Economy
In Jimma, Maria Theresa Thalers (MT) and salt blocks called amoleh were used as currency until the reign of Emperor Menelik II.
Like the other Gibe kingdoms, Jimma was a source of slaves, who were sold openly until the reign of Menelik II. Lewis reports estimates that King Abba Jifar II had as many as 10,000 slaves. Until the 1930s, slaves continued to be sold out of the public eye, but openly owned, when Emperor Haile Selassie and later the Italian occupiers managed to abolish it. (See also African slave trade).
The condition of slaves in Jimma was usually humane, for they were allowed to marry, own property (including slaves in turn), and inherit what their parents managed to accumulate; families were rarely broken up. However, they had no official rights, could be beaten at will, and run away slaves were beaten and kept in chains.
Coffee (Coffea arabica) became a major cash crop in Jimma only in the reign of King Abba Jifar II. Another source of income was the extraction of oil from Civets, which was used to make perfume.
Read more about this topic: Kingdom Of Jimma
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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