Harari people

Harari (Geyusu)
ሐረሪ
هراري
Total population
45,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Harari
Religion
Islam (Sunni, Sufi)
Related ethnic groups
Afar, Amhara, Silt'e, Zay, Somali, Oromo, Argobba

The Harari people (Arabic: هراري‎‎, Harari: ሐረሪ), also called Geyusu ("People of the City"), are an ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. Members traditionally reside in the city of Harar, situated in the Harari Region of eastern Ethiopia. They speak Harari, a member of the Semitic subfamily within the Afroasiatic family.

History

Harari women holding a traditional coffee ceremony.

Harar was originally inhabited by the Harla people.[2] Upon the arrival of Arab cleric Abadir in the 10th century, he was met by the Harla, Gaturi and Argobba tribes.[3] The walls built around the city of Harar during the reign of Emir Nur, helped preserve Harari identity from being assimilated by the Oromo.[4] According to Ulrich Braukämper, Harla-Harari semitic group were most likely active in the region prior to the Adal Sultanate's Islamic invasion of Ethiopia.

Among the assimilated peoples were Arab Muslims that arrived during the start of the Islamic period, as well as Argobba and other migrants that were drawn to Harar's well-developed culture.[5] Braukämper also posits that a Semitic-speaking people akin to the Harari may have inhabited a stretch of land between the Karkaar Mountains, the middle Awash and the Jijiga region, although he concedes that there is no linguistic proof to confirm this. He further suggests that the Great Oromo Migrations may have effectively split this putative ethnolinguistic block to the Lake Zway islands, Gurage territory, and Harar.[6] Following the decline of the Adal Sultanate's ascendancy in the area, a large number of the Harari were in turn reportedly absorbed into the Oromo community.[5]

The Harari people themselves assert descent from Abadir Umar ar-Rida, also known as Fiqi Umar, who traced his lineage to the first caliph, Abu Bakr. According to the explorer Richard Francis Burton, "Fiqi Umar" crossed over from the Arabian Peninsula to the Horn of Africa ten generations prior to 1854, with his six sons: Umar the Greater, Umar the Lesser, the two Abdillahs, Ahmad and Siddik.[7] The Harari were previously known as "Adere", although this term is now considered derogatory.[8]

Language

Harari pendant, held at the Museum of Natural History and Ethnography in Colmar.

The Harari people speak the Harari language, an Ethiosemitic language referred to as Gey Ritma ("Language of the City"). It is closely related to the Eastern Gurage languages and similar to Zay and Silt'e.

After the Egyptian conquest of Harar, numerous loanwords were additionally borrowed from Arabic. Gey Ritma was historically written using the Arabic script. More recently, it has been transcribed with the Ge'ez script.

The 1994 Ethiopian census indicates that there were 21,757 Harari speakers. About 20,000 of these individuals were concentrated outside Harar, in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.[1]

Most Harari people are bilingual in Amharic and Oromo, both of which are also Afro-Asiatic languages. According to the 1994 Ethiopian census, about 2,351 are monolingual, speaking only Harari.[1]

Religion

Virtually all Harari are Muslim. The earliest kabir or Islamic teacher in the community was Aw Sofi Yahya. He arrived in Harar in 1216 as part of Abadir's retinue. Yahya subsequently established the area's first Qur'an gey or madrasa around 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the south of the city center.[9]

Diaspora

Composing just under 10% within their own city, Harari people have moved throughout Ethiopia, mainly to Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, establishing families and businesses. The Harari people have also spread throughout North America, mainly to Washington D.C., Atlanta, Toronto, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Memphis. Furthermore a minority of the Harari people lives in Europe in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Great Britain. There is an estimated 45,000 Harari peoples worldwide.

Notable Hararis

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ethnologue - Harari language
  2. ↑ Gebissa, Ezekiel. Leaf of Allah. Ohio State University Press. p. 36. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Braukhamper, Ulrich. Islamic History and Culture. LIT Verlag Munster. p. 107. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  4. ↑ Stauth, Georg. Dimensions of Locality. transcipt Verlag. p. 156. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  5. 1 2 Braukämper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: Collected Essays. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 37. ISBN 3825856712.
  6. ↑ Braukämper, Ulrich (2002). Islamic History and Culture in Southern Ethiopia: Collected Essays. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 18. ISBN 3825856712.
  7. ↑ Richard Burton, First Footsteps in East Africa, 1856; edited with an introduction and additional chapters by Gordon Waterfield (New York: Praeger, 1966), p. 165
  8. ↑ Yimam, Baye (2002). Ethiopian studies at the end of the second millennium. Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University. p. 930. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Siegbert Uhlig, Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N, Volume 3, (Otto Harrassowitz Verlag: 2007), pp.111 & 319
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