try, the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.” (R.G. Collingwood)
Introduction
Modern Ethiopia in general and Kambata in particular is the product of many centuries of interaction and intermingling amongst many cultural-linguistic communities, groups and individuals of diverse origins. The Ethiopians are indeed a mixed people, so also the Kambata. The only shortcoming on our part is that we don’t know enough how mixed we are, that is, about our shared identity and history. If we had known enough about this aspect of our shared identity and history, and taught and passed this to our young generation, we wouldn’t have confronted or faced many of the intractable ethnic problems that we are facing today.
Based on oral accounts and traditions, Kambata indeed can be called the “melting pot” of Ethiopian society. According to the New World Dictionary, by the “melting pot” we mean a “country, place, or area, in which immigrants of various nations /nationalities are assimilated into one main/dominant culture”. Kambata as the “melting pot” of Ethiopian society was well illustrated by the former balabat (woma or king) of Kambata, Fitawrari Bargano Mollisso(1920-47 ) in the following words:
“--- Whence came all these people? They came from the lands of the Amhara, the Galla [Oromo], the Sidama , the Darassa [Gedeo] , the Wolammo [Wolayta], the Gudela [Hadiya], the Gamo, the Zubamo [Dubamo], the Gurage, the Tembaro, the Donga, etc. They are a mixture of all these peoples--- What, then, is the Kambata, this new man? He is neither an Amhara nor a Gala [Oromo ] or a Wolammo [Wolayta]; he is neither a Sidama nor a Darassa [Gedeo] or a Gudela [Hadiya], etc; hence that mixture of blood which , you will find in no other region or province. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Ongota ( of Amhara origin ) whose wife was a Gabara (of Oromo origin) , whose son married a Doda- Annimanna (Badawacho Hadiya), and whose present four sons have now four wives of different clans claiming diverse origins—a Jumma (Sidama), a Wereza(Azernet- Berbere), a Bubulla (Wolayta) and a Borodamalla (Gamo) respectively. He is a Kambata, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices, affiliations, roots and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds--- The Kambata were once scattered all over Ethiopia; here they are incorporated into one system of population, forming a microcosm of Ethiopian society.”. [ Fitawrari Bargano Mollisso Hellamo, balabat (woma or king ) of Kambata (ca. 1920-47 ) replying to Dejazmach Meshesha Wolde Ashagre, the then Governor of Kambata province(1920-35) representing the central government in Addis Ababa who asked the former how more than 100 different clans or groups claiming different origins but now speaking the same Kembatigna language (“Kambatiaffo”) occupy Kambataland; as told to the author by Dagna Bafutte Didanna, a close relative of the Kambata king and an elderly Oyeta notable well known throughout the Kambata, Hadiya, Wolayta, Gurage and Alaba areas, in 1986]. As expressed clearly by the former balabat (king) of Kambata here above, more than one hundred (100) groups and individuals that later formed the various clans of the Kambata nation, migrated to the Kambata region from different parts of Ethiopia and at different times over a long period spanning many hundreds of years in the past. As claimed by the founding fathers or clan elders or leaders of the respective groups themselves, they migrated from different regions of Ethiopia. The names of the major clans, their claimed origin of migration as well as the approximate period of their migration is described in Appendix I at the end of this manuscript (see Appendix I)
As a political unit as well as a geographic region, the name Kambata refers to an ancient polity that extended from the Bilate River including Alaba in the east to the Omo (Gibe) River in the west in today’s central Southern Ethiopia. For a long time, even before the polity was annexed by the Abyssinian Christian Empire in the 15th century, this region was well known as the Kingdom of Kambata (Cambat). This covered the whole area which is now occupied by the Kambata, the Hadiya, the Alaba, the Donga, the Tembaro, the Dubamo and the Masmas peoples—the Hadiya and Kambata and Tembaro zones in the SNNP Region of the FDRE. As cultural –linguistic category however, the name Kambata here refers to four former states with peoples, who had the same language , and culture but different historical origins: the Kambata in the narrow sense (that is, the people occupying Angacha, Kedida-Gamella, Kachabirra, Damboya, Doyogana and Adillo woredas or destricts), the Dubamo, the Donga and the Tembaro. As will be explained later, in the 13th and 14th centuries, these peoples were part and parcel of the State of Damot- Ennariya that also included other peoples such as Damot, Ganz, Gafat, Kaffa, Kullo, Konta, Wolayta, Maraqo, Yem, Garo, Azernete-Berbere and Enner Gurage(Ennariya). In the aftermath of the Christian war against the Moslem invasions led by the fierce and dreaded warrior Gragn Ahmed (1529-43) this region was governed by Ras (Abetohun ) Hamalmal who was appointed as Governor by emperor