Editing Oromo people (section)

==History==
{{main|History of Ethiopia}}

The earliest recorded mention of the Oromos comes from the Italian ([[Republic of Venice|Venetian]]) cartographer [[Fra Mauro]], who notes a ''Galla'' River south of the [[Awash River]], in his famous ''[[Fra Mauro map|Mappomondo]]'', or map of the world, completed in 1460. This reference indicates that the Oromos inhabited this area of southern Ethiopia for at least a century and a half before their expansion north. As early as the 12th century, all aspects of Oromo life was governed by the ''[[Gadaa]]'' system, a political and ritual system based on an egalitarian ethos, age grade social organization and highly structured institutions. Under Gadaa, every eight years, the Oromo would choose by consensus nine leaders known as  {{lang|om|Salgan ya’ii Borana}} (the nine Borana assemblies).<ref name="researchgate.net">{{cite journal|author = Galla, Candace|year = 2012|pages = 46–48|title = Sustaining generations of Indigenous voices: Reclaiming language and integrating multimedia technology|journal = {World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium Journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301650149}}</ref><ref name="Tesema Ta'a 2006 26–27">{{cite book|author=Tesema Ta'a|title=The Political Economy of an African Society in Transformation: the Case of Macca Oromo (Ethiopia) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XwN2JdMYM4C |year=2006|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-05419-5|pages=26–27}}</ref> A leader elected by the gadaa system remains in power only for 8 years, with an election taking place at the end of those 8 years.<ref name="John Ralph Willis 2005 122–127, 129–134, 137" /><ref name="Willis2005p128" /><ref name="Lapidus2014p483" /> Whenever an {{lang|om|Abbaa Gadaa}} dies while exercising his functions, {{lang|om|the bokkuu}} (the symbol of power) passes to his wife and she keeps the bokkuu and proclaims the laws.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Gadaa System and Some of Its Institutions among the Booranaa: A Historical Perspective|pages=91–92|website=ajol.info|url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ejossah/article/download/159459/149011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankhurst |first1=Richard |title=The Ethiopian Borderlands |pages=137}}</ref>

The first detailed history of the Oromo people comes from the Ethiopian monk [[Bahrey]] who wrote ''Zenahu la Galla'', or "History of the Galla" in 1593.<ref name="Pankhurst1997p279" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Mohammed Hassen|title=The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: 1300–1700 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fg1zCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA222 |year=2015|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-1-84701-117-6|pages=222–225}}</ref> They are also mentioned in the records left by Abba Paulos, Joao Bermudes, [[Jerónimo Lobo]], [[Gelawdewos|Galawdewos]], [[Sarsa Dengel]] and others. These records suggest that the Oromo were a pastoralist people who began to move in large numbers into the central highlands of Ethiopia from their cradleland in the plains of southern Ethiopia during the 16th century. This large scale expansion is referred to as the [[Oromo migrations|"Great Oromo Migrations"]]. Prior to this movement, the Oromos were divided into two major confederations, the ''[[Boorana]]'' and the ''[[Barento]]'', who lived in the west and east of the [[Rift Valley]] respectively.<ref name="Pankhurst1997p279">{{cite book|author=Richard Pankhurst|title=The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpYBD3bzW1wC&pg=PA279 |year=1997|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=978-0-932415-19-6|pages=279–280}}</ref> The [[Barento]] moved in an eastern direction, eventually settling in today's [[Arsi Province|Arsi]], [[Bale Province, Ethiopia|Bale]], [[Hararghe]] and [[Wollo Province|Wollo]] regions. Whereas the [[Boorana]] trekked northwest, settling in the regions of [[Shewa]], [[Illubabor Province|Illubabor]] and [[Welega Province|Welega]].<ref name="Pankhurst1997p279" /><ref name="Levine2000p78">{{cite book|author=Donald N. Levine|title=Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_mgl0dasR4C |year=2000|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-47561-5|pages=78–89}}</ref><ref name="Degu2002">W.A. Degu, [http://dare.uva.nl/document/66264 "Chapter 7 Political Development in the Pre-colonial Horn of Africa"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724173626/http://dare.uva.nl/document/66264 |date=24 July 2011 }}, "The State, the Crisis of State Institutions in the Horn of Africa: The Cases of Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia", Thela Thesis (Amsterdam, 2002), page 142</ref>

