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c·(, . \t.u",\;>~ (~~)
6 1((::5 Oromo country of origin: A reconsideration
of hypotheses

ULRICH BRAUKAMPER
Frobenius-Institut, Frankfurt, Germany

There are two factors which made the subject of Oromo or1g1n
highly attractive to researchers: with now c. 16.000.000 people
the Oromo are numerically the most important ethnic group in
Northeast Africa, and, after a huge dynamic of expansion, they
have occupied a vast area stretching from the Ethiopian province
of Tigre to the Tana river in Central Kenya. From the 16th
century onwards many authors, Africans as well as Europeans, (1)
have presented their hypotheses about the origin of the Oromo,
but despite their efforts a basic consensus on this question
is far from being achieved. In this context, the critical
analysis of those hypotheses has to be reduced to a selected
number of samples which seen. to be the most relevant. A kind
of synthesis which is partly based on the results of my own
field researches in South Ethiopia will then try to suggest it-
self as a constructive alternative. The two questions, when and
where the ethnogenesis of the Oromo took place, are,of course
-interwoven, but our main interest will be focusseJol1 the second
here.

1. PROCESSES OF FUSION AND FISSION WITHIN THE OROMO ETHNOS

The contemporary Oromo show a remarkable diversity of segments

and genealogical fractions within their ethnic body. This fact,
on the one hand, adds to the complexity of the historical situ-
ation, but on the other hand it also provides certain data for
the reconstruction of the past. It is therefore indispensable,
before approaching the question of their countf.i) of origin,
to Sketch the processes of fusion and fission, which have
taken place among the Oromo since they entered history in the
16th century.
After they had started their migration over large parts of
Northeast Africa, the first historically apparent process was
that of a division. Because of an enormous territorial expan-
sion and the establishment of peculiar linkages with other

25
 area between the borderland of Eritrea and central Kenya were
remarkably different and the Oromo tribes hardly knew about the
existence of their antipodes, the most obvious link between all
of them remained their common language.
However, among the northern Oromo, the Raya, Wollo, Ma~~a,
Tulama, Barentu and Arsi, a sense of community and solidarity
also survived in ritual beliefs and practices (which will be
discussed below), in historical legends and genealogical con-
nections. Attempts to explain me common descent are manifold
and vary from region to region, but in principle they all re-
present a similar pattern. According to a versior4ff the Ala-
Barentu the genealogy of the Oromo is as follows:

Oromo
~I--------------~'---------'
Borana (Boren) Barentu (Bartumma)
j ~ I J II-----L--~_r------~------~~
Ma~~a Tulama Hu(m)banna AXsi Ittu Karayu
Ra-y-a---A--z-J-b-b~~L----A-~-a~h-g-e-----An--nTll-'y-a-----~~~lO
i ¥ I I
Ala Garso Oborra

The southern Oromo, the Gu~i, Borana (proper) and the Warra
Dayu remain outside this framework, notably because of their
opposite direction of geographical expansion and a different
historical development.
After their separation from a common ethnic nucleus the var-
ious Oromo groups underwent a process of assimilation. This
took place either as amalgamation, which means that one or more
groups unite to form a new larger group, or as incorporation,
i.e. one group assumes the identity of another one. The north-
ern Oromo show a characteristic dualism within their groups, a
culturally relevant dichotomy which, up to recently-, also found
its expression in their social organizations and the realities
of everyday life. The clans (gossa) of the Oromo proper were
usually outnumbered to a considerable extent by those of the
__- A,.qoI'D.Ylmat. 6oulU/pry aline cANf"m Efhlcp'''" empIre c i5ba assimilated people (mogasa) with limited political rights and
•• • • • • • . . •• A'A"'1"-"m",!t: 6oun~II'Y 01 Oromo homl III,,"
cultural peculiarities such as for instance Islamic survivals.
----+- Moi" /TlvrU of Oromo mifrphon
• u
HtJlortCp/ .6c,p//h The widespread saying "Nine are the Borana [Oromo proper], and
J.I. Ci<D!frtTphicA/ ",!!iO/fJ amipa/",,,,,/<nhlidl ninety are the Garba [assimilated]" proves that the Oromo were
clearly aware of this phenomenon. Garba is a general denomi-
nation for the autochthonous populations which were conqurDed
COl/11k!! of 0'-'9;n and e.Jrpon.rion of /he Oroma
and assimilated by the Oromo on their route of expan~on.
The Ma~~a explicitly used to call them by this term, whereas
in other areas ethnonyms of the native groups were commonly
preferred. The Arsi and Ittu kept the name Hadiya for the con-
peoples and cultures, the ethnos disintegrated and split up in- quered autochthons, the Karayu called them Hawasu (people of
to a number of component parts, which developed - to some extent the Awa~ river) and considered them as descendants of the an-
at least - their own ethnic consciousness. As major tribal cient Harala. The eastern Barentu (Afran Kalo) distinguished
groups the Raya, Wollo, Ma~~a, Tulama, Barentu, Ar{us)si, Gugi, betwee~ "Sarri Humbanna-Barentu" (pure Oro~o) and "Sarri Sidama"
Borana and Tana-Oromo (Warra Dayu) emerged from this process of (assimilated l;Iarala, Harari, Somali, etc(-1)' in which case Sidama
division. Since the ecological and cultural conditions of the is a general denomination for strangers.

