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Concepts for the Study of Ethiopian History
Ethiopian history is by and large a history of interaction among three major social domains: what I call the Ge'ez civilization, or Ge'ez domain, the Islamic, and the Oromo. (One could add a fourth domain, the enset social complex of the Gurage-Kembata-Hadya region.) Each social domain is marked by a distinct social system: the Ge'ez by what I call the geber system, the Islamic by mainly pastoral/nomadic (later agrarian) system, and the Oromo by the Gada system, Ethiopian history is the history of collusion among these three major social domains. The task of the historian is to make intelligible the intricate tentacles of the various domains in this analytic distinction, as well as in their intertwining evolution over time.
The relation among the three domains took various forms at various times: violent and peaceful, assimilation of forced conversion, victory and defeat, mutual respect and supremacist disposition. The three chief protagonists of the drama that is Ethiopian history can be seen as the three main pillars of the Ethiopian house, together with other supporting pillars.
In ecological terms, the Ge'ez and Oromo domains divide the north-central and central-southern highlands between them, respectively, while the Islamic domain encompasses the eastern lowlands rubbing shoulders with the Red Sea - Afar, Somali, the highlands of Harer and Ifat, and later Bale, Arsi, etc... Each domain expanded its territorial local in different directions at different times through trade, war, and/or establishing loose on and off tributary relations.
The Ge'ez domain - marked by a cultural universe of what I call tabot Christianity, encompassing the compact cultural zone from Debre Bizan to Debre Libanos - expanded in a north-south direction over a period of many centuries: Aksum, Zagwe, Shoa (and later Gonder), to use the official dynastic parlance. The Islamic domain expanded in an east-west and south-north direction, especially at its height of power during Ahmed ibn-Ibrahim al-Ghazi (also known as Gragn Muhamed). The Oromo domain expanded in south-north, east, and west directions at the height of Oromo expansion during the 16th and 17th centuries. In Wollo, the three domains rub shoulders with each other; nay more, they melted into each other's embrace. Wollo might as well be the clue for the study...