Jump to content

Kingdom of Damot

Coordinates: 9°23′N 37°34′E / 9.39°N 37.56°E / 9.39; 37.56
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Damot Kingdom)
Not to be confused with Dʿmt.

The Kingdom of Damot (Amharic: ዳሞት) was an medieval kingdom in what is now western Ethiopia.[1] The territory was positioned below the Blue Nile.[2] Possibly formed in the 10th century, it was a powerful state by the 13th century that forced the Sultanate of Showa to pay tributes.[3] It also annihilated the armies of the Zagwe dynasty that were sent to subdue its territory. Damot conquered several Muslim and Christian territories.[4] The Muslim state Showa and the new Christian state under Yekuno Amlak formed an alliance to counter the influence of Damot in the region.[5]

Some academics have claimed that Damot was equivalent to the Kingdom of Wolaita, with the most famous ruler of Damot, Motolomi Sato, coming from the Wolaita Malla dynasty which ruled from the 13th-16th century, before being replaced by the Tigre Malla dynasty amid the Oromo expansion.[6]: 59 

History

[edit]

The kings of Damot, who bore the title motalami, resided in a town which, according to the hagiography of Tekle Haymanot, was called Maldarede.[7] Damot was conquered by Emperor Amda Seyon in 1316/7. His royal chronicle recounted that "all the people of Damot [came] into my hands; its king, its princes, its rulers, and its people, men and women without number, whom I exiled into another area."[8] Amda Seyon seemingly left the Damotian royal family in power, for the title motälämi continued to be used until the 15th century.[9] al-Mufaddal ibn Abi al-Fada'il in the fourteenth century writes that Damot alongside Harla Kingdom were forced to pay tribute to Abyssinia.[10]

Kingdom of Damot
c. 10th/13th century–c. 16th century
The kingdom of Damot and its neighbours circa 1200 AD
The kingdom of Damot and its neighbours circa 1200 AD
CapitalMaldarede
9°23′N 37°34′E / 9.39°N 37.56°E / 9.39; 37.56
Common languagesGonga, and other Omotic languages
Religion
Paganism, Christianity
GovernmentMonarchy
Motalami 
History 
• Established
c. 10th/13th century
• Conquered by Ethiopia
c. 1316
• Defeated by Oromos
r. 14th century
• 16th century (By the 16th century, Damot was further fragmented and ultimately overrun during the larger Oromo expansion)
c. 16th century
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Kingdom of Aksum
Ethiopian Empire
Oromos

Damot was originally located south of the Abay and west of the Muger River.[11] However, the kingdom’s decline began in the 14th century, as suggested by some sources, such as Paul Mikias, who argues that the Oromo conquest of Damot may have started earlier than widely believed.[12] This earlier timeline helps explain why Aba Bahrey, writing in the 16th century, provides little detail about Damot’s fall—it had already been displaced or weakened long before his time.[13] Instead, Aba Bahrey focuses on how the Oromos used the "west," once part of Damot’s territories, as a base for military campaigns, crossing the Abay River to invade the Kingdom of Ennarea in the "southwest" (modern-day Jimma).[14]

By the late 16th century, under the leadership of Mula'ata Lubas (1586–1594), the Macha Oromo overran Enaria and forced its clans to flee across the Blue Nile into Gojjam. Many of these displaced populations settled in the subprovinces of Bure Damot and Daga Damot, though the Oromos pursued them until they were fully subdued.[15] Unlike other conquering groups, the Oromos incorporated the people they defeated, requiring them to adopt Oromo culture and language. This practice boosted their numbers and facilitated their expansion into the highlands.[16]

Some sources, such as Paul Mikias, suggest that areas like Walal (near Mount Tullu Walal in Qelem, Wallaga) were inhabited by Kafa-descended people known as Busase or Bushasho before the Oromo conquest. Following the fall of Damot, a Christian temple in the region was converted into a church, and descendants of the Busase people continue to inhabit parts of Anfilo, producing coffee for both local and export consumption. [17]

Their territory extended east beyond the Muger as far as the Jamma.[18] The province of Damot remained part of the Ethiopian Empire well after the Zemene Mesafint began, unlike other southern regions. The ruler of Damot was typically from Gojjam and held the title Ras.

