1.
Lalibela
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Lalibela is a town in Amhara Region, northern Ethiopia famous for monolithic rock-cut churches. The whole of Lalibela offers an exceptional testimony to the medieval and post-medieval civilization of Ethiopia, Lalibela is one of Ethiopias holiest cities, second only to Aksum, and a center of pilgrimage. Unlike Aksum, the population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, Ethiopia is one of the earliest nations to adopt Christianity in the first half of the fourth century, and its historical roots date to the time of the Apostles. The layout and names of the buildings in Lalibela are widely accepted, especially by local clergy. This has led experts to date the current church forms to the years following the capture of Jerusalem in 1187 by Muslim leader. Lalibela is located in the Semien Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region and it is the main town in Lasta woreda, which was formerly part of Bugna woreda. The Rock-Hewn Churches were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, during the reign of Saint Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, the current town of Lalibela was known as Roha. The saintly king was named so, because a swarm of bees is said to have surrounded him at his birth, which his mother took as a sign of his future reign as Emperor of Ethiopia. Lalibela, revered as a saint, is said to have seen Jerusalem, each church was carved from a single piece of rock to symbolize spirituality and humility. Christian faith inspires many features with Biblical names – even Lalibelas river is known as the River Jordan, Lalibela remained the capital of Ethiopia from the late 12th into the 13th century. The first European to see these churches was the Portuguese explorer Pêro da Covilhã, Portuguese priest Francisco Álvares, accompanied the Portuguese Ambassador on his visit to Lebna Dengel in the 1520s. He describes the church structures as follows, I weary of writing more about these buildings. The next reported European visitor to Lalibela was Miguel de Castanhoso, after de Castanhoso, more than 300 years passed until the next European, Gerhard Rohlfs, visited Lalibela some time between 1865 and 1870. According to the Futuh al-Habasa of Sihab ad-Din Ahmad, Ahmad Gragn burned one of the churches of Lalibela during his invasion of Ethiopia. This rural town is known around the world for its churches carved from within the earth from living rock, though the dating of the churches is not well established, most are thought to have been built during the reign of Lalibela, namely during the 12th and 13th centuries. Unesco identifies 11 churches, assembled in four groups, The Northern Group, Biete Medhane Alem, Biete Maryam, possibly the oldest of the churches, and a replica of the Tombs of Adam and Christ. Farther afield, lie the monastery of Ashetan Maryam and Yimrehane Kristos Church, there is some controversy as to when some of the churches were constructed. David Buxton established the generally accepted chronology, noting two of them follow, with great fidelity of detail, the tradition represented by Debra Damo as modified at Yemrahana Kristos
2.
Ge'ez
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Geez is an ancient South Semitic language that originated in Eritrea and the northern region of Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. It later became the language of the Kingdom of Aksum. However, in Ethiopia Amharic or other languages, and in Eritrea and Tigray Region in Ethiopia. Tigrinya and Tigre are closely related to Geez, with at least four different configurations proposed, the foremost Ethiopian experts such as Amsalu Aklilu point to the vast proportion of inherited nouns that are unchanged, and even spelled identically in both Geez and Amharic. Geez is transliterated according to the system, Because Geez is no longer a spoken language. There is, however, no evidence either in the tradition or in Ethiopian Semitic what value these consonants may have had in Geez, a similar problem is found for the consonant transliterated ḫ. Gragg notes that it corresponds in etymology to velar or uvular fricatives in other Semitic languages, though the use of a different letter shows that it must originally have had some other pronunciation, what that pronunciation was is not certain. The chart below lists /ɬ/ and /ɬʼ/ as possible values for ś and ḍ respectively and it also lists /χ/ as a possible value for ḫ. These values are tentative, but based on the reconstructed Proto-Semitic consonants that they are descended from, in the chart below, IPA values are shown. When transcription is different from the IPA, the character is shown in angular brackets, question marks follow phonemes whose interpretation is controversial. In Geez, Emphatic consonants are phonetically ejectives, as is the case with Arabic, emphatic velars may actually be phonetically uvular. Geez consonants have an opposition between voiceless, voiced, and ejective obstruents. The Proto-Semitic emphasis in Geez has been generalized to include emphatic p̣. Geez has phonologized labiovelars, Geez ś ሠ Sawt is reconstructed as descended from a Proto-Semitic voiceless lateral fricative. Like Arabic, Geez merged Proto-Semitic š and s in ሰ, apart from this, Geez phonology is comparably conservative, the only other Proto-Semitic phonological contrasts lost may be the interdental fricatives and ghayin. Geez distinguishes two genders, masculine and feminine, which in certain words is marked with the suffix -t, there are two numbers, singular and plural. The plural can be constructed either by suffixing -āt to a word, plural using suffix, ʿāmat – ʿāmatāt year, māy – māyāt water. Internal plural, bet – ʾābyāt house, houses, qərnəb – qarānəbt eyelid, nouns also have two cases, the nominative which is not marked and the accusative which is marked with final -a. Triconsonantal nouns follow one of the following patterns, quadriconsonantal and some triconsonantal nouns follow the following pattern
3.
Monarchy
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The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
4.
Kingdom of Aksum
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The Kingdom of Aksum or Axum, also known as the Aksumite Empire, was a Habasha trading nation in the modern-day area of Eritrea and the Tigray region of Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 100 AD to 940 AD, the Persian Prophet Mani regarded Axum as one of the four great powers of his time, alongside Persia, Rome, and China. The Axumites erected a number of stelae, which served a religious purpose in pre-Christian times. One of these columns is the largest such structure in the world. In the 7th century, early Muslims from Mecca sought refuge from Quraysh persecution by travelling to the kingdom and its ancient capital, also called Aksum, was in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name Ethiopia as early as the 4th century, tradition claims Axum as the alleged resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the purported home of the Queen of Sheba. Aksum is mentioned in the 1st-century AD Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as an important market place for ivory, which was exported throughout the ancient world. It states that the ruler of Aksum in the 1st century AD was Zoskales and he is also said to have been familiar with Greek literature. They also cite evidence indicating that the Sabaean settlers resided in the region for more than a few decades. Over 95% of Aksum remains unexplored beneath the city and its surrounding area. The Kingdom of Aksum was an empire centered in Eritrea. It existed from approximately 100–940 AD, growing from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period c. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD, according to the Book of Aksum, Aksums first capital, Mazaber, was built by Itiyopis, son of Cush. The capital was moved to Aksum in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name Ethiopia as early as the 4th century, the Empire of Aksum at its height at times extended across most of present-day Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The capital city of the empire was Aksum, now in northern Ethiopia, today a smaller community, the city of Aksum was once a bustling metropolis, cultural and economic center. Two hills and two lie on the east and west expanses of the city, perhaps providing the initial impetus for settling this area. Along the hills and plain outside the city, the Aksumites had cemeteries with elaborate grave stones called stelae, other important cities included Yeha, Hawulti-Melazo, Matara, Adulis, and Qohaito, the last three of which are now in Eritrea. By the reign of Endubis in the late 3rd century, it had begun minting its own currency and was named by Mani as one of the four powers of his time along with Persia, Rome
5.
