Siltʼe people

The Siltʼe people are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. They inhabit today's Siltʼe Zone which is part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. Siltʼe denote their origin to the city of Harar.[2] A considerable number of Siltʼe live in Addis Ababa, Adama and other cities and smaller urban centres of southern Ethiopia where they make a living, e.g., as merchants or keepers of petty shops. In the countryside, the Siltʼe practice mixed farming and cultivate ensete.

Siltʼe

Total population
estimated 1 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Siltʼe
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Amhara • Harari • Zay • Tigray • Tigre • Gurage • other Ethiosemitic peoples

Name

The term Siltʼe is the modern ethnonym of the speakers of the Siltʼe language. The modern ethnonym Siltʼe was chosen in memory of this ancestor and as a reminiscence of the old Islamic sultanate of Hadiyya or Hadiya the Silte people claim a historical relation to.

Subgroups

Today's Siltʼe comprise the following major historical sub-groups: Azernet, Berbere, Alichcho, Wuriro, Melga (or Ulbareg) and Siltʼi (or Summusiltʼi). The name Siltʼi (for the subgroup) is derived from the alleged ancestor Gen Siltʼi.

Identity

Until the second half of the twentieth century the Siltʼe were considered as being part of the Gurage (but called Adiyya or Hadiyya by the Sebat Bet Gurage). Silte people are also called Adere by the neighboring Arsi-Oromo which might indicate the relationship to the Harari who live (in and around the historic city of Harar) miles away from where the Silte people are inhabiting. The two ethnic groups (Silte and Harari) share somewhat similar language and the same religion. Other designations were Islam or East Gurage (after their language which forms part of the East Gurage language area).

After the fall of the Derg regime in 1991 a political movement formed to establish an independent ethnic identity for the Siltʼe, as they now called themselves. Ten years later, the Siltʼe were successful in obtaining an administrative independence from the Gurage Zone in the creation of the Siltʼe Zone.

Religion

The great majority of the Siltʼe population is Muslim making up 99.48 the population followed by Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity at 0.52%.

References

1. Prunnier, Gerrard (15 September 2015). Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781849046183. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
2. Prunnier, Gerrard (15 September 2015). Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781849046183. Retrieved 25 June 2016.

Bibliography

• Abdulfetah Huldar 2000 (A.D.): Islam be-Ityopya inna ye-Silte hizb tarikinna bahil. Addis Ababa (in Amharic).
• Abdulfetah Huldar 2002 (A.D.): YeSiltʼennat beherawi magalachʼawochchinna la-Ityopyawinet hilwinanna idiget yabarekketut asitewas'o. Addis Ababa (in Amharic).
• Abraham Hussen and Habtamu Wandimmo 1983 (E.C.): Ba-Siltʼiñña qwanqwa tanagari hizb ye-Azernet Berbere hibratasab bahilinna tarik. Addis Ababa (in Amharic).
• Ulrich Braukämper 1980: Die Geschichte der Hadiyya Süd-Äthiopiens. Wiesbaden. Franz-Steiner Verlag.
• Dirk Bustorf 2005: "Ennäqor ethnography". In: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. vol. 2: D-Ha. Wiesbaden. p. 309-10
• Dirk Bustorf 2006: "Ase Zäʼra Yaʼǝqobs Kinder. Spuren der Vorbevölkerung von Selte-Land". Aethiopica 9. pp. 23–48.
• Dirk Bustorf 2010: "Sǝlṭi ethnography". In: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. vol. 4: O-X. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. pp. 607–608.
• Dirk Bustorf 2010: "Wǝlbaräg". In: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. vol. 4: O-X. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. pp. 1178–1179.
• Dirk Bustorf 2011: Lebendige Überlieferung: Geschichte und Erinnerung der muslimischen Siltʼe Äthiopiens. With an English Summary. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (Aethiopistische Forschungen 74).
• Nishi Makoto 2005: Making and Unmaking of the National-State and Ethnicity in Modern Ethiopia: a Study on the History of the Silte People. African Study Monographs. Supplementary Issue 29. pp. 157–68 online version
• Dinberu Alamu et al. 1987 (E.C.): Gogot. Yegurage biherasab tarik, bahilinna qwanqwa, Walqite (in Amharic).
• Rahmeto Hussein 1984: "The History of Azernet-Berbere until the Expansion of Shoa During Menelik II", Senior Essay, Department of History, Addis Ababa University .