The Kingdom of Garo, also known as Bosha after its ruling
dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...
, was an
Oromo-
Sidama
The Sidama ( am, ሲዳማ) are an ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the Sidama Region, formerly part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. On 23 November 2019, the Sidama Zone became the 10th regional st ...
kingdom in the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004 ...
. Established by the
Sidama people
The Sidama ( am, ሲዳማ) are an ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the Sidama Region, formerly part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. On 23 November 2019, the Sidama Zone became the 10th regional s ...
, it was situated on the periphery of the
Gibe region of
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 ...
.
Location
The kingdom of Garo had definite borders to the north with
Kingdom of Janjero
The Kingdom of Yamma was a small kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia. It lay in the angle formed by the Omo and the Jimma Gibe Rivers; to the west lay the Kingdom of Jimma and to the south the Kingdom of Garo. Three mountains — Mount Bor ...
, on the east was the
Omo River, and on the south the
Gojeb River The Gojeb River is eastward-flowing tributary of the Omo River in Ethiopia. It rises in the mountains of Guma, flowing in almost a direct line its confluence with the Omo at
.
Its canyon provided the former Kingdom of Kaffa an important defensive ...
separated Garo from the
Kingdom of Kaffa
The Kingdom of Kaffa was a kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia from 1390 to 1897, with its first capital at Bonga. The Gojeb River formed its northern border, beyond which lay the Gibe kingdoms; to the east the territory of the Konta and Kull ...
. Lacking a clear boundary on its western borders, the kingdom's subjects had constructed a series of trenches and gates to defend themselves from encroachments by the
Oromos
The Oromo (pron. Oromo: ''Oromoo'') are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya, who speak the Oromo language (also called ''Afaan Oromoo'' or ''Oromiffa''), which is part of the Cushitic b ...
of the
Kingdom of Jimma.
History
Werner Lange discusses the possibility that the kingdom of Garo had been a subsidiary part of
Ennarea, in much the same way that Ennarea had been a part of the kingdom of
Damot. By the reign of
Yeshaq I
Yeshaq I ( gez, ይሥሐቅ), throne name: Gabra Masqal II (Ge'ez: ገብረ መስቀል) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1414 to 1429/1430, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the second son of Emperor Dawit I.
Ancestry
Of Amhara lin ...
, Garo had separated itself from Ennarea, and was a tributary state to Ethiopia; it may be the "Bosge" mentioned in the itineraries of Zorzi. In the 16th century, the Emperor
Sarsa Dengel
Sarsa Dengel ( gez, ሠርጸ ድንግል ; 1550 – 4 October 1597), also known as Sarsa the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne name was throne name Malak Sagad I (መለክ ሰገድ ).
Biograp ...
convinced Garo's King to officially embrace Christianity. By the 17th century, Ethiopia lost all contact with this state, and the history of this state is "largely a blank" for most of this century, although under the increasing pressure of the other Oromo migrating into the Gibe region forced "the Bosa kingdom must have continued its gradual contraction until little more than a relatively small area isolated in the highland forests of
May Gudo was left at the end of the century."
Garo survived as an independent state until the reign of
Abba Gomol of Jimma, who conquered the last isolated part of this realm. At the time Emperor
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
annexed Jimma, a descendant of
Dagoye, the last King of Garo, was living in a state of "semi-banishment" in
Jiren.
[G.W.B. Huntingford, ''The Galla of Ethiopia; the Kingdoms of Kafa and Janjero'' (London: International African Institute, 1955), p. 57.]
See also
*
Rulers of Bosha
The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Garo or Bosha. Bosha was one of the kingdoms on the periphery of the Gibe region of Ethiopia. It existed from 1567 to 1883.
List of Rulers of Bosha or Garo
Source: Werner J. Lange, ''History ...
Notes
Former monarchies of Africa
Garo
Garo may refer to:
People and languages
* Garo people, a tribal people in India
** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe
Places
* Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia
* Garo, Colorado
* Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...
1567 establishments in Africa
{{Ethiopia-hist-stub