Galawdewos (1540-59), with an obligation of showing his utmost allegiance to the imperial court in Gondar. However, his rule over the region was effectively weakened by the Oromo wars and migrations that swept across the whole country soon after the demise of Imam Gragn Ahmed at the battle of Woina Dega in 1543. Subsequently, the State of Damot- Ennariya disintegrated into its component parts and separate entities subsequently took shape and emerged in the wake of its total fragmentation. Many peoples such as the Ganz, Gafat Damot, Maya and others disappeared from the map of Ethiopia. They were all completely absorbed and assimilated by the Oromo invaders; a few migrating to northern Shoa and elsewhere. On the other hand , in the south, the Gurage, the Sidama, the Wolayta, the Kambata, the Hadiya, the Gamo, the Goffa, the Gedeo, the Tembaro, the Dubamo, the Donga and many others fiercely resisted the Oromo but as in the central and northern highlands, they were compelled to yield at least some territory. Whatever the case, they were able to resist Oromo rule and assimilation and to maintain their identity intact and to establish their own states ruled by their own respective kings, abagadas and sultans since then, up until they were all conquered again by Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia in 1890-93 and annexed to the Christian empire-state. That was also how Hamalmal’s governorship was reduced from his wider and far more significant vassalship over half of the State of Damot Ennariya before the onset of the Moslem and Oromo wars to the small Kingdom of Kambata during the 17th century, that is before his death in 1614. The Oromo migrations and wars resulted in the weakening of both Christian and Moslem power and drove a wedge between the two faiths along the eastern edge of the highlands. Thus the Abyssinian Christian Empire lost all its former jurisdictions over the State of Damot- Ennariya, including Kambata and many others for over four hundred solid years.
The Kambata, Dubamo, Donga and Tembaro peoples who have a population of about 747,307 (according to the 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia, CSO, Vol.1 Addis Abeba, p.66), are jointly referred to as the “Kambata peoples” but in my analysis they are generally mentioned separately under their respective names. They occupy an area of about 1,200 square kilometers, largely more than 2,000 meters above sea-level, between the Omo (Gibe) and the middle Bilate rivers. .
The language of the Kambata peoples, together with that of the Alaba (population 125,900; 1994 CSO census) and Kabena (population 35,072 1994 CSO census) forms a branch of “Highland East Cushitic.” They are peasants who conduct intensive agriculture, their principal crops being barley, cabbage, legumes and ensete ventricosum. Their settlements are in some cases over- populated (population density being about 300 people per square kilometer); and many inhabitants therefore are obliged to seek a living in other parts of Ethiopia. Augmenting this socilal mobility in search of livelihoods elsewhere, the Kambata have developed over a long people of time remarkable survival strategies and abilities to adjust to different and harsh environments and these qualities are well noted by many historians and social researchers. And this is also the glaring reality one can easily observe among the Kambata peoples in their own localities where one can witness a person who is alternately a farmer, a teacher, a butcher, a merchant, etc. at the same time thus trying to diversify his means of survival.
Be this as it may, resolving the problem of over-population in the Kambata province was traditionally attempted to be eased by the sole effort of the people themselves who moved out of their homeland as migrant laborers to the Awash valley agricultural farms (Wonji, Metehara, Abadir, etc.); to Maraqo as cultivators and collectors of “berbere” spice; to the Kaffa areas as collectors of coffee beans; and to many parts of Ethiopia in southern, south- western and south- eastern regions where employment opportunities were available. The problem had also been attempted to be resolved by successive regimes of Ethiopia through resettlement schemes, though many of these were not successful as they were not well planned and properly implemented, and most of all, not designed with the full participation and collaboration of the peoples at the receiving end. Today, many youngsters are fleeing the region (pushed out mainly by scarcity of cultivable land due to over- population ) in search of greener pastures in foreign lands, risking their lives while trying to illegally enter these countries such as South Africa , Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, etc. It is alleged that many dozens of young people from Kambata and Hadiya, and from many other regions of Ethiopia, are today languishing in horrible prisons inside Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi and Mozambique while trying to migrate to South Africa, their newly discovered land of great opportunities. Again, allegedly, many youngsters from the above mentioned areas have even been devoured by wild animals or killed by border