Balabat

Balabat (Amharic: ባላባት, romanized: balabat or balebat, lit: 'with father'[1] compare with English Patrician) was a largely traditional Ethiopian social class of wealthy land owners who lived on rent collected from their tenant framers (gebbars).[2] Balabats were below the Mesafint (hereditary nobility "princes") and equal to the Mekwanint (appointed nobility "officers") in the class hierarchy.[3] They were closely related to, commonly married to, and had the same economic base on land as the Mesafints and Mekwanints.[4] Balabats officially ceased to exist when feudalism was abolished in 1975.[5]

  1. ^ Balabat is a compound Amharic word (bale-abat, ባለ-አባት) which means 'with' and 'father' https://translate.google.com/?sl=am&tl=en&text=%E1%89%A3%E1%88%88&op=translate I attached a Google translate links here
  2. ^ Ofcansky, Thomas P (1993). Ethiopia: A Country Study. Washington, D.C. : Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.
  3. ^ Birhanu, Berhanu (2018). A Tributary Model of State Formation: Ethiopia, 1600-2015. New York: Springer. p. 87.
  4. ^ Bekele, Shiferaw (1990). "Reflections on the Power Elite of the Wärä Seh Mäsfenate (1786-1853)". Annales d'Ethiopie (in French). 15 (1): 176. doi:10.3406/ethio.1990.951. ISSN 0066-2127.
  5. ^ CRUMMEY, DONALD (2003-08-26). "A History of Modern Ethiopia 1855–1991 by BAHRU ZEWDE Oxford: James Currey; Athens, OH: Ohio University Press and Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University Press, 2nd edition, 2001. Pp. 300. £12.95 (pbk.)". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 41 (3): 488–489. doi:10.1017/s0022278x03234364. ISSN 0022-278X.