The thesis begins with a description and analysis of the traditions of thernOromo in the region by taking into account the sixteenth century Oromo movementrnand the resulting contacts of the people with other ethnic groups in the region. It alsorndiscusses the pattern of settlement of the Tuulama Oromo on the present dayrnShawaan plateau in general and the Salaalee region in particularrnFurthermore, the thesis attempts to unearth the socio-political and economicrnhistory of the people of Salaalee during a few decades before its incorporation intornthe kingdom of Shawa in the 1870s. Those decades were the time when thernTuulama Oromo started to experience the transformation of their socio-economicrnand political systems, i.e. the Tuulama gadaa system increasingly became ineffectivernand failed to check ambitious individuals who defied the existing gadaa rules andrnregulations. By the time the Shawan Kingdom's territorial expansion towards thernTuulama land also reached its climax.rnThe paper also sheds light on the unsuccessful resistance of the Tuulama Oromo inrngeneral and those found in Salaalee in particular against the Shawan forces led byrnRas Darge and Ras Goobana.rnThe discussion of the period after Salaalee's incorporation into the EthiopianrnEmpire highlights the impact of the incorporation on the socio-economic and politicalrnsystems of the Oromo and the changes and continuities that occurred. And finally, itrnpinpoints the reactions and /or adaptations that the people of Salaalee made againstrnthe changing socio-political and economic systems in the early twentieth century.