Siltʼe people

The Siltʼe people are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. They inhabit the Siltʼe Zone which is part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. Silt'e people speak the Siltʼe language, a Semitic language, which is closely related to the Harari language.^[2]

Siltʼe

Total population
940,766 (2007)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Ethiopia
Languages
Siltʼe
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Amhara • Harari • Zay • Tigray • Tigre • Gurage • other Ethiosemitic peoples

History

Siltʼe denote their origin in Harar and claim to be progenitors of the Hadiya Sultanate.^[3][4] The country of the Silt'e first appears in fourteenth-century texts as Silt'e-Ge.^[5] Tradition states that some of Silt'e's forefathers were Harar resident Kabir Hamid and saint Aw Barkhadle.^[6]

Other clans within Silt'e also claim descent from Hajji Aliye who accompanied Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi's troops during the Ethiopian-Adal war in the sixteenth century.^[7] The Silt'e are considered as once an extension of the ancient Harla people alongside Wolane and Harari people prior to the Oromo expansions of the sixteenth century.^[8] In the 1600s their leader Garad of Seba Hadiya Sidi Mohammed defeated the troops of Emperor Susenyos I at the Battle of Hadiya thus protecting their frontier from Abyssinian annexation for the next three hundred years.^[9]

The last Garad of the Gan-Silte dynasty was Sediso K’albo before Menelik's forces invaded in the 1800s.^[10] Silte people were incorporated into Gurage region after their lands were annexed by Ethiopia following the defeat of the Hadiya leader Hassan Enjamo.^[11] The Abyssinian commander Gobana Dacche in the late 19th century is stated to have ravaged the lands of Silt'e during his invasion and divided Silt'e lands among the Neftenya.^[12]

In the early 90s Silte obtained a separate zone following protests that the Gurage ethnic label was imposed on them.^[13]

Notable people

• Sidi Mohammed, seventeenth century leader of Hadiya state
• Muferiat Kamil
• Redwan Hussein
• Siraj Fegessa
• Muktar Edris

References

1. Central Statistical Agency, Ethiopia. "Table 2.2 Percentage Distribution of Major Ethnic Groups: 2007" (PDF). Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census Results. United Nations Population Fund. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
2. Sjors, Ambjorn (9 January 2018). Historical Aspects of Standard Negation in Semitic. BRILL. p. 32. ISBN 9789004348554.
3. Prunnier, Gerrard (15 September 2015). Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781849046183. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
4. Cohen, Gideon (2000). "Language and Ethnic Boundaries: Perceptions of Identity Expressed through Attitudes towards the Use of Language Education in Southern Ethiopia". Northeast African Studies. 7 (3). Michigan State University Press: 200. doi:10.1353/nas.2005.0004. JSTOR 41931261. S2CID 144103747.
5. Braukamper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia. LitVerlag. p. 65. ISBN 978-3-8258-5671-7.
6. Silte. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
7. Nishi, Makoto. Making and Unmaking of the Nation-state and Ethnicity in Modern Ethiopia: A Study on the History of the Silte People. Kyoto University. p. 160.
8. Braukamper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia. LitVerlag. p. 18. ISBN 978-3-8258-5671-7.
9. Aregay, Merid. Southern Ethiopia and the Christian kingdom 1508-1708 with special reference to the Galla migrations and their consequences. University of London. pp. 438–439.
10. Musa, Hussein. Silt'e as a Medium of Instruction (PDF). Addis Ababa University. pp. 36–37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-04-17. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
11. Dilebo, Getahun (1986). Emperor Menelik's Ethiopia, 1865-1916 National Unification Or Amhara Communal Domination. UMI Howard University. p. 103.
12. Dilebo, Getahun (1986). Emperor Menelik's Ethiopia, 1865-1916 National Unification Or Amhara Communal Domination. UMI Howard University. p. 103.
13. Walane ethnography. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.

Bibliography

• Abdulfetah Huldar 2000 (A.D.): Islam be-Ityopya inna ye-Silte hizb tarikinna bahil. Addis Ababa (in Amharic).
• Abdulfetah Huldar 2002 (A.D.): YeSiltʼennat beherawi magalachʼawochchinna la-Ityopyawinet hilwinanna idiget yabarekketut asitewas'o. Addis Ababa (in Amharic).
• Abraham Hussen and Habtamu Wandimmo 1983 (E.C.): Ba-Siltʼiñña qwanqwa tanagari hizb ye-Azernet Berbere hibratasab bahilinna tarik. Addis Ababa (in Amharic).
• Ulrich Braukämper 1980: Die Geschichte der Hadiyya Süd-Äthiopiens. Wiesbaden. Franz-Steiner Verlag.
• Dirk Bustorf 2005: "Ennäqor ethnography". In: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. vol. 2: D-Ha. Wiesbaden. p. 309-10
• Dirk Bustorf 2006: "Ase Zäʼra Yaʼǝqobs Kinder. Spuren der Vorbevölkerung von Selte-Land". Aethiopica 9. pp. 23–48.
• Dirk Bustorf 2010: "Sǝlṭi ethnography". In: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. vol. 4: O-X. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. pp. 607–608.
• Dirk Bustorf 2010: "Wǝlbaräg". In: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. vol. 4: O-X. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. pp. 1178–1179.
• Dirk Bustorf 2011: Lebendige Überlieferung: Geschichte und Erinnerung der muslimischen Siltʼe Äthiopiens. With an English Summary. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (Aethiopistische Forschungen 74).
• Nishi Makoto 2005: Making and Unmaking of the National-State and Ethnicity in Modern Ethiopia: a Study on the History of the Silte People. African Study Monographs. Supplementary Issue 29. pp. 157–68 online version
• Dinberu Alamu et al. 1987 (E.C.): Gogot. Yegurage biherasab tarik, bahilinna qwanqwa, Walqite (in Amharic).
• Rahmeto Hussein 1984: "The History of Azernet-Berbere until the Expansion of Shoa During Menelik II", Senior Essay, Department of History, Addis Ababa University .