Kingdom of Janjero
| Kingdom of Janjero (Yem) | ||||||||
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| Capital | Fofa | |||||||
| Religion | Christianity | |||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||
| History | ||||||||
| • | Established | c.15th century | ||||||
| • | Annexed by Ethiopian Empire | 1894 | ||||||
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The Kingdom of Janjero (also known as Yamma) was a tiny kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia. It lay in the angle formed by the Omo and the Jimma Gibe Rivers; to the west lay the Kingdom of Jimma and to the south the Kingdom of Garo. Three mountains — Mount Bor Ama, Mount Azulu and Mount Toba — all distinguish the location of the former kingdom.
Although one of the Sidamo kingdoms, until its conquest in 1894 Janjero was "isolated, and had little to do with its neighbors, its rivers being very difficult to cross. Although first visited by Europeans in 1614, until the late 1950s this region remained poorly known to outsiders. As a result, its people were said to have preserved a number of "customs so barbarious and strange that there cannot be any more so."
Some of these alleged customs are as follows:
Janjero is first mentioned in a victory song of Yeshaq I, as one of several states south of the Abay River that paid tribute in horses to the Emperor. The first kings of Janjero belonged to the Halmam Gama dynasty, which was ejected by the Mwa clan, who claimed to have come from the north.
In 1614, Father António Fernandes visited the kingdom while looking for a southern route to Malindi on the Indian Ocean. Father Fernandes met the king of Janjero, and found him
according to Custom in a fort of rail'd Tower, about six Yards high, liittle more or less, 7 Yards and a half over, as we shall see anon, and the Stairs up to it in the back Part. All the courtiers stood below, and he on the top of the Elevation, which was not unlike a Cart Wheel, sitting on a Carpet, and there it is he gives Audience, decides Controversies, and dispatches all Business. He was clad in a white Silk Indian Garment, and was himself as black as Cole, but had not the Features of a Cafre.
In 1844, warriors of the Kingdom of Jimma defeated the army of Janjero, and the king of Janjero was taken prisoner. He regained his freedom in 1847, and resumed his struggle against his more powerful neighbor.
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Wikipedia