Kingdom of Jimma

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Kingdom of Jimma
1790–1932 →
Capital Not specified
Languages Dawro
Religion Sunni Islam
Government Absolute monarchy
History
 -  Established 1790
 - Renamed Jimma Abba Jifar 1830
 - Vassal to Shewa 1884
 - Vassal to Ethiopian Empire 1889
 -  Annexed by Ethiopian Empire 1932

The Kingdom of Jimma was one of the kingdoms in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 19th 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. Dawro, an Ometo dialect, was the native language but slowly gave way to Oromo.

Although the king can be described as a despot, the citizens of Jimma were otherwise considered his equals: all could own property, there was no nobility, and the other citizens addressed him as an equal and not as a superior.

History

The origins of Jimma are obscure, although prior to the Oromo migrations, the territory this kingdom came to occupy had been part of the Kingdom of Kaffa. According to legend, a number of Oromo groups (variously given from five to 10) were led to Jimma by a great sorceress and Queen named Makhore, who carried a boku (usually connected with the abba boku, or headman of the Oromo Gadaa system)[1] which when placed on the ground would cause the earth to tremble and men to fear. It is said that with this boku, she drove the Kaffa people living in the area across the Gojeb River. While this suggests that the Oromo invaders drove the original inhabitants from the area, Herbert S. Lewis notes that Oromo society was inclusionist, and the only ethnic differences they made are reflected in the history of various kinship groups.[2]

Eventually, the Oromo grew unhappy with Makhore's rule, and through a ruse, deprived her of her virginity, and destroyed her power. The various groups then pursued their own courses, loosely bound into a confederation that held councils at Hulle, where laws were passed under the abba boku; at this point, Jimma was commonly referred to as Jimma Kaka.

At first, the Badi of Saqqa were the predominant clan (which led to the alternate name of Jimma Badi), but late in the 18th century another group, the Diggo of Mana, began to extend their domain, conquering the Lalo clan who lived around Jiren, and gaining access to the market and trade center at Hirmata (later called Jimma). Mohammed Hassen believes that the Badi lost their predominant position in part due to raids by king Abba Bagido of Limmu-Ennarea, but also due to constant infighting.[3] It was during the reign of Abba Jifar I that the kingdom of Jimma coalesced, and after this time Jimma was frequently referred to as Jimma Abba Jifar. King Abba Jifar also converted to Islam, and began the long process of also converting his entire kingdom to that religion.[4]

Under king Abba Gomol, the ancient Kingdom of Garo was conquered and absorbed into Jimma. King Gomol settled wealthy men from his kingdom in the former state, and brought important men from Garo to live at Jiren, thus integrating the two polities.[5]

It was shortly after his son Abba Jifar II assumed the throne that the power of the neguses of Shewa began to reach into the Gibe region for the first time in centuries. As Lewis notes, "Borrelli, Franzoj and other travellers accorded him little hope of retaining his kingdom for long."[6] However, heeding the wise advice of his mother Gumiti, he submitted to Menelik II, and agreed to pay tribute to the negus, and counseled his neighboring kings to do the same. However, none followed his example, and King Abba Jifar instead found himself enthusiastically helping his Shewan master conquer his neighbors: Kullo in 1889, Walamo in 1894, and Kaffa in 1897. In 1928, the tribute of Jimma amounted to MT 87,000 and an additional MT 15,000 for the army.[7]

Following the death of Abba Jifar II, Emperor Haile Selassie seized the opportunity to finally annex Jimma. As Harold Marcus observes, the kingdom's "autonomy had been undermined by the declining world economy, the deteriorating health of its ruler, the road that slowly advanced from Addis Abeba, the advent of air power, and the transcendent needs of modern, centralized power."[8] On 5 May 1932, the official newspaper Berhanena Selam editorialized that the kingdom was in danger because her king, Abba Jifar, was old and ill and his grandson and heir no longer properly obeyed the central government and was using the kingdom's revenues to build up an army. Seven days later, on 12 May, 400 soldiers and a team of administrators descended upon Jimma and brought the kingdom to an end.[8] During the reorganization of the provinces in 1942, the last administrative traces of the kingdom vanished into Kaffa Province.

Economy

In Jimma, Maria Theresa Thalers (MT) and salt blocks called amoleh were used as currency until the reign of Emperor Menelik II.

Jimma was a major source of ivory, musk, grains, exotic hides and coffee. Like the other Gibe kingdoms, as well as the various more powerful Christian kingdoms in Northern Ethiopia, Jimma was a source of slaves, who were sold openly until the reign of Menelik II. Menelik II himself possessed a large number of slaves, which he obtained from the newly conquered kingdoms of the south. Lewis reports estimates that King Abba Jifar II had as many as 10,000 slaves.[9] Until the 1930s, slaves continued to be sold out of the public eye in all of Ethiopia, but were openly owned, until Emperor Haile Selassie and later the Italian occupiers managed to abolish slavery (see Slavery in Ethiopia).

The condition of slaves in Jimma was usually humane, for they were allowed to marry, own property (including slaves in turn), and inherit what their parents managed to accumulate; families were rarely broken up. As in the rest of Ethiopia, however, they had no official rights, could be beaten at will, and run-away slaves were beaten and kept in chains.

Coffee (Coffea arabica) became a major cash crop in Jimma only in the reign of King Abba Jifar II. Another source of income was the extraction of oil from Civets, which was used to make perfume.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Lewis, Galla Monarchy, p. 65. He also notes that the Gadaa system was almost entirely forgotten in Jimma by 1960, and suggests that its use may have ended a generation or two earlier.
  2. ↑ Lewis, Galla Monarchy, p. 38
  3. ↑ Mohammed Hassen, The Oromo of Ethiopia: A History 1570-1860), (Trenton: Red Sea Press, 1994), p. 111
  4. ↑ Lewis, Galla Monarchy, pp. 41f.
  5. ↑ Lewis, Galla Monarchy, p. 45
  6. ↑ Lewis, Galla Monarchy, p. 43
  7. ↑ Huntingford, Galla of Ethiopia, p. 61.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Harold G. Marcus, The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913 (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1995), p. 121
  9. ↑ Herbert S. Lewis, A Galla Monarchy: Jimma Abba Jifar (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1965), pp. 66f
  10. ↑ G.W.B. Huntingford, The Galla of Ethiopia; the Kingdoms of Kafa and Janjero (London: International African Institute, 1955), p. 26

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