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*[[Capt. Aster Tolossa]] Ethiopian Jet Pilot (1st woman pilot to shoot down a jet in air-to-air warfare)
*[[Capt. Aster Tolossa]] Ethiopian Jet Pilot (1st woman pilot to shoot down a jet in air-to-air warfare)
* [[Capt. Bulcha Debossie]] - Decorated Ethiopian senior pilot during Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] I
* [[Capt. Bulcha Debossie]] - Decorated Ethiopian senior pilot during Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] I
⚫
*[[Haile Selassie I]]- Emperor of [[Ethiopia]], 1930-1974
*[[Tilahun Gessesse]] - Famous Ethiopian Singer
*[[Tilahun Gessesse]] - Famous Ethiopian Singer
⚫
*[[Haile Selassie I]]- Emperor of [[Ethiopia]], 1930-1974
*[[Ras Makonnen]] -[[Father of Haile Selassie I]],[[Battle of Adwa]] top general & cousin of Emperor [[Menelik II]]
* [[Fitawrari]] [[Woldemikael Guddessa]] - Grand father of Emperor Haile Selasie I & commander of Ethiopian armed forces.
*[[Onesimos Nesib]] - evangelist and translator of Bible into the Oromo language
*[[Onesimos Nesib]] - evangelist and translator of Bible into the Oromo language
* [[Tafari Benti|Teferi Benti]] - former Ethiopian president
* [[Tafari Benti|Teferi Benti]] - former Ethiopian president
Line 113: Line 115:
* [[Negasso Gidada]] former Ethiopian president
* [[Negasso Gidada]] former Ethiopian president
* [[Bulcha Demeksa]] - Chairman of [[Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement]] (OFDM)
* [[Bulcha Demeksa]] - Chairman of [[Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement]] (OFDM)
* [[Merara Gudina]] - Chairman of the opposition party Oromo Peoples Congress (OPC), executive member of [[United Ethiopian Democratic Forces]] (UEDF)
*[[Tilahun Gessesse]] - famous Ethiopian singer
*[[Ras Gobena]] - famous and controversial 1800s Oromo figure who allied with Emperor [[Menelik II]]
*[[Ras Gobena]] - famous and controversial 1800s Oromo figure who allied with Emperor [[Menelik II]]
*[[Abdus Ibrahim]] - [[United States|American]] soccer (football) player, plays for [[FC Dallas]].
*[[Abdus Ibrahim]] - [[United States|American]] soccer (football) player, [[FC Dallas]], FC Toronto.
*[[Leencoo Lata]]- a writer and one of the founders of [[Oromo Liberation Front]] (OLF).
*[[Leencoo Lata]]- a writer and one of the founders of [[Oromo Liberation Front]] (OLF).
*[[Beka Yahya]] - One of the first Oromo Actor in the US. Well known in the Oromo community
*[[Beka Yahya]] - One of the first Oromo Actor in the US. Famous in the Oromo community


==Notable Oromo Athletics==
==Notable Oromo Athletics==

Revision as of 11:51, 7 August 2008

Oromo
File:Dej Balcha Aba Nefso.jpg
Regions with significant populations
Ethiopia
Languages
Oromo
Religion
Sunni Islam, Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, Protestant, Traditional
Related ethnic groups
Afar, Agaw, Amhara, Beja, Hadiya, Sidama, Tigray and Somali
For the language, see Oromo language.

The Oromo are an African ethnic group found in Ethiopia and to a lesser extent in Kenya. They are the largest single ethnic group in Ethiopia, at 32.1% of the population according to the 1994 census, and today numbering around 25 million.[1] Their native language is the Oromo language (also called Afaan Oromoo, and Oromiffa).

History

The Oromo are one of the Cushitic speaking groups of people living in Eastern and North Eastern Africa. Cushitic speakers have inhabited parts of north-eastern and eastern Africa for as long as recorded history. Oromos are found predominantly in Ethiopia (99%), but are spread from as far as northern Ethiopia (southern Tigray Region) to (mainly northern) Kenya, even as far south as Lamu Island. The Oromo represent one of largest of the Cushitic groups inhabiting the Horn of Africa. Their physical features, culture, language and other evidences unequivocally point to the fact that they are indigenous to this part of Africa. Available information clearly indicates that the Oromo existed as a community of people for thousands of years in East Africa (Prouty at al, 1981). Bates (1979) contends, "The Gallas [sic] were a very ancient race, the indigenous stock, perhaps, on which most other peoples in this part of eastern Africa have been grafted".

