The Gurage (, Gurage: ጉራጌ, ቤተ-ጉርዓ, ቤተ-ጉራጌ) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia. They inhabit the Gurage Zone, a fertile, semi-mountainous region in central Ethiopia, about 125 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa, bordering the Awash River in the north, the Gibe River, a tributary of the Omo River, to the southwest, and Hora-Dambal in the east.
According to the 2007 Ethiopian national census the Gurage can also be found in substantial numbers in Addis Ababa, Oromia Region and Dire Dawa.
History
According to the historian Paul B. Henze, the Gurage origin is explained by traditions of a military expedition to the south during the last years of the Kingdom of Aksum, which left military colonies that eventually became isolated from both northern Ethiopia and each other. However other historians have raised the issue of the complexity of Gurage peoples if viewed as a singular group, for example Ulrich Braukhamper states that the Gurage East people may have been an extension of the ancient Harla people. Indeed, there is evidence that Harla architecture may have influenced old buildings (pre-16th c.) found near Harar (eastern Ethiopia), and the Gurage East group often cite kinship with Harari (Hararghe) peoples in the distant past.
Braukhamper also states King Amda Seyon ordered Eritrean troops to be sent to mountainous regions in Gurage (named Gerege), which eventually became a permanent settlement. In addition to Amda Seyon's military settlement there, the permanence of Abyssinian presence in Gurage is documented during his descendants Zara Yaqob and Dawit II's reigns. Thus, historically, Gurage peoples may be the product of a complex mixture of Abyssinian and Harla groups which migrated and settled in that region for different reasons and at various times.
Another stated that the Gurage were originated from a place called Gura, Eritrea. This believed that linguistically by citing a southward Semitic migration during the late classical and medieval period; however more historical research needed.
A single military expedition explanation is likely possible for soldiers to implant their language in the region effectively. However the extent of Aksumite political and economic control over the interior Ethiopian Highlands, as well as that of successor dynasties dominating the Christian north, is being studied. Aside from local oral traditions linking their past to areas farther north, the Gurage countryside is home to orthodox Christian monasteries likely dating to the Middle Ages (Debre Tsion Maryam, Muher Iyesus, Abuna Gebre Menfes Kiddus, and others), before the conquests of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi and subsequent Oromo migrations into the central Highlands.
Language
The Gurage languages are a subgroup of the Ethiopian Semitic languages within the Semitic family of the Afroasiatic language family. They have three subgroups: Northern, Eastern and Western.
Gurage languages include Sebat Bet, Inor, Ezha, Muher, Geta, Gumer, Endegegn, Chaha, and Soddo, Masqan, Zay. Like other Ethiopian Semitic languages, the Gurage languages is heavily influenced by the surrounding non-Semitic Afroasiatic Cushitic languages. Gurage is written left to right using a system based on the Geʽez script.
Gurage region
According to the 1994 census, the six largest ethnic groups reported in Gurage Zone were the Sebat Bet Gurage (45.02%), the Silt'e (34.81%), the Soddo Gurage (9.75%), the Mareqo or Libido (2.21%), the Amhara (2.16%), and the Kebena (1.82%); all other ethnic groups made up 4.21% of the population. Sebat Bet Gurage is spoken as a first language by 39.93%, 35.04% Silt'e, 10.06% spoke Soddo Gurage, 3.93% spoke Amharic, 2.16% spoke Libido, and 1.93% spoke Kebena; the remaining 6.95% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants were reported as Muslim, with 63.98% of the population reporting that belief, while 32.97% practised Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 1.9% were Protestants, and 0.95% Catholic. According to the 1994 Ethiopian census, self-identifying Gurage comprise about 2.7% of Ethiopia's population, or about 1.4 million people. The populations of Gurage people are not exactly known because approximately half of the population live outside of the Gurage zone.
The Gurage people
The Gurage, the writer Nega Mezlekia notes, "have earned a reputation as skilled traders". One example of an enterprising Gurage is Tekke, who Nathaniel T. Kenney described as "an Ethiopian Horatio Alger, Jr.": "He began his career selling old bottles and tin cans; the Emperor Haile Selassie rewarded his achievement in creating his plantation by calling him to Addis Ababa and decorating him."