The Kingdom of Damot (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: ዳሞት) was an medieval kingdom in what is now western

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, Ken ...

. The territory was positioned below the

Blue Nile The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major Tributary, tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the wa ...

. Possibly formed in the 10th century, it was a powerful state by the 13th century that forced the

Sultanate of Showa The Sultanate of Shewa (also spelled Sultanate of Shoa), sometimes called the Makhzumi dynasty, was a Muslim kingdom in present-day Ethiopia. Its capital Walale was situated in northern Hararghe in Harla country. Its territory extended possibly ...

to pay tributes. It also annihilated the armies of the

Zagwe dynasty The Zagwe dynasty () was a medieval Agaw monarchy that ruled the northern parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It ruled large parts of the territory from approximately 1137 to 1270 AD, when the last Zagwe King Za-Ilmaknun was killed in battle by the ...

that were sent to subdue its territory. Damot conquered several Muslim and Christian territories. The Muslim state Showa and the new Christian state under

Yekuno Amlak Yekuno Amlak (); throne name Tesfa Iyasus (; died 19 June 1285) was Emperor of Ethiopia, from 1270 to 1285, and the founder of the Solomonic dynasty, which lasted until 1974. He was a ruler from Bete Amhara (in parts of modern-day Wollo and ...

formed an alliance to counter the influence of Damot in the region. Some academics have claimed that Damot was equivalent to the

Kingdom of Wolaita Kingdom of Wolaita, also known as Wolaita Kingdom, was a kingdom dominated by Wolayta people in today's southern Ethiopia from 1251 until conquest of Ethiopian Empire in 1896. Some academics have claimed that Wolaita was equivalent to the Kin ...

, with the most famous ruler of Damot,

Motolomi Sato Motolomi Sato or Kawo Motolomi Sato was the (likely legendary) founder and one of the most famous kings of the Kingdom of Wolaita. He ruled part of present day Ethiopia in the 12th century under the Damot Kingdom under Wolayta malla dynasty. Kaw ...

, coming from the Wolaita Malla dynasty which ruled from the 13th-16th century, before being replaced by the Tigre Malla dynasty amid the

Oromo expansion The Oromo expansions or the Oromo invasions (in older historiography, Galla invasions), were a series of expansions in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Oromo primarily documented by the ethnic Gamo monk Bahrey, but also mentioned in other Ch ...

History

Possibly formed in the 10th century, it was a powerful state by the 13th century that forced the

to pay tributes.The kings of Damot, who bore the title ''motalami'', resided in a town which, according to the

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

Tekle Haymanot Abune Tekle Haymanot ( Ge'ez: አቡነ ተክለ ሃይማኖት; known in the Coptic Church as Saint Takla Haymanot of Ethiopia; 1215–1313) was an Ethiopian saint and monk mostly venerated as a hermit. He was the Abuna of Ethiopia who fou ...

, was called Maldarede. Damot was conquered by Emperor

Amda Seyon Amda Seyon I, also known as Amda Tsiyon I ( , , "Pillar of Zion"), throne name Gebre Mesqel (ገብረ መስቀል , "Servant of the Cross"), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1314 to 1344 and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He is best known ...

in 1316/7. His royal chronicle recounted that "all the people of Damot

ame #REDIRECT AME {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

into my hands; its king, its princes, its rulers, and its people, men and women without number, whom I exiled into another area." Amda Seyon seemingly left the Damotian royal family in power, for the title ''motälämi'' continued to be used until the 15th century.

Al-Mufaddal ibn Abi al-Fada'il Al-Mufaddal ibn Abi al-Fada'il () was a 14th-century Egyptian historian. He was a Coptic Christian. Al-Mufaddal wrote a book about the history of the Bahriyya Mamluks, entitled ''al-Nahdj al-sadîd wa-l-durr al-farîd fimâ ba'd Ta'rîkh Ibn al ...

in the 14th century writes that Damot alongside Harla Kingdom were forced to pay tribute to Abyssinia. Damot was originally located south of the

Abay River Abay may refer to: People * Abay (name) Places * Abay District, East Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan * Abay District, Karagandy Province, Kazakhstan ** Abay (town), the province's administrative center * Abay, Almaty, Kazakhstan * Abay, Aktobe, a villag ...

and west of the

Muger River The Mugar River (or Mujer) is a north-flowing tributary of the Abay River in central Ethiopia, which is notable for its deep gorge. Tributaries of the Muger include the Labbu. The Muger has a drainage area of about 8,188 square kilometers. It was ...