26 27
 It has to be stated that cultural changes, notably Islamiza- feat~d the(f3~y of the Christians and began to invade their
tion and Christianization in this century, resulted in an almost tern. tory.
complete elimination of the original dualism. Since the 1960s The oldest written record which deals with the origin of the
and increasingly since the Ethiopian revolution of 1974, a new Oromo is Bal;lrey' s "History of the Galla". What is relevant for
trend of fusion can be observed, the steady growth of a common this analysis can be quoted as follows: "The Galla came from
ethnic consciousness among all speakers of the Oromo language. the w=st and crossed the river of their country, which is called
Galana, to the frontier of Bali, in the t~me of Ha~e wrr~g Sa-
gad. They are two tribes called Baraytuma and Boran".
2. HYPOTHESES ON THE aROMa COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: DESCRIPTIVE An exact location cannot be derived from this information,
ACCOUNT because galana generally means river in Oromifa. Bahrey's notes
about the two fractions, the Borana as the ancestors of the
The rise in ethnic consciousness caused the discussion about Ma~~a and Tulama, and the Baraytuma (Barentu) as the ancestors
the orlglns of the Oromo to reach meanwhile beyond the small of the Ray a , Wollo, Arsi and Barentu proper, are also of little
circle of 's pecialists who are academically engaged in this ques- value here. A feedback of his materials on the oral traditions
tion. The interest has rather expanded to a broadening public • could not be stated explicitly, but his impact on further
of members of the ethnos itself and progressively starts to en- records and interpretations on the topic of Oromo origins was
tail ideological implications. This fact increases the poten- certainly noticeable.
tial danger that unscientific sources of information are adopted A manuscript of an Amharic priest which I could examine in
in a stereotype and that a "feedback" from literary materials the vicinity of ri~o (Arsi Province) mentioned Horra Wolabo as
on the orally transmitted traditions intensifies. Both problems the place from which the Oromo came. This locality was speci-
could clearly be stated in the early 1970s. fied as a ford across the Ganale and obviously referred to Lugo
A feedback was evidently caused by Ala~a Tayye's "Ya-Ityopya (cf. below).
hizb tarik" (History of the Ethiopian people). Non-literate Job Ludolf's work which is mainly based on Balthasar Tellez's
Arsi and Barentu informants repeatedly referred to his bizarre writings and on oral reports by Abba Gregorius - indicated the
story of a migration of the Oromo ancestors(~rom Madagascar conquest 0(l5)ale as one of the first military enterprises of
through Kenya to the highlands of Ethiopia. They were aware the Oromo, but no further topographical items or interpre-
of the fact, however, that this was laid down in a book on his- tative comments are presented.
tory. The famous Portuguese map which was compiled by Manoel d'Al-
Martial de Salviac's phantastic sP{§ylation about a relation meida in the 17th century mentions the name "Galas" north of
of the "Galla" with the Celtic Gauls is worth while mentioning Lake Zway and in the borderland between Bale and Doaro (Dawaro).
only insofar as it influenced indigenous Ethiopian historiogra- South of the territories "Bargamo", "Gomar" and "Fategar" it
phy. It is in fact obvious that Atme Giyorgis, the Roman- furthermore conta~ns the remark "Patria e ..na.cim. to dos Galas"
Catholic author of a "Galla history" at the end of the last (Fatherland and blrthplace of the Galla) ,(lb) which is of high
centu royas provoked to form his idea of Gallic-Oromo connec- interest in this context and has to be analysed thoroughly.
tions 1 by contacts with the French missionaries. James Bruce, who, beside exploiting the literature, also
Many Oromo traditions, assuming that they were not distorted collected oral information, assumed that the Oromo started their
by recent associations of Islamic, Christian and other proven- expansion from Sennar'c.130N. latitude (today's Blue Nile Pro-
~ince of the Sudan). They entered the Ethiopian ~hlands and
ience, refer to lWjigama or Bahirgama, "the beautiful country
beyond the sea". It is the land from where their ancestors lnvaded Bale and Dawaro in a southward direction.
came and is usually located in Arabia, the heartland of Islam. Up to the end of the 19th century serious scientific investi-
The descendants of early Muslim missionaries who came to Bale gation with respect to the country of origin of the Oromo re-
between( It;he 13th and 16th centuries, are still called "Warra mained scarce. Philipp Paulitschke was one of the first scho-
Bahir". . lars to emphasize this problem at some length. By mainly using
In ~awa it has been very popular to trace the origin of the anthropological, archaeological and linguistic data he reached
Oromo back to a daughter of emperor Zar)a ~~c~ob. A legend the conclusion that the ancestors of the Oromo had inhabited
tells that she had an illicit liaison with a slave from South the.countr y ~f Zeng, thn~oastal areas of the Horn of Africa,
Ethiopia and bore seven sons. They were brought up by their durlng the Mlddle Ages. He focussed on the existence of the
father, learnt his language and customs and generated a strong so-called Galla graves, on records reporting the custom of tak-
group of wild and warlike herdsmen. Near the river Gal(l)a, ing the male organ of a defeated enemy as a trophy (which he
which is said to be situated in the Gurage country, they de- considered as typical for the Oromo, but which was very common
among Northeast African peoples) and on examples of comparative