Religion

[edit]

The population of Damot adherred to its own religion dominated by a deity called Däsk. This continued on even well after being conquered by the Christian Empire, which repeatedly led to conflict between the locals and the Christian garrison troops.[19] Parts of the population seemingly remained pagan until the late 16th century.[20]

It is claimed in the Hagiography of Tekle Haymanot that the latter managed to convert the ruler of Damot to Christianity.[21]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Shinn, David (2013). Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Scarecrow Press. p. 111. ISBN 9780810874572.
  2. ^ Shillington, Kevin (4 July 2013). Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set. Routledge. ISBN 9781135456696.
  3. ^ González-Ruibal, Alfredo (2024-03-01). "Landscapes of Memory and Power: The Archaeology of a Forgotten Kingdom in Ethiopia". African Archaeological Review. 41 (1): 71–95. doi:10.1007/s10437-024-09575-8. ISSN 1572-9842.
  4. ^ Bounga, Ayda (2014). "The kingdom of Damot: An Inquiry into Political and Economic Power in the Horn of Africa (13th c.)". Annales d'Ethiopie. 29: 262. doi:10.3406/ethio.2014.1572.
  5. ^ Hassen, Mohammed. Oromo of Ethiopia (PDF). University of London. p. 4.
  6. ^ Aalen, Lovise (2011-06-24). The Politics of Ethnicity in Ethiopia: Actors, Power and Mobilisation under Ethnic Federalism. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-20937-4.
  7. ^ Bouanga 2014, pp. 33–37.
  8. ^ Ayenachew, Deresse (2020). "Territorial Expansion and Administrative Evolution under the "Solomonic" Dynasty". In Samantha Kelly (ed.). A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea. Brill. p. 65.
  9. ^ Ayenachew, Deresse (2020). "Territorial Expansion and Administrative Evolution under the "Solomonic" Dynasty". In Samantha Kelly (ed.). A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea. Brill. p. 71.
  10. ^ Harla. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  11. ^ Milkias, Paulos (2011). Ethiopia. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-257-9.
  12. ^ Milkias, Paulos (2011). Ethiopia. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-257-9.
  13. ^ Hassen, Mohammed (2015). The Oromo and the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: 1300-1700. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84701-117-6.
  14. ^ Mohammed Hassen (1990). The Oromo of Ethiopia: A History 1570-1860.
  15. ^ Milkias, Paulos (2011). Ethiopia. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-257-9.
  16. ^ Milkias, Paulos (2011). Ethiopia. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-257-9.
  17. ^ Milkias, Paulos (2011). Ethiopia. Internet Archive. Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-257-9.
  18. ^ G.W.B. Huntingford, Historical Geography of Ethiopia from the first century AD to 1704 (London: British Academy, 1989), p. 69
  19. ^ Ayenachew, Deresse (2020). "Territorial Expansion and Administrative Evolution under the "Solomonic" Dynasty". In Samantha Kelly (ed.). A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea. Brill. p. 80.
  20. ^ Fauvelle, François-Xavier (2020). "Of Conversion and Conversation: Followers of Local Religions in Medieval Ethiopia". In Samantha Kelly (ed.). A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea. Brill. p. 140.
  21. ^ Lusini, Gianfrancesco (2020). "The Ancient and Medieval History of Eritrean and Ethiopian Monasticism: An Outline". In Samantha Kelly (ed.). A Companion to Medieval Ethiopia and Eritrea. Brill. p. 207.

Further reading

[edit]


Stub icon

This Ethiopia location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Kingdom_of_Damot&oldid=1266704765"