INTRODUCTION
The Shinasha is one of the groups of the
people, who are living in Metekel administrative
Zone of Benišangul-Gumuz Regional state. They
have different cultural, economic and social
practices that distinct them from others. The main
economic activity of the Shinasha people is
agriculture. They produce crops like sorghum,
millet, corn, pumpkins, cotton and others. In
addition, they reared various animals like cattle,
sheep and goats to satisfy their need of food
items like meat, milk and for market.
Furthermore, a small number of t
supplements their requirements by hunting wild
animals and gathering fruits and roots (Ashenafe,
1989). According to oral traditions of the society,
the Shinasha is one of the early settlers of the
region (informants). The Shinasha people have
their own language, which they called
Borenona’a. Borenona’a literally means the
Boro/Shinasha/ language spoken in most parts of
the Northwestern Ethiopia, in Metekel Zone of the
Benišangul-Gumuz Region.
An Overview of the Origin Shinasha People
The Origin of the Shinasha.
The Shinasha known by different names, like
Boro, Dangabo, Sinicho and Gonga. However,
the most widely used term to designate the
people by the rest of other ethnic groups of
Ethiopia is Shinasha. The term seems to be a
non-derogative Amharic designation, derived
from Shi- nna-shi which literally means the
multitudes of the people, who fled to and settled
north of the Abbay River. Oral informants of the
Shinasha confirmed that the word Shinasha was
given by the Amharä, when they attacked the
Damot area. The people of Damot asked one
another. “What is a clamor”? It was said that a
people become a multitude of Shinasha” or “shinna-
shi had come against us to war, invade and
plunder. Therefore, Shinasha is to say in the
Amharic language: shi na shi ye mihon tor
wereren. Literally means that Shinasha had
invaded us in thousands (Ibid). With regard to
this, Aleqa Taye asserted the Shinasha was
called Shinasha by the Amharä, because a large
number of people were uprooted in the highlands
in thousands. So Shinasha has the sound of the
Amharic word for Shi-nna-shi (Taye, 1987). This
assertion is also confirmed by local informants.
Thus, in the traditions of the people prior to this
period their proper name is Boro.
Historical documents revealed that the term
Sinicho is an Oromo designation for the Shinasha
people, to mean hot pepper. According to
Tessema Ta’a, the Shinasha people strongly
resisted the Oromo expansion into Wollega area.
It was most probably due to their stiff resistance
that the Oromo associated the Shinasha with ‘hot
pepper,’ ‘Sinicho’ (Tessema, 1980). My oral
informants confirm that in local districts of
Wonbara, they called them as “Sinicho” by the
settler Oromo of this area. Even, they further
assert that sometimes the Oromo called
Shinasha in the names of settlement places and
in name of Shinasha clans. For instance, the
following statement revealed this fact:
In Oromiffa Literally means
Ka’a lafa Dängäbo The Village of the Dängäbo
Ka’a lafa Sinicho Anifo The village of the Shinasha
clan of Anifo
Ka’a lafa Sinicho Indibo. The village of the Shinasha
clan of Endiwo
Dängäbo is also an Oromo designation for the
Shinasha people for who live in Metekel, Dängäb.
The term might have derived from the name of
the place, Dängäb. Thus, the term Dängäbo
indicated the settlement place of the Shinasha.
So, the use of the term was used when some
Oromo moved to this area, and they found
Shinasha and referred to call them in the name of
that locality.
According to oral traditions, Boro is thought to
be one of their ancestral father and they would
like to be called after him (Ibid). These informants
argue that their original name is not Shinasha,
but Boro and still call themselves as Boro. In
relation to this, they claimed their ancestor to be
Shao, who begot Ashinao, Assibo, Boro and
Gongo. The descendants of Shao are said to
have divided Gojjam among themselves Ashinao,
Assibo, Boro and Gongo taking Shashino, Assi,
Bure and Gwangwa respectively(Ibid). Later, some
of these groups moved further to the west and
reached as far as Guba. But written accounts do
not confirm whether these clans were direct
descendants of the present Shinasha clans or
not.
The term Gonga is familiar to the Shinasha
people. In other words, the term Gonga is
commonly used by the Shinasha people for many
centuries. However, different historical
documents described that the term Gonga
language was used by the people of Ennarya
(Hiop Ludolphs, 1982). For instance, D. Abbaddie
and Charles Beke stated that the Gonga
language was spoken around Nile Valley (in both
sides of the Abbay River) as far as Kafa to the
south (Werner, 1982). Therefore, Gonga seems
to be a common term representing Kafa, Sheka,
Bosha and Hinnaro dialects of the southwestern
region as well as the Anfillo and Shinasha
languages. It might have been for this reason that
early Portuguese traveler, Manuel de Almeida
used to Gonga to refer the Shinasha as one of
the native inhabitants of Gojjam. He also
mentioned Sinasse as a principal Gonga town but
it seems to be Shinasha settlement area
(Beckingham and Huntingford.1954). On the
other hand, there is a place name Gongo in the
districts of Bulän and in close proximity to Galasa
vicinity and also there is a name of Shinasha clan
known as Gongo. Therefore, these statements
Abebe Ano Alula STAR Journal, July-Sep 2012, 1(3): 115-125
117
suggested the long use of the term Gonga in the
Shinasha localities of Metekel.
Both Marvin L. Bender and Herald C. Fleming,
describe that the Shinasha is one of the Afro-
Asiatic branches of the Gonga language
speaking people of the Ethiopia(Bender,1969 and
Felming,1976).Thus, from above descriptions or
arguments one can easily understand that most
probably the same group of people is referred to
as the Shinasha. And for our historical concern
here, we would like to use the term Shinasha and
Gonga exchangeably in this article.
It is obvious that oral traditions and oral data
are the essential sources to reconstruct the
history of illiterate society. So most of the
Shinasha history is based on oral traditions. The
Shinasha society has its own oral traditions of its
origin.
Accordingly, the Shinasha people traced
their origin mainly to the Middle East. As local
traditions made it clear they trace their origin to
the land of Biblical Canaan from where they
migrated to Egypt due to lack of pastoral land.
They were led by Hamati. Hamati was thought to
be one of the sons of Canaan(Yohannis, 1940).
In addition to shortage of pastoral land; other
factors for their migration were believed to be
famine and conflict with local people. As a result,
they followed the course of the Nile River and
settled in the Central part of Ethiopia (Ibid).
Oral traditions indicate that they settled first in
Šäwa. But later on, due to over population and
conflict with the early settlers, they moved to
northwest crossing the Abbay river and settled in
different parts of Goĝĝam, particularly in Damot,
Guman, Šendi, Näfro, Dinigaš, Bure, Wämbärma,
Burešindy, Šašina, Gumär, Azäna, Gumyesuš,
Zigäm and surrounding areas(Informants). The
remaining groups of Shinasha were said to have
moved to Gonder and western and northeastern
side of Wollega (Nejjo, Mendi, Limmu, Amuru,
Wasti, Harro, Guduru, Jidda and Horro). Later on,
these clans were assimilated with the Oromo and
Amharä people in the area(Ibid). It was also said
that the other groups of Shinasha settled in the
Region of Southern Nations, Nationalities and
People (SNNPR) particularly in Sheka, Bosha,
Ennarya and Kafa Zones (Ali etal, 1998). Among
people in these places, Bosha and Ennarya were
assimilated by the Oromo in their respective
areas.