Welayta people
   |
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (2,000,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Ethiopia
|
1,700,000 |
| Languages | |
| Wolaytta language, Amharic | |
| Religion | |
| Mainly Protestant Christians with sizable minority of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christians | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Gamo, Gofa | |
Wolayta (also spelled Wolaitta) (Ethiopic: ወላይታ Wolaytta) is the name of an ethnic group and its former kingdom, located in southern Ethiopia. According to the most recent census (2007), the people of Wolayta number 1.7 million people or 2.31 percent of the country's population, of whom 289,707 are urban inhabitants. The language of the Wolayta people, similarly called Wolaytta, belongs to the Omotic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Despite their small population, Wolayta people have widely influenced national music, dance and cuisine in Ethiopia.
The people of Wolayta had their own kingdom for hundreds of years with kings (called "Kawo") and a monarchical administration. The earlier name of the kingdom was allegedly "Damot" - this was said to include the south, south-east, south-west and part of the central region of present Ethiopia. The ruler was King (Kawo) Motolomi who is mentioned in the religious book Gedle Teklehaimanot, as an invader of the north and the king to whom was surrendered the mother of the Ethiopian saint, Tekle Haimanot (Tekla Haymanot). Some assume that Saint Tekle Haimanot was the son of this king. After the defeat which overcame the northern part of its territory the kingdom was reduced to its present size and the name became the Kingdom of Wolayta. It remained thus for hundreds of years until the expansion of Emperor Menelik II into the regions south of Shewa during the early 1890s. The war of conquest has been described by Bahru Zewde as "one of the bloodiest campaigns of the whole period of expansion", and Wolayta oral tradition holds that 118,000 Welayta and 90,000 Shewan troops died in the fighting.Kawo (King) Tona, the last king of Welayta, was defeated and Welayta conquered in 1896. Welayta was then incorporated into the Ethiopian Empire. However, Welayta had a form of self-administrative status and was ruled by Governors directly accountable to the king until the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. The Derg afterwards restructured the country and included Welayta as a part of the province of Sidamo. The Welayta were previously known as "Wolamo", although this term is now considered derogatory.
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