3
(Summary)
Cattle Tax “Queima” in Northern Ethiopia
during the Oromo Migration Period
Hiroki ISHIKAWA
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
During the first half of the seventeenth century, the
Amhara, a major agrarian people of the Christian kingdom of northern Ethiopia, fought against the pastoral
Oromo who had begun to enter the kingdom’s territory
since the first half of the sixteenth century. The Jesuits
reported that the Emperor Susn yos (r. 1607-1632) levied cattle tax called “Queima”. Although scholars have
enumerated it as an item of taxation of the kingdom,
studies of this tax have been strangely neglected by
them. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the reasons
of introduction and abolition of this tax, to estimate
its revenues, and to examine its role in the northern
Ethiopian history, based on the Jesuits documents and
Ge‘ez (Classical Ethiopic) documents. The conclusion
proposed is as follows: (1) The Emperor Gälawdewos (r.
1540-1559) introduced “Queima” in the first half of the
1550s. It is probable that he introduced this new tax to
rehabilitate his kingdom after the war against the Muslims. (2) The Emperor Yoḥänn s I (r. 1667-1682) abolished “Queima” in 1667. His decision can be explained
by the following reasons. First, the burden of this tax
was heavy. Secondly, the Emperor needed to conciliate
people’s dissatisfaction with the oppression of his predecessor the Emperor Fasilädäs (r. 1632-1667). Thirdly,
he could obtain many herds of cattle during the military
expeditions against the Agaw around the Lake Tana. (3)
From the second half of the sixteenth century to the first
half of the seventeenth century, the war between the
Amhara and the Oromo was at its worst. As a principal
item of taxation, “Queima” supported financially this
war and the rule of the kingdom. It seems reasonable to
conclude that this cattle tax contributed to the survival
of the Christian kingdom of northern Ethiopia under the
pressure of the Oromo migration.