. However, the kingdom’s decline began in the 14th century, as suggested by some sources, such as

Paulos Milkias Paulos is a name which can serve as a given name and as a surname. People with the given name *Paulos Faraj Rahho (1942–2008), Iraqi archbishop *Paulos Gregorios, ''born Paul Varghese or Vargīsa Pôla'' (1922–1996), Malankara Orthodox Syrian C ...

, who argues that the Oromo conquest of Damot may have started earlier than widely believed. This earlier timeline helps explain why

Aba Bahrey ABA may refer to: Aviation * AB Aerotransport, former Scandinavian airline * IATA airport code for Abakan International Airport in Republic of Khakassia, Russia Businesses and organizations Broadcasting * Alabama Broadcasters Association, Unit ...

, writing in the 16th century, provides little detail about Damot’s fall—it had already been displaced or weakened long before his time. Instead, Aba Bahrey focuses on how the Oromos used the "west," once part of Damot’s territories, as a base for military campaigns, crossing the Abay River to invade the Kingdom of Ennarea in the "southwest" (modern-day

Jimma Jimma () is the largest city in southwestern Oromia Region, Ethiopia. It is a special zone of the Oromia Region and is surrounded by Jimma Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of . Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administrativ ...

). By the late 16th century, under the leadership of Mula'ata Lubas (1586–1594), the

Macha Oromo The Machaa ( in short ''Macha'', Amharic: ሜጫ) are a subgroup of the Oromo people in western and Central Oromia . They live south of the Blue Nile (Abbai) in the northwestern part of the region of Oromia and in parts of West Shewa Zone, South We ...

overran Ennarea amid the

and forced its clans to flee across the Abay River into

Gojjam Gojjam ( ''gōjjām'', originally ጐዛም ''gʷazzam'', later ጐዣም ''gʷažžām'', ጎዣም ''gōžžām'') is a historical provincial kingdom in northwestern Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Markos. During the 18th century, G ...

. Many of these displaced populations settled in the sub-provinces of Bure Damot and Daga Damot, though the Oromos pursued them until they were fully subdued. Unlike other conquering groups, the Oromos incorporated the people they defeated, requiring them to adopt Oromo culture and language. This practice boosted their numbers and facilitated their expansion into the highlands. Some sources, such as Paulos Milkias, suggest that areas like Walal (near Mount Tullu Walal in Qelem, Wallaga) were inhabited by Kafa-descended people known as Busase or Bushasho before the Oromo conquest. Following the fall of Damot, a Christian temple in the region was converted into a church, and descendants of the Busase people continue to inhabit parts of Anfilo, producing coffee for both local and export consumption. Their territory extended east beyond the Muger as far as the

Jamma The (formerly the , abbreviated JAMMA) is a Japanese trade association headquartered in Tokyo. JAMMA is run by representatives from various arcade video game manufacturers, including Bandai Namco, Sega, Taito, Koei Tecmo, Capcom, and Konami a ...

.G.W.B. Huntingford, ''Historical Geography of Ethiopia from the first century AD to 1704'' (London: British Academy, 1989), p. 69 The province of Damot remained part of the

Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire, historically known as Abyssinia or simply Ethiopia, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day territories of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It existed from the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak a ...

well after the

Zemene Mesafint The Zemene Mesafint ( Ge'ez: ) variously translated "Era of Judges", "Era of the Princes," "Age of Princes," etc.; taken from the biblical Book of Judges) was a period in Ethiopian history between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries when the cou ...

began, unlike other southern regions. The ruler of Damot was typically from Gojjam and held the title Ras.

Religion

The population of Damot adhered to its own religion dominated by a deity called '' Däsk''. This continued on even well after being conquered by the Christian

, which repeatedly led to conflict between the locals and the Christian garrison troops. Parts of the population seemingly remained pagan until the late 16th century. It is claimed in the Hagiography of

that the latter managed to convert the ruler of Damot to Christianity.

History

Religion

References

Further reading