Silt'e people

The Silt'e ( ስልጤ ) are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. An earlier name is East Gurage. This derives from the relationship of the Silt'e language with the language of the Gurage. In the census of 2007, 940 766 persons designated as Silt'e, which they provide 1.27% of the Ethiopian population.

Until the 1990s, the Silt'e were not recognized as a distinct ethnic group, but subsumed under the general term Gurage. Only the new federal order allowed the state recognition of their ethnic identity, and in 1991 the establishment of a Silt'e zone within the Ethiopian region of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples ( SPNNR ).

The people of the Silt'e is composed of various sub-groups, the most important are the Azärnät - Bärbäre that Alichcho - Wuriro that Silt'i and Wulbaräg (also known as Ulbarag ). In a vast majority of the Silt'e are Sunni Muslims. They were also called Hadiyya, as they are due to the historical Muslim state Hadiyya.

The population of the zone Silt'e lives mainly from agriculture. The cultivation of the food plant Ensete ( Ensete ventricosum ) is of particular economic importance for small farmers. Many Silt'e live seasonally or permanently in the cities of southern Ethiopia, and particularly Addis Ababa, Adama, where they are active primarily as a retailer.