Argobba people

According to scholars, the Kingdom of Axum's army moved south beyond Angot, encountering a nomadic people named Gebal in eastern Shewa, who are supposedly the precursors to Argobba.[5] Gebal would develop into settlers of Harar region known as Argobba after their conversion to Islam and having significant ties to the Arab world, dominated trade in Zeila and Harar. Modern Argobba claim they originate from Arabia through Zeila in modern Somalia and first settled in the Harar plateau.[6] They were involved in launching the first Islamic state known in East Africa, the Sultanate of Showa in Hararghe, sometime in the ninth century.[7] In the 13th century, Argobba created a ruling class Walashma Dynasty which would become leaders of the Ifat Sultanate and Adal Sultanate.[8][9] Argobba and Harla seem to have relied on each other in the Islamic period.[10] A power struggle erupted between the Abadir dynasty of Harari and the Walasma dynasty of Argobba throughout the Islamc period until Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi took control of Adal Sultanate by executing Walasma sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad in the 16th century.[11][12][13] In the late sixteenth century, Argobba were involved in several conflicts with the Oromo during the Oromo migrations and due to the withdrawal of Adal from Ethiopia, came partially under Ethiopian Empire rule losing land rights.[14][15] Many Argobba were forcibly baptized in Shewa by Menelik II.[16] In the nineteenth century Emperor Yohannes IV ordered forced displacement of Argobba for refusing to convert to Christianity.[17][18] Due to expansions from two dominant ethnic groups, many Argobba speak either Amharic or Oromo language today in Wollo, however those who self identify as originally Argobba are substantial in the region. The last remaining villages of a once larger Argobba speaking territory are Šonke and Ṭollaḥa.[19] Under the new government of Ethiopia the EPRDF, ushered in the early 90's the Argobba obtained regional political power after launching Argoba Nationality Democratic Organization.[20]

Argobba communities can be found in the Afar, Harari, Amhara, and Oromia Regions, in and along the Great Rift Valley. They include Yimlawo, Gusa, Shonke, Berehet, Khayr Amba, Melka Jilo, Aliyu Amba, Metehara, Shewa Robit, and the surrounding rural villages.[21]

Argobba are exclusive adherents to the Muslim faith.[22] They are also widely believed to be the first to accept Islam collectively, in the Horn of Africa and vanguards for early Islamic expansion.[23] The Shonke Argobba reportedly forbid their children from attending school due to the possible unislamic influence, it might have on them.[24]

The Argobba traditionally speak the Argobba language, an Afro-Asiatic language of the Semitic branch. According to Getahun Amare, Argobba is not a dialect of Amharic as previous linguists believed, but a separate language.[25] In some places, Argobba has homogenized with Oromo. In other areas, the people have shifted to neighboring languages for economic reasons. At this time there are only a few areas left where the Argobba are not at least bilingual in Amharic, Oromiffa or Afar.[3]

• Argobba special woreda in the Afar Regon
• Argobba special woreda in the Amhara Regon
• Argoba Nationality Democratic Organization

• Aklilu Asfaw, "A short History of the Argobba", Annales d'Éthiopie, 16 (2000), pp. 173–183.

• Abebe Kifleyesus, Tradition and Transformation: The Argobba of Ethiopia. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006. ISBN 978-3-447-05341-9
• Richard Wilding, The Arla, the Argobba and Links between the Coast and the Highlands. A Preliminary Archeological Survey. Addis Ababa University, Faculty of Arts, 1975