28 29
 etymology. The supposition that the Oromo originated from east- tical c~ents in the area west and south of the lakes ~amo and
ern parts of the Somali peninsula was not completely new, and Abbaya.
Paulitschke was in conformity with most European scholars who If we put together the above-mentioned location proposals in a
were engaged fi1research work on Northeast Africa during the table, their puzzling heterogeneity becomes evident. Scienti-
19th century. )
fically, notably with respect to empirical data, they are on a
Enrico Cerulli, the modern protagonist of scientific Oromo very different level.
studies, supported the view of their original dwelling-areas
in eastern parts of the Horn and tried to prove it by quoting
Somali traditions. According to his argumentation the oromo Local~zat~on 0 f OrOmo Au th ors or t ra d't'
~ ~ons a d vo-
once occupied large parts of the Ogaden and present-day Somalia cating that localization
in the region of the two rivers Wabi Sebeli and Juba. The in- country of origin
land expansion of the Somali then forced them to retreat west- ============================== ===============================
wards and st~lated their huge' expansion towards the highlands
of Ethiopia. This view was basically accepted by mar,rl)scho- Area outside Africa R. P. Martial de Salviac
lars who worked on Northeast Africa up to the present. At-me Giyorgis
Huntingford additionally pointed out that the Oromo after their
exodus from the Ogaden at first moved westwards in the direction Ala~a Tayye
of Lake Rudolf and then started t~~~erwhelm Bale and the cen-
tral parts of Ethiopia from there. Arabian peninsula Muslim influenced traditions
However, in the 1960s the "Ogaden hypothesis" was no longer of Bahirgama
received without dissent. Eike Haberland raised the question
how far had it been possible that a people, who almost managed Sennar in the Sudan J. Bruce
to destroy the highly organized Empire states of Christian Ethi-
opia and MUsli~i3~al, would yield to an ad~ersary of their own Unspecified area in BaJ:.rey
cultural level. Moreover, according to his analysis the
early Oromo did not represent a pure nomadism, as for instance Southern Ethiopia Christian influenced tradi-
the present Borana do in adaptation to peculiar ecological tions
conditions, but they practised a mixed economy based 0~2t~e two
pillars: cattle-breeding and the cultivation of barley. Up Area south of Bargamo, A. d'Almeida and later author s·
to the present, barley, which is a characteristic crop of high-
land are.as, has kept an important place in the myths and the Gomar and Fa~agar basing on his map
socio-religious life of the Oromo. This constellation evidently
opposes the hypothesis of an origin from the semi-arid lowland Eastern parts of the P. Paulitschke
areas of the Ogaden. On the base of Oromo oral traditions Somali peninsula L. Robecchi-Bricchetti
Haberland came to assume "the cool highlands af.81nd Bale" as
the country from where this people originated. Ogaden E. Cerulli
Herbert Lewis ventured to give a more precise location. He
categorically stated that the Oromo traditions make no claim G.B.W. Huntingford
that their ancestors used to live in the east (i.e. in the
Somali peninsula), nor ffi)the y speak of any homeland other than Highlands around Bale E. Haberland
south-central Ethiopia. Among the Oromo of Jimma he himself
came across the tradition of their origin from Boranaland. hOW- Area around Lake Abbaya H. Lewis
ever, he did not accept this as a satisfying solution of the T. Tamrat
problem, but proposed a reconsideration of the Barigama tradi-
tion. By equating the Barigama of the Oromo oral reports with
Bahrgamo, an administrative unit in the utmost south of the
Ethiopian empir~ (according to Almeida's map), r.t7)located their
country of origin in the region of Lake Abbaya. 3. OUTLINES OF A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Modern Ethiopian scholars have rarely been concerned with the
problem of Oromo origins so far. Taddesse Tamrat located the The comparative look at the spectrum of hitherto existing hypo-
"Galla homeland" with a question mark and without further analy- theses leads us to further steps: screening and evaluation.