Ethiopian Empire
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The Ethiopian Empire, also known as Abyssinia, was a kingdom that spanned a geographical area covered by the northern half of the current state of Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 1137 until 1974, when the Solomonic dynasty was overthrown in a coup détat, the country was one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945. It was the second-to-last country in Africa to use the title of Emperor, the one later was the Central African Empire. Ethiopias human occupation began early, as evidenced by the findings and it is believed that the ancient Egyptians claimed that Punt, known as gold country, was in Ethiopia in 980 BC, according to the report of the Kebra Nagast Menelik I founded the Ethiopian empire. In the 1st century BC. settled the Axumite empire that existed from the 7th century and this kingdom was founded in the 4th century with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as the state religion and was thus one of the first Christian states. After the conquest of Aksum by Queen Gudit or Yodit, a period began which some refer to as the Ethiopian Dark Ages. According to Ethiopian tradition, she ruled over the remains of the Aksumite Empire for 40 years before transmitting the crown to her descendants, very little is known about the queen or the state, if indeed there even was one she set up. What is evident, however, is that her reign marked the end of Aksumite control in Ethiopia, the last of Queen Yodits successors were overthrown by Mara Takla Haymanot. He founded the Zagwe dynasty in 1137, and married a descendant of the last Aksumite emperor to stake his claim as the legitimate heir to the long dead empire. The kingdoms capital was at Adafa, not far from modern day Lalibela in the Lasta mountains, the Zagwe continued the Christianity of Aksum and constructed many rock-hewn churches such as those at Lalibela. The dynasty would last until its overthrow by a new regime claiming descent from the old Aksumite kings, in 1270 the Zagwe dynasty was overthrown by a king claiming lineage from the Aksumite kings and, hence, Solomon. The thus-named Solomonic dynasty was founded and ruled by the Habesha, the Habesha reigned with only a few interruptions from 1270 until the late 20th century. It was under this dynasty that most of Ethiopias modern history occurred, during this time, the empire conquered and incorporated virtually all the peoples within modern Ethiopia. They successfully fought off Italian, Arab and Turkish armies and made contacts with some European powers. In 1529 Adal forces, led by Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, during the conflict, Adal employed cannons provided by the Ottoman Empire. In the aftermath of the war, Adal annexed Ethiopia, uniting it with territories in what is now Somalia, in 1543, with the help of the Portuguese Empire, the Solomonic dynasty was restored. From 1769 to 1855 the Ethiopian empire was passed through the period of Princes Era and this was a period of Ethiopian history with numerous conflicts between the ras the emperor had a limited power, only dominated the area around the former capital of Gondar. Both the development of society and culture stagnated in this period, religious conflicts, both within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Muslims were often used as a pretext for mutual strife
6.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
7.
Ethiopia
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Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With nearly 100 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and it occupies a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres, and its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa. Some of the oldest evidence for modern humans has been found in Ethiopia. It is widely considered as the region from modern humans first set out for the Middle East. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era, tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history. During the first centuries AD, the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region, subsequently, many African nations adopted the colors of Ethiopias flag following their independence. It was the first independent African member of the 20th-century League of Nations, Ethiopias ancient Geez script, also known as Ethiopic, is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world. The Ethiopian calendar, which is seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar, co-exists alongside the Borana calendar. A slight majority of the population adheres to Christianity, while around a third follows Islam, the country is the site of the Migration to Abyssinia and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. A substantial population of Ethiopian Jews, known as Bete Israel, resided in Ethiopia until the 1980s, Ethiopia is a multilingual nation with around 80 ethnolinguistic groups, the four largest of which are the Oromiffa, Amhara, Somali, and Tigrayans. Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches, additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by the nations Nilotic ethnic minorities. Ethiopia is the place of origin for the coffee bean which originated from the place called Kefa and it is a land of natural contrasts, with its vast fertile West, jungles, and numerous rivers, and the worlds hottest settlement of Dallol in its north. The Ethiopian Highlands are Africas largest continuous mountain ranges, and Sof Omar Caves contain Africas largest cave, Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. Ethiopia is one of the members of the UN, the Group of 24, the Non-Aligned Movement, G-77. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ethiopia suffered from civil wars, the country has begun to recover recently however, and now has the largest economy in East Africa and Central Africa. According to Global Fire Power, Ethiopia has the 42nd most powerful military in the world, the origin of the word Ethiopia is uncertain
8.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
9.
Agaw people
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The Agaw are an ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea. They speak Agaw languages, which belong to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, the Agaw are perhaps first mentioned in the 3rd-century AD Monumentum Adulitanum, an Aksumite inscription recorded by Cosmas Indicopleustes in the 6th century. The inscription refers to a people called Athagaus, perhaps from ʿAd Agaw, the Athagaous first turn up as one of the peoples conquered by the unknown king who inscribed the Monumentum Adulitanum. The Agaw are later mentioned in an inscription of the 4th-century Aksumite King Ezana, Cosmas Indicopleustes also noted in his Christian Topography that a major gold trade route passed through the region Agau. The area referred to seems to be an area east of the Tekezé River and just south of the Semien Mountains, the Cushitic speaking Agaw people ruled during the Zagwe dynasty of Ethiopia from about 900 to 1270. The name of the dynasty comes from the Geez phrase Ze-Agaw. They are a part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, many also speak Amharic, Tigrinya and/or Tigre, which are also Afro-Asiatic languages, but of the Semitic branch
10.
Gebre Mesqel Lalibela
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Lalibela, throne name Gebre Meskel was Emperor of Ethiopia from Zagwe dynasty, reigning from 1181 to 1221. According to Taddesse Tamrat, he was the son of Jan Seyum and he is venerated as a saint by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. King Lalibela was born at either Adefa or Roha in Bugna in 1162 AD, tradition states that he went into exile due to the hostility of his uncle Tatadim and his brother king Kedus Harbe, and was almost poisoned to death by his half-sister. Because Lalibela came to power during his brothers lifetime, Taddesse Tamrat suspects that he came to power by force of arms. Lalibela is said to have seen Jerusalem in a vision and then attempted to build a new Jerusalem as his capital in response to the capture of old Jerusalem by Muslims in 1187. As such, many features of the town of Lalibela have Biblical names including the towns river, the city remained the capital of Ethiopia from the late 12th century and into the 13th century. Details about the construction of his 11 monolithic churches at Lalibela have been lost, the later Gadla Lalibela, a hagiography of the king, states that he carved these churches out of stone with only the help of angels. His chief queen was Masqal Kibra, about whom a few traditions have survived and she induced Abuna Mikael to make her brother Hirun bishop, and a few years later the Abuna left Ethiopia for Egypt, complaining that Hirun had usurped his authority. Another tradition states that she convinced king Lalibela abdicate in favor of his nephew Naakueto Laab, getachew Mekonnen credits her with having one of the rock-hewn churches, Bet Abba Libanos, built as a memorial for Lalibela after his death. Although little written material concerning the other Zagwe kings survives, a sizeable quantity concerning Lalibelas reign remains, an embassy from the Patriarch of Alexandria visited Lalibelas court around 1210, and have left an account of him, and Naakueto Laab and Yetbarak. The Italian scholar Carlo Conti Rossini has also edited and published the several land grants that survive from his reign, vie de Lalibala, roi déthiopie, texte éthiopien et traduction française
11.
