A Short History of the Hadiya People of Southern Ethiopia:
From Their Origin to the Revolution of 1974
Compiled by Tesfaye Habisso
Writing the history of an illiterate people from its genesis to the present can only be realized when adequate information sources exist. In the case of the Hadiya, references in written records (medieval Ethiopian chronicles and Arabic reports) date back as far as the 13th century and sporadically continue up to the 17th century. Most of the materials for this monograph, however, are derived from oral traditions collected from Hadiya elders over a long period of time. For the 19th and 20th centuries, there are written reports by European travellers, missionaries and colonialists who refer to the Hadiya. The total fund of information sources—written records, oral traditions, and to some extent ethnographic data—enables us to reconstruct a holistic view of the past of this Southern Ethiopian people.
From the 13th to the 16th centuries the Hadiya constituted one of the most important political entities of Northeast Africa. Their coherent territorial block was then shattered by outside forces and its inhabitants were absorbed by peoples of heterogeneous ethnic stock. At present, descendants of the old Hadiya can be identified in five different linguistic clusters:
The first political entity of Hadiya was probably situated on the Harar plateau. From there it steadily moved westward in the direction of the Lakes region and established in the westernmost of Islamic states which were combined in the federation of Zayla. In a written document the name Hadiya was first mentioned in the Kebra Nagast (“Glory of Kings”), an Ethiopian chronicle dating back to the 13th century. The people to whom it referred seemed to have been the hereditary enemies of the Christian empire. When Amda-Tsion I (1314-44) ruled Ethiopia, the Hadiya were conquered and became tributary to the empire, but still maintained a certain degree of political independence. Culturally, as described by Arabic historiographers, they must have been at a relatively high level, with remarkable agricultural production, one of the biggest armies in the region, and a well-established trading system. The healing of castrated slaves and their exportation to the markets of the Islamic world was particularly noted. According to topographical data collected mainly by Abul-Fida, the region of Gadab west of the Bale mountains could be identified as the centre of Hadiya territory in the 14th century. Amda-Tsion’s successors Dawit I (1382-1413) and Yeshaq (1414-29) were engaged in permanent wars with their Islamic neighbours which involved heavy losses. After Zara-Yaqob (1434-68) mounted to the throne, the Christian Ethiopian Empire reached the climax of its power and extended its political and cultural influence over large parts of today’s South Ethiopia. Zara-Yaqob married the Hadiya princess Eleni, one of the most outstanding female personalities in Ethiopian history, who until her death in 1522 played an active part in politics and cultural affairs. The chronicle dedicated to Zara-Yaqob reported extensively the relations between the Christian empire and the Hadiya, whose sub-tribes were listed there, thus enabling us to verify the historical continuity of contemporary ethnic groups like the Qabena, Alaba, Ganz, Gadabicho, and Gudela up to the 15th century. Mahiqo, the son of the garad (chief) Mehmad [Bimaddo], refused to pay tribute, organized a conspiracy against the Ethiopian overlord and attempted to secure the alliance of the Muslim leading power Adal. However, another Hadiya leader, called gadayto garad, revealed the conspirator’s plans to the emperor and advised him to entrust the command in the Hadiya country to garad Bamo [Boyamo], Mehmad’s brother, who had proved to be loyal. Bamo was ordered to zara-Yaqob’s residence in Debre Berhan and following a consultation was sent back to his people with rich gifts and accompanied by troops from the Damot province. After the surrender of most of the rebellious Hadiya, Mahiqo tried to escape to Adal with the rest of his partisans, but they were pursued and killed by Bamo’s warriors. The troops from Damot who had contributed considerably to the victory were settled as chawa (men-at-arms, i.e. military colonists) in the territory of the defeated rebels. Hadiya continued to be governed in a kind of indirect rule by local garad who were supervised by the Ethiopian crown, although it hardly differed in status from a province of the Christian empire.