30 31
 with respect to an or~g~n of the Oromo from a country outside fy a concrete ethnic identification, because the term Ga(a)lla
Africa, there is - as far as I can see - no solid base of infor- in the concept of the !i~mali refers generally to a pre-Islamic
mation whatsoever to consider it seriously. The Oromo entered ("pagan") population. ( In their own oral traditions the east-
documented history in the 16th century and were then definitely ern Oromo do not lay claim to these stone-built monuments, but
in Northeast Africa. The question of a potential non-African usually attribute them to the Harala the native inhabitants
origin of the Cushitic language group altogether stretches be- of those areas, whom they assi~ilate~ in the 16th and 17th cen-
yond a time-depth which can be covered by oral materials and turies.
written records. So, any attempt of identification of the The Barentu remember that before the middle of the 19th cen-
early Cushites with a historically known ethnic group would be tury their dwelling-areas ~d stretched eastwards beyond the
purely speculative . present town of Hargaysa. ( Whethe ~heir ancestors had ever
The traditions telling about an origin from Arabia undoubtedl y
D
reached the coast remains doubtful . 3 From the 17th century
resulted from Islamic influences and value concepts. From the onwards the Oromo have br.r~ on a steady retreat before the in-
tenth century A.D . onwards there has been a steady infiltration land push of the Somali. This constellation of facts suggests
of Muslim Arabs into the Horn of Africa. In order to increase that the Oromo were pushed by the Somali from the eastern parts
their own prestige , Islamized populations started to refer to of the Horn during a later period after they had conquered
them as their ancestors and integrated them into their genealo- these areas themselves from other peoples . It thus opposes the
gical framework. The above-mentioned Warra Bahir in Bale for view that the Somali caused a retreat of the Oromo from their •
instance belong to the assimilated Hadiya clans of the Arsi . original domiciles.
(Bahir itself is obviously derived from the Arabic word bahr = I~ such a sequence is accepted it adduces a weighty argument
'sea ' .) So, it becomes evident that concepts of the autochtho- aga~nst Cerulli's "Ogaden hypothesis" and supports the objec-
nous Muslim polulations, particularly of the Hadiya-Sidama, tions which Haberland raised in this matter, which he based on
have been adopted by the Oromo. This trend was in~sified cultural,historical and ecological foundations. Haberland ' s
when the Oromo themselves were converted to Islam. own location in the "cool highlands around Bale" is roughly
In certain areas , notably in ~awa, legends which were most delimited on one of his maps as an area predominantly in the
probably invented by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians deeply af- northwestern part of today ' s Bale p~vince in the region of the
fected the traditions of the Oromo. The above-mentioned story Wabi ~ebeli and Ganale headwaters.\~~)
of their origin from a liaison of emperor Zar ) a Yac~ob's daugh- At its periphery in the present Darassa country this area
ter with a South Ethiopian slave reveals a rather ambivalent approximately touches the region of Bahrgamo which H. Lewis
view: nobility on the one hand and inferior descent and bar- assumed as the homeland of the Oromo. AS much as the preceding
baryon the other hand . It reflects the attitude of the Ethi - ones, his concept cannot escape certain criticisms. First of
opian Christians towards a people whom they despised, but whom all, the "Patria e nascimento dos Galas" on Almeida's map is
they feared and admired at the same time because of his mili- not marked on the territorial unit of Bahrgamo itself , which
tary strength. belonged to the Christian empire, but southeast of it outside
More attention must be paid to the authors in the 16th and the area of Ethiopian supremacy. It was beyond the geographical
17th centuries, who assumed the origin of the Oromo in a region horizon of the Portuguese travellers, and their data about lo-
which is now South Ethiopia. However, a concrete location can- cations and distances in the southern borderlands of the Empire
not be elaborated from their records. In the case of Almeida'S are consequ~ntlY not v~ry reliable. In the way Bahrg~~ ~s
map, for instance, just in those regions where the homeland of sketched (w~th a quest~on mark however) on Lewis's map \ 6}it
the Oromo is marked, the reliability of the geographical data largely comprises a lowland area of the Rift Valley, which up
is highly in question . There is a confusion about the Awa~, to the turn of the century was a land of nomads. This would be
which seems to be equated in its middle and lower course with contradictory to the assumption that the ancient Oromo practiced
the Wabi ~ebeli . The Wabi itself does not exist on the map. a highland type of mixed economy with the CUltivation of barley
The scholars who advocated an origin of the Oromo in the and cattle - breeding . Finally, it cannot be testified suffi-
vicinity of the Somali coast emphasized certain anthropological, ciently that the Barigama or Bahirgama of the Oromo traditions
linguistic and archaeological data. Paulitschke ' s interpreta- is identical with the Bargamo of the written records. This,
tion that Waklimi , the name or title of the ruler of Zen~ men- by itself, remains a hypothesis.
tione~ by th~ Arabic writer Mascudr &0)935 A.D., was derived
from ~lma w~a (Oromifa: son of God), remains rather isolated
and not very convincing. The archaeological testimony, moreover, 4. ATTEMPT AT A SYNTHESIS
proves to be totally fragile. As I.M. Lewis clearly demon-
strated, the "Galla graves" in northern Somali land do not justi- The analysis of the various location proposals necessarily re-

