Ennarea Ennarea | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14th century–c. 1710 | |||||||||||
 Royal flag ("armo") of the kingdom of Ennarea based on oral traditions[1] | |||||||||||
 Ennarea in around 1500 | |||||||||||
| Capital | Yadare, Gowi | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Gonga | ||||||||||
| Religion | Christianity (1587/8-1710, limited to nobility) African traditional religion | ||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
| Hinnare-tato | |||||||||||
• c. 1450 | Kaba Siyon | ||||||||||
• Early 1700s | Shisafotchi | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||
• Independence from Damot | 14th century | ||||||||||
• Conquered by Abyssinia | 14th-15th century | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 1710 | ||||||||||
• Deposition of last king | Late 19th century | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | Ethiopia | ||||||||||
Ennarea, also known as E(n)narya or In(n)arya (Gonga: Hinnario),[2] was a kingdom in the Gibe region in what is now western Ethiopia. It became independent from the kingdom of Damot in the 14th century and would be the most powerful kingdom in the region until its decline in the 17th century. Being located on the southwestern periphery of the Ethiopian Empire, Ennarea was its tributary throughout much of its history, supplying the emperor with gold and slaves. The culmination of this relationship was the Christianization of the Ennarean elite in the late 1580s. From the late 16th century the kingdom came under increasing pressure by the Oromo, who finally reconquered Ennarea in around 1610.
What is known about Ennarea comes mostly from oral traditions as well as a few foreign written sources; it had no indigenous literacy tradition.[2]
- ^ Werner Lange: "History of the Southern Gonga (southwestern Ethiopia)"
- ^ a b Lange 1982, p. 17.