The History of Oromo Population Movements, 1522-1604

Abstract

The focus of this article is to examining the Oromo population movements of the 16th and 17th century, like triggering factors, directions and effects of the expansion process; which was one of the great events of the sixteenth century in Ethiopian History. The Oromo are one of the indigenous and oldest people of Ethiopia and the Horn. Different linguistic evidences as certain that, they belong to the Cushitic speaking groups; who are culturally and linguistically inter-related and inter-mingled. Of course, still now, there is scholarly debating about where geographically the Oromo people were originated from and when they were dispersed? But, according to some traditions the 16th century Oromo population movement was started from the highlands of the present Bale and Sidamo provinces of Southern Ethiopia. This is because almost all of the Oromo clans in Ethiopia attribute their origin to either one of the following places: Harro walabu, Tullu Walal.Tullu Qur qur and Harro Girja, all are located in those provinces. The ritual and political centers, more specifically known as Madda Walabu, of various Oromo clans were located area (high land), and a number of Oromo groups also lived outside these centers. Between the 1550s and 1580s the Oromo expanded into the south eastern, central, western, and northern regions of Ethiopia. They also expanded into much of the present day Somalia and Kenya. During my study I tried to consult archive documents, articles and other supplementary sources to get pertinent information, knowledge and lesson about the topic.

Keywords: Madda Walabu, Gada System, Qallu, Gudiffecha, Abba Gada, Oromo population movement, Moggassa

JEL Classification: 4618777