While further research is needed to precisely comprehend the origin of Oromo people, it is well known that Oromo people come from a line of pastoralist/nomadic group and/or semi-agriculturalist group. It is likely that they have existed for a longer period of time side by side with their northern Semitic-speaking neighbors. There is a wealth of oral history that describe interactions between the two group dating back as early as the 6th century. [citation needed].

During the 16th century, following the wars between the kingdom of Ethiopia and the neighboring Sultanate of Adal, which resulted in the exhaustion of both states, Oromos moved north into their territories. The Ethiopian monk Bahrey, writing in 1593, attributed the Oromo success to the existence of too many non-fighting classes in the ruling non-Oromo hierarchy, as opposed to the Oromos, whom he described as having a homogeneous warrior class.[2] Bahrey also explained their spread into northwestern areas such as Arsi, Shewa, Welega, and Gojjam and northeastern areas like Hararghe and Wollo as result of their inhospitable homeland.[3] Harold G. Marcus suggests northwest Borena as the original homeland of the Oromo.[4]

Settled Oromo started to integrate with their Amharic-speaking neighbors at least from the 17th century on. Also, several Oromo chieftains obtained power in government of the monarchy. Particularly Emperor Iyoas I (1730-55), who was half Oromo, favored his mother's Oromo kinsmen and allies, and in his era, the Oromo language was the language of the court in Gondar.

By the late 18th century, the power of the central government of Ethiopia had waned, and local governors and kings enjoyed greater autonomy. During this era (which lasted until 1855), known as the Zemene Mesafint, the Oromo dynasty of chiefs of Yejju were the most important continuous line of warlords to dominate the figurehead emperors of Ethiopia. They became sub-kings of Begemder, Enderases (Regents) of the empire, as well as imperial fathers-in-law. Ras Ali I of Yejju achieved this dominance in 1779, and it continued, although contested by other warlords, until the 1855 defeat of Ras Ali II of Yejju by the upstart Kassa Hailu (who in that year became Emperor Tewodros II). Due to the powerlessness of the Emperor of Ethiopia during the Zemene Mesafint, the Yejju Oromo were effectively the rulers of Ethiopia.

Other tribes and chiefs of the Oromo people were also prominent, such as lady Menen of Wollo who became Empress in 1800s; Ras Mohammad of Wollo who became Ras Mikael, later Negus of Siyon and father of Emperor Iyasu V; and another lady Menen, of Ambassel, who became Empress consort of Haile Selassie.

In order to integrate with the imperial power and family, a large share of the Oromo converted to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity during these centuries. As one of the last such developments, in late 1800s Emperor Yohannes IV ordered the Oromo tribe of Wollo to convert to Christianity within six months at the threat of losing their property. Such a threat had caused many Wollo Oromos to leave their homeland and migrate further to the South. Their leader was Ras Mohammed who became Ras Mikael and later made an imperial marriage, becoming the father of Emperor Iyasu V.

Subgroups

The Oromo are divided into two major branches that break down into an assortment of clan families. From west to east, these subgroups are:

The Borana which include:

And countless subdivisions.

The Barento/Barentuma which include:

And countless subdivisions.

Society and culture

Oromo society was traditionally structured in accordance with gadaa, a social stratification system partially based on an eight-year cycle of age sets, but over the centuries the age sets grew out-of-alignment with the actual ages of their members, and some time in the 1800s another age set system was instituted. Under gadaa, every eight years the Oromo would hold a popular assembly called the Gumi Gayo, at which laws were established for the following eight years. A democratically elected leader, the Abba Gada, presided over the system for an eight-year term. Gadaa is no longer in wide practice but remains influential.

In a short article, Geoffrey W. Arnott described an Oromo rite of passage in which young men run over the backs of bulls surrounded by the village community.[5] Bruce Parry filmed the same practice among the Hamar people for his BBC television series "Tribe" transmitted in July 2006. Arnott's interest lay in making a comparison with bull-leaping at Knossos in the Aegean Bronze Age.