guards while trying to cross illegally from Zimbabwe or Mozambique into South Africa. We also hear from time to time that among the many Kambata and Hadiya youngsters who trekked a long and difficult journey all the way from Moyale (a border town between Ethiopia and Kenya) to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania , Zambia, Burundi Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique using whatever means of transportation available there and who were able to enter South Africa and succeeded after many months or years of toil and hardwork in South African cities and towns in making sufficient money for themselves and their families awaiting them at home, working day and night without any rest, are sadly returning to their homeland in body bags, killed by dangerous criminals in South Africa. This is a very distressing situation and a serious predicament facing our young people in Ethiopia in general and Kambata in particular today
Some Notes on the History of Kambata
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the regions on both sides of the Omo (Gibe) river belonged to the State of Damot-Ennariya which was annexed by the Abyssinian Christian Empire of northern Ethiopia. Christianity was introduced to this region during the reign of Emperor Sarsa Dengel ( 1563-97). Kambata was then one of the provinces of this State. The first reference to Kambata as a political unit is found in a praise song in honor of Emperor Yeshak (1414-29) who annexed it as a province of the Christian Ethiopian Empire. In this song it is stated that Kambata was a country in which horses were bred-- something for which it has been noted up to the present day. The conquest was accompanied by the settlement of military colonists (chawa) from northern Ethiopia, mainly Amhara, and by a Christian missionary campaign. Towards the end of the fifteenth century the population of the region known later as Kambata Province (Awraja Gizat), between the Omo and the Bilate rivers, consisted essentially of three ethnically and socio-economically distinct strata. At the bottom were the Fuga, the Awado and the Saga, castes of potters, black-smiths, tanners and hunters whose ancestors may have been among the earliest inhabitants of the region. Above them were a broad stratum of cultivators, who as clan names and other indicators suggest, most probably belonged to the Sidama and Omotic-speaking peoples from the south. The upper stratum consisted of the Semitic speaking military colonists from northern Ethiopia, who evidently acquired not only in politics but also in the cultural fields an importance disproportionate to their relatively small numbers.
Soon after the outbreak of the Holy War (Jihad) of the Muslims of the State of Adal under Imam Ahmad G.Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Gragn Ahmed) against the Christian Ethiopian Empire in 1529, Kambata too became a battlefield. In 1532, the Adal Commander Abd an-Nasir conquered the province from the southeast. According to oral testimony, however, Christians who survived this conquest retired to the summit of the Ambarricho massif and saved their ritual objects. The province suffered such heavy loss of life that it became in the course of the sixteenth century an attractive target for invaders from the southeast.
In the wake of the troops of Abd an-Nasir, semi-nomadic Hadiya groups from Dallo (Bale), called Weto-gira (Gudela), migrated into the region between the Omo and the Bitate. From 1570 (if not earlier), the Oromo began to break out of their original homeland between the upper Ganale and upper Dawa and to exert pressure on the surrounding peoples. Unable to conquer the Sidama highlands, which were already relatively densely populated, they bypassed them in their great expansion towards the east; yet indirectly they caused some groups to emigrate from the region. Oral traditions state explicitly that in about the middle of the sixteenth century, the Effegenna, Ebejenna and Goromma fled northwards from the Sidama-Gedeo (Darassa) region in order to avoid Oromo rule. They settled on the Ambarricho massif in Kambata joining the earlier settlers from the Sidama-Darassa regions already living there, and being relatively populous groups, introduced their Highland East Cushitic language to Kambata. A related language was that of the ancestors of the Tembaro, who came from Yemererra in the central Sidama highlands and reached their present territory after a long migration through Alaba, Bosha and Dawro. At roughly the same time, i.e. between c. 1550-70, the ancestors of the Dubamo and the Donga, said in oral traditions to have been Christians, were on the move. Their origin can be traced back to Qawena in the eastern Sidama highlands. It can be assumed that the settlement of these groups in Kambata resulted in a marked supremacy of Highland East Cushitic languages, whilst Omotic and Semitic were pushed back to steadily shrinking linguistic islands and to their eventual extinction. In the economic sphere a differentiation emerged between the highlands, which were occupied by ensete farmers, and in the middle and lower regions, Hadiya nomads of the Weto-gira tribe grazed their livestock.
