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The Great Oromo migration was a series of migrations in the 16th and 17th centuries by Oromos from more southerly areas in Ethiopia to more central and northern regions. The migrations severely effected the recently weakened Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia, as well as being the death blow to the recently defeated Adal state.

Early migrations

The early migrations were characterized by sporadic raids by the Oromo on the frontiers of the Solomonic kingdom. After capturing cattle and other booty, the raiding parties would quickly return back to their homelands. Actual settlement of new territories would not begin until the luba (Ge'ez ሉባ lūbā, an "appointed" head of one of the five groups of an Oromo clan) of Meslé. The earliest recorded history of the Oromo is dated by the leading luba of the Gadaa system, the age classes or cohorts which changed every eight years.

According to Bahrey, the earliest Oromo migrations occured under the Melbah luba (1522-1530), during the time of Emperor Lebna Dengel. He states that they invaded the neighboring Bali in the Southeast just before the invasions of Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi of Adal (also known as Ahmed Gragn) in the north. The depth of these early incursions were limited, however, as the encroaching groups returned to their homeland. At the time, this subgroup of the Oromo were settled around their chefe or assembly-place, which Mohammed Hassen locates at Harroo Walabuu on the upper Dawa River. Raids continued under Mudena (1530-1538) beyond the Wabe Shebelle into Dawaro; although these groups also returned home immediately after their attacks, they faced no coherent response to this predation. Mohammed Hassan attributes this to the conquest of the province of Dawaro by Imam Ahmad's followers in 1532, which destroyed the Christian garrison in Dawaro. Further, once the inhabitants of this province converted to Islam, their governor Wazir Adole took most of his soldiers into the central and northern provinces of Ethiopia where the Imam was still waging his war of conquest, leaving only a skeleton force to maintain order. "Thus," Mohammed Hassan concludes, "it is safe to assume that between 1530 and 1538 the path for Oromo migration to both the north and northeast was wide open."

The devastating war between Adal and the Ethiopia provided this warlike people an opportunity to advance further north. As Mohammed Hassen explains, this conflict "sent different groups fleeing from the 'storm center', abandoning their ancestral homes. This process triggered a chain reaction which affected wide areas. The dispersal of the displaced people was accompanied by carnage and destruction on an appalling scale. Many probably died from famine during the jihad and the anarchy that followed its failure." When the Kilolé luba (1538-1546) resumed his predecessors' raids following Imam Ahmad's death, he was able to pierce further into Solomonic territory, as far as Dawaro, north of Bali. However after each raid the parties still returned to their villages. Bahrey's dating might, however, be off, however, as Shihab ad-din, who wrote a decade before Ahmed Gragn's death, notes a locality named Werre Qallu, an Oromo name, in the province of Dawaro.[cite?] Francisco de Almeida, however, agrees with Bahrey's dating, affirming that the Galla first began migrating around the time of Ahmed Gragn's invasion (1527).

During the time of the luba Bifolé (1546-1554), the Oromo migration achieved its first major success. While all previous movements had been minor raids on neighboring provinces, under Bifolé new raids were undertaken that began to weaken Solomonic control. All of Dawaro was pillaged and Fetegar to its north was attacked for the first time. Furthermore, according to Bahrey, the inhabitants of the pillaged areas were enslaved, becoming gebrs (Ge'ez ገብር gabr; Amh. gebr, Tgn. gebri), a term referring more precisely to "tax-paying serfs," similar to the serfs in Ethiopia during feudal times. Emperor Gelawdewos, however, campaigned in the south as a result of thee attacks. According to his chronicle, the Emperor defeated the Oromo incursions and made subject to his rule those he captured, preventing further attacks for some time, with further incursions reduced to skirmishes. The initial attacks were significant, however, on a much larger and more devastating scale to the Solomonic dynasty. Despite his reprisals, Gelawdewos was troubled and was forced to settle refugees in a town of Wej, north of Lake Zway, around 1550-1. John Bermudez records that the Emperor also settled some of the surviving Portuguese adventurers in Dawaro, where they remained for several months until a determined attack by a band of Oromo forced these settlers to withdraw southwest to Wej, where they joined with Emperor Gelawdewos' army on its campaign to the west in Gurageland and amongst the Gafat.

Settlement

Meslé (1554-1562)

The luba Meslé (also known as "Michelle") represent a fundamental change in the migrations of the Oromo. On the Oromo side, not only were newly taken territories permanently settled by Oromos for the first time, but they learned to ride mules and horses for the first time. The adoption of horseback-riding from the north greatly increased the Oromos fighting power, putting them on par with Solomonic troops, who were largely unequipped with firearms. Meanwhile, on the other side the final scenes of the long Adal-Solomonic struggle played out, which left both sides exhausted and unable to resist the advances of the Oromo. Although the Christian loss of their southern and eastern territories is better known, the Muslims south of the Awash River suffered equivalent losses before the advancing Ittu, Karayu, and other Oromo groups. The forces of Nur ibn Mujahid (r. 1551/2-1567/8), the Amir of Harar, were soundly defeated by the Oromos. According to Bahrey, there had been "no such slaughter since the Galla first invaded."

In the new phase of migration adopted under Meslé, the Oromos defeated Gelawdewos's troops in Jan Amora, allowing them to pillage a number of towns. Instead of returning to their homelands, however, they stayed in the new territories. Gelawdewos campaigned against the Oromos as a result, defeating them at 'Asa Zeneb (yet unidentified), but he was nevertheless unable to drive them from the frontier provinces and continued to build the new town in Wej for new refugees.

