Saqqa (also known as Limmu Saqqa) is a town in south-western

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 Er ...

, and capital of the former Kingdom of

Limmu-Ennarea The Kingdom of Limmu-Ennarea was one of the kingdoms in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 19th century. It shared its eastern border with the Kingdom of Jimma, its southern border with the Kingdom of Gomma and its western border wit ...

. Located in the

Jimma Zone Jimma is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Jimma is named after former Kingdom of Jimma, which was absorbed into the former province of Kaffa in 1932. Jimma is bordered on the south by the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, t ...

of the

Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar ...

, this town has a latitude and longitude of . Based on figures from the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growt ...

in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 2,679 of whom 1,379 were men and 1,300 were women. The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 1,497 of whom 748 were males and 749 were females. It is one of two towns in

Limmu Sakka Limmu Sakka is one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. It is named in part after the former kingdom of Limmu-Ennarea, whose territories included the area this woreda now covers. Part of the Jimma Zone, Limmu Sakka is bordered on the so ...

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after '' zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of ...

History

Saqqa became a town of importance when king Abba Bagido made it his capital of Limmu-Ennarea in 1825, eclipsing his father's capital, Sappa. It thrived as the major marketplace of 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, Gum ...

, where the different kinds of Muslim traders (known as Jabarti and Afkala) bought

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

, and

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals ...

. In the mid-to-late 1830s, Abba Bagibo forbade foreign merchants to travel beyond Saqqa, so merchants from

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder ( Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on ...

Adwa Adwa ( ti, ዓድዋ; amh, ዐድዋ; also spelled Aduwa) is a town and separate woreda in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is best known as the community closest to the site of the 1896 Battle of Adwa, in which Ethiopian soldiers defeated Ital ...

Derita Derita is a neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina and is located several miles north of Charlotte. The neighborhood is bordered by I-77 to the west, I-85 to the east, and WT Harris Blvd to the north. Its business district is centered alon ...

and

Dawe Dawe may refer to: *Dawe (surname) *Dawé, Benin * DAWE (Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment), Australian government department See also *Daw (disambiguation) Daw or DAW may refer to: People and language * Daw (given name) * Daw ...

were forced to meet in his capital their counterparts from Kaffa,

Kullo The Dawro are a people of southern Ethiopia, also known as the Omete. They speak the Dawragna language. During the nineteenth century, the Dawro lived in an independent state known as the Kingdom of Dawro. In 2000, the Dawro Zone was split off fr ...

, and other southern regions. However, by the mid-19th century it was eclipsed by the capital of the

Kingdom of Jimma The Kingdom of Jimma ( om, Mootummaa Jimmaa) was an Oromo kingdom in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 18th century. It shared its western border with Limmu-Ennarea, its eastern border with the Sidamo Kingdom of Janjero, and was ...

, Hirmata. Here the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

explorers

Antonio Cecchi Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ma ...

and Giovanni Chiarini were prisoners of king Abba Gomoli II from 23 November 1878 to 29 January 1879, when Negus

Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam Tekle Haymanot Tessemma, also known as Adal Tessemma, Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, and Tekle Haimanot of Gojjam (1847 – 10 January 1901), was King of Gojjam. He later was an army commander and a member of the nobility of the Ethiopian Empire. ...

was finally able to persuade the rulers of Limmu-Ennarea to release them.during the Italian occupation, an Italian captain managed to handle the local population so badly that they were provoked and started something of a rebellion. By October 1937, reportedly the captain could hardly move outside his fort."Local History in Ethiopia"
(pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 3 January 2008)

Notes

{{reflist Populated places in the Oromia Region