Regional History and Ethnohistory Gerhard Rohlfs and other Germanophone Researchers and a Forgotten Ethnic Group, the Dobʿa FESSEHA BERHE Introduction mation provided by Ludolf, Munzinger and Rohlfs is then compared with other written sources and with oral traditions. The Dobʿa present a rather unexplored area of research. So far no ex- tensive study has been done on the group1. The limited knowledge we have of the Dobʿa comes from literature that mentions or discusses The significance of research on the Dobʿa 2 the Dobʿa only in passing. The Dobʿa are mentioned recurrently in The limited knowledge we have on the Dobʿa comes from literature travelogues, chronicles, and hagiographies between the fifteenth and such as travelogues4, chronicles5, hagiographies6 and scholarly works7 nineteenth centuries. The Dobʿa are also mentioned parenthetically in that mention or discuss the Dobʿa in passing. From these materials, we some scholarly works and there are also some local secondary sources have a thin, mostly tentative knowledge of their territory, language, reli- that give some clues to Dobʿa history particularly on their possible ori- gion, livelihood and resources and their relations with various emperors gin, language and early migration. and their neighbours. It seems that the term Dobʿa is used to designate a However, the main focus of this paper is on the works of some Ger- group/people and/or a geographical territory. According to most sourc- manophone researchers – Hiob Ludolf, Werner Munzinger, and Ger- es, the Dobʿa were known for their rich cattle resources and inhabited hard Rohlfs – and how the Dobʿa are treated in them. The objective is parts of what is today southern Tǝgray (south of Wäǧǧärat and north of simple: discuss how the Dobʿa are described in the works of these three Angot). But we remain uncertain on the geographical size of their terri- Germanophone researchers and show the importance of these works tory and how and when they settled in southern Tǝgray and in the other for our understanding of the history and culture of the group. As a areas where groups exist claiming to have descended from the Dobʿa. background I have tried to present what is known and not known about The Dobʿa are depicted, in most of the written sources, as ‘black the group, although I do not analyse all the available source materials moors’ (black Muslims), ‘pagans’ or ‘Islamized pagans’. The written and draw no conclusions on what these sources tell us or on the history materials portray them as belligerent people who were in constant con- of the Dobʿa.3 I present a brief overview of the written sources available frontation with the central government, emperors, regional lords and on the Dobʿa, ranging from travellers’ accounts to chronicles to hagiog- with their neighbours such as the ʿAfar, Wäǧǧärat, Angot, Qädda, at raphies and scholarly works and the information so far known about least in the period between the reigns of King Lalibela (1186–1225) and the Dobʿa, while discussing why research on the group is important. I King Iyasu II (1730–55). The Dobʿa, according to these sources, were then discuss the works of the three Germanophone scholars pertinent pastoralists or semi-pastoralists but they are also mentioned in relation to the study of the Dobʿa and give a brief biography of each. The infor- to long distance trade, both their involvement in and disruption of it. Fesseha Berhe For some reason – perhaps because of the existing ambiguity on the Others (such as Tarekegn Gebreyesyus Kaba 2010: 341) try to associate origin and linguistic affinity of Dobʿa –in the literature the Dobʿa are the Dobʿa with the Oromo group who settled in southern Tǝgray. A re- mentioned in association with different geographical territories and peo- cent study (Fesseha Berhe forthcoming) proposes that the Dobʿa, were ple or groups. Some (such as Morin 2004) associate them with the ʿAfar part of the larger Saho group or groups related to the Saho, without particularly with those living in the Awsa area; others (such as Abbebe ruling out the possibility that they might be the result of continuous in- Kifleyesus 2006) connect them with the Argobba of south-eastern Wällo teraction between various groups, most notably the Saho and the ʿAfar. and north-eastern Šäwa, including the Wälasma dynasty, while others The great part of the available material does not seem to offer much (such as Tarekegn Gebreyesus Kaba 2010) try to relate them with the help in fully showing the historical development of the Dobʿa, particularly Oromo. The Dobʿa are also mentioned as being one of the inhabitants the way the society adapted to changing socio-economic, political and his- of Däwaro in the time of Aḥmäd Gǝraň (Stenhouse 2003). Others (such torical circumstances both at local and regional levels. Their social orga- as Del Boca 1969; Greenfield 1965) wrote the