The dispute, in the 1860’s between Emperor Tewodros II and the British Government, led to the extensive looting of the Ethiopian ruler’s mountain fortress of Maqdala, by British troops. The loot from Maqdala, which included several hundred valuable Ethiopian manuscripts and many other Ethiopian artifacts, both religious and secular, was taken on 15 elephants and …
We saw last week how Emperor Yohannes IV succeeded in defeating Egyptian incursions into Ethiopia, but, as we shall now see, faced an even greater threat from other enemies. The British Occupation of Egypt, and the Mahdist Revolution in Sudan In Egypt meanwhile the military revolt of Ahmad `Urabi in 1881 led directly in the …
The death of Emperor Tewodros at Maqdala in 1868 left Ethiopia, as often in the past, divided, and without an overall rules. Three rival personalities by then held power in different areas. The first to gain prominence was perhaps Ras Gobaze, the ruler of Amhara, Wag and Lasta, who was crowned as Emperor Takla Giyorgis …
We saw last week that Ethiopian imports, in the 1920s and 1930s, were both growing and becoming more diversified. Railway Statistics This development may be further illustrated by a comparison between the statistics compiled by the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway company for 1916, the year of Lej Iyasu’s overthrow, and 1930, the year of Ras Tafari …
We saw last week that the first decades of the twentieth century witnessed many innovations in Ethiopia. Such developments, we may now observe, were particularly noticeable around 1930, the year which witnessed Emperor Haile Sellassie’s highly publicised coronation. Addis Ababa Addis Ababa, ever the site of change, underwent several important developments at this time, when, …
We saw last week that the 1920s and 1930 witnessed many innovations. For others, now please read on: Radio Telegraphy The foundations of radio telegraphy, in Ethiopia, were laidin the early 1930’s. Though some of the foreign legations had earlier imported radio equipment for their own use, the Ethiopian Government did not enter the field …
We saw last week that the innovative policies inaugurated by Emperor Menilek were continued, to some extent, during the brief reign of his grandson, Lej Iyasu. Progress suffered, however, from the many power struggles of this period. These were only partially resolved when the prince was deposed, in 1916, and replaced by a system of …
Last week we caught a glimpse of reformist ideas in Menilek’s Ethiopia, and quoted a little from Afawarq Gabra Iyasu’s Amharic textbook, published in Rome in 1908, which bore the innocuous title “Guide du Voyageur en Abyssinie”. Let us now look further at that work, in which a European-educated Ethiopian and a foreigner are supposedly …
Difficulties with Menilek’s Currency The issue of the Menilek currency, which was initiated in 1894, was especially difficult in view of the fact that even the Maria Theresa dollar – an innovation then already three-quarters of a century old – was still not circulating well. The British ethnographer Percy Powell-Cotton recorded at the turn of …
We saw last week that Menilek’s court had very different ideas on the question of technological innovation. One such view was expressed by Ras Makonnen to the French traveller Hugues Le Roux, who suggests that the Ras was alarmed by the possible dangers of European contacts. According to the Frenchman, the Ras observed: “The Emperor …