Rock-cut architecture
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Rock-cut architecture is the creation of structures, buildings, and sculptures, by excavating solid rock where it naturally occurs. Rock-cut architecture is designed and made by man from the start to finish, in India and China, the terms cave and cavern are often applied to this form of man-made architecture. However, caves and caverns, that began in natural form, are not considered to be rock-cut architecture even if extensively modified, although rock-cut structures differ from traditionally built structures in many ways, many rock-cut structures are made to replicate the facade or interior of traditional architectural forms. Interiors were usually carved out by starting at the roof of the planned space and this technique prevents stones falling on workers below. The three main uses of rock-cut architecture were temples, tombs and cave dwellings, some rock-cut architecture, mostly for tombs, is excavated entirely in chambers under the surface of relatively level rock. If the excavation is made into the side of a cliff or steep slope, there can be an impressive facade, as found in Lycian tombs, Petra, Ajanta. Ellora in India and Lalibela in Ethiopia provide the most spectacular, rock-cut architecture is also said to be cut, hewn, etc. from the living rock. Another term sometimes associated with architecture is monolithic architecture, which is rather applied to free-standing structures made of a single piece of material. Monolithic architecture is often rock-cut architecture but monolithic structures might be also cast of artificial material, gomateshwara, the largest monolithic statue in the world is situated at Shravanabelagola, Karnataka, India. It was built in 983 A. D and was carved out from a single block of granite. In many parts of the world there are rock reliefs, relief sculptures carved into rock faces. Ancient monuments of architecture are widespread in several regions of world. It dates from about 1280 BCE, and consists of a monumentally scaled facade carved out of the cliff, in the 5th century BCE, the Lycians, who inhabited southern Anatolia built hundreds of rock-cut tombs of a similar type, but smaller in scale. Excellent examples are to be found near Dalyan, a town in Muğla Province, since these served as tombs rather than as religious sites, the interiors were usually small and unassuming. The ancient Etruscans of central Italy also left an important legacy of architecture, mostly tombs, as those near the cities of Tarquinia. The creation of rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel began in the 8th-century BCE, the Nabataeans in their city of Petra, now in Jordan, extended this tradition, carving their temples and tombs into the yellowish-orange rock that defines the canyons and gullies of the region. These structures, dating from 1st century BCE to about 2nd century CE, are important in the history of architecture given their experimental forms. Here too, because the structures served as tombs, the interiors were rather perfunctory, in Petra one even finds a theater where the seats are cut out of the rock
12.
Monolithic church
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A monolithic church or rock-hewn church is a church made from a single block of stone. Because freestanding rocks of sufficient size are rare, such churches are usually hewn into the ground or into the side of a hill or mountain and they can be of comparable architectural complexity to constructed buildings. The term monolithic church is most often used to refer to the complex of 11 churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia, the most famous of the edifices is the cross-shaped Church of St. George. Tradition credits its construction to King Lalibela, who was a devout Christian, the medieval monolithic churches of this 12th-century New Jerusalem are situated in a mountainous region in the heart of Ethiopia near a traditional village. Lalibela is an important center of Ethiopian Christianity, and even today is a place of pilgrimage, Lalibela is one of the worlds precious heritages registered by UNESCO. Many other churches were hewn from rock in Ethiopia, outside of Lalibela, despite Dr. Josiefs death soon after his presentation, research over the next few years raised the total number of these rock-hewn churches to 153. There are a number of monolithic churches elsewhere in the world, however, none have the free-standing external walls of the Lalibela churches. They instead more closely resemble cave monasteries in that they consist of tunnels converging into a single rock, examples include, The Geghard monastery, Armenia The Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo, Bulgaria near Ruse The subterranean St
13.
Eritrea
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Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. With its capital at Asmara, it is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, the northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea. The nation has an area of approximately 117,600 km2. Its toponym Eritrea is based on the Greek name for the Red Sea, Eritrea is a multi-ethnic country, with nine recognized ethnic groups in its population of around six million. Most residents speak languages from the Afroasiatic family, either of the Ethiopian Semitic languages or Cushitic branches, among these communities, the Tigrinya make up about 55% of the population, with the Tigre people constituting around 30% of inhabitants. In addition, there are a number of Nilo-Saharan-speaking Nilotic ethnic minorities, most people in the territory adhere to Christianity or Islam. In medieval times much of Eritrea fell under the Medri Bahri kingdom, the creation of modern-day Eritrea is a result of the incorporation of independent, distinct kingdoms and sultanates eventually resulting in the formation of Italian Eritrea. In 1947 Eritrea became part of a federation with Ethiopia, the Federation of Ethiopia, subsequent annexation into Ethiopia led to the Eritrean War of Independence, ending with Eritrean independence following a referendum in April 1993. Hostilities between Eritrea and Ethiopia persisted, leading to the Eritrean–Ethiopian War of 1998–2000 and further skirmishes with both Djibouti and Ethiopia, Eritrea is a one-party state in which national legislative elections have been repeatedly postponed. According to Human Rights Watch, the Eritrean governments human rights record is considered among the worst in the world, the Eritrean government has dismissed these allegations as politically motivated. The compulsory military service requires lengthy, indefinite conscription periods, which some Eritreans leave the country in order to avoid, since all local media is state-owned, Eritrea was also ranked as having the least press freedom in the global Press Freedom Index. Eritrea is a member of the African Union, the United Nations, and IGAD, during the Middle Ages, the Eritrea region was known as Medri Bahri. The name Eritrea is derived from the ancient Greek name for the Red Sea and it was first formally adopted in 1890, with the formation of Italian Eritrea. The territory became the Eritrea Governorate within Italian East Africa in 1936, Eritrea was annexed by Ethiopia in 1953 and an Eritrean Liberation Front formed in 1960. Eritrea gained independence following the 1993 referendum, and the name of the new state was defined as State of Eritrea in the 1997 constitution. At Buya in Eritrea, one of the oldest hominids representing a link between Homo erectus and an archaic Homo sapiens was found by Italian scientists. Dated to over 1 million years old, it is the oldest skeletal find of its kind, during the last interglacial period, the Red Sea coast of Eritrea was occupied by early anatomically modern humans. It is believed that the area was on the out of Africa that some scholars suggest was used by early humans to colonize the rest of the Old World
14.
Tigray Province
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Tigray was a province of the Ethiopian Empire and of the PDRE until 1995. Known by its French spelling Tigré into the 20th century, its governors were powerful rulers in their own right and it was sometimes accorded the status of a separate kingdom. It gradually absorbed its neighboring provinces, including Semien, Tembien, Agame, proto-Tigrayan-Tigrinyans and Proto-Amharas, also known as Habeshas, were the main ethnicity of Kingdom of Aksum in the first millennium CE. Their language, a form of Geez, remained the language of the later Ethiopian imperial court as well as the Ethiopian Church, in the 14th century the Tigrinya-speaking lands were divided into two provinces, separated by the Mereb River by the newly enthroned Amhara Emperors. The governor of the province received the title Baher Neagsh. The Portuguese Jesuit, Emanuele Baradas work titled Do reino de Tigr and written in 1633-34 states that the reino de Tigr extended from Hamasien to Enderta, from the borders of Dankel to the Tekeze. He remarked that Tigray extended to the watershed of Semien although the power of the Tigray Mekonen did not extend beyond the Tekeze. He also stated that Tigray-Mereb Melash was divided into smaller political units, twelve of which were located south of the Mereb. The other twelve were located north of the Mereb under the authority of the Baher Negash, during the Middle Ages the position of Tigray Mekonnen was established to rule over the area. Other districts included Akkele Guzay, and the kingdom of the Bahr negus, rulers of Tigray such as Ras Wolde Selassie alternated with others, chiefly those of Begemder or Yejju, as warlords to rule in fact the Ethiopian monarchy during the Zemene Mesafint. In the mid-19th century, the lords of Tembien and Enderta managed to create an overlordship of Tigray to their dynasty, one of its members, Dejazmach Kassai Mercha, ascended the imperial throne in 1872 under the name Yohannes IV. Following his death in the Battle of Metemma, the Ethiopian throne came under control of the king of Shewa, cana, Frank Richardson, Abyssinia, in Chisholm, Hugh, Encyclopædia Britannica,2, Cambridge University Press, pp. 82–95
15.