As mentioned earlier, in the aftermath of the Christian empire’s victorious war against Gragn Ahmed(1529-1543) and the latter’s demise at the battle of Woine Dega in 1543, Emperor Galawdeos appointed Ras (Abetohun) Htamelmal as governor of half of the kingdom of Ennarya that also included Kambata then. As Atme G.M. reminisces:
“Being the descendant of kings and the bearer of the title abetohun, Ras Hamalmal, in that period, ruled half of the kingdom of Ennarya, namely Kambat[a], Walamo [Wolayta], Kullo, Konta, Zanzaro [Yem], Garo, Ennar’ot as far as Barbare-Meder, including Maraqo , and on the other side as far as Kafa. Chawa (soldiers) were posted with their respective commanders in all these places. While they settled under their respective commanders they failed to assist one another when the Moslems and Galla came. They split up under their respective commanders and localities. They also differed highly from one another in language. The mother tongue of Kafa, Kullo, Konta, Walamo, Kambata, Maraqo, and Zanjaro, Garo and Enar’at is Ennarya, and they all resemble each other. The unity in language and religion can clearly be seen today.” [ Atme G.M. (Tafla) O.J.:71f].
Abetohun Hamalmal(1551-1614), as historical records confirm, was the grand-son of Emperor Naod (1494-1508) through his mother Romanewerq, daughter of the Emperor [Basset 1882-116]. He was also one of the key generals of Emperor Gelawdewos (1540-59) who undertook several war expeditions to different parts of the country to oust the remnants of Gragn Ahmed from the Christian strongholds. In 1559, he was ordered, with another general Ras Fassil to attack Harar which was at the time the major center of Islam. This expedition is well illustrated by Atme G.M. in the following words:
“The Negus [Gallawdewos] gave an order that Ras Fassil and Ras Hamalmal, the Governor of Kambata, should invade Hararge. He has disbanded the remainder of his army and did not have time to mobilize it. Furthermore, the clergy was urging him on with the great promise: ‘Should you fall into the hands of Nur Muhammad [Amir Nur b. Mujahid; the still resisting and strongest general of Gragn Ahmed after the latter’s death] you will become a martyr and reign in heaven.’ Thus he led an expedition into the country of Adal, where he died at a place called Nach-Sar on the border of Wallo. Ras Fassil and Ras Hamalmal set out from Kambat via Malka Amhara and Annya and reached Adari (Harari). In those days, the rultan of Harar was Habib, who was in his time a great and dreaded man. They fought a fierce battle in the plain named Sayyedna- Hasheem at the Yarar-Gate. Sultan Habib died, and Ras Hamalmal entered Adari, burned it and demolished all the mosques. In short, he wrought great destruction and then returned home. He had not yet heard of the death of Atse Galawdewos” [Atme G.M.(Tafla ) O.J.:29].
Soon afterwards the Oromo invasions and migrations marked the eclipse of the Moslem onslaughts against the Abyssinian Christian empire and the latter had to make futile attempts at curbing waves after waves of Oromo warriors invading and forcefully occupying many territories inside and outside of the Christian and Moslem jurisdiction and control of the day but to no avail. Ras Hamalmal fought Luba Michile (Mesle) at Dago in Arsi province in around 1560, thus repulsing the Oromo invaders from occupying Kambata and the adjacent territories which were then under the Christian empire. Hamalmal firmly retained his governorship of the Kingdom of Kambata, long after the Oromo invasions. When the Portuguese delegation led by Father Fernandez reached Kambata, on the orders of Emperor Susneyos, in 1614, Hamalmal was still the governor of Kambata. Buckingham and Huntingford noted of this situation as follows;
“Traveling eastwards from the river Zebee[Gibe] the Father [Fernandes] reached Innagara, a place in the Kingdom of Cambat, which was governed by Hamalmal who at that time recognized the emperor as his overlord . To the left there are people called Guragues who do not often obey the emperor” [Fernandez (Buckingham /Huntingford) 1954 162-76]. The Portuguese explorer Almeida who was at Emperor Susneyos’s court in 1614 also confirms about Ras Hamalmal being the Governor of Kabmata and a faithful vassal of the emperor thus:
“The fact that Hamalmal, amid so many Galla countries, obeyed him [the emperor] and still accorded him some recognition was rather because he was well-disposed and a vassal of old standing, than because the empire was strong enough to make him do it if he had wished to revolt. So today Cambata does not pay any tribute nor does the emperor appoint a governor for that kingdom, it all belongs to various Galla and Moorish lords who hold and rule it. At the time the emperor did what he could.” [Ibid, 1954:165]. Emperor Susneyos reigned in Gondar from 1607-32.
