The Wolane people are an

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

in central ethiopian

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 ...

. Wolane people speak a

Semitic language The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew, Maltese, Modern South Arabian languages and numerous other ancient and modern languages. They are spoken by mo ...

which is closely related to Sil'te, Zay and Harari languages.

History

Tradition states some of the Wolane people's ancestors were

Kabir Kabir ( 15th century) was a well-known Indian devotional mystic poet and sant. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Gar ...

Hamid who arrived from

Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...

as well as saint Aw Barkhadle. Wolane are considered as once an extension of the ancient Harari of

Harla people The Harla, also known as Harala, Haralla were an ethnic group that once inhabited Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti. They spoke the Harla language, which belonged to either the Cushitic languages, Cushitic or Ethiopian Semitic languages, Semitic br ...

alongside the Silt'e prior to the Oromo expansions of the sixteenth century. In the thirteenth century, Wolane were historically associated with the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

state of

Hadiya Sultanate Hadiya (also known as Adea, Hadia, or Hadya) was a medieval Muslim state in the southern part of its realm located south of Shewa and west of Sharkha regions of the Ethiopian Empire. The Hadiya Muslim state mainly composed of Cushitic Hadiyya p ...

and designated

Hadiya people Hadiya (Amharic: ሐድያ), also spelled as Hadiyya, is an ethnic group native to Ethiopia in southern region who speak the Hadiyyisa language. According to a popular etymology, the name 'Hadiyya," means gift of god". it is mainly known for its ...

alongside other ethnic groups in the region. In the 1600s, their leader

Garad Garad ( Harari: ገራድ, , , Oromo: ''Garaada'') is a term used to refer to a king, Sultan or regional administrator. It was used primarily by Muslims in the Horn of Africa that were associated with Islamic states, most notably the Adal Sultanat ...

of Hadiya

Sidi Mohammed Sidi Mohammed was the Garad (chief) of the Hadiya Sultanate in the beginning of the seventeenth century. He is considered a descendant of some of the Silt'e clan originators as well as the founder of Halaba ethnic group. Political career Ga ...

defeated the troops of Emperor

Susenyos I Susenyos I ( ; –1575 – 17 September 1632), also known as Susenyos the Catholic, was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1607 to 1632, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne names were Seltan Sagad and Malak Sagad III. He was the son of '' ...

at the Battle of Hadiya thus protecting their frontier from Abyssinian annexation for the next three hundred years. Wolane’s territory was annexed into

Gurage Gurage (, Gurage: ጉራጌ) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia.G. W. E. Huntingford, "William A. Shack: The Gurage: a people of the ensete culture" They inhabit the Gurage Zone and East Gurage Zone, a fertile, semi-mounta ...

after Abyssinian forces of Menelik invaded in the 1800's following the defeat of Qebena leader Hassan Enjamo. Wolane domain today remains under the Gurage zone's eastern most district, however there has been calls by the Wolane to push for a separate Wolane region.

Wolane Community

The Wolane community consists of 160,000 people. A remarkable number of Wolane is living in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

. The Wolane in the countryside live mostly in higher places, called " Däga". These places are very suitable for the cultivation of

Enset ''Ensete ventricosum'', commonly known as enset or ensete, Ethiopian banana, Abyssinian banana, pseudo-banana, false banana and wild banana, is a species of flowering plant in the banana family Musaceae. The domesticated form of the plant is ...

, which is one of Wolane people stample foods.

References

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Bibliography

* Crass, J. & Meyer, R. (2001). The Qabena and the Wolane: Two people of the Gurage Region and their Respective Histories according to their Own Oral Tradition. Ethnic groups in Ethiopia Semitic-speaking peoples Indigenous peoples of East Africa Muslim communities in Africa