A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF QARSA MALIMA DISTRICT, SOUTH WEST SHEWA (1936-2000)

ABSTRACT The thesis attempts to explore, the social, economic and administrative history of QarsaMalima District of Southwest Shawa Zone of the Oromia Regional State from Italian occupation up to the separation of Soddo Dach from Qarsa Malima district. Like the inhabitants of other parts of the country, the people of the district have experienced major socio-economic and political changes by the time under review. During the period Italian occupation, the distict was one of the centres of patriotic resistance which was used as a save haven by patriots like Dajjazmach Balcha Safo, Dajjazmach Gabra Mariam Gari and Dajjazmach Bekele Waya among others.Following the resestoration of Emperor Haila Sellase to his power different reforms on the various fields such as administrative and land related issues were introduced. In this regard, attempts have been made to unearth the responses of the inhabitants of the districts to these changes. Moreover, the study attempts to assess the effectsof changes and reforms introduced by the military regime on the inhabitan sof the district.Last but not least, attempts have been made to document about the heritage sites located in the district,namelyAdadi Mariam Rock Hewn Church,MelkaKunture pre-historicarchaeological site and Zena Markos Cave among others.