Origins
Oromos are the largest Cushitic-speaking group of people living in Northeast and East Africa. Available information suggests that they have existed as a community in the Horn of Africa for several millenia (Prouty et al., 1981). Bates (1979) contends that the Oromo "were a very ancient race, the indigenous stock, perhaps, on which most other peoples in this part of eastern Africa have been grafted".
While further research is needed to precisely comprehend their origins, the Oromo are believed to have originally adhered to a pastoralist/nomadic and/or semi-agriculturalist lifestyle. Many historians agree that some Oromo clans (Bale) have lived in the southern tip of present-day Ethiopia for over a millennium. They suggest that a Great trade-influenced Oromo migration brought most Oromos to present-day central and western Ethiopia in the 16th and 17th centuries. Historical maps of the ancient Aksum/Abyssinian Empire and Adal/Somali empires indicate that Oromo people are newcomers to most of modern-day central Ethiopia.
Read more about this topic: Oromo People
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