Ifat (historical region)

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This article is about the ancient region in the Horn of Africa. For the sultanate, see Ifat Sultanate.
19th century map of Ifat located east of the Shewan highlands and west of the Awash River.

Ifat (Harari: ኢፋት; Amharic: ይፋት; Somali: Awfat) also known as Yifat,[1] Awfat or Wafat was a historical Muslim region in the Horn of Africa.[2] It was located on the eastern edge of Shewa.[3][4][5]

Geography[edit]

Ifat designated the Muslim dominated portion of Shewa in Abyssinia according to Harari texts, its territory extended from the Shewan uplands east, towards the Awash River.[6]

According to thirteenth century Arab geographer Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi, Ifat was alternatively known as Jabarta.[7]

In the fourteenth century Al Umari mentioned seven cities or domains within Ifat: Biqulzar, Adal, Shewa, Kuljura, Shimi, Jamme and Laboo.[8]

History[edit]

During Islam's inception tradition states the Banu Makhzum and Ummayad coalitions quarreled in Ifat.[9][10] According to historian Enrico Cerulli, in thirteenth century Sultan Umar Walasma founded the Ifat Sultanate in Ifat after overthrowing the Makhzumi dynasty and subsequently invading states of Hubat, Gidaya, Hargaya etc.[11] The later Ifat rulers who are described as zealous would expand their dominion from Zequalla in eastern Shewa to Zeila on the coast of Somalia thus the Muslim dominated regions of the Horn of Africa would be known as Ifat up to the fourteenth century.[12][13]

In 1328 during Emperor Amda Seyon of Ethiopia's crusades, the territory of Ifat was invaded and incorporated into his empire after defeating its sultan Haqq ad-Din I's forces in battle.[14] Ifat would lose its prominence as the Muslim power in the region to Adal following the Abyssinian annexation of its dominion.[15] In the mid fourteenth century Ifat leader Jamal ad-Din I would rebel against Abyssinia by forming an alliance with the Adal leader Salih to battle the forces of the emperor Amda Seyon.[16] In the late fourteenth century, Ifat rebel leaders Haqq ad-Din II and Sa'ad ad-Din II transferred their base to Adal in the Harar region founding the Adal Sultanate.[17][18] These two Walasma princes exiled from Ifat had moved to an area around Harar which today Argobba and Harari speakers exist.[19] According to Harari tradition numerous Argobba people had fled Ifat, and settled around Harar in the Aw Abdal lowlands during their conflict with Abyssinia in the fifteenth century, a gate was thus named after them called the gate of Argobba.[20]

According to Ayele Tariku, in the mid 1400s emperor Zara Yaqob assigned a military battalion in Ifat region following his successful defence of the frontier from the attacks of Adal Sultanate.[21] In the sixteenth century Ifat was governed by the Adalite, Abūn b. ‘Uthmān following its conquest by the Adal Sultanate during the Ethiopian-Adal war.[22]

During Ifat peoples conflicts with Oromo in the early seventeenth century, the Ifat Muslim leaders formed an alliance with Christian rulers of Shewa however the region much like neighboring Bale, Fatagar, Angot and others would eventually succumb to the Oromo.[23][24] During the eighteenth century, slave and salt commerce was active in Ifat mainly Wollo where its reported Afar brokers would transport them to Tadjoura on the coast.[25]

Later in the nineteenth century Ifat towns such as Aliyu Amba were major centers facilitating trade between Abyssinia and the Emirate of Harar.[26][27] Under the reign of Shewan king Sahle Selassie, the appointed Muslim Ifat governors were Hussain of Argobba, and his father Walasma Mohamed who professed their origin from the Walasma dynasty of the middle ages.[28]