The facts reported by the chronicle are closely supported by the oral traditions. From the whole fund of information sources it can be concluded that the name Hadiya mainly existed as a political term. A common leadership was lacking, and the population of the state seemed to have been rather heterogeneous, both culturally and linguistically. Parts of the population were Muslim, others apparently were not. In the north an agricultural Semitic (“Adare”)-speaking element seems to have predominated, in the south a more pastoral Cushitic-speaking one. These two ethnic components also constituted the population of the neighbouring states Dawaro, Sharha, Bale, and Ganz.
Under Zara-Yaqob’s successors, Baeda Maryam (1468-78), Eskinder (1478-94) and Naod (1494-1508) the position of the Christian empire in its southern dependencies became more and more precarious. A people from the east, the Maya, distantly related to the Hadiya, overwhelmed the Ethiopian province of Wag. Emperor Lebna Dengel (1508-40) interfered with a civil war of the Hadiya and—for a short period—managed to consolidate the power of his state in the borderlands. This is documented by European travellers, who from now onward started to enter the historical scene.
The 16th century began with an increasing escalation of the Muslim-Christian struggle for domination in Northeast Africa, which culminated in the long-lasting “holy war” (jihad) waged by the Muslims of Adal under the leadership of Ahmad b. Ibrahim (nicknamed Gragn or the left-handed) against the Ethiopian empire. The Hadiya more or less voluntarily joined the Adalites in 1531, established marriage relations with their leaders and fought the Christians fiercely until the final collapse of the Muslim offensive in the battle of Woina Dega by the allied Ethiopian and Portuguese forces in 1543. There is hardly any other personality in Ethiopian history with whom so many legends and fantastic folk-tales are associated as with Ahmad Gragn. One of his generals, Abd an-Nasir, survived in the memory of the Hadiya, with whom he had been in close cooperation. Warriors of the Gudela (Weto-gira) sub-tribe gave him considerable support in occupying the province of Kambata and have continued to settle in that area up to the present.
After Ahmad Gragn’s death, the Ethiopian Christians under their emperor Galawdewos (1540-59) initiated a campaign to re-conquer the lost territories in the south, such as Hadiya and Dawaro. However, their success remained limited because the people of Adal proclaimed amir Nur b. Mujahid as leader of a new jihad and again invaded the Christian state after 1551. The Hadiya apparently played an important role in the Muslim armies and provoked far-reaching changes in the ethnic situation. Segments of the Qabena and Alaba migrated southward to what is now Sidamaland, while other groups crossed the lowlands of the Lakes region and occupied a territory east of Kambata. The Silti, Ulbarag and related groups, which originated in the Chercher mountains, after a series of fierce battles settled in Gurageland and assimilated a considerable part of the natives from whom they adopted the cultivation of Ensete ventricosum.
The long-lasting military action of the “holy war”, which did not come to an end before the death of amir Nur in 1568, deeply affected the demographic and cultural situation in Northeast Africa. Among the territories which had been devastated to the utmost degree was that of the Hadiya, and in the course of the military campaigns many of its inhabitants had moved westward to Kambata, Gurage and Woj (Wag), thus leaving a vacuum in certain areas east of the Rift Valley. These conditions proved to be favourable to the Oromo people who—as neighbours to the Hadiya—occupied a highland area south of the upper Ganale. We can only speculate about reasons why they began to expand so violently beyond the boundaries of their original country. They first invaded the region of Dallo, where the Hadiya were completely assimilated but managed to assert a leading position within the continually enlarging ethnic body of the Oromo. From 1537 onward, they began to overwhelm the Ethiopian province of Bale, partly inhabited by Christian settlers and partly by people of Hadiya/Sidama stock. Since both groups were decimated by the Adalite wars, it was easy for the Oromo to take over political control and to absorb the autochthons within a short period. A certain dualism, however, continued to exist, opposing the clans of the “true Oromo” to those of the mogasa (assimilated), generally called Hadiya. In the second half of the 16th century of the conquering nation crossed the Wabi Shebeli, and the “Galla[Oromo] storms” pushed as far as Harar and the borderland of Shewa. The Hadiya were confronted with the alternatives either of submitting to the Oromo leaders or of being expelled. Thus, Hadiya groups who maintained their ethnic identity were forced to move westward to the lowlands of the Lakes region. Having been semi-nomads before, they often gave up agriculture in their new habitat in favour of a purely pastoral way of life.