Religion

Muslim is the most practiced faith among the Oromo. In the 1994 Ethiopian census in the 85% Oromo region of Oromia, 44.3% were Muslims, 41.3% Orthodox Christians, 8.6% Protestants, 4.2% Traditional, and the remaining 1.6% constitute other religious groups. Protestant Christianity is the fastest growing religion inside the Oromo community. In urban Oromia Orthodox Christians constitute 67.8% of the population, followed by Muslims 24.0% and Protestants 7%.[6]

Politics

History

Historically, the Afaan Oromo speaking people used the indigenous Gadaa system of governance that is relatively said to be more democratic than other forms of governance in the region. Many Oromo communities - most notably Gibe Kingdoms, around Jimma - gradually adopted monarchy and other forms of governance in the later centuries of 2nd Millennium. Such changes occurred to due the growing influence of Islam from the east and Orthodox Christianity from the north as well as power struggle between opposing Oromo communities.

Both the peaceful and violent competition and integration between Oromos and others neighboring ethnicities of Amhara, Sidama, Somali and others shaped up politics inside the Oromo community historically. Northern Expansion of Oromos, particularly the Arsi, to ethnic Somali and Sidama territories; the Yejju and other Oromo communities to the north, mirrored the southern expansion of Amharas to influence the current ethnic politics in Ethiopia.[7]

During the last two centuries, Oromos who have not integrated with the Amhara have not had fair political power inside Ethiopia. However, ethnically mixed Ethiopians with Oromo background made up a high percentage of Ethiopian generals and leaders. The Wollo Oromo (particularly the Raya Oromo and Yejju Oromo) were early Oromo holders of power among the increasingly mixed Ethiopian state. The later north-to-south movement of central power in Ethiopia led to Oromos in Shewa holding power in Ethiopia together with the Shewan Amhara. This led to more political and ethnic mixture between Amhara and Oromo in Shewa region, to the degree that northern Amharas labeled Shewan Amharas using the derogatory term "Galla." [8] According to a report by HRW, the large presence of assimilated Oromos inside the Ethiopian government did not benefit Oromos who did not assimilate.

In terms of descent, the group that became politically dominant in Shewa - and Subsequently in Ethiopia - was a mixture of Amhara and Oromo; in terms of language, religion and cultural practices, it was Amhara.[9]

Nonetheless, both ethnically mixed Oromos and those with full Oromo descent held high leadership positions in Ethiopia. Notably Iyasu V was the designated but uncrowned Emperor of Ethiopia (1913 - 1916) while Haile Selassie I was the de jure Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. Both these Ethiopian Emperors are ethnically mixed, with Oromo parents and lineages. During the Zemene Mesafint or "Age of Princes" of Ethiopia, Emperors became figureheads, controlled by warlords like Ras Mikael Sehul of Tigray, and by the Oromo Yejju dynasty, which later led to 17th century Oromo rule of Gondar, changing the language of the court from Amharic to Afaan Oromo.[10][11] By the 1880s, Sahle Selassie, king of Shewa (the later Emperor Menelik II) allied with Ras Gobena's Shewan Oromo militia to expand his kingdom to the South and East, expanding into areas that hadn't been held together since the invasion of Ahmed Gragn.[12] Other famous leader of Ethiopia with Oromo descent was Ras Makonnen Woldemikael Gudessa, the governor of Harar who served as the top general in the First Italo–Ethiopian War, playing a key role at the Battle of Adwa. He is the father of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I. [13]

Current

Most Oromos do not have political unity today due to their historical roles in the Ethiopian state and the region, the spread out movement of different Oromo clans and the differing religions inside the Oromo nation. Accordingly, Oromos played major roles in all three main political movements in Ethiopia (centralist, federalist and secessionist) during the 19th and 20th century. In addition to holding high powers during the centralist government and the monarchy, the Raya Oromos in Tigray played a major role in the revolt inside the Tigray regional state, known as "Weyane" revolt, challenging Emperor Haile Selassie I's rule in the 1940s. [14] Simultaneously, both federalist and secessionist political forces developed inside the Oromo community.

Presently, a number of ethnic based political organizations have been formed to promote the interests of the Oromo. The first was the Mecha and Tulama Self-Help Organization, founded in January 1963, but was disbanded by the government after several increasingly tense confrontations in November, 1966.[15] Later groups include the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), the United Liberation Forces of Oromia (ULFO), the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromia (IFLO), the Oromia Liberation Council (OLC), the Oromo National Congress (ONC, recently changed to OPC) and others. Another group, the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), is one of the four parties that form the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition. However, these Oromo groups do not act in unity: the ONC, for example, was part of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces coalition that challenged the EPRDF in the Ethiopian general elections of 2005.

