Kingdom of Kaffa | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c.1390–1897 | |||||||||
.jpg) Kingdom of Kaffa in 1885 | |||||||||
| Capital | Bonga, Anderaccha | ||||||||
| Common languages | Kafa | ||||||||
| Religion | Officially Christianity with Islam, animism | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
• 1890–1897 | Gaki Sherocho (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages to Early modern period | ||||||||
• Established | c.1390 | ||||||||
• Annexed by Ethiopian Empire | 1897 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Ethiopia | ||||||||
The Kingdom of Kaffa was a kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia from 1390 to 1897, with its first capital at Bonga. The Gojeb River formed its northern border, beyond which lay the Gibe kingdoms; to the east the territory of the Konta and Kullo peoples lay between Kaffa and the Omo River; to the south numerous subgroups of the Gimira people, and to the west lay the Majangir people.[1] The native language, also known as Kaffa, is one of the Omotic group of languages.
Kaffa was divided into four sub-groups, who spoke a common language Kefficho, one of the Gonga/Kefoid group of Omotic languages; a number of groups of foreigners, Ethiopian Muslim traders and members of the Ethiopian Church, also lived in the kingdom. There were a number of groups of people, "but with the status of submerged status", who also lived in the kingdom; these included the Manjo, or hunters; the Manne, or leatherworkers; and the Qemmo, or blacksmiths.[2] The Manjo even had their own king, appointed by the King of Kaffa, and were given the duties of guarding the royal compounds and the gates of the kingdom.[3] The kingdom was overrun and conquered in 1897, and was eventually annexed by Ethiopia.
The land where this former kingdom lay is in the southern parts of the Ethiopian Highlands with stretches of forest. The mountainous land is very fertile, capable of three harvests a year.