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{{short description|Former province in northwestern Ethiopia}}{{More footnotes needed|date=November 2022}}[[File:Gojjam in Ethiopia (1943-1987).svg|thumb|right|Location of Gojjam within the [[Ethiopian Empire]]]]

'''Gojjam''' ({{Langx|am|ጎጃም}}  ''gōjjām'', originally ጐዛም ''gʷazzam'', later ጐዣም ''gʷažžām'', ጎዣም ''gōžžām'') is a [[Provinces of Ethiopia|historical provincial kingdom]] in northwestern [[Ethiopia]], with its capital city at [[Debre Markos]].

During the 18th century, Gojjam's western neighbors were [[Agawmeder]] in the southwest and [[Qwara province|Qwara]] in the northwest. Agawmeder, never an organized political entity, was gradually absorbed by Gojjam until it reached west to the [[Sultanate of Gubba]]; [[Juan Maria Schuver]] noted in his journeys in Agawmeder (September 1882) that in three prior months, "the Abyssinians considerably advanced their frontier towards the West, effacing what was left of the independent regions."<ref>Gerd Baumann, Douglas H. Johnson and Wendy James (editors), ''Juan Maria Schuver's Travels in North East Africa 1880-1883'' (London: Hakluyt Society, 1996), p. 212</ref> Gubba acknowledged its dependence to Emperor [[Menelik II]] in 1898, but by 1942 was absorbed into Gojjam.<ref>Donald L. Donham and Wendy James (eds.), ''The Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia'' (Oxford: James Curry, 2002), p. 122.</ref> [[Dek Island]] in [[Lake Tana]] was administratively part of Gojjam until 1987.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
The capital city is Bahir Dar.

== History ==
[[File:Debre Markos Arch.jpg|thumb|The arch of [[Negus]] [[Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam]] in Debre Markos]]
The earliest recorded mention of Gojjam was during the medieval period, in a note in a manuscript of [[Amda Seyon I|Amda Seyon's]] military campaigns there and in [[Kingdom of Damot|Damot]] in 1309 [[Ethiopian calendar|EC]] (1316/7 CE), during which time it was incorporated into Ethiopia. According to "The Glorious Victories," the soldiers of Amda Seyon were from "[[Bete Amhara|Amhara]] and [[Shewa|Sewä]] and Gojjam and [[Damot (historical region)|Dämot]], (men) who were trained in warfare, and dressed in gold and silver and fine clothes archers, spearmen, cavalry, and infantry with strong legs, trained for war. When they go to war they fight like eagles and run like wild goats; the (movement) of their feet is like the rolling of stones, and their sound is like the roaring of the sea, as says the prophet Herege'el: "I have heard the sound of the wings of the angels, as the noise of a camp." Such were the soldiers of 'Amda Seyon, full of confidence in war."<ref>Edward Ullendorff, his review of Huntingford's translation of ''The Glorious Victories of Amda Ṣeyon, King of Ethiopia'', [https://www.jstor.org/stable/611476 ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London''], 29 (1966)</ref> It was also referenced on the [[Egyptus Novello map]], (c. 1451), where it is described as a kingdom (though it had by this time long been subject to the [[Emperor of Ethiopia]]). Emperor [[Dawit II]], in his letter to the King of [[Portugal]] (1526), also described Gojjam as a kingdom but one that was part of his empire.

At least as early as Empress [[Eleni of Ethiopia|Eleni]], Gojjam provided the revenues of the Empress until the ''[[Zemene Mesafint]]'' ("Era of the Judges"), when central authority was weak and the revenues were appropriated by [[Fasil of Damot]].<ref>James Bruce ''Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile'', selected and edited with an introduction by C.F. Beckingham (Edinburgh: University Press, 1964), p. 130.</ref> Gojjam then became a power base for a series of [[warlord]]s at least as late as ''Ras'' [[Hailu Tekle Haymanot]], who was deposed in 1932.

During the [[Italian East Africa|Italian occupation]], Gojjam came to be the home of armed bands who resisted the Italian occupiers, whose leaders included [[Belay Zelleke]], [[Mengesha Jemberie]], [[Negash Bezabih]] and [[Hailu Belew]]. These resistance fighters, known as ''[[arbegnoch]]'' (or "Patriots"), limited the Italians to only the immediate areas around heavily fortified towns like Debre Markos. Belay Zelleke was even able to fully liberate and run civil administrations in the eastern part of Gojjam and some adjacent woredas in South Wollo and North Shoa. Since the Italians were unable to bring Gojjam under their control, the province was finally chosen by [[Haile Selassie|Emperor Haile Selassie]] as the safest way to return to Ethiopia. During his return, he was supported by the combined forces of the [[East African Campaign (World War II)|British army]], Gojjamie Patriots, and other Ethiopians living abroad before then in fear of persecution by Italians. During the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, however, the inhabitants of Gojjam rebelled several times due to resentment over ill-treatment of patriots and increased taxes, the latest occasion in 1968—about the same time as the [[Bale revolt]].<ref>Gebru Tareke, ''Ethiopia: Power and Protest'' (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1996), at p. 167 enumerates two other occasions -- in 1942-44 and 1950.</ref> Unlike in [[Bale Province, Ethiopia|Bale]], the central government did not use a military solution to end the revolt, instead replacing the governors and reversing the attempt to levy new taxes; in response to the 1968 revolt, the central government went as far as waiving tax arrears back to 1950.<ref>Zahru Zewde, ''A History of Modern Ethiopia'', second edition (London: James Currey, 2001), pp. 216ff, and Gebru Tareke, ''Ethiopia'', pp. 160-193.</ref>

With the adoption of a [[1995 Constitution of Ethiopia|new constitution in 1995]], Gojjam was divided, with the westernmost part forming the majority of the [[Metekel Zone]] of the [[Benishangul-Gumuz Region]], and the rest becoming the [[Agew Awi Zone|Agew Awi]], the [[West Gojjam Zone|West Gojjam]] and the [[East Gojjam Zone|East Gojjam]] Zones of the [[Amhara Region]].

==See also==
* [[Monarchies of Ethiopia]]
* [[History of Ethiopia]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Medieval Horn of Africa}}
{{Ethiopia topics|state=collapsed}}
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[[Category:Former provinces of Ethiopia]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1995]]
[[Category:History of Benishangul-Gumuz Region]]
[[Category:History of the Amhara Region]]