Ras (Abetohun )Hamalmal’s story and the Oyeta dynasty he founded in Kambata seems to have evoked a funny twist in the oral traditions of the Kambata people. A tradition widely known in Kambata states that seven groups at the summit of the Ambarricho massif, who had survived the upheavals of the long-lasting “Holy war” (‘Jihad’) , formed a federation (Kokata). The names of these ‘seven of the Ambarricho’ (‘ambarricho lamala’) are generally given as Oyeta, Gulba, Hinnira, Taza, Effegena, Ebejjinna and Fuga. According to an etiological tale, a hunger contest is supposed to have determined their internal hierarchy and secured the kingship for the Oyeta group or clan. Whereas hitherto Kambata had merely been a political term, from the end of the sixteenth century onwards a process of ethno-genesis drew together heterogeneous groups, symbolized by the number seven; and from this process emerged the Kambata people. All the remaining groups referred to as ‘Kambata peoples’ based on their common language are also symbolized by the number seven (Molli lamala among the Tembaro, Dongi lamala among the Donga, Dubami lamala among the Dubamo). The population of Kambata (in the narrow sense ) was stratified according to ethnic origin: the Oyeta (Ras Hamalmal’s dynasty) who claimed to originate from Gondar, formed the royal clan; the Gulba from Bulga ( Shoa) formed a clan of nobles; the originally Omotic-speaking Hinnira and Taza made up an upper stratum of ‘free commoners’ while the lower stratum of free commoners was composed of Efegenna and Ebejjenna, who had become linguistically dominant; finally, the Fuga, the Saga and the Awado, formed endogamous castes of artisans–carpenters, hunters, potters, blacksmiths, etc. Today, no social stratification exists among the first four groups who have freely intermarried and intermingled among themselves over the past several hundreds of years; they all enjoy equal status in all walks of life. But the social status of the last groups (Fuga, Saga and Awado) still remains unpalatable to all people who believe in the equality of all human beings and their equal treatment in all aspects of life, in brief, respecting their inalienable human rights. Personally, I believe that if the Fuga, Saga and Awado had the upper hand in leading the Kambata people over the past several hundreds of years, perhaps, we would have become a technological or industrial society today as these three groups were the ones who had great skills in making armors of war, agricultural tools, kitchen utensils, pottery, tannery, hunting, etc. The whole Kambata society depended, and still depend, upon their skills and output for many generations up until today.
Ras Hamalmal is considered to have been the first king of the Oyeta dynasty, which was named after his wife Oyete (Hayat), daughter of Hajj Ali(ye) Ismael Jeberti, a religious and war leader of the Azernet- Berbere (eastern Gurage) at the time. As mentioned earlier, this Hamalmal is mentioned in the report of the Portuguese Jesuit Antonio Fernandes, who in 1613/14 undertook a mission from the Ethiopian imperial court at Gondar through Kambata. Thus the chronology for the beginning of the Oyeta dynasty can be fixed. Hamalmal was nominally the governor of Kambata province in the name of the Christian empire. In practice, however, he was independent, especially as the expansion of the Oromo into Shoa has broken the territorial link with the Abyssinian state. Relations with the Christian north were broken off almost in the course of the seventeenth century; yet survivals of Christian Orthodox traditions have been retained to the present day.
From Hamalmal’s time onwards, Kambata served as a refuge for political refugees and economically threatened groups from southern and northern Ethiopia. The immigrants, such as Amhara from Gaynt (Begemedir), Bulga (Shoa), Manz(Shoa) and people from the Hadiya and Ormo regions, often became the founders of new clans, whose number rose in the course of time to about one hundred or more. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Kambata remained restricted to a small territory around the Ambarricho massif due to the consequences of the devastating wars of Iman Gragn Ahmed (1529-43) and his generals Abd an-Nasir (1532) and Nur Ibn Mujjahid(1529-68), and the subsequent massive Oromo migrations (1570-1870), while Hadiya herdsmen who came along with the Muslim jihadists continued to control and use most of the area between the Omo and the Bilate rivers for grazing. The Kambata peoples were famed for their sophisticated agricultural techniques and their surplus production; yet population pressure (itself in part a consequence of this agricultural success) presented a growing threat to their existence.
No written records exist about Hamalmal’s immediate successors. However, Kambata (Oyeta) oral traditions confirm Dame (Demelash), Anno (Enniyew), Ketemo (Ketema), Dil’aba and Gonjobo as Hamalmal’s immediate successors. For the kingdoms of Dubamo, Donga and Tembaro, too, the period from the beginning of the seventeenth to the middle of the eighteenth century is a dark phase, though they also have their own oral accounts of this period. One event which was of significance for religious and political history was the kidnapping of a spirit medium, the hauzul-mancho from Bosha, by the Dubamo. According to oral traditions or accounts, the Kambata owed tribute to the Hadiya of the Wetogira tribe, to whom they were also under humiliating conditions. In about 1770, their king Katama managed, with the help of other Hadiya groups (the Shashogo and Urusso), to drive out the Weto–gira Hadiya tribes (Haballo, Bargage, Hojje, Han’qalla, Hayiba, Haysaba, Gonda’la, Errera and Massawa; these were part of the Moslem jihadists that conquered Kambata and led by Abd an–Nasir in 1532). The murder of Dil’aba, Katama’s immediate successor, shortly afterwards by Hadallo Gebro [Gebru, Ketema’s brother], a member of the Oyeta royal clan, was followed by a period of succession disputes and civil wars which lasted about ten years. Under King Waqo Ketema (c.1790-1810) the Kambata state was again consolidated.
