The Hadiya Sultanate (r. ~13th century – 15th century) was a medieval kingdom located in southwestern

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 ...

, south of the

Abbay River The Blue Nile (; ) is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the water to ...

and west of Shewa. It was ruled by the Hadiya people, who spoke the

Cushitic The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...

Hadiyya language. The historical Hadiya area was situated between Kambaata, Gamo and Wej, southwest of Shewa. By 1850, Hadiya is placed north-west of lakes

Zway Batu ( om, Baatuu), formerly Zway or Ziway,Langano but still between these areas. Hadiya was historically a vassal state of the

Adal Adal may refer to: *A short form for Germanic names in ''aþala-'' (Old High German ''adal-''), "nobility, pedigree"; see Othalan **Adál Maldonado (1948-2020), Puerto Rican artist ** Adal Ramones (born 1969), Mexican television show host ** Adal ...

federation and a subordinate of Abyssinia since the fourteenth century. The Hadiya Kingdom was described in the mid-fourteenth century by the Arab historian

Chihab Al-Umari Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Fadlallah al-Umari ( ar, شهاب الدين أبو العبّاس أحمد بن فضل الله العمري, Shihāb al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Faḍlallāh al-ʿUmarī), commonly known as Ibn Fadlal ...

as measuring eight days' journey by nine, which

Richard Pankhurst Richard Marsden Pankhurst (1834 – 5 July 1898) was an English barrister and socialist who was a strong supporter of women's rights. Early life Richard Pankhurst was the son of Henry Francis Pankhurst (1806–1873) and Margaret Marsden (1 ...

estimates was 160 by 180 kilometers. Although small, Hadiya was fertile with fruit and cereals, rich with horses, and its inhabitants used pieces of iron as currency. It could raise an army of 40,000 cavalry and at least twice as many foot soldiers.Richard Pankhurst, ''The Ethiopian Borderlands'' (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1977) p. 79 The current

Hadiya Zone Hadiya (also transliterated Hadiyya) is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. This zone is named after the Hadiya of the Hadiya Kingdom, whose homeland covers part of the administrative division. Hadiya ...

of the

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; am, የደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል, Yädäbub Bḥer Bḥeräsäbočna Hzboč Kllə) is a regional state in southwestern ...

is located in approximately the same area as this former kingdom.

History

Hadiya was likely part of the domain of the

Sultanate of Showa The Makhzumi dynasty also known as Sultanate of Shewa or Shewa Sultanate, was a Muslim kingdom in present-day Ethiopia. Its capital Walale was situated in northern Hararghe in Harla country. Its territory extended possibly to some areas west of t ...

and linked to 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 ...

before the pagan

Kingdom of Damot The Kingdom of Damot (Amharic: ዳሞት) was a medieval kingdom in what is now western Ethiopia. The territory was positioned below the Blue Nile. It was a powerful state that forced the Sultanate of Showa (also called Shewa) to pay tributes. I ...

's invasion led by

Sidama The Sidama ( am, ሲዳማ) are an ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the Sidama Region, formerly part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. On 23 November 2019, the Sidama Zone became the 10th regional st ...

. A cluster of speakers labelled Hadiya-Sidama developed, maintaining Islamic identity and later creating the Hadiya Sultanate. According to Hadiya elders the dynasty was started by descendants of

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 ...

Emir Abadir, who intermarried with Sidama. The earliest surviving mention of Hadiya is in the ''

Kebra Nagast The Kebra Nagast, var. Kebra Negast ( gez, ክብረ ነገሥት, ), or The Glory of the Kings, is a 14th-century national epic from Ethiopia, written in Ge'ez by Nebure Id Ishaq of Axum, by the office of Abuna Abba Giyorgis and at the command ...

'' (ch. 94), indicating that the kingdom was in existence by the 13th century. Another early mention is in a manuscript written on the island monastery of Lake Hayq, which states that after conquering Damot, Emperor

Amda Seyon I Amda Seyon I ( gez, ዐምደ ፡ ጽዮን , am, አምደ ፅዮን , "Pillar of Zion"), throne name Gebre Mesqel (ገብረ መስቀል ) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1314 to 1344 and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He is best known ...

proceeded to Hadiya and brought it under his control using Gura armies from modern Eritrea which would later become

Gurage The 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, a fertile, semi-mountainous region in c ...

region. Later during Amda Seyon's reign, the King of Hadiya, Amano, refused to submit to the Emperor of Ethiopia. Amano was encouraged in this by a Muslim "prophet of darkness" named Bel'am. Amda Seyon subsequently set forth for Hadiya, where he "slew the inhabitants of the country with the point of the sword", killing many of the inhabitants while enslaving others. Despite such punitive measures, many of the Hadiya people served in the military units of Amda Seyon. In the fourteenth century according to professor Lapiso, the Hadiya state within the ''"Hadiya-Harla Sultanate"'' maintained one of the largest armies in the region, consisting of 80,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry. During the reign of

Zara Yaqob Zara Yaqob ( Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Kwestantinos I (Ge'ez: ቈስታንቲኖስ, "Constantine"). He is known for t ...

, the ''

Garad Garad ( Harari: ገራድ, , , Oromo: ''Garaada'') is a term used to refer to a clan leader 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 ...

'' or Sultan of Hadiya, Mahiko, the son of ''Garaad'' Mehmad, repeated his predecessor's actions and refused to submit to the Abyssinian Emperor. However, with the help of one of Mahiko's followers, the Garaad was deposed in favor of his uncle Bamo. Garaad Mahiko then sought sanctuary at the court of the

Adal Sultanate The Adal Sultanate, or the Adal Empire or the ʿAdal or the Bar Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate, ''Adal ''Sultanate'') () was a medieval Sunni Muslim Empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din II ...