existence of a locality in nization, socio-political institutions, the dynamics of their relations with northern Šäwa with similar name, Doba. We also know of the existence ‘others’ particularly neighbours, and the role that genealogy, social organi- of some groups among the Tǝgrä in Eritrea in southern Tǝgray in the zation, territory, religion, livelihood, population movement, warfare and area between Koräm and Alagä who call themselves Dobʿa or descen- ‘foreign’ incursions, marriage alliances and natural and manmade calami- dants of Dobʿa (Fesseha Berhe forthcoming). We are also told that there ties played in shaping the identity and history of the Dobʿa are either men- is mention of the Dobʿa in some parts of Qobbo and Bati areas. tioned parenthetically or completely missed in most of the literature. 128 How is it possible to explain that Dobʿa, groups related to Dobʿa or Research on the Dobʿa is significant, at least for the following reasons. different groups using the name Dobʿa are and/or were living in differ- There is huge gap in our knowledge of the Dobʿa that makes the group ent parts of Ethiopia particularly in ʿAfar, eastern and southern Tǝgray, attractive as a research topic. However, certain features of the group also Däwaro, Ifat, among the Argobba in south-eastern Wällo and north make them a particularly interesting group to study. Firstly, the Dobʿa and north-eastern Šäwa (including the existence of a locality named are mentioned in association with different geographical territories and Doba) and in some parts of today’s Eritrea? Are we talking about the people or groups living both in today’s Ethiopia and Eritrea, which same people, offshoots of the same group or different people/groups makes research on the group significant though challenging. Secondly, with similar names? And, surely, the claim made by some scholars that the Dobʿa initially appear to be one of the ‘peripheral’ or ‘marginal’ the Dobʿa have ‘vanished’ needs revisiting. groups in the region, but it seems that they were an important part of The literature is silent about the origin of the Dobʿa. But some ma- the ethnic-political framework of the northern Ethiopian highlands. The terials (such as Abbebe Kifleyesus 2006; Ficquet 2014; Merid Wolde recurrent mention of the Dobʿa in travelogues, chronicles and hagiogra- Aregay 1974b; Morin 2004; Esteves Pereira 1900; Trimingham 1965) phies at least between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries shows that give us some clue on the linguistic background of the group. These they may have been one of the major people in Ethiopia or at least in scholars have put forward different suppositions regarding the linguistic northern Ethiopia even if today their traces are insignificant. The fact affinity of the Dobʿa. Trimingham argues that they were probably part that they were in constant confrontation not only with various emperors of the ʿAfar stock, a point shared by other scholars such as Morin (2004: and regional nobles but also with their neighbours for extended periods 143) and Fiquet (2014: 13). On the contrary, Abbebe Kifleyesus, Esteves of time is a possible indicator that they were not on the fringes, their fate Pereira and Merid Wolde Aregay hint that they probably have Semitic decided by a central authority, simply accepting the outcomes of events origins, the latter declaring Tǝgrǝñña to be the language of the Dobʿa. dictated by it. Finally, they occupied strategic areas (it looks that they Regional History and Ethnohistory: Gerhard Rohlfs and other Ger manophone Researchers and a Forgotten Ethnic Group, the Dobʿa lived mostly on the escarpments facing the eastern lowlands, particularly tutor and main informant, Abba Gorgoryos, was not a native of Tǝgray, the ʿAfar plains) and it seems that they had a great influence over long we see some understandable errors in the way some of the names of the distance trade both through active involvement in trade and through dis- districts mentioned in his account are written. The mention by Ludolf rupting it by attacking caravans passing through their territory. that the Dobʿa were ‘pagans’ is less probable. We have evidence that Research on ‘ethnic groups’ like the Dobʿa is also significant as it chal- shows that the Dobʿa, at least those in southern Tǝgray, converted to lenges some of the overly simplistic portrayals of the ethno-linguistic Islam long before the time of Gragn (Aḥmäd Gǝraň).8 Some local infor- features of some parts of Ethiopia. There is a general feeling that there mants even claim that the Dobʿa were one of the earliest peoples in Ethio- is ethnic and cultural homogeneity in Tǝgray/northern Ethiopia, but re- pia to embrace Islam. Whether that is true or not, it is also clear that the search on the Dobʿa shows that this was not, and still is not, the case. The Dobʿa were not ‘pagans’ in the time of Ludolf.