16th century – 17th century
Horn of Africa and adjoining eastern African regions
The Oromo migration was the major mass population movement identified for Africa between 1500 and 1800. Beginning perhaps in the 1530s, it precipitated further movements and instability across the regions it affected. The text emphasizes that some Oromo movements resembled massive expansion or drift, since groups could travel with herds and stop to cultivate crops. Relative stability returned to the affected regions only around 1700.
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The Story
The Oromo migration is presented as the only clearly identified mass migration of the period between 1500 and 1800. It may have begun in the 1530s and generated further population movements as communities were displaced, joined the migrants, or responded to the changing political and economic conditions created by their advance. The effects were therefore not limited to the people who initially moved, but extended across the societies encountered along the way.
Mass migrations required new forms of social and political organization, often with a military character. Raiding and pillaging could accompany the movement, while other peoples disrupted by the migrants might join them and increase their numbers. Such processes could provoke clashes, produce refugees, and initiate secondary migrations or rapid territorial expansions.
The Oromo case also illustrates the difficulty of distinguishing mass migration from large-scale pastoral expansion. Some portions of the movement had the characteristics of drift, since the Oromo could move with their flocks and establish cultivation during pauses. Nevertheless, the scale of the movement and the militarized organization of a large population on the move produced prolonged upheaval, with stability returning only around 1700.
16th century – 17th century
Horn of Africa and adjoining eastern African regions
The Oromo migration was the major mass population movement identified for Africa between 1500 and 1800. Beginning perhaps in the 1530s, it precipitated further movements and instability across the regions it affected. The text emphasizes that some Oromo movements resembled massive expansion or drift, since groups could travel with herds and stop to cultivate crops. Relative stability returned to the affected regions only around 1700.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Oromo migration is presented as the only clearly identified mass migration of the period between 1500 and 1800. It may have begun in the 1530s and generated further population movements as communities were displaced, joined the migrants, or responded to the changing political and economic conditions created by their advance. The effects were therefore not limited to the people who initially moved, but extended across the societies encountered along the way.
Mass migrations required new forms of social and political organization, often with a military character. Raiding and pillaging could accompany the movement, while other peoples disrupted by the migrants might join them and increase their numbers. Such processes could provoke clashes, produce refugees, and initiate secondary migrations or rapid territorial expansions.
The Oromo case also illustrates the difficulty of distinguishing mass migration from large-scale pastoral expansion. Some portions of the movement had the characteristics of drift, since the Oromo could move with their flocks and establish cultivation during pauses. Nevertheless, the scale of the movement and the militarized organization of a large population on the move produced prolonged upheaval, with stability returning only around 1700.