Selale (also known as Selalesh), was a sub-province of the

Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...

located in modern day

Shewa Shewa ( am, ሸዋ; , om, Shawaa), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa (''Scioà'' in Italian), is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The modern Ethiopian capital Add ...

in or neighboring Grarya and associated with Bulga prior to the

Oromo expansion The Oromo expansions, also known as the Oromo migrations or the Oromo invasions (in older historiography, Galla invasions), were a series of expansions in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Oromo. Prior to their great expansion in the 16th centu ...

into the region. The region was home to the important

Debre Libanos Debre Libanos ( Amharic: ደብረ ሊባኖስ, om, Dabra libanose) is an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo monastery, lying northwest of Addis Ababa in the North Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region. It was founded in 1284 by Saint Tekle Haymanot a ...

monastery built by Saint

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 ...

. Also known as Salale or Selalle, an Oromo subgroup inhabiting the

West Shewa Zone West Shewa Zone ( om, Shawaa Lixaa/Dhihaa) is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. This zone takes its name from the kingdom or former province of Shewa. West Shewa is bordered on the south by the Southwest Shewa Zone and the Southern Nations, N ...

north Shewa Zone North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

and

East Shewa Zone East Shewa ( om, Shawaa Bahaa) is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. East Shewa is located at centre of oromia Oromia, connecting the western regions to the eastern ones. This zone is bordered on the south by the West Arsi Zone, on the southw ...

of Oromo Region,

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 ...

, are named after the original region. They have a population of approximately 2 million. The famous saint

was born in Zorare, a district in Selale which lied on the eastern edge of

, to a Christian Amhara family.G.W.B. Huntingford, ''The Historical Geography of Ethiopia'' (London: The British Academy, 1989), p. 69

References

{{Ethiopia-stub Ethiopian Empire Shewa

See also

References