Ifat was also the site of forceful conversions of Muslims to Christianity by then Shewa king Menelik II under the orders of emperor Yohannes IV.[29] In 1896 rebel leader of Ifat, Talha Jafar led a revolt with the support of local Afar, Oromo, Argobba, Warjih and Amhara Muslims in the region, he had also made attempts to reach out to the ruler of Sudan known as the "Khalifa", this forced Menelik now emperor of Ethiopia to send an army to confront the insurgents. Talha would however successfully negotiate a peace treaty with the emperor which ended hostilities a year later.[30][31] According to historian Hussein Ahmed, Talha deceived the emperor into presuming he had a large force backing his rebellion, when in fact they were diminutive.[32]

People[edit]

19th century map by John Pinkerton indicating Ifat region's location north of Wej province and west of Fatagar region

The Argobba people are believed to originate from Ifat and were living alongside the people of Doba in the region.[33][34] Argobba, Harari, Wolane and Siltʼe people, appear to have represented major populations of Ifat in the Middle Ages.[35][36] The bulk of Ifat's population also included nomadic pastoralist ethnic groups, such as the Afar and the Warjih.[37] The inhabitants of Ifat were the first to be recorded using Khat in the fourteenth century.[38]

Medieval Arabic texts indicate Ethiopian Semitic languages were spoken by the people of Ifat however Cerulli states these speakers were soon replaced by Afar and Somali.[39][40]

Ruins[edit]

