Bashah Aboye

Bashah Aboye[note 1] (born circa 1850 - died 1 March 1896) horse name: Abba Däffar, was a distinguished Ethiopian military commander under Emperor Menelik II, and governor of several former principalities and regions in the south. Bashah died fighting the Italians during the Battle of Adwa.[1][2]

This article is about a person whose name includes a patronymic. The article properly refers to the person by his given name, Bashah, and not as Aboye.

Ancestry

Of Amhara descent. Bashah Aboye's was the eldest son of Woizero Ayahilush, a daughter of Negus Sahle Selassie of Shewa. His father was Meridazmach Aboye, who was appointed by Emperor Tewodros II as the imperial viceroy (governor) in Shewa. His father was further distinguished with the title of Afe Negus (lit: Mouth of the king) or Chief judge.[3]

His brothers were Ras Welde Giyorgis Aboye of Gondar, Dejazmach Lemma Aboye. His sisters were Sama’etwa Aboye and Birkenseh Aboye (twins), and Wossen Yelesh Aboye.[3]

He was a cousin of Emperor Menelik II.[1]

Biography

Earliest sources

Little is known about Bashah Aboye in other fields besides warfare. He appeared first in historical sources as a distinguished horse-man and skilled fighter in the clashes between the armies of Yohannes IV and Menelik II in 1877. A couplet of praise (misgana) was composed at the time, and it subsequently became almost synonymous with his name and has been mentioned in almost every source. Between 1872 and 1885 Menelik II, then Negus of Shewa, entrusted Bashah with the task of collecting tribute from areas south of Shewa.[1][2]

Conquests and Governorship

In the 1880s he commanded a military division of his own and conquered the Gibe kingdom of Gera. In 1886 Bashah Aboye conquered the small kingdom of Gomma on behalf of Negus Menelik II. In October of that year, he was promoted to the rank of Dejazmach and appointed as governor of Gomma and Gera principalities with orders to pacify the region and collect taxes.[2][4]

By the late 1880s Bashah also gained the governship of Gurage and Hadiya.[5][6]

Kaffa expeditions

Between 1885 and 1889, Bashah led several failed campaigns against the kingdom of Kaffa.[note 2] In 1897, a year after Bashah's death, his younger brother Welde Giyorgis Aboye would become the conqueror that defeated the kingdom of Kaffa.[8]

1889-1891 Ethiopian famine, and Sidamo campaign

Between 1889 and 1891, in the midst of a devastating famine, Bashah Aboye was tasked with gathering provisions and tribute. In 1890 he led a failed military expedition into Sidamo, and had set up a base in Shisha (in Sidama). However, Bashah's Gurage foot soldiers were not well armed or provisioned, and he reportedly withdrew from Sidamo in 1891, after six months. In his absence, an insurrection was staged in Gomma and Gera with the assistance of the Welamo kingdom. Bashah Aboye had to put down the rebellion by force.[1][6][9]

1894 Welamo campaign

In 1894, Emperor Menelik II led the campaign against Welamo. Ras Darge Sahle Selassie and the Aboye brothers (Bashah and Welde Giyorgis) were his military commanders.[1][5][9]

Battle of Adwa, and death

Dejazmach Bashah Aboye alongside Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael, Fitawrari Gebeyehu and the ‘Tabanĝā Yāž’[note 3] led the central front of Emperor Menelik II army during the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Bashah is remembered for his valor at the battle of Adwa on 1 March 1896, during which he was mortally wounded and died. Favored by his soldiers, in retaliation for Bashah's death, his men executed 70 Italian POW's in their custody.[1][10]

Notes
  1. Bashah Aboye[1] in various sources also spelled as Bäšah Abboyye,[2] Beshah Abboye[3]
  2. One of these campaigns occurred in 1886, when Dejazmach Bashah Aboye invaded Kaffa and caused significant damage until he was defeated by the Kaffa army at Mera[7]
  3. Tabanĝā Yāž was an army contingent fully equipped with firearms and under the command of the Turk Basha (commander of riflemen) or Ligābā.[10]

References
  1. Ofosu-Appiah, L.H (1977). Dictionary of African biography. p. 58. ISBN 9780917256011. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. Uhlig, Siegbert; Bausi, Alessandro; Yimam, Baye; Crummey, Donald; Goldenberg, Gideon, eds. (2003). Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C. pp. 492–493. ISBN 9783447047463. OCLC 722894586. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (1980). "The Imperial House of Ethiopia". Burke's royal families of the world : 2. vol. London: Burke's Peerage. p. 53. ISBN 9780850110296. OCLC 1015115240.
  4. Rosenfeld, Chris Prouty (1994). Historical dictionary of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p. 146. OCLC 1330335723.
  5. Berhane-Selassie, Tsehai (2018). "3 - Military Lands and Power Politics". Ethiopian Warriorhood: Defence, Land and Society 1800-1941 (PDF). Boydell & Brewer. p. 91. ISBN 9781787443419.
  6. McClellan, Charles W. (1988). State Transformation and National Integration: Gedeo and the Ethiopian Empire, 1895-1935. Michigan: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. p. 22. OCLC 18942802.
  7. Uhlig, Siegbert; Bausi, Alessandro; Yimam, Baye, eds. (2003). Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha. p. 661. ISBN 9783447052382. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. TAFLA, BAIRU (1973). "Two of the Last Provincial Kings of Ethiopia". Journal of Ethiopian Studies. Institute of Ethiopian Studies. 11 (1): 50–55. JSTOR 41988566.
  9. Berhane-Selassie, Tsehai (2018). "2 - The Historical Context of Emergent Warriors". Ethiopian Warriorhood: Defence, Land and Society 1800-1941 (PDF). Boydell & Brewer. p. 57. ISBN 9781787443419.
  10. Ilg, Alfred (2000). Tafla, Bairu (ed.). Ethiopian records of the Menilek era: selected Amharic documents from the Nachlass of Alfred Ilg, 1884-1900. p. 460. ISBN 9783447042581. ISSN 0170-3196. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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