According to [[Richard Pankhurst (academic)|Richard Pankhurst]], a British-born Ethiopian historian, this expansion is linked to the attempted conquest of the [[Ethiopian Empire]] by [[Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi|Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim]], which created a political and military vacuum that allowed the Oromo to move relatively unhindered into both the [[Ethiopian Empire]] and the [[Adal Sultanate]].<ref name="Pankhurst1997p281">{{cite book|author=Richard Pankhurst|title=The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zpYBD3bzW1wC&pg=PA279 |year=1997|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=978-0-932415-19-6|pages=281–283}}</ref> Further, they acquired horses and their {{Lang|om|gada}} system helped coordinate Oromo cavalry warriors which enabled them to fight very effectively. [[Bahrey]] argues the success of the Oromos in battle was because all Oromo men were trained as warriors, while in Ethiopia only a small section of the population were warriors, the rest uninvolved in the defense of their country. The military discipline of the Oromos was noted by the Portuguese chronicler Joao Bermudes, who observed that during the invasion of [[Dawaro]], the Oromos "did not come on without order like barbarians, but advanced collected in bodies, like squadrons."<ref name="Oromo 2011 p. 303">"Oromo (s. also Galla)", in Siegbert von Uhlig, ed., ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica Volume 4'' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2011), p. 303.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1541-1543 as Narrated by Castanhoso |year=1902 |author=Richard Stephen Whiteway |publisher=Hakluyt Society |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P39JAAAAYAAJ}}</ref>

The early 16th and 17th century witnessed the gradual integration of the Oromo into the [[Ethiopian Empire]]. Emperor [[Susenyos I]], who came to power with Oromo support, did much to integrate them into the political establishment of the Christian state. Having grown up among the Oromo, he was fluent in their language and admired their way of life. He employed Oromo warriors, military tactics and combat formations against his rivals for the throne. Once in power, he filled high level offices with his Oromo supporters and settled various Oromo groups throughout much of [[Gojjam]] and [[Begemder]]. Under Susenyos's successors, many Oromos would continue to rise to positions of prominence in imperial service, and for a period even change the official language of the empire from [[Amharic]] to [[Oromiffa]] during the rule of the half-Oromo emperor [[Iyoas I]]. They would establish dynasties such as the [[Yejju Oromo|Yejju dynasty]] that would be [[de facto]] rulers of [[Ethiopian Empire]] from 1784 to 1853 during the [[Zemene Mesafint]], they would particularly have control over the provinces of [[Begemder]] and [[Gojjam]]. Another Oromo dynasty that would rise in the northern Ethiopian highlands was the Islamic [[South Wollo Zone|Warra Himano]] (1580–1916), which transformed Wollo into a veritable Islamic state in the heartland of Christian Ethiopia. The Warra Himano would convert many [[Amhara people|Amhara]] Christians to Islam during its rule, and at the zenith of its power, the Warra Himano had their hegemony accepted in the various parts of Wollo: Ambasel, Qallu, Borena, Wore-Illu and Amhara Sayint. Notable rulers such as Ras [[Mikael of Wollo]] and the uncrowned emperor of Ethiopia, [[Lij Iyasu]] (1913–1916), descend from this ruling family.<ref name="etd.uwc.ac.za">{{Cite web| title=Social and Political History of Wollo Province in Ethiopia: 1769-1916 | url=https://etd.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11394/7290/melaku_phd_arts_2019.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y#page107 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906142200/https://etd.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11394/7290/melaku_phd_arts_2019.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y | archive-date=2021-09-06}}</ref><ref name="Oromo 2011 p. 303"/>

[[File:Gibe kingdoms.png|thumb|Map showing the location of the five Oromo kingdoms in the Gibe region.]]In the late 16th century the Oromos had settled in the territories south of the [[Abay river]] in western Ethiopia. Within 60 years of their arrival, five Oromo states would emerge in the [[Gibe region]], such as [[Kingdom of Gera|Gera]], [[Kingdom of Gomma|Gomma]], [[Kingdom of Gumma|Gumma]], [[Kingdom of Jimma|Jimma]] and [[Limmu-Ennarea]]. These states arose through the transformation of pastoralism to agriculture due to the fertile and adequately watered land of the region. This increased the importance of agriculture and led to the subsequent rise of a land owning class. The rich natural environment produced commodities that were in high demand and lead to the rise of a strong merchant class. These changes allowed the gadaa officials to acquire more authority and convert their elective offices into permeant monarchical institutions. In the eastern part of the country, especially in [[Arsi Province|Arsi]], [[Bale Province, Ethiopia|Bale]] and [[Hararghe]], the Oromo had remained predominantly pastoralists until the late 19th century. Only the Oromo who lived within the immediate periphery of the city of [[Harar]] adopted agriculture as their primary occupation, mostly to engage in trade with the inhabitants of the walled city. According to oral and literary evidence, certain Somali and Oromo clans fought each other throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly near their eastern borders.<ref name="Oromo11"/><ref name="A1-2-1-12">Aṣma Giyorgis, Bairu Tafla [https://books.google.com/books?id=mGcwAQAAIAAJ "Aṣma Giyorgis and His Work: History of the Gāllā and the Kingdom of Šawā"]. Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH (1987) pp. 439 Google Books</ref><ref name="A1-2-1-13">Günther Schlee [https://books.google.com/books?id=Sd1RAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA40 ''Identities on the Move: Clanship and Pastoralism in Northern Kenya'']. Manchester University Press (1989) pp. 38–40 Google Books</ref><ref name="Oromo 2011 p. 304">"Oromo (s. also Galla)", in Siegbert von Uhlig, ed., ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica Volume 4'' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2011), p. 304.</ref>

