To the south of the Ethiopian kingdom, segments of the Oromo population—cultivators and suppliers of goods exportable to the Red Sea coast and beyond—have meanwhile developed kingdoms of their own, no doubt stimulated in part by the examples of the Amhara to the north and the Sidama kingdoms to the south.

The seventeenth through nineteenth century is a period not only of migration but also of integration, as groups borrow usable techniques and institutions from each other.

In the south, too, Islam has made substantial inroads.

Many Oromo chieftains find Islam a useful tool in the process of centralization as well as in the building of trade networks.