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Sidama
The Sidama () 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 state in Ethiopia after a zone-wide referendum. They speak the Sidama language, which is a language of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Despite their large numbers, the Sidama lacked a separate ethnic regional state until continuous protests resulted in the proposal being voted on in a November 2019 referendum. History In historical writings on the Sidama there is certain confusion on who the Sidama were and which areas should be defined as theirs. This group was called the Sidamo cluster in early writings, and the name "Sidamo" was used as a collective for all Cushitic and Omotic people of southwest Ethiopia. Historian Lapiso G. Delebo states that the term Sidama was traditionally a demeaning designation used to refer to non Oro ...
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Sidama Region
The Sidama Region (Sidama language, Sidama: ; ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in southern Ethiopia. It was formed on 18 June 2020 from the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) and transformation of the Sidama Zone after a 98.52% vote in favour of increased autonomy in the 2019 Sidama Referendum, 2019 Sidama referendum. It is the second smallest regional state in the country, after Harari Region, Harari. Sidama is the name of both the Sidama people, the Sidama language, language, and the territory. Sidama is bordered to the south by the Oromia Region (except for a short stretch in the middle where it shares a border with Gedeo Zone, Gedeo zone, in South Ethiopia Regional State, on the west by the Bilate River, which separates it from Wolayita Zone, and on the north and east by the Oromia, Oromia Region. Towns in Sidama include Hawassa, the capital of Sidama and of SNNPR when it existed, Irgalem, Yirgalem, Wondo Genet, Wondogenet, Chuko, Hula (wor ...
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Hawassa
Hawassa (; ʾäwasa, also spelled Awassa or Awasa) known historically as Adare is a city in Ethiopia, on the shores of Lake Hawassa in the Great Rift Valley. It is south of Addis Ababa via Bishoftu, east of Sodo, and north of Dilla. The town serves as the capital of the Sidama Region. It lies on the Trans-African Highway 4 Cairo-Cape Town and has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of above sea level. Its name comes from a Sidama word meaning "wide body of water". The city is home to Hawassa University a major university in the country (which includes Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, an Agricultural College, the Main Campus, and a Health Sciences College), Awasa Adventist College, and a major market. The city is served by Awasa Airport (ICAO code HALA, IATA AWA), opened in 1988. Postal service is provided by the main branch; electricity and telephone service are also available. Important local attractions include the St. Gabriel Church ...
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2019 Sidama Region Referendum
A referendum on creating a Sidama Region was held on regionalisation in the Sidama Zone of Ethiopia on 20 November 2019. The creation of such a region is a long-standing claim of the Sidama people. The referendum's management and its likely centrifugal consequences on Ethiopia's system of ethnic federalism were seen as a crucial test for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's policy of democratic openness ahead of the 2020 general election. Results The choices on the ballot paper were for the Sidama people to be organized within their regional state, which was represented by the election symbol of “Shafeta” (traditional Sidama food vessel), and for Sidama to stay in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR), represented by the “Gojo” (traditional Sidama hut) symbol. The latter choice got a tiny percentage of votes, an expected result given the popularity of the decades-long statehood quest among the Sidama and the lackluster campaigning by the SNNPR. Af ...
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Fichee-Chambalaalla
Fichee-Chambalaalla is a New Year holiday celebrated by Sidama people in Ethiopia. According to the tradition, Fichee commemorates a Sidama woman who visited her parents and relatives once in a year after her marriage and brings ''buurisame'', a meal prepared from false banana, milk and butter, and share to her neighbors. Therefore, it signifies unity among the people. Fichee is a moveable festival that is determined by astrologers and announced by the clan leaders. Its celebration includes singing traditional songs and performing dance, which is celebrated among all community regardless of age, social status and gender. The festival is inscribed by UNESCO as the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2015. Observances Fichee-Chambalaalla is a New Year holiday celebrated among Sidama people in Ethiopia. According to the tradition, Fichee commemorates a Sidama woman who visited her parents and relatives once in a year after her marriage and brings ...
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Sidama Language
Sidama or Sidaamu Afoo is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Highland East Cushitic branch of the Cushitic family. It is spoken in parts of southern Ethiopia by the Sidama people, particularly in the densely populated Sidama National Regional State (SNRS). Sidaamu Afoo is the ethnic autonym for the language, while Sidaminya is its name in Amharic. It is not known to have any specific dialects. The word order is typically SOV. Sidaama has over 100,000 L2 speakers. The literacy rate for L1 speakers is 1%-5%, while for L2 speakers it is 20%. In terms of its writing, Sidaama used an Ethiopic script up until 1993, from which point forward it has used a Latin script. Terminology and classification The term ''Sidamo'' has also been used in the past to refer to most Highland East Cushitic languages, earlier even to some Omotic languages. The results from a research study conducted in 1968-1969 concerning mutual intelligibility between different Sidamo languages suggest th ...
