12/04/2026
The contemporary status of the Dorze people as Ethiopia’s primary producers of hand-loomed textiles is often romanticized as an ancestral cultural trait. However, historical analysis reveals that this specialized skill set was the result of systematic enslavement and forced labor within the 19th-century Shewan Empire. This analysis examines the transition of the Dorze from a southern highland culture of cowhide workers and bamboo-plaiters to a captive artisan class in the north. It explores how Dorze individuals were captured and sold by neighboring Oromo and Wolayta groups to the Shewan Empire, specifically for service in King Sahle Selassie’s royal workshops in Ankober. By detailing the forced apprenticeship under Amhara master weavers in Ankober and the subsequent relocation of this labor force to Shiro Meda following the founding of Addis Ababa, this essay demonstrates that the Dorze (Gamo) were laborers and trainees rather than pioneers of the craft. The study concludes that the Dorze’s eventual dominance in the weaving industry is a testament to their resilience in mastering a trade imposed upon them during their history of domestic servitude.
The Forced Apprenticeship: Dorze Enslavement and the origins of the Shiro Meda Weaving Industry
The contemporary association between the Dorze ethnic group and the mastery of Ethiopian hand-loomed textiles is a relatively recent historical development rooted in systemic displacement and forced labor. Contrary to popular narratives suggesting an ancestral weaving tradition, historical evidence indicates that the Dorze’s proficiency in cotton weaving was a skill acquired through enslavement and domestic servitude under the Shewan monarchy during the 19th century. By tracing the transition from southern hide-working traditions to the royal workshops of Ankober and the labor districts of Shiro Meda, a clearer picture emerges of the Dorze as laborers who mastered a foreign trade under duress.
Ancestral Material Culture: Cowhide and Grass
Before their integration into the Shewan economic sphere, the Dorze people of the southern highlands did not practice cotton weaving. Their indigenous material culture was defined by the resources of their high-altitude environment: cattle and bamboo. Traditional Dorze attire consisted almost exclusively of softened cowhides and goatskins (Pankhurst, 1968). Men and women wore leather wraps, and their artisanal skills were concentrated in tanning, leatherwork, and the intricate plaiting of grass and bamboo (Freeman, 2002). Cotton was not a staple crop in the Dorze highlands at this time, and the treadle loom was a technology foreign to the region.
The Slave Trade and Forced Migration to Ankober
The Dorze’s first contact with weaving occurred in the mid-19th century through a predatory system of human trafficking and military expansion. While King Sahle Selassie of Shewa conducted direct military raids into the south, a significant portion of the Dorze captive population arrived in the north through a complex regional slave trade. Neighboring groups, specifically the Oromo and Wolayita, frequently acted as intermediaries capturing Dorze people during inter-ethnic conflicts and selling them to Shewan Amhara traders (Abir, 1968). These captives were transported through major hubs like the Aliyu Amba market and settled as enslaved laborers (Gabbar) in the royal capital of Ankober.
In Ankober, there were established royal craft sheds to satisfy the court’s growing demand for textiles. Because the Dorze captives possessed high manual dexterity, they were forced into apprenticeships under established Amhara weavers. These Amhara artisans had a centuries-old tradition of producing the shemma (white cotton cloth) for the Orthodox clergy and nobility. In these workshops, the Dorze did not act as innovators, but as captive labor force learning a localized Amhara craft.
The Founding of Addis Ababa and Settlement in Shiro Meda
The geographical center of this labor force shifted following the founding of Addis Ababa (c.1886). As Emperor Menelik II established the new capital, the administrative and royal heart of the empire moved from the old hills of Ankober and the heights of Entoto to the burgeoning city below. The mobility brought their enslaved and dependent laborers with them to maintain the production of courtly attire. The Dorze were settled in the northern periphery of the city near the palace, specifically in today’s Shiro Meda district.
In Shiro Meda, the Dorze continued to work under the supervision and instruction of Amhara master weavers who had migrated from the older Shewan administrative centers (Taso, 2004).
Conclusion
Ultimately, while the Dorze have become the primary labor force behind Ethiopia’s weaving industry, the craft remains an essential expression of Amhara culture rather than Dorze heritage. Every technical aspect of the trade, from the design of the pit-treadle loom to the Amharic terminology used for the machine’s components (such as the mewerweriay or medeweriya), is rooted in the Amhara tradition. The products themselves, such as the kuta, netela, gabi, buluko, Habesha kemis, are historical markers of Amhara identity and Orthodox Christian traditions. This cultural disconnect is evidenced by the fact that Dorze weavers traditionally do not wear these garments as their own ethnic dress, not do they claim the shemma as part of their heritage. They remain the skilled hands behind the loom, maintaining a tradition that was imposed upon their ancestors as a labor requirement, while the cultural soul of the craft remains inextricably linked to the Amhara people. Today’s vibrant weaving industry is the result of a marginalized group’s skill initially imposed upon them during one of the most difficult periods of their history.
