Gibe region
The Gibe region (
To the north of the Gibe region lay the
Until the mid 16th century, this region was part of the
These barriers consisted of palisades or dead hedges, which could extend for miles, separated from the barriers of the neighboring kingdom by a neutral strip (called moga), which was left uncultivated and inhabited only by brigands and outlaws. Access into each kingdom was limited to guarded gates known as kella, where tolls were levied[2]
These kingdoms had an economy based on exports of gold, civet musk, coffee, and slaves. G.W.B. Huntingford explains that slaves were taken in raids on the Macha tribe to the north, and in raids on the Sidamo kingdoms of Kaffa and Janjero; he also cites evidence to show that 7,000 people a year were sold each year, some to people inside Ethiopia, and some outside that country.[3]
The Gibe region, with the rest of southwestern Ethiopia, was almost entirely annexed between 1886 and 1900 in a series of conquests by the generals of Emperor Menelik II. The kingdom of Jimma, through skillful diplomacy, managed to delay this fate until the death of its king Abba Jifar II in 1932.
References
- ^ Described in detail in G.W.B. Huntingford, The Galla of Ethiopia; the Kingdoms of Kafa and Janjero (London: International African Institute, 1955), pp. 55ff
- ^ C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford, Some Records of Ethiopia, 1593-1646 (London: Hakluyt Society, 1954), p. lxxviii. Also described in detail in Huntingford, The Galla of Ethiopia, pp. 57f
- ^ Huntingford, The Galla of Ethiopia, p. 31