The Donga had successfully striven for some time under their woma(king ) Hanagassa to extend their territory. In about 1770, however , the Badawacho Hadiya pushed them back to their small mountain homeland. Around 1800, they and their neighbors, the Dubamo, fell under the overlord-ship of the Soro-Hadiya, who had advanced from the north. The Tembaro were able to maintain their independence and became notorious for their raids into the country lying southwest of them, extending beyond Dawro (Kullo-Konta).
Under king Dagoiye Waqo(c. 1810-45) a ‘formative’ period began in Kambata, in which the institutions of the state acquired their essential features, and Kambata began to extend its territory by a deliberate programme of colonisation, pushing the Wolayta and the Hadiya peoples. As in many kingdoms of southern Ethiopia (e.g. Wolayta, Janjero), the newly acquired areas were in each case demarcated by a system of walls and ditches, which served in part as fortifications but had a more important symbolic significance.
Kambata enjoyed its ‘classical’ age under woma (king) Dilbatto Degoiye (c.1845-92), who was highly respected among the peoples of central southern Ethiopia. Under his rule the institutions of state reached their highest stage of development An administrative apparatus sub-dividing the territory into counties (gocho ) was created, and diplomatic and military measures led to a considerable extension of the area covered by the state (reaching roughly the present-day linguistic boundaries of the Kambata ). The main military conflicts were with the Soro-Hadiya and the Wolayta , whereas the other Hadiya tribes and the Alaba were tied to the Kambata state by alliances and inter marriage. The rise of the monarchy and of the Oyeta clan was accompanied by growing clashes of interest and socio-economic antagonisms between the ruling stratum and the mass of the peasantry (kontoma). An insurrection (‘kontomi didenna’) which broke out in about 1885 was crushed by king Dilbatto with the help of friendly Hadiya groups (mainly Badawacho).
At this time Kambata already lay within the field of operations of the Shoa Amhara, who had occupied the Gurage country and were beginning to extend their conquests into the areas immediately south of it. Between 1891 and 1893 the Kambata peoples were subjugated by the Christian Ethiopian empire under Emperor Menilik II . This meant the end of the kingship and the beginning of a new political and socio-economic era, characterized above all by the gabbar system. The inhabitants were allotted as bondsmen or serfs of the state (gabbar) to military colonists (naftagna or gun-bearer) from the north colonizing the conquered peoples including the earlier colonists called ‘chawa’ who migrated to the region since the time of emperor Yeshaq of Gondar (1414-29) and were obliged to pay taxes in kind and perform corvee–like services. Insurrections against this state of affairs broke out in many parts of southern Ethiopia, particularly during the civil war of 1916 during the reign of Lij Eyasu Michael. Conquest by the Ethiopian empire was followed by a (re) Christianization of the Kambata region; but it was not until the 1950s that this process was completed, thanks partly to the work of Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries. The Amhara introduced new crops (e.g. eragrostis teff) and ox-drawn ploughs; but in the highlands to this day the latter has only managed to gain a secondary place vis-à-vis the traditional agricultural tools-- the digging- stick and hoe. An important innovation was the emergence of centers of administration and commercial activities (katama) in a country where the only form of settlement had been that of loosely grouped hamlets and far-flung villages. The gabbar system was abolished by the Italians and was not reintroduced after the reinstatement of Emperor Haile Sellassie I by the British in 1941. The landlord-tenant system which then emerged did not fundamentally alter socio- economic relationships. Fortunately, most Kambata, especially in the densely populated highlands, were in any case peasants on land which was considered as belonging to their communities and for which only a relatively small tax had to be paid to the state. Large estates were promised to those descendants of kings who were appointed balabat (government chief) and to people of the Oyela clan. Overpopulation in the core area of the Kamabata made it increasingly necessary for landless peasants to seek their living standards among self- sufficient smallholders from about 1960 on. In general however, the material quality of life remained so low that the majority of inhabitants of the Kambata areas greeted the revolution which broke out in 1974 and the proclamation of a land reform with great optimism, which, however, was dashed due to the ill-advised programmes of forced villagization, forced resettlement in remote and harsh environments as well as the inability of peasants to sell their agricultural surplus produce at the market price and at places of their choice or preference but forcefully supply their products to the state-owned Agricultural Marketing Enterprise (AMCE) at government set prices and quantities. This, in brief, covers some aspects of the history of Kambata from the 14th to the 20th century.
