The Kingdom of Gera was a kingdom in the

Gibe region The Gibe region (Amharic: ጊቤ) was a historic region in modern southwestern Ethiopia, to the west of the Gibe and Omo Rivers, and north of the Gojeb. It was the location of the former Oromo and Sidama kingdoms of Gera, Gomma, Garo, Gumma, ...

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 ...

that emerged in the late 19th century. It shared its northern border with the Kingdom of Gumma, its eastern border with the

Kingdom of Gomma The Kingdom of Gomma was a kingdom in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 18th century. It was based in Agaro. Location Gomma shared its northern border with Limmu-Ennarea, its western border with Gumma, its southern border with ...

, and was separated 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 ...

to the south by the Gojeb River. With its capital at Chala (Later Chira), the Gera kingdom's territory corresponds approximately with the modern

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''List of zones of Ethiopia, zones'' and the ''Regions of Ethiopia, regional states''. These districts are f ...

Gera Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of ...

Overview

The Kingdom of Gera was located in a basin surrounded with gently undulating hills, although extensive swampland existed in the northern hills. The population of this kingdom was estimated in 1880 to have been between 15,000 and 16,000. The planting and harvesting of

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

followed a different calendar in Gera from the other Gibe kingdoms; where the others planted in February and harvested in July, in Gera it was planted in April and harvested in August.

Mohammed Hassen Mohammed Hassen Ali is an Ethiopian historian and a scholar of Ethiopian studies. Early life and education Mohammed Hassen was born in Hararghe, Ethiopia to Oromo farmers. He spent his early years in the city of Harar. Mohammed received his ...

adds that Gera "was, and still is, the rich land of honey" and notes that Gera honey had a reputation as the finest honey in Ethiopia. Hassen lists eight kinds of honey cultivated in Gera, the best being the ''Ebichaa'' ("dark") honey, from which was made a

mead Mead (), also called honey wine, and hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alco ...

known as ''

dadhi Dadhi is a small village in Rupnagar district, Punjab, India, near the towns of Rupnagar city, Kiratpur Sahib and Anandpur Sahib. The village is situated on the bank of the Sutlej river about south of Anandpur, north of Rupnagar and from C ...

'', the drink of royalty and dignitaries in the Gibe region. "It is not surprising, therefore," Hassen concludes, "that the flavorsome and prestigious ''Ebichaa'' was a royal monopoly." Gera is also the location of Mount Ijersa, which the

Oromo Oromo may refer to: * Oromo people, an ethnic group of Ethiopia and Kenya * Oromo language, an Afroasiatic language See also * *Orma (clan), Oromo tribe *Oromia Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homelan ...

regard as sacred. They believe that

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

will take his seat there at the time of the

Last Judgement The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

. Rulers of the kingdom held the royal

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

of ''Donacho''.

History

According to Beckingham and Huntingford, there is evidence that the monarchy of Gera existed before the Great Oromo migration in the 16th century. However, according to Mohammed Hassen, Gera was the last of the Gibe kingdoms to come into existence, and was founded by Gunji, "a successful war leader who made himself king" around 1835, but died shortly afterwards. This dynasty came to an end with the murder of Tulu Ganje by king Oncho of Gumma. A new one was founded by Abba Baso, who proved to be an unpopular ruler. He was later overthrown by his brother Abba Rago and exiled to

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 ...

. According to Trimingham, the kingdom enjoyed its greatest prosperity under king

Abba Magal Abba Magal () was a leader of the Diggo Oromo, and the father of Abba Jifar I. Previously, the Diggo, based in the area of Mana, had conquered the nearby town of Hirmata that was home to the Lalo people. This victory gave Abba Magal enough wealt ...

, who had been converted to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, although a number of his subjects still professed

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. It unclear which Gibe king was responsible for this conversion: Trimingham attributes this achievement to Abba Jubir of Gumma; Mohammed Hassen gives the initial credit to Abba Bagibo of Limmu-Ennarea, who offered to support Abba Magal in his fight for the throne if he allowed Muslim missionaries into his kingdom, and only later did Abba Jubir convert him. On King Abba Magal's death, his wife Genne Fa acted as regent for their son, both of whom became prisoners in Jimma when Gera was conquered by ''

Dejazmach Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( , modern transcription , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary royal nobility, formed the upper ...

'' Besha Abua in 1887.Trimingham, p. 202.

Notes

References

* {{Medieval Horn of Africa

States and territories established in the 1830s Oromo royal families