The [[French people|French]] traveler, {{ill|Charles-Xavier Rochet d'Héricourt|fr|Charles-Xavier Rochet d'Héricourt|lt=Charles-Xavier Rochet d'Héricourt,}} visited Ethiopia in 1863,<ref>Joseph Marie Quérard, « Notice biographique sur Charles Xavier Rochet d'Héricourt », Revue littéraire de la Franche-Comté, 1er novembre 1863</ref> and was greeted by [[Sahle Selassie]], the ruler of [[Shewa]]. During his time there, he observed the different ethnicities within Ethiopia, one of which were the Oromo people.<ref>Ethiopia, E. (2021, August 16). Rochet d’Héricourt, Charles-Xavier. Sewasew. https://en.sewasew.com/p/rochet-d-he-ricourt-charles-xavier#:~:text=10%20May%201801%2C%20H%C3%A9ricourt%2C%20d,1829%20to%201839%20in%20Egypt</ref> He described them as such:
{{blockquote|"[The] Galla breed is the most beautiful in Africa; it is not originally from [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]]; she came there by [[Oromo Invasions|invasion]], as we will see below in the history that I will give of the Kingdom of Choa ([[Shewa]]). The Gallas are, in general, well built, they have a tall figure, a broad and raised forehead, an [[aquiline nose]], a well-cut mouth, a copper complexion rather than black; their hair is braided into small braids which float around their heads, and mix something graceful with the expressive and noble character of their [[physiognomy]]: accustomed, from their most tender youth, to ride horses, to carry the butcher and the spear, they are excellent horsemen and insensitive to the harshest fatigue; full of courage and valor in combat, they showed themselves, in their fields, skillful and laborious farmers: this great nation, because we can call it that could led by an enterprising leader, make itself master of the whole of [[Africa]]."<ref>d’Héricourt, R. C.-X. (1841b). Voyage sur la côte orientale de la mer rouge, dans le pays d’adel et le royaume de choa: Par c.-e.-x. Rochet d’Héricourt .. A. Bertrand. p. 174-175</ref>}}

In the last quarter of the 19th century, the Oromo tribes and kingdoms fell under the rule of [[Menelik II]] of [[Shewa]]. Beginning in the 1870s, the Kingdom of [[Shewa]] annexed one Oromo territory after the other with unpreceded speed owing to the modern weapons acquired from the international arms trade and the disunity among various Oromo groups. The manner this conquest was carried out determined the form of administrations that was subsequently set up in the newly conquered areas. In areas where the Shewans encountered resistance, such as Arsi, the conquering generals were installed as governors and the [[Amhara people|Amhara]] soldiers or ''[[neftenya]]'' settled the region in military garrisons known as ''[[katama]]s'' which later become the administrative centers for Shewan rule. These officials and soldier-settlers lived off the land of the locals, who soon became serfs to the Shewan aristocrats. In the areas were the Oromos submitted peacefully, such as the [[Kingdom of Jimma]], the indigenous rulers were made tributaries to the crown but were allowed to self-govern themselves with minimal interference from the central government. During [[Haile Selassie]]'s rule, many Oromos lost their autonomous status granted to them by Menelik, Haile Selassie abolished the semi-independent status of many Oromo states and began to undergo a period of centralization. Pastoralists were evicted to make way for mechanized farming and the few members of the educated Oromo class were prevented from holding powerful positions, instead being held by assimilated or Amharized Oromo notables. Despite the great contribution of the Oromo regions to the Ethiopian economy, Oromos areas were left out of the modernization projects during the reign of [[Haile Selassie]].<ref name="Oromo 2011 p. 304"/>

This discontent emanating from the political marginalization, economic exploitation and the cultural domination of the Oromo led to the rise of the [[Mecha and Tulama Self-Help Association]] in 1963, ostensibly for organizing Oromo self-help, but in fact to promote Oromo identity and fight the marginalization of the Oromo. The Mecha and Tulama Association was soon disbanded by the government, but its impact was significant. The movement raised the consciousness of the Oromo regarding the significance of their own cultural and historical contributions and their status as a people within the Ethiopian state.<ref name="Oromo 2011 p. 304"/>