32 33
suIts in a classification into acceptable and non-acceptable The most important sacred place of the northern Oromo was
ones. What appears most convincing to me is to assume ~he.eth­ Horra Wolabo in Lugo c. 20 kilometers east of ·the ,Ganale in the
nogenesis of the Oromo in the central part of Sou~ EthlOP1~, lowlands of Dallo. The abba muda (father of anointing), who
as it was indicated by Almeida, Haberland and LeW1S. Startlng was regarded as a kind of spiritual leader, resided there. In
from this foundation we have to re-examine the relevant infor- former times, delegations with gifts were regularly sent to him,
mation sources, written records, oral traditions and ethnograph- a practice which the western Arsi continued up to their Islami-
'ic data in order to compile a kind of maximizing chart. By zation in the 1950s. Oral traditions and genealogical data
doing so: I first of all intend to establish a basis for further reveal that the abba muda descended from the autochthonous Hadi-
investigation which will then proceed on the way towards a com- ya, who were Rssimilated by the invading Oromo in Dallo. It can
prehensive theory. be assumed that the fission into the two main fractions of the
According to Ba~rey's text the two main fractions of theOromo, northern Oromo, Borana and Barentu, took place in that region.
the Borana and the Barentu , invaded the Ethiopian province of The southern groups, the Gugi and the Borana proper, evidently
Bale from the west . AS I pointed out in another context, the lack the reminisGence of Lugo as a holy place of their own and
historical Bale was situated east of the Urgoma mountain range, of the cult of the abba muda as well. This can find its ex-
whereas the northwestern parts of today's Bale pf,Avince, Gadab . planation in the fact that their ancestors had stayed behind
and Dallo, belonged to the territory of Hadiya . If the Galana when the great expansion towards the northeast started. Thus,
of the chronicle is equated with the Ganale, the Oromo conse- the fortunes of the two tribal clusters were different, and the
quently started from a region west of that river and then pushed Boran~~roper became later on fully engaged in a southward move-
forward towards Bale by way of Dallo. ment . In Liban, they preserved a pride that they are the
The most relevant data for the location of the Oromo homeland oldest (angaffa: first-born) among the Oromo tribes and also
are certainly offered by the oral tradition of South Ethiopian the purest, because they did not mix wifJ3fther peoples as their
people. Ma~~a and Arsi gr0f.fm claimed thei~ ancestors to have northern kinsmen did to a large extent.
originated from Boranaland, and Barentu lnformants ofte~ From this foundation of facts we can now venture to proceed
reported that they started their migration in Debanno. ThlS towards a statement as to where the homeland of the Oromo could
Debanno seems to be a derivation of Liban, which up to some have been located. Most probably it can be identified as the
decades ago was the central area of the Borana proper. (Mean- highland area between the Darassa country and the upper Dawa in
while they had to yield it to the advancing Somali.) It is the west and the Ganale valley in the east . According to all
interesting to note in this context that people of the "Highland available sources of information, oral traditions as well as
East Cushitic" cluster, the Hadiya and Karnbata, still use De - cultural historical data, the Darassa have been established in
banno as an ethnonym for the Oromo. their present dwelling-areas some time preceding the 16th cen-
Another popular tradition of the Barentu refers to Mormor as tury. It can therefore most probably be excluded that the
their country of origin. Mormor(a) can be identified as a river Oromo homeland stretched westwards beyond the Darassa territory.
in today's Gugi-occupied highlands, which flows into the Dawa. In the north, notably in the region of the Awata head-waters,
From Mormor , as the traditions set forth, the ancestors of the the Oromo were bordered by presumably rather densely populated
Oromo migrated to Dallo, which, in remembrance of their former domiciles of peoples of Hadiya-Sidama stock who prevented them
dwelling-areas, they henceforth called Mormor(oya) Dallo . In from taking a direct northward route(fJ) expansion and induced
Koss, a place on the boundary between Dallo and.Bale, they es- them to turn to northeast via Dallo. In the south, Liban,
tablished their hera, the tribal l~ and then lnvaded the the heartland of the Borana proper, has to be included in the
., . \j::1)
territory of the Chrlstlan emplre . country of origin of the Oromo ethnos . It can be concluded
A particular attention has also to be focussed on the high- that Harro Wolabo, Mormor and Liban constitute the three basic
lands between the eastern boundary of the Darassa territory and topographical items for its location (cf. map) . Most of the so
the Ganale valley, because two localities are situated there to defined &rea is a highland zone (above 1800 meters above sea-
which the Oromo traditions ascribe an outstanding importance. level), which offered solid conditions for the type of mixed
The Ma~~a and TUlamf4~eferred to ~arro Wolabo as the birthplace economy , cattle-breeding and the CUltivation of barley - the
of their ancestors, and accordlng to a myth of the Borana assumed characteristic of the cultural patterns of the early
proper, Horro, the first Oromo man, i~ r41~d to have come down Oromo.
from tile heaven in a place called Wagl. Harro Wolabo - some- The fact that a certain tendency could be observed among the
times also called Mada (water) or Tullu (mountain) Wolabo - is northern Oromo - the more so as their geographical separation
a swamp in the area of the uraga-Gugi near the Darassa boun~ary, and their ethnic fission proceeded - to refer to their country
to which applies the widespread Oromo saying "h'ume Yalaba bate" of origin by the general term Boranaland, can be explained by
(he emerged from wolabo) . a number of reasons. First of all, as we have pointed out

