Ethiopian students over many years have often asked why the British, after defeating Emperor Tewodros at Maqdala, in 1868, did not stay on in the country, and make it a “colony”, “protectorate”, “condominium” or “sphere of influence”. I always gave three answers: 1. That the British had promised from the outset that they would leave …
Foreign Drinks – and Drunkenness We saw last week that foreign alcoholic drinks gained increasing popularity in Menilek’s day. This impression, based on the reports of foreign travellers, is fully confirmed in the subsequent writings of Alaqa Lamma Haylu’s son, Maaza Lamma. Discussing this development as a temperance advocate, he recalls that this was a …
A Conservative Period in Ethiopian History Despite the very significant reforms, and innovations, of the reign of Yohannes discussed last week, his years were on the whole a conservative period. This, as we have seen, was at least partially due to the series of invasions, by Egyptians, Italians, and Dervishes. These made it impossible for …
We saw last week how Emperors Tewodros and Yohannes were both, in identical or different ways, concerned with the question of modernisation. Now read on:”Do Not Wear Shoes!” Emperor Yohannes’s dislike of European-sponsored innovation, the subject of last week’s article, was further manifested when two young Ethiopians, Mika’el Aragawi and Ageje Sachlu, who had been …
We saw last week that Tewodros, anxious to obtain foreign craftsmen from the British Government, succeeded in getting some employed, and sent as far as the port of Massawa. The Emperor’s continued imprisonment of the British however, led to a break-down of friendly relations. Now read on: The Craftsmen Return to Britain Because of this …
We saw last week that Tewodros was not only a cannonmaker, but also a road-builder. Now read on: Strategic Importance The strategic significance of Tewodros’s roads is apparent from the chronicle of Alaqa Walda Maryam, which contains several revealing passages. It records that when the Emperor’s big locally-made cannon was carried to Chachaho, some 60 …
In concluding this extended series of articles on Ethiopian education, reference may be made to the Fascist attitude to education for “natives”, which had a profound effect on education in Ethiopia in the period after 1936. Fascist policy was, generally speaking, opposed, to the creation of an educated “native” elite, and to any kind of …
The British and Foreign Bible Society During the pre-war years under review, the British and Foreign Bible Society was also active. It opened a new Addis Ababa headquarters on 13 May 1926, on which occasion the Regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen, emphasised the importance of the Society’s work. He recalled that in former times the Bible …
We saw in recent weeks that the years prior to the Italian fascist invasion of 1935 witnessed a significant expansion of both Government and Missionary education in Ethiopia. Subsidised Government Education One of the most important developments of this period, which has passed unnoticed by many historians of Ethiopia is that students who founded the …
The reign of Menilek, and the establishment of Addis Ababa, led to a significant expansion, and in due course modernisation, of Ethiopian education. The reforming monarch, though himself a man of little formal schooling, and no exposure to foreign teaching, was profoundly conscious of the country’s need for a modern type of instruction. Such education …