During the turbulent decades of the Oromo expansion, the ancestors of the Sidama people also left their original domiciles in two different areas—the Maldea group came from Dawaro north of the Wabi Shebeli bend, the Buche group abandoned their territory Dawa west of the upper Ganale—and settled in present Sidamaland. Mixing with the native Hofa they began to constitute a new ethnos, called Sidama, after 1600.
Emperor Sarsa dengel (1563-97) tried in vain to stop the advance of the Oromo, but he successfully fought the Hadiya and established Ethiopian supremacy in their country. Apparently, the fate of the Hadiya was that of being caught in the vice of two opposing ethnic-political expansions; from the south they were over-run by the steam-roller of the steadily enlarging Oromo nation, from the north the Christian forces invaded their area in order to defend the empire from an advanced position. This is also true for the time of Suseneyos (1607-32) and Fassil (1632-67). In the middle of the 17th century, the Oromo occupation of large parts of central Ethiopia finally cut off those areas between the upper Awash and the Sidama country, where the Hadiya had preserved their ethnic identity, from the Christian state.
This fact, as well as the expulsion of the Portuguese by emperor Fassil (1633), resulted in the discontinuation of written records concerning the peoples south of Shewa. For about two centuries oral traditions remain the only information sources to reconstruct the past in that area. During this period of ethnic disturbances and migratory dynamics the formerly coherent block of the Hadiya split and dispersed to such extent that the histories of their sub-groups have to be analysed individually. For unknown reasons the Qabena and Alaba left their homes in Sidamaland about 1720, crossed the Bilate and settled in the vicinity of the Tembaro. More than half a century of close contact with this people made them abandon their Semitic (Adare) language in favour of the Cushitic Kambata-Tembaro idiom. C. 1790 the Qabena and Alaba proceeded to the region of Wachamo and Guna south of the Gurage mountains. They were chased from there by the immigration of the Lemo Hadiya sub-group about 1815, and the Qabena moved northward to Gurage. They crossed Ennamor and Chaha and finally settled in Zenna-Banner c. 1860. During the 19th century they underwent a strong Islamic revival and under their leaders Umar Baksa and Hassan Enjamo they became the dominating political, military and commercial power in Gurageland.
In their movements as far as the region of Guna, the Qabena and Alaba had been together, but now their paths separated. Whereas the former moved northward, the latter fled from the Lemo invasion to the east, to the country of Ulbarag. After a short stay there, they struck southward about 1825 and joined their kinsmen, the Ull’Alaba (derived from ulla=earth; i.e. the homesteading people, in contrast to the roaming segment called Hassan Alaba after an ancestor), who had occupied a territory east of the Bilate since the second half of the 16th century. Another part of the Alaba had mixed with Oromo groups in the area of Duro south of Lake Langano and constituted a new ethnos named Alabdu. About 1800, evidently pushed by the Arsi, they left for a region in present Gujjiland east of Lake Abbaya and were fully Oromized.
Like the Ull’Alaba, the seven groups of the East Gurage, the Silti, Ulbarag, Azernet, Berbere, Wuriro, Wolanne, and Gadabano, occupied lands since the 16th century in the western part of the Rift Valley. As sedentary peasants on the eastern segments of the Gurage mountains they lived in permanent war with the nomadic Hadiya tribes, the Lemo, Shashogo, and especially the Maraqo, who prevented them from expanding their settlements from their narrow domiciles to the neighbouring plains. In the second half of the 19th century, however, the demographic pressure in the densely populated mountains had intensified to an extent that the East Gurage spared no pains to conquer land from the warlike Maraqo. Their effort was favoured by the establishment of supra-regional political federations initiated by Islamic leaders.
The Maraqo, against whom the expansion of the East Gurage was mainly directed, lived as nomads in the lowlands between the upper Awash and Lake Shalla. During the 19th century they began to face increasing pressure not only from the East Gurage but also from advancing Arsi clans in the region of Lake Zway. Although they fiercely defended their position, the dwelling areas of this pastoral people steadily decreased.