34 35
above Borana is conceived as a synonym for "true" or "genuine" that the name Galla was not restricted to the Oromo, but was
oromo: and this qualification was of course attributed to t~e also transferred by the Amhara and European authors to a number
forebears of the people. It received to some extent a terr~tor­ of neighbouring groups such as Hadiya (R. du Bourg de Bozas,
ial meaning: the land from which those genuine ancestors ori- Mission scientifique de la Mer Rouge a l'Atlantiquea travers
ginated . Secondly, in our century (when most of the oral tradi- l'Afrique tropicale (octobre 1900 - mai 1903). Carnets de route
tions were collected) Borana became known allover Ethiopia as (Raris 1906), pp. 225 sq.; A. Cecchi, FUnf Jahre in Ost-Afrika.
a name of a province comprising the southernmost parts of the Reisen durch die sudlichen Grenzlander Abessiniens von Zeila
"Galla" inhabited area within the empire . (The name Gu(ji, for bis Kaffa (Leipzig 1888), p. 124), Wolayta (J.-G. Vanderheym,
instance, has never been represented in a governmental unit.) Une exp!dition avec le Negous Menelik. Vingt mois en Abyssinie
Thirdly, the Borana proper formerly occupied most of the terri- (Paris 1896), p . 139; Guebre sellassie, Chronique du regne de
tory which was defined as Oromo homeland. Probably up to the Menelik II, Roi des rois d'Ethiopie (Paris 1930/31), Vol . I,
middle of the last century they seemed to have inhabited a p. 363), Kambata (H. Jannasch, Im Schatten des Negus (Berlin
territory as far north as Adola - their mythical birthplace 1930), p. 41), East Gurage (P. Paulitschke, Ethnographie Nor-
Wa~i is situated in that region - but from then on they have dost- Afrikas . II. Die geistige Kultur der DanQKil~ Galla und
steadi ly been pushed southwards Fl5{he Gu~i , who are a mixture . Somal (Berlin 1896), p. 73. The name Oromo is said to have
of Oromo with Darassa and Alaba. It can also be assumed that been derived from ilm(a) Orma (sons of Orma) . See C. Conti
the name Liban formerly referred to a larger area. Rossini, Etiopia e genti di Etiopia (Pirenze 1937), Vol. II,
This is only one example which demonstrates how ethnic dyna- p . 327; E. Haberland, Galla Sud-ii'thiopiens (Stuttgart 1963),
mics and changes can affect traditions of origin - and poten- p . 24~. According to M~rab's (op.cit., p. 354) speculative
tially can also result in alterations of ethnic consciousness . view it means "the courageous" or "the frank" people . It can
The question why the Oromo began to push beyond the boundaries be stated from my own field materials that most genealogies
of their homeland in the 16th century, and in which way they pe sonify Oromo or Orma as an ancestor.
managed to exert that enormouS centrifugal force which was
2For the classificatory analysis of these terms see D.L.
peculiar to them for more than three centuries, is outside our Horowitz, "Ethnic identity". In: N. Glazer and D.P. Moynihan
consideration here. (eds.), Ethnicity . Theory and experience (Cambridge/Mass.,1975),
p . 116.
3See for instance Million Tesfaye, "Mutual aid associations
FOOTNOTES among the ~ottu-Ga11a of Harar", University College of Addis
Ababa, Ethnological Society Bulletin, II, 1 (1961), p. 72;
lThe hitherto commonly used term "Galla" is considered to im- H~erland, op. cit., p. 441.
ply a pejorative meaning and has therefore to be definitely Documented by myself in the Gara Mullata area in 1973.
rejected now. Etymological speculations about that name are SAC cording to information which I collected among the Arsi,
manifold and contradictory. Mostly it is conceived in a sense the term Garba (Gabarro) originally meant "subjected people".
of "roaming, landless people". See for instance G.K. Rein , It also became an ethnonym for the Cushitic-speaking Hadiya
Abyssinien. Eine Landeskunde nach Reisen und Studien in den between Lake Zway and the upper Gibe (Omo). "Ofa Garba" or
Jahren 1907-1913 (Berlin 1918/20), Vol. III, p. 370 . According "l)iba Garba" (push the Garba ; i.e. the Hadiya) is said to have
to Merab, Impressions d'Ethiopie (Paris 1921), p. 355 and Atm~ been a common warcry of the Arsi. A.W. Schleicher, Geschichte
Giyorgis, History of the Galla (Transl. by Bairu Tafla) (Manu- der Galla (Berlin 1893), p . 18, note 2 , supposed that Garba
script, Hamburg/Frankfurt a.M. n.d.), p. 5, the name Galla is was derived from gabara, which refers to the brideprice paid
supposed to have been derived from an Arabic word "he refused", in cattle.
6
because the representatives of that people formerly rejected E. Cerulli, "The folk-literature of the Galla of Southern
Islam. P. Paulitschke, Beitrage zur Ethnographie und Anthro- Abyssinia", Harvard African Studies, 3 (Varia Africana, 3)
pologie der Somal, Galla und Harari (Leipzig 1888), p. 8, (1,22), p . 12; cf. Schleicher, op . cit., pp. 21 sq.
thought that the people were called after their warcry, and For further explanations on this dualism among the Oromo
J.L. Krapf, Reisen in Ost-Afrika ausgefuhrt in den Jahren tribes see U. Braukamper, Geschichte der Hadiya Sud-Xthiopiens
1837-1855 (Kornthal 1858), p. 95, assumed that the ethnonym was - Von den Anfangen bis zur Revolution 1974 (Wiesbaden 1980),
taken from a river Gal(l)a. The Somali consider the name as a chgpters 3.4.2 and 3.4.3 and Haberland, op.cit., pp. 442 sqq.
synonym for pagans. Cf. E. Cerulli, "Tradizioni storiche e A. Tayye, Ya -Ityopya hizb tarik (Addis Ababa 1927), pp . 37
monumenti della Migiurtinia", Rivista Africa Italiana, 4, sq. I was not able to examine the original text in Amharic, but
(1931), p. 154; I.M. Lewis, "The so-called 'Galla graves' of re~ied on references to it.
Northern Somaliland", Man, 61, Pl? 103 sqq. It has to be stated R.P . Martial de Salviac, Un peuple antique ou une colonie

