Kambaata people

Kambaata mother with her children in front of their tukul in the Kembata Tembaro Zone, Ethiopia

Kambaata (Amharic: ከምባታ) is one of the ancient kingdoms in south-central Ethiopia. It is also known as Cambat, Kambata, Cambatta, Kambatta, Khambat by various historians and early explorers. The Kambaata people and Kambaatissa (their language) belongs to the East Highland Cushitic language family. Kambaata Zone is located within the Central Ethiopia Regional State, about 240 miles south of Addis Ababa. Kambaata was first mentioned in the chronicles of Emperor Yeshaq (Yisaak) (1412-1427). Kambaata was "one of the southern kingdoms with well-established monarchical system...instituted in 16th century and operated without interruption until it ended at the last decade of ninetieth century"^[1] when it was incorporated by Emperor Menelik II. During this first period incorporation, Kambaata province was largely Christianized.^[2]

^ Fantaye A. Keshebo, A Void in Ethiopian History: Untold History of the Southern Ethiopian Peoples, 2020 p. 58
^ Ulrich Braukämper, "Aspects of Religious Syncretism in Southern Ethiopia", in Journal of Religion in Africa, 1992, p.197.

[1] Fantaye A. Keshebo, A Void in Ethiopian History: Untold History of the Southern Ethiopian Peoples, 2020 p. 58

[2] Ulrich Braukämper, "Aspects of Religious Syncretism in Southern Ethiopia", in Journal of Religion in Africa, 1992, p.197.

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