The Ittuu (also written Itu, Etu, Ettu) are part of the Baarentuu section of the Oromo, traditionally regarded as descending from the “fifth son” of the Baarentuu ancestor. They were one of the three major Baarentuu confederacies who migrated from Mormor in the Bale region to Harärge during the first half of the 16th cent., the other two being the Afran Qallu (Qottu) and the Anniyya. For all three groups, Mormor was their land of origin and the sacred land of their abbaa muudaa. After their migration, the three groups installed a common fiaffee as sembly at Odaa Bultum in ärcär. At the beginning of the 18th cent. the fiaffee was replaced by three separate assemblies, but Odaa Bultum remained an important religious centre for all the three. Until 1900 Oromo pilgrims from Harärge on the way to abbaa muudaa at Mormor had first to visit Odaa Bultum, which was regarded as the “well-spring of traditional Oromo wisdom”for the three groups (Tasaw Merga 1976:72f.).

The new homeland of the I ttuu, with its centre in Cärcär, bordered on the regions of Bale in the south, Arsi in the west, Šäwa in the north, and the Afar desert in the north-east. The traditional boundary between the Ittuu

 and Afran Qallu was the Burqa river, while that between the Afran Qallu and Anniyya was the Mogo river.

The I ttuu of Cärcär developed into two confederacies, Galaan (consisting of six gosa or clans: Alga, Baabbo, Elle, Gaamo, Gaadulla and Qallu) and Kura (with four gosa: Addayye, Arrooggii, Bayy and Waayyu; s. Demissie Mikael 1974:32; BTafA 771; Badri Kabir Mohammed 1995:11).

By 1600 the I ttuu, famous for their equestrian skills, appeared to have been the most powerful Oromo group in Harärge, probably due to their formidable cavalry (Mohammed Hassen 1983:174.This military power may have been the reason for other Oromo to ask the I ttuu to join their attack on the region of Goggam across the Abbay in 1612 (PerChron 139ff.). The I ttuu warriors forced ase Susényos to a full mobilization for the protection of this rich province. Through force of arms and diplomacy, he managed to win over Ittuu warriors, settling them in Goggam and Dämbéya, and requiring them to protect these provinces from the attacks of other Oromo groups (BTafA 337).

In Cärcär, the Ittuu settled among sedentary Harari and possibly Harla farmers. In the process of assimilation, the two cultures, sedentary agricultural and nomadic pastoralist, became mutually dependent. By the end of the 18th cent., the Ittuu mode of production changed into sedentary agriculture combined with cattle-keeping. Land became a measure of wealth giving rise to a landowning nobility known as abbaa burqaa (‘father [or master] of the spring’).

After their migration into Cärcär, the I ttuu were exposed to Islamic influence radiating from the city of Harär. Muslim traders, preachers, teachers and holy men crossed the land of the Ittuu, and mosques and Quranic schools were established in several places in western Harärge. Yet, before the late 19th cent. few I ttuu had converted to Islam. Following the conquest of the Ittuu by däggazmač Wäldä Gäbréel in 1886, however, the Ittuu converted en masse, Islamic faith being for them a form of rejection of the gäbbar system imposed upon them by ase Ménilék II (Braukämper 2002:116- 20; Mohammed Hassen 1999:101).

The Ittuu’s resistance against central Ethiopian regimes following the conquest is famous amongst the Oromo. Several of the first Oromo national- ists were Ittuu Muhammad Gilo led a famous rebellion in Cärcär in 1948. The first Oromo Liberation Front guerrilla army started armed struggle in ärcär in 1974 (Mohammed Hassen 2000:124; By using the fertility of their land intelligently, the Ittuu have made their region the breadbasket of Harärge. They grow coffee, fiat, ieff, maize, sorghum, finger millet, beans and oil seeds, produce honey and breed cattle. The fattened bulls of Cärcär are famous throughout Ethiopia.

Source:

Encyclopedia – Aethiopica

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