For a time, the Maraqo had been neighbours of the Lemo, a Hadiya group descended from the ancient Gudela. Probably during the Gragn wars they had left their country Wera, which is said to have been situated near Lake Abbaya, and migrated to the plateau of Albaso west of the Katar river. About 1700 they left that area to the Arsi and moved down to the Maraqo lowlands. After an agreement with this people had failed, they proceeded westward to Ennaqor, chased the Qabena and Alaba and occupied their territory at the beginning of the 19th century. The Weto-gira, who had been defeated and dispersed in Kambata, joined the Lemo and strengthened their force. The Lemo and their new allies (Badogo, Bergage, Haballo, Haysaba, Errera, etc.) began to fight the Soro, pushed them back to the south and extended their territory up to the Omo river. Close contact with the Endegagn, a neighbouring Gurage tribe, induced the semi-nomadic Lemo to start the cultivation of ensete in the middle of the last century.
The original country of the Soro was Gadab on the upper Wabi Shebelli. They joined the troops of Ahmad Gragn on his campaign against the Christian empire—as most of the Hadiya did—and reached as far as Fatagar north of the Awash. Most probably dislodged by a counter-offensive of the Ethiopians, they retreated and lived as nomads for about two hundred years in the lowlands of the Bilate valley. In the second part of the 18th century their dwelling-areas shifted westward and encompassed the Omo river, separating the Masmas people from the rest of their Gurage kinsmen. About 1800 the Soro began to invade the country of the Kambata-speaking Dubammo and Donga, while in the north they had to abandon parts of their land to the advancing Lemo. The example of the neighbouring Kambata-speaking Dubammo and Donga, while in the north they had to abandon establishment of a kingship, but the egalitarian society of the people, which was typical for all Hadiya, made this attempt abortive.
Genealogically the Soro are closely related to the shashogo, both groups claiming descent from Boyamo, famous leader of the Gadab(icho) Hadiya in the 15th century. However, the original domiciles of the Shashogo were in Seru, a more easterly region, from which they moved to Gadab and to Woj (Wag) during the Gragn wars. From about 1600 to the middle of the 17th century they inhabited the lowland zones south and southeast of Lake Shalla. When Arsi groups pushed forward from the eastern escarpment of the Rift Valley, the Shashogo were forced into a steady retreat. In this situation they received a call for help from the Kambata, who were severely oppressed by the Weto-gira. Together with their allies, the Urusso, they crossed the Bilate and defeated the Weto-gira., who took refuge with the Lemo. About 1770 the Shashogo reached their present dwelling-areas in the swampy lowlands northeast of Kambata.
After their victory over the Weto-gira, the Urusso had separated from their allies and turned in the opposite direction, towards the shores of Lake Abbaya. After their migration from Gadab they had roamed with their cattle in the Lakes region, where they tried in vain to resist the advancing Arsi. In their new grazing-areas west of the Bilate, the Urusso established a federation with another Hadiya group, the Badeoso. This happened during the two decades of the 18th century. The Badeoso came from dallo; they had partly joined the campaigns of the Adalite Muslims up to Shewa and were later mostly assimilated by the Oromo. Together with the Urusso they constituted a new ethnos, which became known as Badawacho. At the end of the 19th century they were joined by remnants of the dispersed Weto-gira, especially by members of the clan Haballo. When the Badawacho took possession of the land between Bilate and Omo, the dwelling-areas of the Wolayta people were still restricted to a small mountainous district in Kindo. However, by means of diplomacy, marriage relations, treachery and war, the Wolayta succeeded in the course of the 19th century in pushing the Badawacho steadily back to the north and in occupying most of their land. Parts of the Hadiya population were assimilated by the Wolayta.
