Werji people

Worji

A medieval map of Ethiopia locating the ancestral homeland of the "Werjih." It indicates the approximate location of a province named for them that lied between the Great Rift Valley and the Ahmar Mountains
Total population
(13,232 (2007 census))
Regions with significant populations
Ethiopia
Languages
Oromiffa, Amharic
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Oromo, Jebertis, Argobba, Gurage, Amhara, Sidama, Afar, Agaw, Hadiya, Beja

The Worji (Oromo: Warjiih, Ge'ez: ወርጄ^?, Arabic: ورجي‎‎ [wɔrdʒi]), fully known as the Tigri-Worji, are an ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia. The prefix for their traditional name, Tigri, comes from the word Tijaari, which is an adjectival in the Arabic language that literally translates to "merchant." Their tribal name Worji is eponymous with the name of their ancestral homeland. Thus, Tigri Werji essentially means "merchant of Werji."

The Worji were among the first people in the Horn of Africa to become Muslim, having accepted Islam by the 8th century. Alongside another ancient Muslim group to their west, the Gebel, who would eventually procreate the Argobba people, the Worji participated in many battles against Christian Abyssinia. They sided with the Ifat and Adal Sultanates as they rose to power in the Middle Ages, especially during the Abyssinian-Adal War. These warriors were reported to be very skilled in warfare. Although they were not under the direct control of either empire, they acted as a supporting force for neighboring Muslim kingdoms during times of reprisal against Abyssinia. It was this time of military conflict that opened the door for the northerly expansion of Oromos, and thus began the assimilation of conquered populations, such as the Worji. It is based on this historical tale that some members classify themselves as a separate ethnicity. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that over centuries of living in Oromiyaa, the Worji have well assimilated among the Oromo, with no cultural distinction evident between the two.