Appendix I
List of Major Clans of Kambata
No. Name of clan Claimed Origin of Approx Period
Migration of Migration
1. Oyeta (Ras Hamalmal’s Gondar 16th century
Dynasty)
2. Gulba Bulga (shoa) 16th “
3. Nurto Gondar 16th “
4. Hajibbo(Hate)Amhara Gayint Before 15th century
5. Ongot (ta) Gayint “ “ “
6. Ennagos /Dildiy/ Amhara Gayint 17th century
7. Quntanno Gondar 16th “
8. Sintarro Gondar 16th “
9. Qorandi- Amhara Manz (Shoa) 17th “
10. Ennagari- Amhara Manz, Enner Gurage 17th “
11. Garado- Amhara Manz (Shoa) 18th “
12. Abrahmi- Amhara Manz (Shoa) 17th “
13. Wolde-Amhara Manz (Shoa) 18th “
14. Dawaro Manz (Shoa) 18th “
15. Masmas(a) Chilga (Gondar) 16th “
16. Agawa Agewmedir (Gojjam) 16th “
17. Gafat (a) Gafat (Wollo) 15th “
18. Dola(Dubamo) Gondar 16th “
19. Gojjinna(“) Gondar 16th “
20. Golacha ( “) Gondar 16th “
21. Gojjinna(“) Gondar 16th “
22. Gulla(“) Gondar 16th “
23. Suara(“) Gondar 16th “
24. Zambochicho Gondar 16th “
25. Badogo Dallo (Bale) 16th “
26. Damota(Woshbirra) Arsi, Gadab, Wolayta 18th “
27. Dada Arsi, Endegagn 19th “
28. Dawe Arsi-Dida’a 18th “
29. Farzanno(Farzanna) Albaso (Arsi) 18th
30. Zato Borana (Oromo) 17th ”
31. Bonoso Yem, Jimma 17th “
32. Gabara Arsi-Did’a 18th century
33. Gadena Arsi 18th century
34. Galla(Adamogne) Wabi Shebele, Arsi 18th century
35. Gora Jimma 18th “
36. Gorakama Jimma 18th “
37. Gujji Gujji -Oromo 18th “
38. Hambarazo Arsi 18th “
39. Qarisso Eka (Arsi) 19th “
40. Malga Arsi, Sidama 16th “
41. Wolleqa Wollega-Oromo 18th “
42. Womallo Borana 18th “
43. Worarra Werera (Arsi) 18th
44. Yabbu Kalalle(Zwai lake) 18th “
45. Haballo Dallo (Bale) 16th
46. Hayiba Dallo (Bale) 16th “
47. Hojje Dallo (Bale) 16th “
48. Qilemanna Dallo (Bale) 16th “
49. Jawarro Gadab (Wabi Shebelle) 19th “
50. Godicho Gadab (“ “) 19th “
51. Sarorre Gadab (“ “) 19th “
52. Gonderomma Dallo(Bale) 16th “
53. Haderamma Dallo(Bale) 16th “
54. Muta Dallo(Bale) 16th “
55. Zedinno Dallo(Bale) 16th “
56. Doda Dallo, Gadab 19th “
57. Awda Sidama 17th “
58. Malge Sidama 15th “
59. Ennerra Sidama 15th “
60. Jigga Sidama 18th “
61. Jumma Sidama 18th “
62. Hessesse(ta) Sidama, Borana 18th “
63. Churrissa (Donga) Sidama, Guraghe 16th-17th “
64. Lambuda (“) “ “ 16th-17th “
65. Lanchamo (“) “ “ 16th-17th “
66. Magalalle (“) “ “ 16th-17th “
67. Mattafarsa (Donga) Sidama, Guraghe 16-17th century
68. Orgo (“) Sidama, Guraghe 16-17th “
69. Sintyanno (“) “ “ 16-17th “
70. Adde (Tembaro) Yemerrra (Sidama) 16th “
71. Ajjarra (“) “ “ 16th “
72. Qutna (Quunna) (Tembarro) “ “ 16th “
73. Sambata (“) “ “ 16th “
74. Tase (“) “ “ 16th “
75. Wajja (“) “ “ 16th “
76. Yagga (“) “ “ 16th “
77. Hinnira Wolayta, Ennariya 15th “
78. Goromma Wolayta 18th “
79. Bubulla Wolayta 19th “
80. Makuta Gamo 18th “
81. Damota Wolayta 18th “
82. Derreja Gamo 18th “
83. Dubbo Qucha, Dubbo,Araka(Wolayta) 18th “
84. Goromma Wolayta 18th “
85. Tigra- Wolayta Kindo, Kosha(Wolayta) 18th “
86. Weshesha Wolayta, Donga, Danta 18th “
87. Zakete Qucha (Gamo-Goffa) 18th “
88. Borojmalla (Borodamalla) Qucha (Gamo-Goffa) 18th “
