ABSTRACT Limmu Ennarya was the first of the monarchical Gibe states, built between 1800 and 1802 in what is now southwestern Ethiopia. It rose to prominence during Abba Bagiobo’s reign. Limmu Enarya was an important trading site for both local and foreign traders throughout the nineteenth-century long-distance trade. However, because of internal power struggles and foreign obstacles, Abba Bagibo’s tenure came to an end, and he was eventually absorbed into the modern Ethiopian Empire by Emperor Menilik in 1891. It was subordinate to the Kaffa Governorate General until the Italian conquest in 1936. In 1941, the central government renamed the previous Limmu Ennarya area as Limmu Awraja. This land encompasses the current districts of Limmu Kossa, Limmu Saqa, Chora Botor, and Nonno Benja. Historians have not adequately investigated and explored the history of the kingdom of Limmu Ennarya; little studies have been undertaken on the Gibe states in general, and Limmu Ennarya in particular. The purpose of the article is to investigate the history of the kingdom of Limmu Ennarya and its dominance and hegemony under the reign of Abba Bagibo. Oral informants and secondary literature are utilized to reconstruct the change and continuity of the historical phenomenon of Limmu Ennarya.