Bashah Aboye

Bashah AboyeBashah Aboye

His brothers were Ras Welde Giyorgis Aboye of Gondar, Dejazmach Lemma Aboye. His sisters were Sama’etwa Aboye and Birkenseh Aboye (twins), and Wossen Yelesh Aboye.

Biography

Earliest sources Little is known about Bashah Aboye in other fields besides warfare. He appeared first in historical sources as a distinguished horse-man and skilled fighter in the clashes between the armies of Yohannes IV and Menelik II in 1877. A couplet of praise (misgana) was composed at the time, and it subsequently became almost synonymous with his name and has been mentioned in almost every source. Between 1872 and 1885 Menelik II, then Negus of Shewa, entrusted Bashah with the task of collecting tribute from areas south of Shewa.

Conquests and Governorship In the 1880s he commanded a military division of his own and conquered the Gibe kingdom of Gera. In 1886 Bashah Aboye conquered the small kingdom of Gomma on behalf of Negus Menelik II. In October of that year, he was promoted to the rank of Dejazmach and appointed as governor of Gomma and Gera principalities with orders to pacify the region and collect taxes.

By the late 1880s Bashah also gained the governorship of Gurage and Hadiya.

Kaffa expeditions Between 1885 and 1889, Bashah led several failed campaigns against the kingdom of Kaffa. In 1897, a year after Bashah's death, his younger brother Welde Giyorgis Aboye would become the conqueror that defeated the kingdom of Kaffa.

1889-1891 Ethiopian famine, and Sidamo campaign Between 1889 and 1891, in the midst of a devastating famine, Bashah Aboye was tasked with gathering provisions and tribute. In 1890 he led a failed military expedition into Sidamo, and had set up a base in Shisha (in Sidama). However, Bashah's Gurage foot soldiers were not well armed or provisioned, and he reportedly withdrew from Sidamo in 1891, after six months. In his absence, an insurrection was staged in Gomma and Gera with the assistance of the Welamo kingdom. Bashah Aboye had to put down the rebellion by force.

1894 Welamo campaign In 1894, Emperor Menelik II led the campaign against Welamo. Ras Darge Sahle Selassie and the Aboye brothers (Bashah and Welde Giyorgis) were his military commanders.