The Gaturi ( Harari: ጋቱሪ), also spelled as Gatouri are an extinct ethnic group that once inhabited present-day eastern

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 ...

History

According to Mohammed Hassan, the Gaturi were a Semitic-speaking people who resided in the region of mount

Kundudo Kundudo (also spelt as Kondudo or Qundudo) is a flat-top mountain (or ''amba'') in the Misraq Hararghe Zone of the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Part of the range that bears its name, its summit lies east of the walled city of Harar, with a heigh ...

and Babile, the region that formed part of the little principality of Dawaro. The Harari chronicle states Abadir arrived at an Islamic region called Bandar Gaturi known later as

Harar Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saint ...

in the tenth or thirteenth century. In Harar, Abadir encountered the Gaturi alongside the

Harla The Harla, also known as Harala, or Arla, are an extinct ethnic group that once inhabited Djibouti, Ethiopia and northern Somalia. They spoke the now-extinct Harla language, which belonged to either the Cushitic or Semitic branches of the Afroas ...

and

Argobba people The Argobba are an ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia. A Muslim community, they are spread out through isolated village networks and towns in the northeastern and eastern parts of the country. Group members have typically been astute traders and me ...

. Gaturi is claimed by one source to be a Harla sub clan. According to another Harari tradition seven clans and villages united against a common adversary including Gaturi to form Harar city-state. In the middle ages during the Ethiopian-Adal war, one of the leaders of the Muslim forces of

Malassay A Malassay ( Harari: መለሳይ ''Mäläsay'') was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Adal Sultanate's household troops. According to Manfred Kropp, Malassay were the Harari armed forces. Etymology Malassay appears to refer t ...

was Amir Husain bin Abubaker al-Gaturi.

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi ( so, Axmed Ibraahim al-Qaasi or Axmed Gurey, Harari: አሕመድ ኢብራሂም አል-ጋዚ, ar, أحمد بن إبراهيم الغازي ; 1506 – 21 February 1543) was an imam and general of the Adal Sultana ...

designated Amir Husain al-Gaturi as governor of Dawaro region which Ulrich Braukämper states was a border province of Abyssinia. Gaturi ceased to be mentioned in texts after the sixteenth century. Gaturi is today represented as a sub group of the

Harari people The Harari people ( Harari: Gēy Usuach, "People of the City") are Semitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. Members traditionally reside in the walled city of Harar, called simply ''Gēy'' "the City" in Harari, situated in t ...

and remains a Harari surname.

Language

They spoke Gaturi language, possibly an extinct South Ethiopic grouping within the Semitic subfamily of the

Afroasiatic languages The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...

and closely related to Harari and Argobba languages.

References

{{reflist Ethnic groups in Ethiopia Afroasiatic peoples Extinct ethnic groups

History

Language

See also

References