. He was later slain by the military contingent Adal Mabrak, who had been in pursuit. The chronicles record that the Adal Mabrak sent Mahiko's head and limbs to Zara Yaqob as proof of his death. After militarily occupying Hadiya, many kings of Ethiopia and high ranking members converted and married Hadiya women; Princess Eleni of Hadiya is one example. This would escalate pre-existing tensions with the neighboring

, who did not take kindly to the atrocities committed by Ethiopia against its fellow Muslim state. Adal attempted to invade Ethiopia in response, however the campaign was a disaster and led to the death of Sultan

Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din II ( ar, بادلاي بن سعد الدين) (also known as Sihab ad-Din Ahmad Badlay, Arwe Badlay – "Badlay the Beast" (died 1445) was a Sultan of the Sultanate of Adal and a son of Sa'ad ad-Din II. Brought numerous ...

at the Battle of Gomit. Ethiopian and Adal relations continued to sour after the Hadiya incident and reached its peak at the

Ethiopian–Adal war The Ethiopian–Adal War or Abyssinian-Adal War, also known in Arabic as the "Futuḥ al-Ḥabash" ( ar, فتوح الحبش, ''conquest of Abyssinia''), was a military conflict between the Christian Ethiopian Empire and the Muslim Adal Sulta ...

, where the Hadiya would join the Adal armies in their invasion of Ethiopia during the sixteenth century. It was revealed during Adal's invasion that the Hadiya state under Abyssinia was forced to pay yearly tribute by offering a Muslim girl to be converted to Christianity. Emperor

Sarsa Dengel Sarsa Dengel ( gez, ሠርጸ ድንግል ; 1550 – 4 October 1597), also known as Sarsa the Great, was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. His throne name was throne name Malak Sagad I (መለክ ሰገድ ). Biograp ...

suppressed a rebellion by Hadiya leader Garad

Aze AZE may refer to: * Alliance for Zero Extinction * AZE notation for isotopes: ^A_Z E where A is the mass number, Z the atomic number, and E the element's chemical symbol. * Azerbaijan using ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code * Azerbaijani language (I ...

which involved Hadiya ally

Sultanate of Harar The Sultanate of Harar was a Muslim state centered in present-day Harar, Ethiopia. It succeeded the Adal Sultanate. In this period the Harar Sultanate led by Amīr Nūr continued to carry on the struggle of the Adal leader Imām Aḥmed Gurēy ...

at the

Battle of Hadiya The Battle of Hadiya was fought between the forces of the Hadiya led by their Garad (chief) Aze, and the Ethiopian Empire under Emperor Sarsa Dengel. The Hadiya ruler had refused to pay tribute to the Ethiopian emperor, which lead to the conflic ...

. In the late sixteenth century, the Hadiya region was overrun by the Oromo expansion, thus, the

Arsi Oromo Arsi Oromo is an ethnic Oromo branch, inhabiting the Oromia Region, mainly in the Arsi, West Arsi and Bale Zones of Ethiopia, as well as in the Adami Tullu and Jido Kombolcha woreda of East Shewa Zone. They claim to have descended from Sikko ...

today claim Hadiya ancestry.

Identity

Historical definition of Hadiya people includes a number of Ethiopian ethnic groups currently known by other names according to ethnologist Ulrich Braukämper, who lived in various parts of southern-central Ethiopia for over four years during his research. In his book titled A history of the Hadiyya in Southern Ethiopia, he established linkages to the ancient Hadiya Kingdom. Currently, Hadiya is not a homogeneous ethnic group but is rather sub-divided into a number of ethnonyms, partly with different languages and cultural affiliations. They were initially all inhabitants of a single political entity, a Sultanate, which in the 4th centuries following its break-down became remarkably diverse. The Libidoo (Maräqo), Leemo, Sooro, Shaashoogo, and Baadawwaachcho remained a language entity and preserved an identity of oneness, the Hadiya proper; whereas the Qabeena, Allaaba, Siltʼe people, clans of Hadiyya origin in Walayta, parts of the East-Gurage as well as descendants of an old Hadiya stratum living with the Oromo and

developed separate ethnic identities. Hadiya are related to the Harari.

Famous members

Eleni of Ethiopia Eleni ( Ge’ez: እሌኒ, "Helena"; died April 1522) also known as Queen of Zeila was Empress of Ethiopia by marriage to Zara Yaqob (r. 1434–1468), and served as regent between 1507 and 1516 during the minority of emperor Dawit II. She played ...

* Garad

* Garaad Amano * Garaad Mehmad * Garaad Mahiko * Garaad Bamo

Notes

References

*Braukämper, Ulrich. (1980), Geschichte der Hadiya Süd-Äthiopiens: von den Anfängen bis zur Revolution 1974, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag (Studien zur Kulturkunde 50). *Braukämper, Ulrich. (2005), "Hadiyya Ethnography", in: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.):

Encyclopaedia Aethiopica The ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' (''EAe'') is a basic English-language encyclopaedia for Ethiopian and Eritrean studies. The ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' provides information in all fields of the discipline, i.e. anthropology, archaeology, ethno ...

, vol. 2: D-Ha, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 961–963. *Braukämper, Ulrich. (2005), "Hadiyya Sultanate", in: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.):

, vol. 2: D-Ha, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 963–965. {{authority control Former monarchies of Africa History of Ethiopia Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region Ethnic groups in Ethiopia

History

Identity

Famous members

See also

Notes

References