The Orma is one of the Oromo clans in the Horn of Africa who predominantly live in Tana River County in northern Kenya and in southern Ethiopia. They share a common language and cultural heritage with Oromo clans. First and foremost they are pastoralists and almost all are Muslims. In 2019 the Orma numbered 158,993.
Terminology
The literature on the Orma, Oromo, Warra Daya, (Wardai, Waridei, and Wardeh) shows that the terminology is extremely confusing. Therefore, first a few comments concerning the terminology. In the oldest literature, the Cushitic speaking people who nowadays are identified as the Orma and Oromo speaking people were called Warra Daya. This name was used by the Somali for the Oromo or Southern Galla living in Jubaland. In white colonial literature these people are called the Galla. The Oromo never called themselves Galla as they considered the name offensive. In the middle of the twentieth century, following the principle that the name a people use for themselves is to be taken in for official and scientific use, the name Galla was slowly replaced by Oromo. There exist no agreed-upon etymology for this name and both Orma and Oromo are used, although the spelling Oromo is preferred since the second half of the twentieth century. For the group of people discussed here the name Orma is used as this is their self-chosen name. The name Orma forms enough contrast to other tribes in the area, but if we want to distinguish them from other Orma and Oromo and want to prevent confusion, we should specify them as the Tana Orma.
The Somali still call the Tana Orma Wardey or Warra-Daya. However, the Tana Orma restrict the name Wardey to back-migrants who had lived as serfs under the Somali and who were descendants of Orma captives.
History
Overview
The Warra Daya were first mentioned in an Arabic source in the 15th century. According to Trenton, they migrated into the Juba area in the 16th century. In the early 19th century they were at the height of their power when they inhabited almost all of the Westbank of Jubba River to their east bordering the powerful Geledi Sultanate. West Jubaland (roughly Northern and Eastern Kenya and South Western Somalia). In the 19th century the Darod Somali, particularly Ogaden, advanced southwards across the Dawa River. The first attempt in 1842 failed, but in 1844 they tried again and were allowed to enter as clients (shegats). The usual method of Darod penetration into a new area was to adopt a client relationship with the people already there. In practice, this meant that they became herdsboys who were allowed to keep some animals of their own. Then these clients slowly consolidated their numbers until they had achieved parity with or even superiority over the original inhabitants. Around 1865, when smallpox epidemiology weakened the Warra Daya, they were attacked by Darod from the North and to a lesser extent by the Kamba from the West and Masai from the South. The Darod clients joined the conflict and this explained the severity of the conflict and the heavy defeats of the Warra Daya. In 1867 the Somali invited the Warra Daya elders for a great peace offering, which was accepted by the Warra Daya. However, the feast turned out to be an ambush and thousands of Warra Daya were slaughtered. Extensive Somali raids followed the offering. Most of the remaining Warra Daya were forced to cross the River Tana and sought refuge along the southern and eastern banks of the Tana River. Large numbers of Orma men were killed and an estimated 8,000 women and children were captured. Women and children were often exploited by the Somali and sold as slaves. Since there was a shortage of women under the Somali, they took Orma women as concubines and some were even married by the Somali. In order to protect the remaining free Warra Daya on the east bank of the Tana from the Somali, in 1909 the few remaining Warra Daya on the east bank of the Tana were moved by the British to the west bank. These Warra Daya on the west bank became known as the Tana Orma. The decimation of the Tana Orma also resulted in their becoming an isolated ethnical group that no longer shared a border with other Oromo-speaking people.