A number of these groups seek to create an independent Oromo nation, some using armed force. Meanwhile the ruling OPDO and several opposition political parties in the Ethiopian parliament believe in the unity of the country which has 80 different ethnicities that have been intermarrying and living together for centuries. But most Oromo opposition parties in Ethiopia condemn the economic and political inequalities in the country. Progress has been very slow with the Oromia International Bank just recently established in 2008 though Oromo ownedAwash International Bank started early in the 1990s and with the first private Afaan Oromo newspaper in Ethiopia, Jimma Times, also known as Jimma Yeroo, recently established. University departments in Ethiopia did not establish curriculum in Afaan Oromo until few did in the late 1990s.

Various human rights organizations have publicized the government persecution of Oromos in Ethiopia for decades. In 2008, OFDM opposition party condemned the government's indirect role in the death of hundreds of Oromos in western Ethiopia. [16]

Nomenclature

The Oromo used to be called called Galla by non-Oromo Ethiopians, and one may encounter this name in older texts, but Oromos have never used this to refer to themselves, and it is considered a pejorative term. Historically, some people among the northern Amhara community used the label "Galla" derogatorily to label Oromos as well as to label Shewan or southern Amharas who were mostly mixed with Oromo.[17]

However, when Charles Tutschek, writing in the mid 19th century, researched the Oromo, "his informants, according to their published letters, used Galla as a term of self-reference."[18] The name has fallen into disfavor and is now considered to be pejorative, possibly because of a folk etymology for "Galla" (that it came from Qal la/كَل, pronounced similar to Gal la, Arabic for "ney/no way") that implies they refused Muhammad's offer to convert to Islam. In the Somali language, the word gaal means "non-Muslim" or "stranger", a possible reference to the Oromo and their old pagan religion.[19]

Notable Oromo

Notable Oromo Athletics

See also

References

  1. ^ Central Intelligence Agency (2007-11-01). "Ethiopia (People)" (HTML). The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2007-11-09. Population: 76,511,887... Ethnic groups: Oromo 32.1%
  2. ^ Bahrey, "History of the Galla" (1593). Translated by C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford in Some Records of Ethiopia 1593-1646 (London: The Hakluyt Society, 1954). This is the earliest known account of the Oromo.
  3. ^ Marcus, Harold G. A History of Ethiopia. (University of California Press, updated edition: 2002), pp. 37. ISBN 0-520-22479-5
  4. ^ Marcus, A History of Ethiopia, p. 35.
  5. ^ Arnott, "Bull Leaping as Inititation Ritual," Liverpool Classical Monthly 18 (1993), pp. 114-116
  6. ^ FDRE States: Basic Information - Oromia, Population (accessed 26 March 2006)
  7. ^ Oromo and Amhara rule in Ethiopia
  8. ^ northern Amhara regarded the Shewans as "Galla"
  9. ^ Background and consequence of Oromos in Ethiopian leadership
  10. ^ Pankhurst, Richard, The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles, (London:Oxford University Press, 1967), pp. 139–43.
  11. ^ 17th century Oromo rule of Gondar
  12. ^ Great Britain and Ethiopia 1897-1910: Competition for Empire Edward C. Keefer, International Journal of African Studies Vol. 6 No. 3 (1973) page 470
  13. ^ Haile Selassie I, My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Sellassie I, translated from Amharic by Edward Ullendorff. (New York: Frontline Books, 1999), vol. 1 p. 13
  14. ^ Raya Oromos inside the Weyane revolt of Tigray
  15. ^ Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia: 1855-1991, 2nd edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2001), pp. 261f.
  16. ^ OFDM Press Release: The Massacre of May, 2008
  17. ^ northern Amhara regarded the Shewans as "Galla"
  18. ^ Baxter, P.T.W.; Hultin, Jan; Triulzi, Alessandro. Being and Becoming Oromo: Historical and Anthropological Enquiries. (United States:Red Sea Press, Inc.: 1996), p.107.
  19. ^ Paul Trevor William Baxter et al., Being and Becoming Oromo: Historical and Anthropological Enquiries, (Nordic Africa Institute: 1996), p.109

Further reading

  • Mohammed Hassan, The Oromo of Ethiopia, A History 1570-1860. Trenton: Red Sea Press, 1994. ISBN 0-932415-94-6
  • Herbert S. Lewis. A Galla Monarchy: Jimma Abba Jifar, Ethiopia 1830-1932. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1965.
  • "RIC Query - Ethiopia". INS Resource Information Center. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
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