Lake Tana
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Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia. Lake Tana is fed by the Lesser Abay, Reb and Gumara rivers and its surface area ranges from 3,000 to 3,500 km, ² depending on season and rainfall. The lake level has been regulated since the construction of the control weir where the lake discharges into the Blue Nile and this controls the flow to the Blue Nile Falls and hydro-power station. Lake Tana was formed by volcanic activity, blocking the course of inflowing rivers in the early Pleistocene epoch, the lake was originally much larger than it is today. Seven large permanent rivers feed the lake as well as 40 small seasonal rivers, the main tributaries to the lake are Gilgel Abbay, and the Megech, Gumara, and Rib rivers. Lake Tana has a number of islands, whose number varies depending on the level of the lake and it has fallen about 6 feet in the last 400 years. According to Manoel de Almeida, there were 21 islands, seven to eight of which had monasteries on them formerly large, but now much diminished. When James Bruce visited the area in the later 18th century, he noted that the locals counted 45 inhabited islands, a 20th-century geographer named 37 islands, of which he believed 19 have or had monasteries or churches on them. Remains of ancient Ethiopian emperors and treasures of the Ethiopian Church are kept in the isolated island monasteries, on the island of Tana Qirqos is a rock shown to Paul B. Henze, on which he was told the Virgin Mary had rested on her back from Egypt, he was also told that Frumentius. The body of Yekuno Amlak is interred in the monastery of St. Stephen on Daga Island, emperors whose tombs are also on Daga include Dawit I, Zara Yaqob, Za Dengel, and Fasilides. Other important islands in Lake Tana include Dek, Mitraha, Gelila Zakarias, Halimun, the monasteries are believed to have been built over earlier religious sites. They include the fourteenth-century Debre Maryam, and the eighteenth-century Narga Selassie, Tana Qirqos, a ferry service links Bahir Dar with Gorgora via Dek Island and various lakeshore villages. There is also Zege Peninsula on the southwest portion of the lake, Zege is the site of the Azwa Maryam monastery. About 70% of the species in the lake are endemic. This includes one of two known cyprinid species flocks, which consists of fifteen relatively large, up to 1 m long. Eight of these are piscivorous and an important prey is the small Barbus tanapelagius, other noteworthy endemic species are Afronemacheilus abyssinicus, which is one of only two African stone loaches, and the tana subspecies of the Nile tilapia. Lake Tana supports a fishing industry, mainly based on the Labeobarbus barbs, Nile tilapia
16.
Begemder
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Begemder was a province in the northwestern part of Ethiopia. There are several proposed etymologies for the name Begemder, one is that it came from Bega plus meder, as an inscription of Emperor Ezana of Aksum describes his movement of 4,400 conquered Beja to a not yet located province named Matlia. In Gumuz, /ɓaga/ means people and this is how they refer to themselves, thus, Begemder likely refers to land of the Gumuz just as Agaumeder refers to land of the Agau. Another etymology is that the first two come from the Geez baggi for sheep, although Beke claimed that sheep have never been pastured there. The earliest recorded mention of Begemder was on the Fra Mauro map, while Emperor Lebna Dengel, in his letter to the King of Portugal, also described Begemder as a kingdom, he included it as a subdivision of his empire. During the later 18th century, its capital was at Filakit Gereger, begemders boundaries were revised as a result of Proclamation 1943/1, which created 12 taklai ghizats from the existing 42 provinces of varying sizes. A comparison of the two maps in Margary Perhams The Government of Ethiopia shows that Semien and Wolqayt provinces were added to Begemder, history of Ethiopia Subdivisions of Ethiopia
17.
Inheritance
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Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ between societies and have changed over time, a person does not become an heir before the death of the deceased, since the exact identity of the persons entitled to inherit is determined only then. There is a concept of joint inheritance, pending renunciation by all but one. In modern law, the inheritance and heir refer exclusively to succession to property by descent from a deceased dying intestate. Some ancient societies and most modern states employ egalitarian inheritance, without discrimination based on gender and/or birth order, the Quran also presented efforts to fix the laws of inheritance, and thus forming a complete legal system. This development was in contrast to societies where rules of inheritance varied considerably. Furthermore, the Quran introduced additional heirs that were not entitled inheritance in pre-Islamic times, mentioning nine relatives specifically of which six were female, in addition to the above changes, the Quran imposed restrictions on testamentary powers of a Muslim in disposing his or her property. In their will, a Muslim can only give out a maximum of one third of their property, the Quran contains only three verses that give specific details of inheritance and shares, in addition to few other verses dealing with testamentary. But this information was used as a point by Muslim jurists who expounded the laws of inheritance even further using Hadith. Nowadays, inheritance is considered a part of Sharia law and its application for Muslims is mandatory, though many peoples. The father —that is, the owner of the land— bequeaths only to his male descendants, if there were no living sons and no descendants of any previously living sons, daughters could inherit. In Numbers 27, 1-4, the daughters of Zelophehad of the tribe of Manasseh come to Moses and ask for their fathers inheritance, as they have no brothers. The order of inheritance is set out in Numbers 27, 7-11, a mans sons inherit first, daughters if no sons, brothers if he has no children, and so on. So a further rule is laid down, if a daughter inherits land, the tractate Baba Bathra, written during late Antiquity in Babylon, deals extensively with issues of property ownership and inheritance according to Jewish Law. The first, often abbreviated to Mishneh Torah, was written by Maimonides and was important in Jewish tradition. All these sources agree that the son is entitled to a double portion of his fathers estate. This means that, for example, if a father left five sons, if he left nine sons, the firstborn receives a fifth and each of the other eight receive a tenth. If the eldest surviving son is not the son, he is not entitled to the double portion
18.
History of Ethiopia
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The Ethiopian Empire was first founded by Habesha people in the Ethiopian Highlands. One of the earliest kingdoms to rise to power in the territory was the kingdom of Dmt in the 10th century BCE, the Aksumite empire fell into decline with the rise of Islam, forcing the Ethiopians to move south into the highlands for refuge. The Aksumites gave way to the Zagwe Dynasty who established a new capital at Lalibela, during the early Solomonic period Ethiopia went through military reforms and imperial expansion that made it dominate the Horn of Africa. Portuguese missionaries arrived at this time, in 1529, a conquest of Abyssinia by the Somali Muslim Adal Sultanate allied with the Ottoman Empire devastated the highlands, and was only deterred by a Portuguese intervention. With both Ethiopia and Adal greatly weakened by the war, the Oromo people were able to invade into the highlands, conquering the remains of the Adal Sultanate and pushing deep into Ethiopia. The Portuguese presence also increased, while the Ottomans began to push into what is now Eritrea, creating the Habesh Eyalet. A new capital was established at Gondar in 1632, and a period of peace, Ethiopia was reunified in 1855 under Tewodros II, beginning Ethiopias modern history. Ethiopia began to go through a slow modernisation process under a leadership of Yohannes IV, Emperor Yohannes fought and won wars against Egyptians, Italians and Mehadists to keep his people free from foreign invaders. He was killed in action in 1889, under Menelik II Ethiopia defeated an Italian invasion in 1896 and came to be recognised as a legitimate state by European powers. A more rapid modernisation took place under Menelik II and Haile Selassie, the Italian army managed to occupy parts of the country from October 1935-May 1940 under a military occupation. A joint force of British and Ethiopian rebels managed to drive the Italians out of the country in 1941, Haile Selassie was overthrown in 1974 and the militaristic Derg Regime came to power. In 1977 Somalia invaded to try and annex the Ogaden region, but were pushed back by Ethiopian, Soviet, in 1977 and 1978 the government tortured or killed hundreds of thousands of suspected enemies in the Red Terror. After a famine in 1984 killing 1 million people, the Derg fell in 1991, Ethiopia remains impoverished, but its economy has become one of the worlds fastest growing. It was not until 1963 that evidence of the presence of ancient hominids was discovered in Ethiopia, many years after similar such discoveries had been made in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania. The discovery was made by Gerrard Dekker, a Dutch hydrologist, since then many important finds have propelled Ethiopia to the forefront of palaentology. The oldest hominid discovered to date in Ethiopia is the 4.2 million year old Ardipithicus ramidus found by Tim D. White in 1994, lucys taxonomic name, Australopithecus afarensis, means southern ape of Afar, and refers to the Ethiopian region where the discovery was made. Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago, there have been many other notable fossil findings in the country. Near Gona stone tools were uncovered in 1992 that were 2.52 million years old, in 2010 fossilised animal bones, that were 3
19.
