He is among a handful of Ethiopians who have made it to international celebrity status this century. He is one of the definitive figures of contemporary Ethiopian art, a giant recognized in Ethiopia, on the African continent and in fact the world over. His career spans five decades and three political regimes, and he continues …
contributor of features on various periods and aspects of Ethiopian history for the past six years. He is one of the steadfast pillars of this publication and we believe that this tribute is long overdue. Although he is not an Ethiopian by birth or citizenship I believe that his contributions to our country are so …
Debre Tabor was effectively the capital of Ethiopia during a turbulent period in the 19th Century. There is not much evidence in the town today of this prestigious past. Unlike Gondar which preceded it, or Addis Ababa which followed (after an interval), Debre Tabor has no surviving castles or palaces. It does have two large …
Last week the first of four old churches off the China Road in Northern Ethiopia were reviewed at Zuramba and Mujja. Today we continue with the tour of the churches. My personal favourite of the four churches is Bethlehem – although it is also hard to get to. The turn off from the China road …
Ethiopia, as is generally known, has a long history of drought, famine and epidemics. Such calamities, thanks to the Ethiopian Synaxarium, or Book of Saints, can be traced back to early medieval times, and can be identified for many centuries, through the Ethiopian royal chronicles, Lives of Saints and foreign travel literature. Detailed studies of …
The renowned Japanese photographer, Kazuyoshi Nomachi who holds many photographic awards, has just produced a masterly photographic book on Ethiopia. Entitled “Bless Ethiopia”, it is published by Odyssey Publishers, of Hong Kong, and contains 160 stunning colour photographs of Ethiopia’s most beautiful scenery, historic sites, and varied highland and lowland people. The work, which is …
We saw last week that the founding of Ethiopia’s first bank, the Bank of Abyssinia, in 1905, was followed, in 1915, by that institution’s issue of bank notes. This issue of paper money was something of a revolution in Ethiopian currency hisotry. The Bank of Abyssinia bank-notes took time to be accepted by the population …
Ethiopian banking history, in its modern sense, began towards the end of the reign of Emperor Menilek. This period witnessed the establishment, as most readers will know, of the country’s first bank. Called the Bank of Abyssinia, or in Amharic “Ye-Ityopya Bank”, it was an affiliate of the National Bank of Egypt, and was founded …
The Ethiopian Parliament, and the People, Speak Out We saw last week that demands for the return of the Aksum obelisk were voiced constantly during the early 1990s. Now read on: Ethiopian demands for the return of the obelisk escalated in the run-up to the Adwa Centenary Celebrations in the Spring of 1996, when rumour, …
We saw last week that Ethiopian demands for the return of the Aksum obelisk, looted by the Italian Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937, and not returned in accordance with Article 37 of the Italian Peace Treaty of 1947 with the United Nations, escalated in the Spring of 1993. Now read on: The Addis Ababa …