The lowlands of the Lakes region and the mountainous districts between Bilate and Omo became a refuge for all those Hadiya groups who preserved their ethnic identity. A considerable part of the Hadiya—as already mentioned—were absorbed by the expanding Oromo and became actively engaged themselves in expelling their kinsmen who refused to submit to the suzerainty of the Oromo leaders (abba gada). Among the Arsi in their huge dwelling-areas extending from Lake Zway to the bend of the Wabi Shebelli and from the upper Awash to the Ganale, a political and cultural dualism developed. On the one hand there was a minority called “Oromo”, from whom the leaders of the gada system were exclusively recruited, and on the other hand there was a majority of “Hadiya” clans (amounting to about two thirds), who showed a considerable Islamic influence. According to the traditional patterns of Arsi culture they were regarded as on a lower level than the “true Oromo” (sometimes called Borana), but the more Islam penetrated and the sanctuary of Sheik Hussien in Bale emerged as the centre of pilgrimage for the whole country, the more the original distinction within the ethnos diminished.
In the Lakes region the process of Oromization at the expense of the Hadiya steadily continued during the last century, and it seemed to have been a question of time until the process was complete. The Maraqo for instance were just on the way to join the Arsi and thus more or less automatically giving up their language and cultural individuality. In this situation a new political factor appeared on the scene, the Christian kingdom of Shewa, which actively initiated a southward expansion of its terriority from the 1870s. After king Menelik had become emperor of Ethiopia in 1889, the imperialistic pressure on the southern peoples increased and finally led to their subjugation. The Hadiya were among the first to be struck by the military campaigns of the Christians from the north, generally called Amhara after their dominant ethnic group.
The Qabena agreed to a status of tributary allies and supported a Shewan campaign to loot the Gurage country in 1876. The East Gurage accepted Menelik’s suzerainty three years later; the Maraqo, however, resisted and were not defeated until 1882. The governor of the newly established Ethiopian province of Soddo and Gurage, Dajjazmach Wolde Ashagre, started the conquest of the Hadiya/Kambata area in 1886, but the enterprise was interrupted by a rebellion of the Qabena, whose leader Hasan Enjamo proclaimed a “holy war” against the Christians. It took the Amhara almost three years to break the stubborn resistance of the jihad fighters. Whilst ras Gobana Dache commanded the operations west of the Rift Valley, Menelik II himself led a zamacha (campaign) against the Arsi in 1886/87. The Amhara conquered and pillaged the land up to the Wabi Shebelli and finished the subjection of this people with a campaign in Bale in 1890-92. Between 1889 and 1893 the Hadiya tribes west of the Bilate, the Lemo, Shashogo and Soro, were defeated. The Badawacho took refuge with the Wolayta, but could enjoy their independence only up to 1894. At the end of this year a large military expedition, commanded by the emperor himself, set out from Shewa to Wolayta to overcome the last stronghold of resistance in that part of the country.
Menelik’s conquests were favoured to some extent by natural catastrophes which apparently weakened the defensive power of the South Ethiopian peoples. Between 1889 and 1891, rinderpest exterminated almost all cattle in that area and deprived the pastoral Hadiya of their essential means of livelihood. In order to survive the famine they had to adopt agriculture, but nevertheless the loss of human life was immense. The disastrous situation was aggravated by an outbreak of smallpox and cholera in Northeast Africa, which reached a climax in the period between 1890 and 1892. The simultaneous occurrence of famine, epidemics and war effected such a demographic diminution that it took a long time for some populations to recover from their losses.
After their conquest by the Christian empire a new chapter in the history of the southern peoples began, bringing unprecedented change in their socio-economic base. The annexation of the south has mostly been glorified by historians as an act of unification of modern Ethiopia, but from the viewpoint of the subjected ethnic groups it was considered as an act of colonialist expansion, which in its degree of oppression apparently surpassed European imperialism in Northeast Africa. In general, the conquered peoples were degraded to a status of so-called gabbar, i.e., serfs of the state, a system varying in certain details from province to province. In the Hadiya-occupied areas a number of local families were attached to the soldiers of Menelik’s army who were mostly of Amhara origin and whom they had to supply with food and socage service. Thus, between five and ten gabbar households had to serve a commoner and dozens or even hundreds the various ranks of officers. These occupants were generally called naftagna (gun-bearers). Only the traditional chiefs of the natives kept their positions as independent land-owners (balabat), and –to maintain their privileges—they were expected to act as agents for the new political authority.