89. Effegenna Gedeo 16th century
90. Ebejjena Gedeo 16th “
91. Guna Guna(Lemo) 19th “
92. Odro Lemo-Hadiya 19th “
93. Moche Badawacho-Hadiya 19th “
94. Tarachmanna Shashogo- Hadiya 19th “
95. Annashakko Alaba, Qabena 19th “
96. Azera Azernet –Berbere 18th “
97. Dada Endegagn(east Guraghe) 19th “
98. Endanna Ennariya, Endegagn 18th “
99. Gejja Geja(North Guraghe) 18th “
100. Ganz Ganz (Qabena) 15-18th century
101. Jorra Enner- Guraghe 18th century
102. Omoshogorra Ennariya, Masmas, 18th century
Enamor-Guraghe
103. Saga Guraghe Before 15th century
104. Werreza Qabena/Guraghe, 17th century
105. Fuga(Annosa, Masmas, Guraghe, Before 15th century
Badagosa, Bidirra Ennariya
Boriye, Bosha, Gacha,
Gajicho, Gashdessa,
Gauwossa, Hojiya (Hokiya)
Marenmanna, Masmassa,
Nega’a, Tontosa (Dontosa),
Woiyoso)
References
1. Atme, G.M. History of the Galla (Yegalla Tarik), part I translated by Bairu Tafla, O.O. (Ms) Azais, R. P.and R. Chambard , 1942.
2. Braukamper, Ulrich, Die Kambata Franz Steiner Verlagh GMBH, Weisbaden, 1983
3. Buckingham, C.F. and G. B.W. Huntingford (Eds.). Some Records of Ethiopia 1593-1646; Being Extracts from the History of High Ethiopia or Abassia by Manoel de Almeida together with Bahrey’s History of the Galla [Oromo ],(Hakluyt Society II, CVII), London
4. Cerulli, Ernesta Peoples of South –west Ethiopia and Its
Borderland, London, 1956
5. Ethiopia: The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia,
CSO, 1994, Addis Ababa
6. Haberland, E. The Influence of the Christian Ethiopian Empire on Southern Ethiopia , In Journal of Semitic Studies IX: 235-38
7. Hodson, A. Seven Years in Southern Ethiopia , London, 1927
8. Leslaw, w. Additional Notes on Kambata of Southern Ethiopia, In: Arthropods 51, 5/6 :985-93 , 1956
9. Leslaw, w. Notes on Kambata of Southern Ethiopia, In: Africa, XXII:348-59 , 1952
10. Ludolph(us),J. A New History of Ethiopia: Being a Full and Accurate Description of the Kingdom of Abyssinia, vulgarly though Erroneously called the Empire of Prester John, London, 1682.
11. Moreno, M.M. Appunti di Cambata e di Alaba, In: RRAL, ser. VI, XIV,3/4 =269-79
12. Singer, N.J. The Use of Courts as a Key to Legal Development: an Analysis of Legal Attitudes of the Cambata of Ethiopia, In Proceedings of the First United States Conference of Ethiopian Studies, 1973. s. 365-83 East Lansing , 1975
13. Singer, N.J. Some Notes on the origin of the Cambata of southern Ethiopia, Tuscaloosa (Ms.), 1977.
14. Singer, N.J. The Relevance of Traditional Legal Systems to Modernization and Reform: a Consideration of Cambata Legal Structure, In Tubiana, J. (Ed.), Modern Ethiopia :From the Accession of Menelik II to the Present, S.. 537 -56 ,Rotterdam , 1980
15. Yigezu,s. Kambata Awraja: Its People and Local Administration, Addis Abeba (Ms)1970.
16. Dagana Bafutte Did’ana Oral History of Kambata, 1986. The late Dagna Bafutte Did ‘ana was a well known Oyeta notable who died at the age of 90 in 1992.
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