Numerous ruins of the former Ifat state were identified in what is now eastern Shewa most prominently the Nora site.[41] The dwellings resemble Argobba or Harari historical building designs.[42]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Abir, Mordechai (1968). Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes; The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire (1769-1855). London: Longmans. p. 146f.
  2. ^ "Awfāt". Brill.
  3. ^ Hassan, Mohammed. Reviewed Work: Islam in Nineteenth-Century Wallo, Ethiopia: Revival, Reform and Reaction by Hussein Ahmed. Michigan State University Press. p. 148. JSTOR 41931349.
  4. ^ Trimingham, J.Spencer (13 September 2013). Islam in Ethiopia. Taylor & Francis. p. 67. ISBN 9781136970221.
  5. ^ "Ifat". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  6. ^ Cerulli, Enrico. Islam yesterday and today. p. 343.
  7. ^ Braukamper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia. LitVerlag. p. 24. ISBN 9783825856717.
  8. ^ Huntingford, G.W.B. The Glorious victories of Amda Seyon, king of Ethiopia. Oxford University Press. p. 20.
  9. ^ Ayenachew, Deresse. Notes on the survey of Islamic Archaeological sites in South-Eastern Wallo (Ethiopia). Marseille Université.
  10. ^ Sultanate of Sawa. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  11. ^ Cerulli, Enrico (1941). "Il Sultanato dello Scioa nel Secondo XIII Secondo un Nuovo Documento Storico". Rassegna di Studi Etiopici. 1 (1): 26. JSTOR 41460159.
  12. ^ Huntingford, G.W.B. "Arabic Inscriptions in Southern Ethiopia". Cambridge.org. Cambridge University Press.
  13. ^ McKenna, Amy (15 January 2011). The History of Central and Eastern Africa. Britannica Educational Pub. p. 100. ISBN 9781615303229.
  14. ^ Williams, H.E.L. (1999). Chronology of world history. ABC-CLIO. p. 449. ISBN 9781576071557.
  15. ^ Chekroun, Amélie. Between Arabia and Christian Ethiopia: The Walasmaʿ Sultan Saʿd al-Dīn and his sons (early fifteenth century.
  16. ^ Trimingham, J.Spencer (13 September 2013). Islam in Ethiopia. Taylor & Francis. p. 72. ISBN 9781136970221.
  17. ^ Baba, Tamon. NOTES ON MIGRATION BETWEEN YEMEN AND NORTHEAST AFRICA DURING THE 13–15TH CENTURIES (PDF). Kyushu University. pp. 81–82.
  18. ^ Zewde, Bahru (1998). A Short History of Ethiopia and the Horn. Addis Ababa University. p. 64.
  19. ^ Niane, Djibril (January 1984). General History of Africa. Heinemann Educational Books. p. 427. ISBN 9789231017100.
  20. ^ ABUBAKER, ABDULMALIK. THE RELEVANCY OF HARARI VALUES IN SELF REGULATION AND AS A MECHANISM OF BEHAVIORAL CONTROL: HISTORICAL ASPECTS (PDF). The University of Alabama. p. 44.
  21. ^ Tariku, Ayele (2022). "The Christian Military Colonies in Medieval Ethiopia: The Chewa System". The Medieval History Journal. 25 (2). SAGE publications: 179–306. doi:10.1177/09719458211003380. S2CID 253239262.
  22. ^ Chekroun, Amelie. Le futuh al habasha. e l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. p. 336.
  23. ^ Ifat. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  24. ^ Paulitschke, Philipp (1884). Die Geographische Erforschung der Adâl-Länder und Harâr's in Ost-Afrika. Leipzig: Verlag von Paul Frohberg. p. 31.
  25. ^ Ahmed, Hussein. Benevolent masters and voiceless subjects: slavery and slave trade in southern Wällo (Ethiopia) in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Annales d'Ethiopie. p. 199.
  26. ^ Abir, Mordechai (1968). Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes; The Challenge of Islam and the Re-unification of the Christian Empire (1769-1855). London: Longmans. pp. 13f.
  27. ^ Aleyyu Amba: The Ifat and its political, religious and commercial networks during the XIXth century. French Center for Ethiopian Studies.
  28. ^ Darkwah, Rexford. The rise of the kingdom of Shoa 1813-1889 (PDF). University of London. p. 259.
  29. ^ Yates, Brian. The Other Abyssinians. University of Rochester Press. p. 69.
  30. ^ Omer, Ahmed. Emperor Menelik's Attempts towards Political Integration : Case Study from North-Eastern Shoa (Ethiopia), 1889-1906. Annales d'Éthiopie. p. 237.
  31. ^ Falola, Toyin. The Palgrave Handbook of Islam in Africa. Springer International Publishing. p. 465.
  32. ^ Ahmed, Hussein (1989). "THE LIFE AND CAREER OF SHAYKH TALHA B. JA'FAR (c. 1853-1936)". Journal of Ethiopian Studies. 22. Institute of Ethiopian Studies: 22. JSTOR 41965976.
  33. ^ Leslau, Wolf (1948). "A Year of Research in Ethiopia". Word. 4 (3). Taylor & Francis: 220. doi:10.1080/00437956.1948.11659345.
  34. ^ Berhe, Fesseha. Regional History and Ethnohistory Gerhard Rohlfs and other Germanophone Researchers and a Forgotten Ethnic Group, the Dobʿa (PDF). Mekelle University. p. 128.
  35. ^ Niane, Djibril (January 1984). General History of Africa. Heinemann Educational Books. p. 427. ISBN 9789231017100.
  36. ^ Dilebo, Lapiso (2003). An introduction to Ethiopian history from the Megalithism Age to the Republic, circa 13000 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Commercial Printing Enterprise. p. 41. Like their direct descendants, the Adares of today , the people of ancient Shewa, Yifat, Adal, Harar and Awssa were semitic in their ethnic and linguistic origins. They were neither Somalis nor Afar. But the Somali and Afar nomads were the local subjects of the Adal.
  37. ^ "The Oromo of Ethiopia 1500–1800" (PDF). p. 21.
  38. ^ Braukhamper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia. LitVerlag. p. 25. ISBN 9783825856717.
  39. ^ Roland, Oliver. Cambridge History of Africa (PDF). Cambridge University Press. p. 150.
  40. ^ Cerulli, Enrico. Islam yesterday and today. p. 361.
  41. ^ Francois-Xavier, Fauvelle. Nora, a Medieval Islamic City in Ethiopia (14th-15th Centuries). ERC COG HornEast project.
  42. ^ Hirsch, Bertrand (2006). "Reconnaissance de trois villes musulmanes de l'époque médiévale dans l'Ifat". Annales d'Éthiopie. 27: 134.

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