Habesh Eyalet
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Habesh Eyalet, was an Ottoman eyalet. It was also known as the Eyalet of Jeddah and Habesh, as Jeddah was its chief town and it extended on the areas of coastal Hejaz and Northeast Africa that border the Red Sea basin. On the Northeast African side, it comprised Massawa, Hirgigo, Suakin, like Ottoman control in North Africa, Yemen, Bahrain, and Lahsa, the Ottomans had no effective, long term control outside of the ports where there was a direct Ottoman presence and garrison. In 1517, the Ottoman Turks conquered the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria, as such, territories of the Sultanate including Jeddah and Mecca were controlled by the Ottomans. Jeddah was then expanded for the purpose of protecting the borders of the Ottoman Empire from Portuguese invasions, the Ottoman Empire then began extending its borders throughout the rest of the Red Sea coast. Muslim rulers from Sudan and the Arabian Peninsula were dominant in the African Red Sea coast until the Ottoman Turks arrived in the 16th century. The ports of Suakin and Massawa were occupied by Özdemir Pasha, who had been appointed beylerbey in 1555, Massawa being of secondary economical importance, the administrative capital was soon moved across the Red Sea to Jeddah. The Ottoman Turks made multiple advances further inland conquering Medri Bahri, a sanjak of Ibrim was established in the 1560s. In 1571, the governor of Habesh moved to break a siege of Suakin by forces of the Funj kingdom, the expansion was halted in 1578, and the Ottomans retired from most of the highlands. During the following centuries, the Ottoman administration largely refrained from further interventions, only on the island of Massawa itself was there an Ottoman governor, who controlled trade and taxes, in Sawakin the Ottoman authorities appointed a customs officer. The garrison of Hirgigo, made up of Kurds, Albanians, Turks and Arabs, mixed with the population, their descendants keeping the Ottoman rents. There is very little in the way of material for Ottoman rule in the eyalet of Habesh after the 16th century. Most of Cengiz Orhonlus Ottoman sources on Habesh come from the late 16th century, despite the seminal nature of his Habesh Eyaleti, he could not find precise data regarding the administrative and financial structure of the province or information on any agricultural taxation. When the Ottomans became dominant in the Hejaz in 1517, Jeddah had been established as a sanjak under the authority of Beylerbeylik of Egypt, as Jeddah developed into an important centre of trade, the Ottomans turned Jeddah into a beylerbeylik itself. In the 18th century, it was attached to the eyalet of Habeş, in 1701, Suakin and the other Ottoman possessions on the African coast were put under the authority of the governor in Jeddah. After its combination with Jeddah, the eyalet gained importance, owing to the great distance from the capital, the Ottomans had little control over the Pasha of Jeddah, and their authority over the region was mostly nominal. Even before the takeover by Wahhabi rebels of most of Hejaz in 1803, the appointment to the governorship of Jeddah was said to be little esteemed, and considered tantamount to exile. Burckhardt also noted that the Pasha styled himself wali of not only Jeddah, but also Sawakin and Habesh, when Muhammad Ali successfully fought the Ottoman–Saudi War, he received the administration of Habesh in 1813
20.
Sultanate of Aussa
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The Sultanate of Aussa was a kingdom that existed in the Afar Region of eastern Ethiopia in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was considered to be the leading monarchy of the Afar people, Afar society has traditionally been divided into petty kingdoms, each ruled by its own Sultan. In 1647, the rulers of the Emirate of Harar broke away to form their own polity, the Imamate of Awsa was later destroyed by the local Mudaito Afar in 1672. Following the Awsa Imamates demise, the Mudaito Afars founded their own kingdom, at some point after 1672, Aussa declined in conjunction with Imam Umar Din bin Adams recorded ascension to the throne. In 1734, the Afar leader Kedafu, head of the Mudaito clan, seized power and this marked the start of a new and more sophisticated polity that would last into the colonial period. The primary symbol of the Sultan was a baton, which was considered to have magical properties. The influence of the sultanate extended into the Denkel lowlands of what is now Eritrea, after 15 years of rule, Kedafus son, Muhammäd Kedafu, succeeded him as Sultan. Muhammäd Kedafu three decades later bequeathed the throne to his own son, Ijdahis, who in turn would reign for another twenty-two years, according to Richard Pankhurst, these relatively long periods of rule by modern standards pointed to a certain degree of political stability within the state. Sultan Mahammad ibn Hanfadhe defeated and killed Werner Munzinger in 1875, in 1865, the newly unified Italy bought Asseb from a local Sultan, and led Sultan Mahammad to sign several treaties with that country. During the Second Italian-Ethiopian War, the Sultan Mahammad Yayyo agreed to cooperate with the Italian invaders, as a result, in 1943 the reinstalled Ethiopian government sent a military expedition that captured Sultan Muhammad Yayo and made one of his relatives Sultan. In 1975, Sultan Alimirah Hanfere was exiled to Saudi Arabia, Sultan Alimirah often came into conflict with the central government over its encroachment on the authority of the Sultanate. Aussa, which had been more-or-less self-governing until the Sultans ascension in 1944, had greatly weakened in power by the centralising forces of Haile Selassies government. In 1950 he withdrew from Asaita for two years in opposition, returning only two after following mediation by Fitawrari Yayyo. The Sultan sought to unite the Afar people under an autonomous Sultanate, while remaining part of Ethiopia, they had been divided amongst the provinces of Hararghe, Shewa, Tigray, and Wollo. In 1961, when it was clear the Eritrean federal arrangement was headed towards its demise,55 Afar chieftains in Eritrea met, in 1964 Afar leaders went to Addis Ababa to present Haile Selassie with their proposal, but the effort came up empty-handed. Upon Alimirah Hanferes death in 2011, his son Hanfere Alimirah was named his successor as sultan, Afar Region List of Sunni Muslim dynasties Mordechai Abir, The era of the princes, the challenge of Islam and the re-unification of the Christian empire, 1769-1855. J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia
21.