The administration of the occupied areas was thus established on a quasi-feudal foundation. For those regions inhabited by Hadiya the division in the governmental districts dates back to the 1880s when Menelik II initiated the creation of the province Soddo and Gurage. In the decade before the turn of the century the territorial organization in the middle parts of South Ethiopia was differentiated, and the Hadiya were allocated to the provinces of Gurage, Kambata, Arussi (Arsi), Sidamo-Jemjem, Koromoso, Bale and Ogaden. For purposes of civil administration and military control, the Ethiopian government established urban centres, so-called katama at strategically suitable places. Most of the naftagna population used to live and to receive the tribute from their gabbar there. Townlike conglomerations had been unknown before, and this fact favoured the development of the katama into commercial centres. Although the Amhara occupation led to a general impoverishment of the autochthons, it effected at the same time, at least in certain respects, cultural innovations and approaches towards dynamic cultural change. For example, the plough and new domesticated plants (teff, potatoes, flax, etc.) were introduced, and the southern peoples became participants in a larger socio-economic and political system.
Ethiopian colonial rule in the Hadiya country almost collapsed for a short period, when, after the death of Menelik II, a civil war greatly disturbed the whole empire. The party of the designated ruler, Lij Eyasu, was defeated in 1916 by an alliance mainly recruited from the Amharic governors and troops from south Ethiopia. To fight the decisive battle the garrisons had to march northward to Sagale in Shewa, thus leaving a military vacuum in their provinces. The Hadiya, the Kambata and the other neighbouring peoples used this occasion to rebel against their naftagna masters and to incite warlike conflicts with neighbouring ethnic groups. It was not until 1919 that the Ethiopian government regained full control in the Lakes region.
The period from the end of the civil war to the invasion by troops of fascist Italy was characterized by a consolidation of naftagna rule, which nevertheless continued to be opposed with stubborn hostility by the Hadiya, by economic difficulties and by the beginning of missionary activities—American Protestants were engaged as well as Roman Catholics from Europe—in the provinces of Kambata, Wolayta, Sidamo, And Arsi. A decree against the slave trade, which was widely practised in Hadiya country, proved to rather ineffective.
The situation in the Hadiya areas immediately became precarious for the Ethiopian government when the Italians started to realize their dream of an East African colonial empire in October 1935. The Amharic garrisons were mobilized to fight the fascist invaders at the fronts in Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. This time, the local balabat (chief) had to join the armed forces as fighters, and additionally many natives were recruited as porters and servants. As soon as the news of disastrous defeats of the imperial armies on both fronts reached South Ethiopia in the spring of 1936, the indigenous populations of Kambata, Arsi, Sidamo, and Bale rose against those naftagna reserves, who kept the Ethiopian positions in the katama of the southern provinces. Armed with modern weapons but hopelessly outnumbered by the autochthonous peoples, many of the colonists, women and children included, were killed. In general they managed, however, to regain military control in the Hadiya country because simultaneously inter-ethnic wars broke out, and the naftagna won the Gurage and Wolayta as allies against the Kambata, Hadiya, Arsi and Sidama. The advance of Italian troops in the Lakes region exterminated the last pockets of imperial Ethiopian resistance in February 1937.
The short period of European colonial rule was quite important for socio-economic development in South Ethiopia. The gabbar system was abolished and taxes were reduced by the Italians in order to gain the confidence and support of those peoples who had been traditionally hostile to the imperial government. For this purpose also the propagation of Islam was stimulated, and a remarkable expansion of this religion can indeed be noted in the Arsi areas. However, through their measures to recruit people for the construction of their colonial roads and transportation system, the European occupants created considerable opposition.
Fascist rule in East Africa rapidly collapsed after Italy entered World War II in 1940. In May/June of the following year British troops, supported by Ethiopian patriots, pushed the Italians out of the Lakes region and pushed them in the direction of Jimma. With the exception of auxiliaries who fought on both sides (i.e. for the Italians as well as for the British), the Hadiya stayed neutral during these combat operations. Tribal conflicts, however, especially between Arsi and Sidama, Badawacho and Wolayta, again troubled the whole area, and peace in South Ethiopia was not definitely concluded before 1943.
