The History and Location of the Shashamane Settlement Community Development Foundation, Inc., USA

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Location:

Shashamane is a town in the southern part of the Shoa province, (now known as Oromia State under the new Federal structure) roughly 150 miles from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Located in the Rift Valley at an altitude of 2000 feet, it is famous for its fertile land and lies on both sides of the Kings Highway, which leads to Kenya. Shashamane, originally established as a garrison town, dates back to the beginning of the 19th century.

The name was taken from an Ethiopian woman named Shashe, who had a famous rest facility and provisions for travellers, mene, the word for this facility in the Oromo language. The predominant Ethnic group is Oromo, followed by the Amhara. Christianity and Islam are the dominant religions.

Map of Ethiopia

History of the Settlement:

Shashamane, a small district village town, gained international attention in the African Diaspora when 500 acres of its fertile land were granted as a gift to the Black people of the West in 1948 by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, the then-reigning Ethiopian Emperor.

The Italian invasion of Ethiopia did more to ignite Pan-African sentiment than any other event in modern times. In the folklore of Africans in and outside of Africa, Ethiopia was the bastion and symbol of African freedom and independence. In the Bible, Blacks read that Ethiopia was the land of Queen of Sheba and its Monarch represented a direct genealogical link to the Solomonic and Davidic Throne. Ethiopia was the sacred land that the Greek historian Homer wrote about as the "land where the gods loved to be." Now Italy's threat to the Divine Motherland's Sovereignty, the subsequent invasion and occupation of Ethiopia and exile of its Sovereign, sparked a tremendous mass movement of international demonstration and support by Blacks for Ethiopia and its Emperor in the war of resistance. Rallies and fundraising events were carried out by Blacks throughout the United States and the Caribbean to help Ethiopia the last remaining free African Nation to regain her independence.

Shashamane Land Grant

On the request of Black church leaders and organizations in the USA, the Emperor sent his personal Emissary Dr. Malaku E. Bayen to organize the support of Africans in the Americas. This was done officially under the banner of Ethiopian World Federation Inc. (E.W.F), registered in New York, USA. Exactly 7 years after the Liberation of Ethiopia and the return of the Emperor in 1941, the triumphant Emperor Haile Selassie I, bestowed a gift to the Black peoples of the West of 500 acres of land in Shashamane, Shoa Province.

Settlers from Jamaica

Between 1952 and 1974 approximately 22 families migrated to Shashamane to take up the offer of the Shashamane land grant. The vast majority of these early settlers came from Jamaica, as the Rastafarian groups in Jamaica were most appreciative of the Emperor's gift and stretched forth their hands to receive it.

Nationalization of Land Grant

In 1975 the Provisional Military Government of Ethiopia issued the 'Land Reform Proclamation', nationalizing all lands in Ethiopia, turning them over to the Peasant Association. This included the seizure of the Shashamane Land Grant. In 1976 the remaining Jamaican settlers made a petition through the Embassy of Jamaica for the return of the land grant, but less than 50 acres was returned and divided among the settlers. Today the population of the settlement has grown to include other Caribbean nationalities and other nations with an estimated number of which 65% are children born on the land in Shashamane. This settlement in Ethiopia represents the largest community of Jamaicans and Caribbean born Blacks residing in Africa.