Zemene Mesafint
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The Zemene Mesafint was a period in Ethiopian history when the country was divided within itself into several regions with no effective central authority. It was a period in which the Emperors were reduced to more than figureheads confined to the capital city of Gondar. Some historians date the murder of Iyasu the Great, and the resultant decline in the prestige of the dynasty, others date it to the beginning of Iyoass reign. The most powerful lords during this period were Ras Ali I, Ras Aligaz, Ras Hailu Yosedeq, Dejazmach Wube Hailemariam, Ras Wolde Selassie, Ras Gugsa, Ras Ali II, however, the Yejju lords did have predominance or hegemony over the other lords of Ethiopia. The lords constantly fought against each other for aggrandizement of their territory, the monarchy continued only in name because of its sacred character. This nominal but divinely ordained monarchy preserved the dynasty from actual extinction, crummey, Rubenson, Abir and Shiferaw Bekele agree that in all the disintegration, chaos, and anarchy, the Yejju lords ruled the country in the name of the Solomonic dynasty. That being said, the term that needs to be precisely defined has to do with the appellation of the Yejju. Very often it is called the Yejju Dynasty, there is no problem with this name except that at times it created confusion with the Yejju province. It is preferable to call them by the name that they preferred and by what others called them. This appellation clearly refers to the rather than to the province. Scholars now agree that of the Wara Seh rulers, Ras Gugsas reign was characterized more by peace than by war, the power of the Wara Seh rulers was much more than predominance. They exercised actual authority over the other lords, the latter were their tributary lords and the Wara Seh were suzerains or overlords. To be sure, the Wara Seh did not exercise authority outside of the provinces directly under their rule. These provinces extended from Begemeder across Chachaho Pass to the Amhara provinces of Maqet, Wadla, Dalanta and they also had the right of confirmation in their offices when new lords came to power in one way or another. At times, they went to the extent of chaining some of their recalcitrant lords. However, the tenure of Yostos was brief and the throne came into the hands of the Solomonic house once again, the reign of Iyasu II had brought the empire once again to disaster. He ascended the throne as a child, allowing his mother, Mentewab had herself crowned as co-ruler, becoming the first woman to be crowned in this manner in Ethiopian history. Mentewabs attempt to strengthen ties between the monarchy and the Oromo by arranging the marriage of her son to the daughter of an Oromo chieftain from Yejju backfired in the long run, Iyoas further increased the favor given to the Oromo when adult
22.
First Italo-Ethiopian War
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The First Italo-Ethiopian War was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from 1895 to 1896. It originated from a treaty which, the Italians claimed, turned the country into an Italian protectorate. Full-scale war broke out in 1895, with Italian troops having initial success until Ethiopian troops counterattacked Italian positions and besieged the Italian fort of Meqele, forcing its surrender. Italian defeat came about after the Battle of Adwa, where the Ethiopian army dealt the heavily outnumbered Italians a decisive loss and forced their retreat back into Eritrea. This was not the first African victory over Western colonizers, according to one historian, In an age of relentless European expansion, Ethiopia alone had successfully defended its independence. The Khedive of Egypt Ismail Pasha, Ismail the Magnificent had conquered Eritrea as part of his efforts to give Egypt an African empire, Ismail had tried to follow that conquest with Ethiopia, but the Egyptian attempts to conquer that realm ended in humiliating defeat. Egypt had very much in the French sphere of influence until 1882 when Britain occupied Egypt. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 had turned the Horn of Africa into a strategic region as a navy based in the Horn could interdict any shipping going up. By building naval bases on the Red Sea that could intercept British shipping in the Red Sea, the French hoped to reduce the value of the Suez Canal for the British, and thus lever them out of Egypt. On 3 June 1884, a treaty was signed between Britain, Egypt and Ethiopia that allowed the Ethiopians to occupy parts of Eritrea and allowed the Ethiopian goods to pass in and out of Massawa duty-free. After initially encouraging the Emperor Yohannes IV to move into Eritrea to replace the Egyptians, in 1882, Italy had joined the Triple Alliance, allying herself with Austria and Germany against France. On 5 February 1885 Italian troops landed at Massawa to replace the Egyptians, the Italian government for its part was more than happy to embark upon an imperialist policy to distract its people from the failings in post Risorgimento Italy. To compensate, a chauvinist mood was rampant in Italy with the newspaper Il Diritto writing in an editorial, the year 1885 will decide her fate as a great power. It is necessary to feel the responsibility of the new era, to become again strong men afraid of nothing, with the love of the fatherland, of all Italy. On March 25,1889, the Shewa ruler Menelik II, having conquered Tigray and Amhara, Menelik II continued the policy of Tewodros II of integrating Ethiopia. However, the treaty did not say the same thing in Italian and Amharic. Italian diplomats, however, claimed that the original Amharic text included the clause, moreover, Menelik did not know Italian and only signed the Amharic text of the treaty, being assured that there were no differences between the Italian and Amharic texts before he signed. Francesco Crispi, the Italian Prime Minister was an ultra-imperialist who believed the newly unified Italian state required the grandeur of a second Roman empire, Crispi believed that the Horn of Africa was the best place for the Italians to start building the new Roman empire
23.
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
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The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a colonial war that started in October 1935, after a battle on 5 December 1934, and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire. The war resulted in the occupation of Ethiopia. Politically, like the Mukden Incident in 1931, the Abyssinia Crisis in 1935 is often seen as a demonstration of the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations. Italy and Ethiopia were member nations and yet the League was unable to control Italy or to protect Ethiopia when Italy clearly violated Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations, the victory also brought Mussolini unprecedented popularity within Italy. Shortly after the war, Ethiopia was consolidated with Eritrea and Italian Somaliland into Italian East Africa, the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 stated that the border between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia was twenty-one leagues parallel to the Benadir coast. In 1930, Italy built a fort at the Welwel oasis in the Ogaden, the fort at Welwel was well beyond the twenty-one league limit and the Italians were encroaching on Ethiopian territory. In November 1934, Ethiopian territorial troops, escorting the Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission, the British members of the commission soon withdrew to avoid embarrassing Italy. Italian and Ethiopian troops remained encamped in close proximity, in early December 1934, the tensions on both sides erupted into what was known as the Wal Wal incident. The resultant clash left approximately 110 Ethiopians and between 30 and 50 Italians and Somalis dead and led to the Abyssinia Crisis at the League of Nations, on 4 September 1935, the League of Nations exonerated both parties for the Wal Wal incident. The United Kingdom and France, keen to keep Italy as an ally against Germany, Italy soon began to build its forces on the borders of Ethiopia in Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. To this end, on 7 January 1935, France signed an agreement with Italy giving them essentially a hand in Africa to secure Italian co-operation. Next, in April, Italy was further emboldened by being a member of the Stresa Front, in June, non-interference was further assured by a political rift that had developed between the United Kingdom and France following the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. His comments stirred up a furor inside Japan, where there had been popular affinity for the African Empire, with an attack appearing inevitable, Emperor Haile Selassie ordered a general mobilization of the Army of the Ethiopian Empire. His new recruits consisted of around 500,000 men, some of whom were armed with nothing more than spears, many soldiers carried more modern weapons, including rifles, but many of these were from before 1900 and were outdated. Haile Selassies Mobilization Order stated, All men and boys able to carry a spear go to Addis Ababa, every married man will bring his wife to cook and wash for him. Every unmarried man will bring any unmarried woman he can find to cook, women with babies, the blind, and those too aged and infirm to carry a spear are excused. Anyone found at home after receiving this order will be hanged, according to Italian estimates, on the eve of hostilities the Ethiopians had an army of 350, 000–760,000 men
24.