Haile Sellassie I, re-established in his position as emperor after the victory, strove to restore the authority of the state and to reorganize its governmental system. Collaborators with the Italians were punished—from the Hadiya for instance a certain portion of cattle was confiscated—whereas the patriots and other people who had been loyal to the crown during the time of foreign occupation received munificent gifts of land in the southern provinces. In this way a new type of large landed property was introduced, creating a cleavage between landlords who possessed the land as their private holdings (called riste-gult in Shewa and other areas) on the one hand and landless autochthons (Hadiya and others) who had to earn their livelihood as tenants on the other hand. The gabbar system with its socage duties was officially abolished. The new situation, however, did not at all conduce to a solution of social problems, but rather perpetuated injustice and poverty. In the areas of Kambata and Arsi the proportion of rented land and absentee landlords was one of the highest in the whole empire. The Orthodox Ethiopian church not only maintained the huge grants awarded to it for purpose of usufruct (gult rights called samon in this special case) after the conquest, but even extended its territories and benefited additionally from freedom from taxes. During the 1960s some initiatives were stimulated in favour of the tenants and in order to induce more justice into the system of taxation. But all attempts in this direction failed because of the powerful lobby of landlords.
Meanwhile, the population, especially in the areas of ensete cultivation of the sub-province Kambata, increased to such an extent that the scarcity of arable land became more and more serious. The density of population occasionally passed 300 per sq. km.; the uprooting of the original vegetation incessantly intensified the process of soil erosion, and the situation of food production tended to become more and more precarious. Because of the extension of cultivated land the pastoral areas and the number of cattle diminished, thus leading to an increasing lack of animal products. At the same time, measures for the modernization of agriculture potentially gave rise to destructive consequences of the rural population. Especially in Arsi and Alaba, the introduction of tractors and other agricultural machines often resulted in the expulsion of tenant families by the land-lords. In those areas the profit from mechanized farming proved to be higher than by renting the land to people working with primitive methods. In 1973, when the harvest of crops and coffee was bad, when ensete was harmed by frost and sicknesses, and when the animals in the lowland areas suffered from drought, tensions and acts of violence between the local Hadiya and naftagna landlords reached an alarming stage. Revolution was in the air in those regions before it openly broke out in the capital Addis Ababa in February of the following year. The programme of land reform, proclaimed by the new military government in 1975, was enthusiastically accepted by the Hadiya and the other neighbouring peoples in the beginning. However, disputes about its realization soon provoked violent conflicts with the political authorities. The chronicle of events after the revolution is beyond the scope of this analysis.
