Kambaata people (Amharic: ከምባታ) are a

Cushitic The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...

ethnic group that inhabit the

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; am, የደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል, Yädäbub Bḥer Bḥeräsäbočna Hzboč Kllə) is a regional state in southwestern ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. They speak the

Kambaata language Kambaata is a Highland East Cushitic language, part of the larger Afro-Asiatic family and spoken by the Kambaata people. Dialects are Tembaro, Alaba, and K'abeena The language has many verbal affixes. When these are affixed to verbal roots, ther ...

, It was a province of Ethiopia beginning in the early 15th century through to the mid-17th century; Ethiopian rule was once again established in the late 19th century under

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Menelik II , spoken = ; ''djānhoi'', lit. ''"O steemedroyal"'' , alternative = ; ''getochu'', lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.) Menelik II ( gez, ዳግማዊ ምኒልክ ; horse name Abba Dagnew ( Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 ...

. During this first period, Kambaata province was largely Christianized. The former province is contained within the contemporary

Kembata Tembaro Zone Kembata Tembaro is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It was formerly known as ''Kembata, Alaba and Tembaro'', until Alaba became a special woreda in 2002. This zone is named after the Kambaata peo ...

of SNNPR.

Demographics

According to Ethiopian statistics, the population of the Kambaata people was 5, 627,565,Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census
/ref> of which 90.89% live in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region. Almost one in five – 18.5% – live in urban areas.2007 Ethiopian census, first draft
, Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency (accessed 6 May 2009) The Kambaata people speak the

, a Cushitic language.

History

The Kingdom of Kembata was ruled by long line of its own kings known as Woma. King Dagoye, from the Oyeta clan, was one of the famous kings known for expanding Kambaata territories. The last independent king of Kambaata was king (Woma) Delbato Degoye. An important landmark for the Kambaata people is Mount Hambaricho, where their king, Woma, used to live and the people used to celebrate annual festivities in the past. The king and the god of Kambaata lived there.

Subsistence

They have many indigenous traditional foods, among which kocho, processed from

ensete ''Ensete'' is a genus of monocarpic flowering plants native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the three genera in the banana family, Musaceae, and includes the false banana or enset ('' E. ventricosum''), an economically impor ...

, is their staple diet. They also grow many kinds of tubers, spices, coffee, crops, and vegetables. In Kembata province there are other clans like Tembaro, Alaba, and other different clans that live together and become Kambaata. The most isolated clan in Kembata province is Tanners Shekla Seriwoch (Fuga), this clan could not participate in any socio-economic activities with Kambaata. Kambaata people could never marry from the Tanners (Fuga) clan. Kambaata is one of the most densely populated regions in Ethiopia. Due to overpopulation and lack of economic opportunities in their region, they migrate to large cities, industrial areas, and large plantation farms. In recent years they experienced a large influx of migration to South Africa and Middle Eastern countries.

Demographics

History

Subsistence

References

Further reading