The Two Thousand Five Hundred year Old Story of Influenza in Ethiopia Influenza, which may have been responsible for several of the unidentified epidemics of early times, as mentioned in the first of this series of articles, can be documented in Ethiopia for over a quarter of a millennium. Though generally less serious than smallpox, …
Typhus: The Army’s Disease Typhus, though less widespread and devastating than either smallpox or cholera, the two epidemics discussed in previous articles, doubtless accounted for some of Ethiopia’s major early epidemics. It is not, however, until the second half of the nineteenth century that its identification becomes possible. “Camp Fever” The disease, aptly described as …
Cholera: The Decline of the Killer Disease We saw last week that cholera was one of the most serious epidemic diseases in Ethiopia’s historic past. Now read on: A major epidemic of cholera, which appears to have originated in the East, reached the port of Massawa in October 1865. This outbreak was severely felt at …
Cholera: A Killer Disease, from the 17th Century to the Time of Tewodros To understand Ethiopia’s medical past, and to understand the country’s present in its historical context, Dr Pankhurst is presenting a series of articles on the history of the Ethiopian epidemics of former times. Cholera, the second of the major epidemics from which …
Smallpox History Smallpox, the most serious epidemic from which Ethiopia suffered in former times, probably existed in the region for at least a millennium and a half. Arab tradition holds that the disease was brought to Arabia from Ethiopia by Aksumite soldiers around AD. 370. Some historians believe that another epidemic broke out among the …
Epidemics from the Reign of Emperor Zar’a Ya‘qob, to the Rise of Gondar The reign of Zar’a Ya‘qob nevertheless witnessed a serious epidemic which, to judge from his chronicle, probably occurred between 1454 and 1468. It is recorded that the monarch was then at his newly established capital, Dabra Berhan, when there was “a great …
Unidentified Epidemics in Medieval Times Ethiopia has suffered over the centuries from innumerable epidemics, primarily of smallpox, cholera, typhus, dysentery, and influenza. The precise character of the earliest outbreaks cannot, however, be established, for the records of the time, many of which relate miracles alleged to have occurred in such times of distress, do not …
The arrival in Ethiopia of the Portuguese diplomatic mission, in 1520, and the publication, in 1540, of Alvares’s report on it, represented an important development. It vastly expanded European knowledge of the country, and led to its steady demystification. European interest in the diversion of the Nile accordingly began to wane. Speculation tended thereafter to …
Ethiopia and Egypt, linked, but also divided, by the Nile, were in contact since the dawn of history. They were mutually inter-dependent. Egypt’s prosperity depended on Nile water – and silt – from Ethiopia. This occurred, most conveniently for agriculture, in the summer. Christian Ethiopia depended on the Coptic Church of Egypt, whence the Ethiopian …
Menilek, as we saw last week, was fully alive to the need for modern education in Ethiopia. He had, however, to overcome strong opposition on the part of the Orthodox Church, which saw such education (perhaps rightly!) as a challenge to traditional Ethiopian religious values. The astute, and innovating, monarch resolved the issue with the …