Appendix I
List of Hadiya Sub-Groups and Clans
A) Qabena
Abbakirro, Abosarri, Abrimo, Adoshe, Amfota, Annashako, Azzobada, Bammade, Buko, Dameta, Damo, Darimu, Dula, Ganz, Ganz-Ajammo, Gasora, Jawara, Gulchata, Hojjicho, Qabena-Ajamo, Kanasa, Katbare, Konnaza, Magarra, Majjinna, Maimota, Midda, Milmilla, Nibbo, Saffato, Taram, Torroda, Torobora, Wollate, Zobechi-Miken
B) Alaba
Abbakirro, Bukanna, Darimu, Kitabo, Kolminne, Nagada, Shammanna,
Saffato, Side, Torombora, Wosherminne, Wushirra
C) East-Gurage
1. Azernet-Berbere
Abecho, Abossari, Allakiro, Arado, Ganderera, Kachane, Kaisha,
Kalisha, Koroffta, Mulanye, Samardino, Shandar, Sillasse, Toko,
Abbake, Abbe, Abbio, Adangazzo, Azobada, Dao, Farraze,
Gammasho, Gololcha, Karge, Koroffta, Laglajjo, Sabute, Subbo,
Wosherminne, Yobo’o, Zebadda
2. Maraqo
Abache, Ajjanne, Aggabelo, Allimanna, Allo, Aisammo, Bamo,
Chumanna, Futo, Garore, Giranno, Gubrano, Habalcho, Hallibo,
Hondorabba, Horosho, Immarro, Maiyo, Nasro, Occha, Shammana,
Sadde, Usme, Waremanna, Wogarro
D) Lemo
Abdacho, Ade’e, Aikoanna, Arriyanna, Awudo, Badaro, Chaware,
Degagmanna, Daneore, Dicho, Jammo, Gindo, Gitore, Hageanna, Hetero,
Kataro, Likewo, Magaro, Marado, Mayiraro, Mochoso, Odro, Oso’anna,
Shake, Saworre, Ware, Were, Wuito, Yabe’e
E) Soro
Ajjaranna, Allabo, Amacho, Baleanna, Dabiyaga, Dilleanna, Efo, Gasore,
Jawaro, Godicho, Guticho, Haddeanna, Harboiye, Libisho, Losho, Mirrore,
Moche, Morebanna, Orde, shabe, Shabucho, Sarrore, Usmano, Wire
Wogianna, Wonoanna
F) Weto-Gira
1. Badogo
Abbayo, Baiso, Basmanna, Eriyamo(Mere), Holbatmanna, Lamore,
Mayo (Maya), Tarbebo
2. Haballo
Ankatmanna, Bochoso, Dadagge, Damote, Hawiso, Ichachira, Samano
G) Shashogo
Annosicho, Danniye, Shokmole, Taracho, Wushiro
H) Badawacho
Aburre, Annimanna, Baboso, Bohalmanna, Burre, Essukanoso, Gonno,
Handero, Herogara, Iddiymanna, Iggomanna, Laroso, Maiyoso,
Maranchoso, Meshera, Moche, Nugge, Oiye’e, Wogarro, Ansomoso,
Bibichmanna, Bosha, Daggeoso, Dawe, Effoanna, Hattirmanna, Hoggo-
anna, Mande, Mirore, Olicho, Salludoso, Tabe, Tarachmanna, Wagesh
-manna, Waiyo, Wicha, Woggo, Woralloso, Gabarra, Haballo, Hojje,
Shammanna (Allujanna)
I)Oromized Hadiya Clans in Arsi and Ittu-Barentu
Abanna, Abbaymanna, Abosha, Abosara, Abrone, Aburre, Adamogne,
Adare, Adarsho, Addaymanna, Ajjamo, Akiya, Alli, Amandala, Amina,
Anjeda, aria, Asalla, Ashmura, Ataba, Awlijjanna (Allujanna, Shamana),
Aymarra, Badosa, Bahamuda, Basmanna, Berbere, Bidika, Choffira,
Chatimanna, Dai, Daiyu, Doda, Ego, Faracho, Farajji, Farsanna,
Funamura, Galamma, Gasalla, Jawara, Jawi, Jidda, Jilinsha, Gofingra,
Gomora, Habarnosa, Haballo(sa), Hangeda, Harrimanna, Hawattu,
Hela, Hetosa, Holbatmanna, Huduga, Hunte, Illani, Insemanna,
Kajjawa, Kalala, Kanchakocha, Keta, Kolminne, Raywamanna,
Sabirro, Sade, Shafila, Shakmarra, Salimanna, Shashogoso, Sawadde,
Koma, Korabdo, Lattamanna, Lemu, Lode, Madada, Madarsho,
Meshera, Ngoiye, Oddomanna, Rahitu, Saymanna, Shedamma, Shella,
Siltanna, Sinanna, Sire, Sole, Soro, Sudde, Shune, Tammana, Tawajja,
Tijjo, Ub’manosa(Hubmanosa), Wachamanna, Wagidmanna, Wege,
Werara, Wolashe, Wombanye, Wonamanna(Wonamtu), Woshermine,
Wonshabira(Woyisibira), Wotisanna, Yabsanna, Yakumma,
Assalmanna, Doyomanna, Horassumanna, Tokamanna