Hararghe ( Harärge; Harari language: ሀረርጌ፞ይ, هَرَرْݘٛىيْ, Harargêy, Oromo language: Harargee, ) was a province of eastern Ethiopia with its capital in Harar.
Etymology
Hararghe is derived from the root
Harari language term
"Gey" which refers to the modern city of
Harar.
The term Hararghe was used to refer solely to the modern city of Harar prior to the invasion of the Harar Emirate by the
Habesha people in 1887.
History
The region consisted mostly of the territory of the Emirate of Harar annexed by
Menelik II in 1887. Including Ethiopia's part of the
Ogaden, Haraghe was bounded on west by
Shewa, northwest by
Wollo Province, northeast by French Somaliland and on the east by
Somalia. Originally however Hararghe included the
Sidamo Province, Bale and
Arsi Province until
Haile Selassie split the provinces.
Hararghe was the historical homeland of the
Harla people and often synonymous with the region of Adal.
Hararghe was altered as a result of Proclamation 1943/1, which created twelve taklai ghizats from the existing 42 provinces of varying sizes.[Perham, The Government of Ethiopia, second edition (London: Faber and Faber, 1969), maps 1 and 2]
In 1960, the province south of the Shebelle River was made into its own province, Bale.
Inhabitants
As per the account of
Somalis historian Mohammed Nuuh Ali, speakers of Ethio-Semitic languages migrated from their original area near the northern
Awash River to Hararghe around the 1st millennium BC, where they came into contact with an ancient Cushitic-speaking population.
According to Ethiopian historian Dr. Lapiso, the early inhabitants of the region were the Harla, and the Semitic Harari people are a derivative of them.
Notable people
-
Shewalul Mengistu (1944–1977), poet, songwriter, journalist and political activist
See also
