Chercher province

Chercher was a province in Hararghe (eastern Ethiopia) now part of Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Also known as Ittuu and West Hararghe, Chercher is the name given mainly to the eastern escarpment highland areas of Oromia state's West Hararaghe Zone, where the chains of Checher or higher mountains rise and extend inland from the Great Rift Valley in its northwest. The capital of the former Chercher province was Chiro.

Etymology
Chercher may originate from cer, the Harari word meaning “a cliff that creates a deep gorge.”

History
Chercher is home to ruins linked to the Harla people dating back to the eighth century in the district of Doba located in modern east Oromia. It was home to the people of Doba region prior to the Oromo invasions. According to tradition the ruins of Sharif Ahmed mosque, who was a chief of Harla is found in the Doba district of Chercher.

During the Oromo invasions of the sixteenth century the Ittu Oromo had occupied the Chercher region from the Harari people and likely also Harla. From 1883 to 1885 the Shewan forces under Menelik attempted to invade the Chercher but were defeated by the Ittu Oromo. In 1886 the Abyssinians of Shewa also suffered a defeat at the Battle of Hirna against the forces of Harar Emirate in the Chercher region.

In the early 1900s, the former Ifat rebel leader Talha Jafar passed his later years in Chercher as the appointed governor of Wadessa during the reign of Lij Iyasu. In the year 1923 regent Ras Tafari appointed Fit′awrari Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam as governor of Chercher, a year later governor Tekle Hawariat founded the town of Chiro (known then under its old name Asebe Tafari.) and the new capital of the province.