Jiren was the former capital of the Kingdom of Jimma, in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Today it is a village or suburb[1] on the outskirts of the city of Jimma, consisting of approximately 2500 unregistered households.[2]

Jiren
Village
Jiren is located in Ethiopia
Jiren
Jiren
Location within Ethiopia
Coordinates: 7°42′04″N 36°52′20″E / 7.70117°N 36.87219°E / 7.70117; 36.87219
CountryEthiopia
RegionOromia
ZoneJimma Zone
Founded in1830
Founded byAbba Jifar I

History

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Abba Jifar II's palace in Jiren

Jiren was founded in the reign of Abba Jifar I (1830–1855), the first king of the Kingdom of Jimma.[3]

Following the death of Abba Jifar II in 1932, the Kingdom of Jimma was annexed by the Ethiopian Empire and Jiren declined as a political centre. Writing in 1965, Herbert S. Lewis observed that the palace complex had disappeared and it had "shrunken to a settlement of a few hundred people who run some shops, bars and brothels".[4] Most of its residents moved to Hirmata, which in 1936 was amalgamated with Jiren by the Italian colonial administration to form the new city of Jimma, the capital of Galla-Sidamo Governorate.[5]

Notes

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  1. ^ "History in Jimma, Ethiopia". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  2. ^ Abebe, Misgana Secho; Derebew, Kiros Tsegaye; Gemeda, Dessalegn Obsi (25 February 2019). "Exploiting temporal-spatial patterns of informal settlements using GIS and remote sensing technique: a case study of Jimma city, Southwestern Ethiopia". Environmental Systems Research. 8 (1): 6. doi:10.1186/s40068-019-0133-5. ISSN 2193-2697.
  3. ^ Seifu & Záhořík 2017, pp. 51–52.
  4. ^ Lewis 2001, p. 69.
  5. ^ Seifu & Záhořík 2017, pp. 58–59.

References

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