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.
See also
*
Gafat people
The Gafat (Amharic: ጋፋት) are an extinct ethnic group that once inhabited present day western Ethiopia. They spoke the Gafat language, an extinct South Ethiopic grouping within the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic languages and closely ...
, an extinct ethnic group in western Ethiopia
References
{{reflist
Ethnic groups in Ethiopia
Afroasiatic peoples
Extinct ethnic groups