36 37
gauloise au pays de M~nelik. Les Galla. Grande nation africaine Kafa and Janjero (London 1969), p. 19; Beckingham and Hunting-
(Pinis 1900). f02~' op. cit., p. lxxiii.
llA~m~, op.cit., p. 69. 24Haberland, op.cit., pp. 4 sq.
Haberland, op.cit., p. 410. This was approved by my own 5Haberland, op.cit., pp. 5 sq., 363 sq.
Oromo informants. The tradition. was also mentioned by C.T. ;6Haberland, op.cit., pp. 4,7, passim.
Beke, "The origin of the Galla", Report of the British Asso- H. Lewis, "The or:i-gins of the Galla and Somali", Journal of
ciation for the Advancement of Science for 1847 (London 1848), Af2~can History, 7, 1 (1966), p. 34.
p. 116; w.e. Harris, The Highlands of Ethiopia (London 1844) , 28 H. Lewis, op.cit., pp. 31, 35.
Vol. III, p. 45; E.A.W. Budge, A history of Ethiopia, Nubia T. Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia 1270-1527 (Oxford
and Abyssinia (London 1928), Vol. II, p. 616. 1972), p. 298, map 6.
12Information received in Bale in 1973. Warra means people 29During my field research I could sometimes observe manipu-
in Oromifa. lations in the genealogies. There was an increasing tendency
13This legend was already referred to by Krapf, op.cit., among the recently Islamized groups to claim IsmacIl Gabart!
pp. 94 sq. Cf. R. Burton, First footsteps in East Africa; or and other Muslim heroes and saints as their ancestors.
an exploration of Harar (London 1856), p. 99; A. cecchi, Da ~~paulitschke, "Die Wanderungen der Oromo", p. 167.
Zeila alle frontiere del Caffa (Roma 1885-87), Vol. II, p. 473; 32I.M. Lewis, "The so-called 'Galla graves''', pp. 103 sqq.
p. Soleillet, Voyages en Ethiopie (Janvier 1882 - Octobre 1884). Oral information collected among the Nole and Ala in 1973.
NOr~s, lettres et documents divers (Rouen 1886), pp. 252 sq. For an early presence of the Oromo in the Juba/Tana area see
Ba~rey, History of the Galla, In: Some Records of Ethiopia E.R. Turton, "Bantu, Galla and Somali migrations in the Horn of
1593-1646. Translated and edited by C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Africa: a reassessment of the Juba/Tana area", Journal of Afri-
Huntingford (London 1954), pp. 111 sq. wanag Sagad is Lebna cag3History, 16,4 (1975), pp. 533 _ sqq.
Den~el (1508-40). A clear evidence for an Oromo advance up to the northern
1 J. Ludolphus, A new history of Ethiopia (London 1682), p.83. Somali coast does not appear to exist so far. Schleicher, op.
16Beckingham and Huntingford, op.cit., Almeida's map of Ethi- cit., pp. 21 sq., translated from Bahrey's text: "The Sidama
opia (S.O.A.S. MS 11966). [autochthons] who dwell near the sea; I have thrown into the
17J . Bruce, Reisen zur Entdeckung der Quellen des Nils in den sea". However, Beckingham and Huntingford (op.cit:, p. 119)
Jahren 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 und 1773 (Leipzig 1790/91), give preference to the neutral term "water" in their translation
voi. II, pp. 214 sq. I was only able to consult the German of this sentence. Thus, it could also refer to a lake or a
t'rigslation. river.
P. Pauli tschke, "D:ie Wanderungen der Oromo oder Galla Ost- 34 This was evidenced by several authors: C.C. von der Decken,
Afrikas", Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen GeseZZschaft in Reisen in Ost-Afrika in den Jahren 1859-1865 (Leipzig, Heidel-
Wil~' 19, 1889, p. 167. Cf. also his Beitrage, pp. 2 sq. berg, 1869/71), Vol. II, p. 320; G.A. Fischer, "tiber die jet-
See for instance H. Ewald, "Ueber die Volker und Sprachen zigen Verhaltnisse im sudlichen Galla-Lande und Wito", Mit-
sudlich von Aethiopien", Zeitschrift der Deutschen MorgenlCind- teilungen der Geographischen qesellschaft in Hamburg, 1878,
ischen Gesellschaft, 1 (1847), p. 46; G. Lejean, Voyage en pp. 347 sqq.; Robecchi-Bricchetti, op.cit., p. 380; P. Paul-
Abyssinie execut~ de 1862 a 1864 (Paris 1870), p. 95; L. Ro- itschke, Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas. I. Die materielle Kultur
becchi-Bricchetti, Somalia e Benadir - Viaggio di esplorazione der Danakil, Galla und Somal (Berlin 1893), pp. 53 sq., 254;
nell' Africa Orientale (Milano 1900), pp. 30, passim; H.G.C. E. von Hoyos, Zu den Aulihan (wien 1895), pp. 85/ 89; Cerulli,
Swayne, Seventeen trips through Somaliland - A record of ex- So~~lia, Vol. II, pp. 249 sq.
ploration and big game shooting, 1885-1893 (London 1895) , Haberland, op.cit., pp. 4-7. In opposition to his opinion,
pp 25 sq. Lugo (Horra Wolabo), the spiritual centre of the northern Oromo
~OE. Cerulli, Somalia - Scritti vari editi ed inediti (Rome in Dallo (Bale Province) is situated in a lowland area. See
19~I/64), Vol. I, p. 58; cf. Cerulli, Migiu~tinia, p. 154. also E. Haberland, Untersuchungen zum athiopischen Konigtum.
See for instance J.P. Michels, De Godsd~enst d~r Galla ~ (W~6sbaden.1965), ~. 239.
(Nijmegen 1941), pp. 21, passim; J. Doresse, L'Emp~re du Pretre- 37H. Lewls, Op.Clt., p. 40.
Jean (Paris 1957), Vol. II, pp. 314 sq.; G.P. Murdock, Africa. For the problem of the location of ancient Bale see U.
Its people and their culture history (New York, Toronto, London, Braukamper, "Islamic principalities in Southeast Ethiopia be-
l? J9), p. 46; I.M. Lewis, "The Galla in Northern Somaliland", tween the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries", Ethiopianist
Hassegna di studi Etiopici, 15 (1959), p. 21; J.S. Trimingham, Notes, I, 2 (1977), pp. 24 sq. This could also be proven by the
Is~~ in Ethiopia (London, Liverpool, 19~5)~ p. 210 .. topographical data transmitted by the Arabic historiographer
G.W.B. Huntingford, The Galla of Eth~op~a. The k~ngdoms of Abu'l-Fida (Geographie d' Aboulfeda. Transl. de l' arabe en