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Southern Nations, Nationalities, And Peoples' Region
The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; ) was a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five ''kililoch'', called Regions 7 to 11, following the regional council elections on 21 June 1992. Its government was based in Hawassa. The SNNPR bordered Kenya to the south (including a small part of Lake Turkana), the Ilemi Triangle (a region claimed by Kenya and South Sudan) to the southwest, Oromia region to the north and east. The capital city of the region was Hawassa. The region included major cities and towns like Wolaita Sodo, Arba Minch, Jinka, Dila, Ethiopia, Dila, Boditi, Areka, Butajira, Welkite, Bonga, Hosaena and Worabe. The region dissolved when Sidama Region, South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region, Southwest Ethiopia Region, South Ethiopia Regional State and Central Ethiopia Regional State emerged independently. In June 2020, following the formation of the Sidama Region the re ...
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Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of . , it has around 128 million inhabitants, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, thirteenth-most populous country in the world, the List of African countries by population, second-most populous in Africa after Nigeria, and the most populous landlocked country on Earth. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African Plate, African and Somali Plate, Somali tectonic plates. Early modern human, Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out for the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithi ...
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Cushitic Languages
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 Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As of 2012, the Cushitic languages with over one million speakers were Oromo, Somali, Beja, Afar, Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidama. Official status The Cushitic languages with the greatest number of total speakers are Oromo (37 million), Somali (22 million), Beja (3.2 million), Sidamo (3 million), and Afar (2 million). Oromo serves as one of the official working languages of Ethiopia and is also the working language of several of the states within the Ethiopian federal system including Oromia, Harari and Dire Dawa regional states and of the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region. Somali is the first of two official languages of Somalia and three official languages of Somaliland. It also serves as a language of instruction in Djibouti ...
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P'ent'ay
P'ent'ay (from Geʽez: ) is an originally Amharic– Tigrinya language term for Pentecostal Christians. Today, the term refers to all Evangelical Protestant denominations and organisations in Ethiopian and Eritrean societies. Alternative terms include Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelicalism or the Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelical Church. Sometimes the denominations and organizations are known as Wenigēlawī (from Geʽez: "evangelical"). Evangelical Christianity was originally introduced by American and European Protestant missionary work, which began in the 19th century among various peoples, including Christians schismed from the Orthodox Tewahedo church, other branches of Christianity, or converted from non-Christian religions or traditional faith practices. Since the creation of P'ent'ay churches and organisations, prominent movements among them have been Pentecostalism, the Baptist tradition, Lutheranism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, the Mennonites, and the Eastern-orien ...
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Menelik II
Menelik II ( ; horse name Aba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), baptised as Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ማርያም ''sahlä maryam'') was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death in 1913. At the height of his internal power and external prestige, the process of Menelik II's conquests, territorial expansion and creation of the modern empire-state was largely completed by 1898.Zewde, Bahru. A history of Ethiopia: 1855–1991. 2nd ed. Eastern African studies. 2001 The Ethiopian Empire was transformed under Menelik: the major signposts of modernisation were put in place, with the assistance of key ministerial advisors. Externally, Menelik led Ethiopian troops against Kingdom of Italy, Italian invaders in the First Italo-Ethiopian War; following a decisive victory at the Battle of Adwa, recognition of Ethiopia's independence by external powers was expressed in terms of diplomatic representa ...
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Lake Hawassa
Lake Hawassa or Awasa, is an endorheic basin in Sidama Region of Ethiopia, located in the Main Ethiopian Rift south of Addis Ababa, the capital city of the country. According to the ''Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68'', the lake is 16 km long and 9 km wide, with a surface area of 129 square kilometers. It has a maximum depth of 10 meters and is located at an elevation of 1,708 meters. It is located inside the Awasa Caldera. Because it is relatively accessible to scientists, Lake Hawassa is the most studied of the Rift Valley lakes in Ethiopia. According to William Taylor, a member of the African Lakes and Rivers Research Group at the University of Waterloo, Lake Hawassa is, despite its lack of an outflow, "essentially a freshwater lake (conductivity is variable, but less than 1,000) indicating that it must have a subterranean outlet."
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Gedeo People
The Gedeo are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. The Gedeo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR) is named for this people. They speak the Gedeo language, which is one of the Cushitic languages. Overview According to the 2007 Ethiopian national census, this ethnic group has 986,977 members, of whom 75.05% live in the SNNPR and 24.84% in adjacent parts of the Oromia Region. Almost one in sixteen—6.24% -- live in urban areas. Culture The culture of the Gedeo is distinguished by two features. The first is the , a tradition of ranks and age classes similar to the Gadaa system of the Oromo people. Beckingham and Huntingford describe the system as seven grades that span a 10-year period of birth, creating a 70-year cycle. Asebe Regassa Debelo provides oral traditions showing that the Gedeo acquired the practice from the Guji Oromo, with whom they have had, historically, a close relationship. On the other hand, their agricultural economy is b ...
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