Endangered Cultures and Peoples: Argobba people
By: Nawara Negm
The Argobba tribe is one of about 80 ethnic groups in Ethiopia, and it is one of the tribes belonging to the Amhara nationalism in northern Ethiopia and this tribe lives in the province of „Wollo“, especially in the highlands and in the areas of the Awash River. They are stationed in the city of Kombelcha in the province of „Wollo“.
Previously, this tribe lived in the area between Harar and Tigray, and Lulu in northern and eastern Ethiopia. According to some sources, they have a presence even on the Djibouti-Ethiopian border. The presence of Argobba extends on the road that extends from Efate in East Showa in the north to Bali in the southeast and up to the Harar region, including Zila and Berbera in Somalia.[1]
The tribe has a population of about 140 thousand.
Origins
There are no confirmed sources for the origins of Argobba, but some scholars say that the army of the kingdom of Aksum moved south beyond the Angot, where it encountered a wandering people called Jebel in eastern Shewa, believed to be the ancestors of Argobba.
After that, Jebel became Harari settlers known as Argoba. Subsequently they converted to Islam and had important links with the Islamic world, they controlled the trade in Zila and Harar.
Argobba co-founded the first known Islamic state in East Africa, the Shwa Sultanate of Harar in the 9th century.
The members of the ethnicity believe that they are the descendants of the first Muslims who migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to escape from the Quraish at the beginning of Muhammad’s call.[2]
In the thirteenth century, Argobba established the Walashma dynasty, which became the leaders of the Ifat Sultanate and the Adal Sultanate.
In the 19th century, Emperor Johannes IV ordered the forced expulsion of Argobba for refusing to convert to Christianity.
Languages
The Argobba people speak the traditional Argobba language, an Afro-Asiatic language of the Semitic branch.[3]
In some places Argobba has been dissolved in the Oromic language.
In other areas people moved to neighboring languages for economic reasons.
At this time, there are only a few speakers of this language left in some areas whose inhabitants do not speak at least two languages such as Amharic, Oromia or Afar besides Argobba language.
All of these languages have literature that can be used to serve the Argobba language, although the current literacy rate for any language is low. Argobba reportedly do not like to send their children to school and do not go to court.
Traditions
Argobba has their own culture in all means of life from food to clothing.
They manufacture their homes of stones and wood as these materials are abundant in the environment around them. These homes are unique and have special designs, and live for a long time. They have great skill in building their own houses, which overcome the difficult environment in which they live.[4]
The inhabitants of the Argobba tribe prefer to live in the highlands, because of what they found in previous eras of pressure during internal conflicts, the rule of emperors and kings and the dominance of the Orthodox Church, which led to their retreat and living in the highlands, to escape those confrontations.
Women
Women in Argobba have various adornment tools that are made manually from local materials, some of which are placed on the neck such as necklaces, and some that are placed on the hand and hair, which is a kind of adornment made of silver. The Argobba woman is characterized by working with her husband in all professions.
Most of the inhabitants of Argobba work in agriculture, herding, weaving and crafting, and they have other trades such as trade.[5]
Women are interested in embroidery and sewing of clothes, make their own clothes, and decorate them themselves. Argobba women wear only clothes that the women make themselves and are called white, locally made folk clothes. Most members of the Argobba tribe do not wear modern clothes, but they still rely on traditional industry and are distinguished by wearing their locally made clothes. The men of Argobba wear Swahili attire, use a variety of small-sized swords, and place combs on their hair.
The Argobba marriage ceremonies are different from the rest of the Ethiopian tribes in the north. Where the young man chooses the girl, then the family is informed and they betroth the girl. The marriage ceremony does not take place before the preparation of housing and tools for marriage.[6]
Monuments
There are now in the Argobba region a number of unique Islamic monuments, dating back to the eighteenth century. Including the old Sheikh Yusuf Mosque, and there are mosques that still preserve their structure and method of construction.[7]
Politics
Under Ethiopia’s new government, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, Argobba in the early 1990s heralded the acquisition of regional political power after the launch of the Argoba National Democratic Organization.
The Argobba ethnic group has a party called the “Argobba National Democratic Organization” and they have one representative in the Chamber of Deputies and they control their Argobba region. It is a semi-autonomous region according to the federal system of the country.
[1] https://www.peoplegroups.org/explore/groupdetails.aspx?peid=11547
[2] https://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2013/07/argobba-people-minority-semitic-tribe.html
[3] https://omniglot.com/writing/argobba.htm
[4] https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/10422/ET
[5] https://www.101lasttribes.com/tribes/argobba.html
[6] https://www.persee.fr/doc/ethio_0066-2127_2000_num_16_1_975
[7] https://hornofafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Argobba.pdf