38 39
 Sixth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies / Tel-Aviv / 14-17 April 1980
f~an¥ais et accompagnee de notes et d'~claircissem~nts par M. ,
Reinaud (Paris 1848) Vol. II, p. 239). For a deta~led analys~s
of3~hese data cf. my'Geschichte der Ha~iy~ SUd-Athio~i~s, p.79. Mamh::lr Esdras and his interpretations
H. Lewis,op.cit., p. 35; E. Cerull~, Le popolaz~on~ del
bacino superiore dello Uabi". In,: L. di Savoia-Aosta (ed.),
La esplorazione dello uabi - Uebi Scebeli (Milano, Roma, verona,
1932) , p. 139. R.COWLEY
39 The Borana fraction, according to all available information Watford, UK
sources which cannot be discussed here, seems to have taken a
mo~O northerly way of migration (cf. map).
For the wolabu tradition cf. cecchi.: op.cit., Vol. II,
p. 473; Budge, op.cit., Vol. II, p. 616; Haberland, Galla,
PP4 5 sq., 355; H. Lewis, op.cit., p. 35.
lHaberland, op.cit., p. 24.
42 The southward movement of the Borana into the region of
Dirre and what is now northern Kenya, seems to have started
Although the eighteenth century in Ethiopia was not a major
later, i.e. not before the 17th century. See Haberland, op.cit.
period for original authorship (except for historical chroni-
p. j4; Turton, op.cit., p. 533. cles) or the translation of foreign works, manuscript evidence
44Haberland, op.cit., p. 24. proves that it was a time of intellectual enquiry and the diffu-
4 A similar view was also held by S. Stanley in a manuscript
~ion of learning, as the numbers of manuscripts produced greatly
titled History of the Sidama (Addis Ababa, n.d.), p. 30. For
1ncreased, scholarly marginalia became more frequent, and tex-
the situation at the northern boundary of the Oromo homeland
tual traditions Changed. It seems probable that this intellec-
cf. my article "The ethnogenesis of the sidama", Abbay, 9,
tual activity was associated with gifted individuals, and this
(19~8), p. 127. paper attempts, as an experimental sample, to investigate the
4 See Haberland, op.cit., pp. 25 sq. The retreat of the Borana
life and influence of one such individual, a ~h~r Esdros,
from the Gu1i lasted up to the 1960s. A. Legesse, Gada. Three
~out ~hom some information is available from written Ethiopian
aPP'roaches to the study of African society (New York, 1973) , h1stor~cal sources, from oral tradition, and from the andamta
pp. 206, 208. commentary materia\'l)and whose name is remembered in the commen- ·
tary schools today.
Haruy walda Sillase records of Esdros:
"He was a very learned scholar who lived in Gondar. Because
the matter of commentary had not been set in order after the
Muslim called Gra~ arose and destroyed many books in Ethiopia,
~dmhar Esdros went around from place to place examining books
and set in order the commentary on the New Testament. until'
the present day, the commentary of Mamhar Esdros is p,neatl Y
loved, and is taught in every church and monastery." He also
notes that the celebrated teachfj) Walda Ab had "learnt the in-
terpretation of Mamhar Esdros".
Mamh~(~rdros also appears in the list of N.T. commentary
tradents as a pupil of Alaqa Gwangw~l and as teacher of S~na
Krastos who taught Walda Ab.
Liqa salpanat Habt~ Maryam records that it is said of Esdros
that he was blind, he knew the four branches of the commentary
tradition and taught many pupils, but later he retired to an
iSlan15?n Lake Tana for further study, examining some 300
books and then recalled his former students to benefit from
his studies. Some returned, and they and their followers be-
came known as the 'lower house' (tao bet); those who refused to
return, and who continued to teach as they formerly learnt,

41

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