Yejju

The Yeju or Yejju people, were people that were first mentioned in the 16th century Futuḥ al-Ḥabash chronicle under the name Al-Ejju who inhabited a district called "Qawat” located in eastern Shewa. They were originally Christians but many were converted to Islam by Ahmad Gran and assist him in his conquest of Bete Amhara and eventually settled in Angot instead of returning back to their home in Qawat. The Al-Ejju spoke a language that could have been Amharic. According to the Historian Merid Wolde Aregay there can be little doubt that the Al-Ejju that are mentioned in Futuḥ al-Habasha are the forefathers of the latter known Yejju people of the Zemene Mesafint period. The Oromo who failed to completely assimilate them know the Yejju by the name of “warra sheik”. Due to their native origin, the yejju spoke Amharic and adapted themselves more readily and rapidly than the rest of the oromo clans in wollo to the traditional social and political structures of Christian Ethiopia.

The Yejju dynasty were known as the "Warra Sheik", meaning; the descendant of Sheikh Omar. According to the Yejju tradition Sheikh Omar was from Arabia who during the Adal war settled in Angot/yejju. His descendants (the Yejju dynasty) dominated Ethiopia during the Zemene Mesafint period.

The ethnic makeup of the Yejju was complex. It can be conclude that the Yejju are the results of various layers of people: the Amhara population of Angot, remnants of the forces of Ahmad Gragn, and the migrating Oromo.

History

During the 19th century, the Yejju dynasty, more specifically, the Warra Sheik, or sons of the Sheikh, ruled much of the Ethiopian Empire during the Zemene Mesafint or "Era of the Princes" period. Throughout the era, different ethnic groups, clans and communities made short-term alliances to acquire economic advantage and political power.The rulers of the Yejju dynasty were converts to Christianity, but their power base was the powerful Wollo Muslim principalities such as Yejju, Warra Himano, and Raayyaa.

As early as 1890, under the reign of Menelik II, the homeland of the Yejju was organized into an Ethiopian province (awrajja) named for them. It was bordered by the Alewuha River to the north, separating it from Raya Qobbo awrajja, the Mille River to the south, separating it from Were Babu district, the Afar Depression to the east, and the highlands of Ambassel to the west. Woldiya served as its capital city. With the adoption of ethnic federalism in 1994 and the abolishment of the awrajja administrative structure, Yejju became divided between the districts of Habru, Woldiya town, and the mid-altitude portion of Guba Lafto. Due to the assimilation of Yejju Oromos into the dominant Habesha culture beginning at the turn of the 19th century, the Yejju presently found in the Amhara Region overwhelmingly identify as Amharas.