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Subgroup of Oromo ethnic groups in southern Ethiopia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arsi Oromo is an ethnic Oromo branch, inhabiting the Arsi, West Arsi and Bale Zones of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, as well as in the Adami Tullu and Jido Kombolcha woreda of East Shewa Zone.The Arsi are made up of the Sikkoo-Mandoo branch of Barento Oromo. The Arsi in all zones speaks Oromo share the same culture, traditions and identity with other subgroup Oromo.
An Arsi Oromo attending an Irreechaa celebration | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Arsi Zone & West Arsi Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia | |
| Languages | |
| Oromo | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam[1] |
The Arsi have developed a concept of Arsooma which roughly translates to Arsihood. This has provided Arsi with an identity that has been passing to clans and other groupings for a long period of time.[2] The Arsi have a complex concept of clan division. The two main branches are Mandoo and Sikko. Mandoo refers to the Arsis in the Arsi and northern Bale Zones, while Sikko refers to those mainly in the Bale Zone.[citation needed]
Arsi Oromo state an intermarriage took place between their ancestors and previous inhabitants of the Arsi Province, Adere (Harari) whom they call the Hadiya.[3][4] Hadiya clans claim their forefathers were Harari however they later became influenced by Sidama.[5][6]
Islam was established in Bale, one of the main regions of Arsiland, before the eleventh century. A mosque named Dobbi, dating back to 460 AH (1067 AD), existed in the Gasara area. The construction of two mosques in Balla in 1067 and Zuqum in 1075 also attested to the presence of a Muslim sultanate known as Bali even before the eleventh century.
In the twelfth century, other Muslim sultanates emerged in the southeastern parts of what is now Ethiopia, including Dawaro, Sharkah, Arababni, Dara, and Hadya. These sultanates directly influenced Arsi Oromoo religious conditions. Some of the Muslim sultanates were founded on all or parts of what are now the territories of Arsi Oromoo. At least from the eleventh century onward, there were Arsi Oromoo settlements in Arsiland, and the people living there followed both traditional Oromoo religion and Islam.[7]
In the beginning of the early seventeenth century, the lands of Arsi Oromo were under the Emirate of Harar however the Emirate gradually lost control in the following centuries.[8][9]
Arsi Oromo were largely independent and ruling under their own Gadaa Republic until about the 19th century. The Arsi Oromo under their leader Nur Hussien from Harar demonstrated fierce resistance in coordination with the Hadiya rebel leader Hassan Enjamo against the Abyssinian conquest of 1881-6, when Menelik II conducted several unsuccessful invasion campaigns against their territory.[10][11][12] In response when the Abyssinians occupied Arsi, Shewans terrorized civilians by committing various atrocities including massacres and amputations.[13] Although Arsi put up stiff opposition against an enemy equipped with modern European firearms, they were finally defeated in 1886.[12]
In the 1940s the Arsi Oromo with the people of Bale province joined the Harari Kulub movement an affiliate of the Somali Youth League that peacefully opposed Amhara Christian domination of Hararghe. The Ethiopian government brutally suppressed the ethno-religious movement using violence.[14][15][16]
During the 1970s the Arsi faced persecution by the Ethiopian government thus formed alliances with Somalia.[17]
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