The Argobba are an ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia. A Muslim community, they are spread out through isolated village networks and towns in the north-eastern and eastern parts of the country. Group members have typically been astute traders and merchants, and have adjusted to the economic trends in their area. These factors have led to a decline in usage of the Argobba language.[3][4] Argobba are considered endangered today due to exogamy and destitution as well as ethnic cleansing by the Abyssinian state over the centuries.[5][6]
According to Girma Demeke, some time after the 9th century AD, the Argobba diverged from their closest relative, the Amharas, probably due to religious differences as the Argobba adopted Islam.[7] According to scholars, the Kingdom of Aksum's army moved south beyond Angot, encountering a nomadic people named Galab in eastern Shewa, who are supposedly the precursors to Argobba.[8] This ethnic group would become known as Argobba after their conversion to Islam in the 10th century. Modern Argobba claim they originate from the Arabian Peninsula through Zeila in what is now Somaliland and before settling in Ifat.[9] Argobba have historical links with Harari and Harla people.[10] Argobba people consider the inhabitants of Doba their ancestors.[11]
After the collapse of Aksum, the southward shift of the Christian Ethiopian state saw the rise of the political importance of Ifat. Ifat became an economic powerhouse as it sat on the trade routes between Zeila and the interior hinterlands, developing significant ties to the Muslim world. The Argobba are associated with the Walashma dynastyofIfat, which would become the rulers of the Sultanate of Ifat and Adal Sultanate.[12][13] According to Harari tradition numerous Argobba 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.[14]
The Argobba and the Harla people seem to have relied on each other in the Islamic period.[15] A power struggle erupted between the Abadir dynasty of Harari and the Walashma dynasty of Argobba throughout the Islamic period until Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi took control of Adal Sultanate by executing the Walashma sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad in the 16th century.[16][17][18][19]
Due to the wars between the Ifat Sultanate and Ethiopia, the region of Ifat was incorporated into Ethiopia having been an integral part of the empire for over a century since early medieval times.[20][21] During this period of incorporation, large sections of the local Argobba population embraced Christianity.[22] According to French explorer, Charles-Xavier Rochet d'Héricourt, who had visited the region of Ifat. He stated that in 1517, an invasion from a formidable force suddenly fell upon the eastern provinces of the Kingdom of Shewa. An army of Somalis and Hararis, led by a bold and fanatical chief named Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, entered the province of Ifat-Argobba and had already forced the inhabitants to embrace Islam again.[23]
In the late sixteenth century, Argobba were involved in several conflicts with the Oromo during the Oromo migrations, and due to the withdrawal of Adal from Ethiopia, came partially under Ethiopian Empire rule losing land rights.[24][25]
In the nineteenth century, Emperor Yohannes IV ordered the forced displacement of Argobba for refusing to convert to Christianity.[26][27] Many Argobba were forcibly baptizedinShewabyMenelik II.[28] Due to expansions from two dominant ethnic groups, many Argobba speak either AmharicorOromoinWollo Province; however, those who self-identify as originally Argobba are substantial in the region. The last remaining villages of a once larger Argobba-speaking territory are Shonke and Ṭollaḥa.[29]
Abyssinian religious persecutions forced numerous Argobba to flee Ifat region in the 1800s, and migrate to the Emirate of Harar however the townsman were unwilling to accommodate them leading to Argobba people settling outside the walled city of Harar.[32] Argobba suffered from stigma in Harar. Harari children believe that the Argobba are were-hyenas and chant at Argobba women as they come to town, "Argobba, Argobba, night-time hyena, day-time human".[33] Urban legends regarding the Argobba exist among the Harari and Oromo in Harar region. It is said by them that the Argobba participate in cannibalism.[34]
Argobba are exclusive adherents to the Muslim faith.[35] They are also widely believed to be the first to accept Islam collectively, in the Horn of Africa and vanguards for early Islamic expansion.[36] The Shonke Argobba reportedly forbid their children from attending school due to the possible unislamic influence it might have on them.[37]
The Argobba traditionally speak Argobba, an Ethiopian Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. According to Getahun Amare, Argobba is not a dialect of Amharic as previous linguists believed, but a separate language.[38] Argobba language evolved from proto Amharic and Argobba.[39] In other areas, the people have shifted to neighboring languages for economic reasons. At this time there are only a few areas left where the Argobba are not at least bilingual in Amharic, Oromo or Afar.[4][dead link]
Abebe Kifleyesus, Tradition and Transformation: The Argobba of Ethiopia. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006. ISBN978-3-447-05341-9
Richard Wilding, The Arla, the Argobba and Links between the Coast and the Highlands. A Preliminary Archeological Survey. Addis Ababa University, Faculty of Arts, 1975
