Gidaya

Location of Gidaya state in the middle ages

Gidaya (Harari: ጊዳየ Gidayä; Somali: Gidaaya), also known as Gedaya or Jidaya was a historical Muslim state located around present-day eastern Ethiopia.[1][2][3][4] The state was positioned on the Harar plateau and a district of Adal region alongside Hargaya and Hubat polities.[5][6][7] It neighbored other states in the medieval era including Ifat, Mora, Hadiya, Fatagar, Biqulzar, Fedis and Kwelgora.[8][9]

History

According to Dr. Lapiso Delebo, Gidaya was one of the Islamic states that had developed in the Horn of Africa from the ninth to fourteenth centuries.[10] The people of Gidaya were reportedly a sub clan of the Harla people.[11] The earliest mention of Gidaya state is during its conflict with the Makhzumi dynasty in 1266.[12] In the thirteenth century the Arab writer al-Mufaḍḍal mentions the king of Gidaya was named Yûsuf ibn Arsamâyah.[13]

In 1285 Walasma dynasty crushed a rebellion led by Gidaya which allied with Shewa to revive the Makhzumi state.[14] In the fourteenth century it was under the Ifat Sultanate and later the Adal Sultanate with its leader known as the Garad.[15]

According to sixteenth century Adal writer Arab Faqīh, the people of Gidaya were part of the army of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi during the Ethiopian-Adal war.[16][17] Ulrich Braukamper states Gidaya may be associated with Giri clan of the Somali mentioned in the Futuh al Habasha who today live around Jigjiga, the presumed location of Gidaya state.[18]

Towns within Gidaya were reportedly surrounded by ramparts by the late sixteenth century.[19] The name Gidaya still exists as a surname in Harar, and according to researcher Mahdi Gadid, Gidaya state was primarily inhabited by Harari people before being assimilated by the Oromo and Somali people.[20][21] Historian Merid Wolde Aregay deduced that the Gidaya state language was Harari.[22] According to Harari records Gidaya state collapsed due to the Oromo migrations and famine.[23]

Legacy

Aw Gidaya is considered a saint in Harar.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ Loimeier, Roman (2013). Muslim Societies in Africa A Historical Anthropology. Indiana University Press. p. 184. ISBN 9780253007971.
  2. ^ Ethiopia: History, Culture and Challenges. LitVerlag. 2017. p. 234. ISBN 9783643908926.
  3. ^ Spuler, Bertold (August 1997). The Last Great Muslim Empires. BRILL. p. 170. ISBN 9004021043.
  4. ^ Ende, Werner (15 December 2011). Islam in the World Today A Handbook of Politics, Religion, Culture, and Society. Cornell University Press. p. 436. ISBN 978-0801464898.
  5. ^ Braukamper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia. Lit. p. 33. ISBN 9783825856717.
  6. ^ Cerulli, Enrico. Islam yesterday and today. p. 178.
  7. ^ Gidaya. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  8. ^ Schneider, Madeleine. Stèles funéraires musulmanes de la province du Choa (PDF). Annales d'Éthiopie. p. 78.
  9. ^ Hirsch, Bertrand (2020). "Le récit des guerres du roi ʿAmda Ṣeyon contre les sultanats islamiques, fiction épique du XVe siècle". Médiévales (79): 107. JSTOR 27092794.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ WONDIMU, ALEMAYEHU. A CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE HARARI PEOPLE (PDF). Jimma University. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-04-21.
  12. ^ Mahzumi dynasty. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  13. ^ Hirsch, Bertrand. The port of Zeyla and its hinterland in the Middle Ages. French Center for Ethiopian Studies.
  14. ^ Tamrat, Tadesse. Church and state (PDF). University of London. p. 245.
  15. ^ Garad. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  16. ^ Tamrat, Taddesse (November 1991). Review: Place Names in Ethiopian History. Journal of Ethiopian Studies. p. 120. JSTOR 41965996.
  17. ^ Oliver, Roland (1975). The Cambridge History of Africa: From c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1050. Cambridge University Press. p. 170. ISBN 9780521209816.
  18. ^ Braukamper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia. Lit. p. 34. ISBN 9783825856717.
  19. ^ Mercier, Héloïse. Writing and rewriting history from Harar to Awsa : a reappraisal of the Taʾrīkh al-mulūk. Annales d'Éthiopie. p. 55.
  20. ^ Gidaya. Encyclopedia Aethiopica.
  21. ^ Ogot, Bethwell (1992). Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. University of California Press. p. 711. ISBN 9780435948115.
  22. ^ Aregay, Merid. Political Geography of Ethiopia at the beginning of the Sixteenth Century. Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. p. 624.
  23. ^ Trimingham, J. (13 September 2013). Islam in Ethiopia. Routledge. pp. 93–94. ISBN 9781136970221.
  24. ^ Foucher, Emile. The Cult Of Muslim Saints In Harar: Religious Dimension (PDF). Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. p. 8.