On Gelawdewos' death in battle on 23 March 1559, the Imperial crown passed to his younger brother Menas, who admitted the growing power of the Oromo by withdrawing from Wej and Fatagar, moving his capital north. Pankhurst states that Minas established it at Guba'e, near Lake Tana, while Mohammed Hassen locates Menas' new base at Mengesta Semayat in eastern Gojjam. In either case, the Oromo moved their chefe center into Fatagar north of the Awash, to Oda Nabi.

Harmufa (1562-1570) and Robalé (1570-1578)

During the luba of Harmufa (which Bahrey notes the Borana called "Dulu"), the Oromos advanced even deeper into Solomonic territory. With the use of horses, they struck into Angot. and Amhara, and were able to reach as far north as Begemder. Meanwhile, the reigning Emperor Sarsa Dengel was preoccupied south of the Abbay in Damot; according to Mohammed Hassen, his lack of control over his troops led to the impoverishment of the local peoples, who were unable to resist the Oromo when they arrived a few years later.

Further raids came during the Robalé luba, during whose time Shewa was pillaged and Gojjam attacked. Whereas earlier incursions had been against frontier provinces, which were intermittently lost to the Ethiopian throne, now Oromo advances were devastating the core provinces of the Empire. In 1574, Azmach Zara Yohannes was killed in an Oromo raid. In response, the young Emperor Sarsa Dengel led counter attacks. One such counter attack in 1573 engaged a group of Oromos near Lake Zway, whom Sarsa Dengel defeated. Afterwards he gathered together their cattle and distributing them among his subjects who are said in his chronicle to have "became rich" as a result. However, in 1578 Sarsa Dengel tacitly admitted defeat by withdrawing his eastern regiments to Tigray, where he used them in his successful battle against Bahr negus Yeshaq.

Counterattacks by Sarsa Dengel

Forced to fight the Ottomans in the north of his Empire, Sarsa Dengel turned to curb the spread of Oromos in the south in the 1570s. The first mention of his actions is in his short Royal chronicle, which states that he fought a force of Borana Oromos at Lake Zway under a luba named Ambissa. Learning that, after the 1572 rains, the Oromos had taken Wej, the Emperor gathered his forces from throughout Ethiopia into an army at Ginde Beret. From there, Sarsa Dengel headed south, where he found that the Oromos had also taken Maya. Despite the size of his army, he was able to defeat the Oromos in the area, pushing them back to Fetegar, and capture a large number of cattle. Sarsa Dengel again learned in 1574 of Oromo incursions in Shewa, and the pillaging of cattle in lowland Zéma. The Emperor sent Azzaj Halibo with 50 cavalry to the area, who forced the Oromo to flee sent the heads of 80 to the Emperor as trophies. Sarsa Dengel was again forced to head north with his army to confront the Ottoman-backed Bahr negus Yeshaq, but later returned to Wej in 1577-8 to fend off Oromo advances in the area. As a result of the battle in the Modjo Valley (just east of modern Addis Ababa) against the Borana Oromo, corpses were strewn all over the surrounding countryside. The Emperor then fended off an attack in Dembiya by the Abati Oromo at Wayna Daga; as a result of the battle, according to Bahrey, less than ten Oromo survived "to carry news of the defeat".

Birmajé (1578-1586)

Despite Sarsa Dengel's military campaigns, the Oromo migration continued to spread northward during this time. It was under luba Birmajé that the Oromos first began to use body-length ox-hide shields. These shields allowed the Oromos to resist arrows and therefore successfully defeat the Mayas. During this time period, the Oromo often came into conflict with Daharagot, one of Sarsa Dengel's commanders, who was often victorious. Nevertheless, during this time, the Oromo pillaged Ar'ine in Wej, killing Solomonic courtiers in the process. Further advances were made around Lake Tana, Dembiya, and (old) Damot, which was surrounded and some of whose inhabitants were enslaved.

Mul'eta (1586-1594)

Under luba Mul'eta a large raid (Oromo dulaguto) was made on Gojjam south of Lake Tana. With the Ottoman situation in the north largely under control, Sarsa Dengel again took the initiative against the Oromo in the south, where he forced the Dawé (or Jawé) Oromos in Wej to flee. Bahrey praised Sarsa Dengel's campaign, stating that he "did not act according to the custom of the kings his ancestors, who, when making war were in the habit of sending their troops ahead, remaining themselves in the rear with the pick of their cavalry and infantry, praising those who went forward bravely and punishing those who lagged behind." Despite Bahrey's praise, Sarsa Dengel was forced to use coercion to draw troops, decreeing that anyone who failed to heed his call to arms would have his house pillaged and property confiscated.

17th c.

Yaqob

Pankhurst states Yaqob made at least one campaign against the Oromo.

Susneyos

• Familiar with Oromo due to his time spent in exile amongst them
• Ras Sela Krestos
• Marawa Oromo defeated in the Battle of Ebenat

Consequences

p. 306

Sources

Because Oromos did not write their language during the migrations, we must refer to Amharic, Portuguese, and Arabic sources for the reasons behind and history of the migrations. Particularly, a 16th century Tigrayan monk named Bahrey is the foremost source on the migrations. His book (written in Ge'ez), the History of the Galla (Ge'ez ዜናሁ ፡ ለጋላ zēnahu legalla), was written in 1593 and details the migrations from 1522 to his age. In addition to his book, further information can be gleamed from other contemporaries such as from the Ethiopian monk Abba Paulos, Shihab ed-Din's Futuh al-Habasha (Conquest of Abyssinia), João Bermudes, Francisco de Almeida, Jerónimo Lobo, and various royal chronicles (e.g. those of Gelawdewos, Sarsa Dengel, and Susenyos, though that of Sarsa Dengel may have been written by Bahrey).

See also

• History of Ethiopia
• Oromo people
• Migration