Italian East Africa
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Italian East Africa was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somaliland, Italian Eritrea, during the Second World War, Italian East Africa was occupied by a British-led force including colonial and Ethiopian units. After the war, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea came under British administration, in 1949, Italian Somaliland was reconstituted as the Trust Territory of Somaliland, which was administered by Italy from 1950 until its independence in 1960. When established in 1936, Italian East Africa consisted of the old Italian possessions in the Horn of Africa, Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, and the recently annexed Empire of Ethiopia. Victor Emmanuel III of Italy consequently adopted the title of Emperor of Ethiopia, although having not been recognized by any other than Nazi Germany. Italian East Africa was briefly enlarged in 1940, as Italian forces conquered British Somaliland, however, the enlarged colony was dismembered only a year later, when in the course of the East African Campaign the colony was occupied by British forces. Italian East Africa, in Italian Africa Orientale Italiana, was acronymed in official documents as AOI, historians are still divided about the reasons for the Italian attack on Ethiopia in 1935. Other historians such as Pietro Pastorelli have argued that the invasion was launched as part of an expansionist program to make Italy the main power in the Red Sea area, Italys forces were far superior to the Abyssinian forces, especially in air power, and they were soon victorious. Emperor Haile Selassie was forced to flee the country, with Italian forces entering the city, Addis Ababa, to proclaim an empire by May 1936. Italian belligerence also closed the Mediterranean to Allied merchant ships and endangered British supply routes along the coast of East Africa, the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Egypt, the Suez Canal, French Somaliland and British Somaliland were also vulnerable to invasion, in the summer of 1940, Italy was far from ready for a long war or for the occupation of large areas of Africa. Hostilities began on 13 June 1940, with an Italian air raid on the base of 1 Squadron Southern Rhodesian Air Force at Wajir in the East Africa Protectorate, in August 1940, the protectorate of British Somaliland was occupied by Italian forces and absorbed into Italian East Africa. This occupation lasted around six months, by early 1941, Italian forces had been largely pushed back from Kenya and Sudan. On 6 April 1941, Addis Ababa was occupied by the 11th Division, makonnen Endelkachew was named as Prime Minister and on 19 December 1944, the final Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement was signed. Eritrea was placed under British military administration for the duration, and in 1950, after 1945, Britain controlled both Somalilands, as protectorates. British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960 as the State of Somaliland, the Trust Territory of Somalia became independent on 1 July 1960, the colony was administered by a Viceroy of Ethiopia and Governor General of Italian East Africa, appointed by the Italian monarch. The dominion was divided for administrative purposes into six Governorates. Fascist colonial policy in Italian East Africa had a divide and conquer characteristic, Italys Fascist regime encouraged Italian peasants to colonize Ethiopia by setting up farms and small manufacturing businesses
25.
East African Campaign (World War II)
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Ethiopian irregulars, the Free French and Belgian troops of the Force Publique also participated. The East African Campaign was the first Allied strategic victory in the war but was overshadowed by the British defeats in Greece and Crete. Italian belligerence also closed the Mediterranean to Allied merchant ships and endangered British supply routes along the coast of East Africa, the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Egypt, the Suez Canal, French Somaliland and British Somaliland were also vulnerable to invasion, in the summer of 1940 Italy was far from ready for a long war or for the occupation large areas of Africa. Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, was appointed Viceroy and Governor-General of the AOI in November 1937, with a headquarters in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. On 1 June 1940, as the commander in chief of Comando Forze Armate dellAfrica Orientale Italiana and Generale dArmata Aerea, Aosta had about 290,476 local, by 1 August, mobilisation had increased the number to 371,053 troops. About 70 percent of Italian troops were locally recruited Askari, the regular Eritrean battalions and the Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali were among the best Italian units in the AOI and included Eritrean cavalry Penne di Falco. Most colonial troops were recruited, trained and equipped for colonial repression, although the Somali Dubats from the borderlands were useful light infantry and skirmishers. Irregular bandes were hardy and mobile, knew the country and were effective scouts and saboteurs, although confused with Shifta. Due to the isolation of the AOI from the Mediterranean, the Italians had very little opportunity for reinforcements or supply, leading to severe shortages, especially of ammunition. On occasion, foreign merchant vessels captured by German merchant raiders in the Indian Ocean were brought to Somali ports, there were 183 first line aircraft and another 140 in reserve, of which 59 were operational and 81 were unserviceable. On the outbreak of war, the CAAOI had 10,700 t of fuel,5,300 t of bombs and 8,620,000 rounds of ammunition. The Italians had reserves for 75% of their strength, but lacked spare parts. The quality of the units varied, the SM.79 was the only modern bomber and the CR.32 fighter was obsolete, but the Regia Aeronautica in East Africa had a cadre of highly experienced Spanish Civil War veterans. The Regia Marina maintained the Red Sea Flotilla at Massawa in Eritrea on the Red Sea, the port was a link between Axis-occupied Europe and the naval facilities in the Italian concession zone in Tientsin in China. There were also limited port facilities at Assab, in Eritrea, the flotilla also had two local defence destroyers, the Orsini and Acerbi, a squadron of five Motoscafo Armato Silurante and eight submarines. When the Mediterranean route was closed to Allied merchant ships in April 1940, Allied convoys had to sail via the Cape and up the east coast of Africa, as Italian fuel supplies in Massawa dwindled, opportunities for the Red Sea Flotilla to attack Allied shipping declined. The British had based forces in Egypt since 1882 but these were reduced by the terms of the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936
26.
Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia
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The guerrilla campaign was fought following the Italian defeat during the East African Campaign of World War II, while the war was still on in Northern Africa and Europe. Nearly 7,000 Italian soldiers participated in this fight against the British Army, in the hope that the German-Italian army of Rommel would win in Egypt and retake the recently liberated territories. An Imperial War Museum brief history refers to several thousand escaped to wage a war until September 1943. There were originally two main Italian guerrilla organizations, the Fronte di Resistenza and the Figli dItalia, the Fronte di Resistenza was a military organization led by Colonel Lucchetti and centered in the main cities of the former Italian East Africa. Its main activities were military sabotage and collection of information about British troops to be sent to Italy in multiple ways, the Figli dItalia organization was formed in September 1941 by Blackshirts of the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale. They engaged in a war against the British troops and harassed those Italian civilians. Other groups were the Tigray fighters of Lieutenant Amedeo Guillet in Eritrea, in the first months of 1942, there were also Italian guerrillas in British Somaliland. While essentially on their own, the guerrillas occasionally received support, there were many Eritreans and Somalians who helped the Italian guerrillas. But their numbers dwindled after the Axis defeat at the battle of El Alamein in 1942 and these guerrilla units were able to operate in a very extended area, from northern Eritrea to southern Somalia. Their armament was made up mainly of old 91 rifles, Beretta pistols, Fiat and Schwarzlose machine-guns, hand grenades, dynamite, but they always lacked large amounts of ammunition. From January 1942, many of these Bande started to operate under the orders of General Muratori. He was able to encourage a revolt against the British troops by the Azebo Oromo tribe in northern Ethiopia, the revolt was put down by the British and Ethiopian forces only at the beginning of 1943. In spring 1942, even Haile Selassie I started to open channels of communication with the Italian insurgents. Their ambushes forced the British to dispatch troops, with airplanes and tanks, from Kenya and that summer, the British decided to put most of the Italian population of coastal Somalia into concentration camps, in order to avoid their possible contact with Japanese submarines. In October 1942, the Italian guerrillas started to lose steam because of the German defeat at the Battle of El Alamein and the capture of Major Lucchetti. He requested from the Italian War Ministry an aircraft loaded with equipment to be used for attacks in Eritrea. One of the last Italian soldiers to surrender to the British forces was Corrado Turchetti, the very last Italian officer who fought the guerrilla war was Colonel Nino Tramonti in Eritrea. De Martini received the Italian gold medal of honor, rosa Dainelli, a doctor who in August 1942 succeeded in entering the main ammunition depot of the British army in Addis Abeba, and blowing it up, miraculously surviving the huge explosion
27.
Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea
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The Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea or Ethiopian–Eritrean Federation was a federation of the Ethiopian Empire and Eritrea. It was created by the approval of the Federal Act in Ethiopia, prior to the annexation of Eritrea, the Chief Justice of Eritrea was removed and the official Eritrean languages were eliminated in favor of Ethiopias national language Amharic. During the Federation, the encroachment of the Ethiopian Crown was felt on the Chief Executive of Eritrea and this was in direct contravention of the UN Resolution 390-A which had established the Federation. The federal structure, or some semblance of it, existed between 15 September 1952 and 15 November 1962, on 15 November 1962, following pressure from Haile Selassie I on the Eritrean Assembly, the Federation was officially dissolved and Eritrea was annexed by Ethiopia. 390 – Eritrea, Report of the United Nations Commission for Eritrea, Report of the Interim Committee of the General Assembly on the Report of the United Nations Commission for Eritrea
28.
Eritrean War of Independence
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The Eritrean War for Independence was a conflict fought between the Ethiopian government and Eritrean separatists, both before and during the Ethiopian Civil War. The war started when Eritreas autonomy within Ethiopia, where troops were stationed, was revoked. Eritrea had become part of Ethiopia after World War II, when both territories were liberated from Italian occupation, Ethiopia claimed that Eritrea was part of their country. Ethiopias wishes were fulfilled after the United Nations General Assembly federated Eritrea to Ethiopia as a province as early as 1950, in April 1993, in a referendum supported by Ethiopia, the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favour of independence. Formal international recognition of an independent, sovereign Eritrea followed later the same year, the two main rebel groups, the Eritrean Liberation Front and the EPLF, fought the two Eritrean Civil Wars during the war of liberation. The Italians colonised Eritrea in 1890, in 1936, Italy invaded Ethiopia and declared it part of their colonial empire, which they called Italian East Africa. Italian Somaliland was also part of that entity, there was a unified Italian administration. Conquered by the Allies in 1941, Italian East Africa was sub-divided, Ethiopia reoccupied its formerly Italian occupied lands in 1941. Eritrea was made a British protectorate from the end of World War II until 1951, however, there was debate as to what should happen with Eritrea after the British left. The British proposed that Eritrea be divided along religious lines with the Christians to Ethiopia, then, in 1952, the UN decided to federate Eritrea to Ethiopia, hoping to reconcile Ethiopian claims of sovereignty and Eritrean aspirations for independence. About nine years later, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie dissolved the federation and annexed Eritrea, during the 1960s, the Eritrean independence struggle was led by the Eritrean Liberation Front. The independence struggle can properly be understood as the resistance to the annexation of Eritrea by Ethiopia long after the Italians left the territory, at first, this group factionalized the liberation movement along ethnic and geographic lines. The initial four zonal commands of the ELF were all lowland areas, few Christians joined the organization in the beginning, fearing Muslim domination. After growing disenfranchisement with Ethiopian occupation, highland Christians began joining the ELF, typically these Christians were part of the upper class or university-educated. This growing influx of Christian volunteers prompted the opening of the fifth command, internal struggles within the ELF command coupled with sectarian violence among the various zonal groups splintered the organization. The war started on 1 September 1961 when Hamid Idris Awate and his companions fired the first shots against the occupying Ethiopian Army, in 1962, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia unilaterally dissolved the federation and the Eritrean parliament and annexed the country. In 1970 members of the group had an out. During this time, the ELF and the groups later joined together to form the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front fought a bitter civil war
29.
Ethiopian Civil War
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The Ethiopian Civil War began on 12 September 1974 when the Marxist Derg staged a coup détat against Emperor Haile Selassie. The civil war lasted until the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front, the war left at least 1.4 million dead. In March 1975, revolutionaries abolished the monarchy, the Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen went into exile in London, where several other members of the Imperial family lived. The other members who were still in Ethiopia at the time of the revolution were imprisoned, in 1975 his father, Emperor Haile Selassie, died in detention. In 1977 his daughter, Princess Ijigayehu, died in detention, members of the Imperial family remained imprisoned until 1988 and 1989. Like the Derg, it was Marxist, brutal tactics were used by both sides, including executions, assassinations, torture and the imprisonment of tens of thousands without trial, most of whom were innocent. The Ethiopian Red Terror was the urban guerrilla chapter of the brutal war, at the same time the Derg faced an invasion from Somalia in 1977, which sought to annex the eastern parts of Ethiopia, predominantly inhabited by Somalis. The Ethiopian army was able to defeat the Somali army, though only with military assistance from the Soviet Union. Most industries and private urban real-estate holdings were nationalized by the Derg in 1975, during the revolution the Derg fulfilled its main slogan of Land to the Tiller by redistributing land that once belonged to landlords to the peasant tilling the land. Insurrections against Derg rule sprang up particularly in the regions of Tigray. Hundreds of thousands were killed as a result of the Red Terror, the Derg continued its attempts to end the rebellions with military force. There was some fear that Mengistu would fight to the end for the capital, but after diplomatic intervention by the United States, he fled to asylum in Zimbabwe. The EPRDF immediately disbanded the Workers Party of Ethiopia and arrested almost all of the prominent Derg officials shortly afterwards, in December 2006,72 officials of the Derg were found guilty of genocide. Thirty-four people were in court,14 others died during the process and 25. The Derg recognized and acknowledged that the TPLF was gaining supporters and strength, which was a direct threat to its regime. So, in an attempt to undermine TPLF support, the Derg began restricting the sale of agricultural implements to peasants in an effort to cut food production. )This plan ended up backfiring, causing harm to the military which forced the Derg to drop the practice. Peasants coming from areas of TPLF strength ran the risk of imprisonment for being suspected Front supporters, for those who remained in the Derg-garrisoned towns, life was difficult, particularly for women who were frequently the victims of assault and rape. Explaining the conditions under the regime, a Maichew resident said and it was a soldiers government and you had to give soldiers food, tej, whatever they wanted
30.
Ethiopian general election, 2005
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This election succeeded in attracting about 90% of the registered voters to the polls. A government ban on protests was imposed throughout the election period, EU observers remarked on the significantly enlarged freedoms for political campaigning in comparison to previous elections. Political parties campaigned actively, and opposition parties appeared to be active in the rural areas. The observer mission described the atmosphere during the campaign was calm, despite this, opposition parties alleged numerous cases of intimidation, and arrests of its supporters. While the EU observers could not investigate all of the alleged cases, international human rights groups likewise cataloged a number of cases of human rights violations. However, the EU observers wrote in their report, they recorded no arrests of EPRDF supporters for campaign offences. Towards the close of the campaigning, the became more vicious. The Prime Minister made the same comparison on 5 May in relation to the CUD, the EPRDF made the same associations during its free slots on radio and TV. The opposition coalition UEDF then used the comparison against the government in a TV spot showing footage of the movie Hotel Rwanda, such rhetoric is unacceptable in a democratic election. Early results showed the opposition with a big lead, sweeping all of the seats in the capital Addis both in the race for parliamentary as well as local government. By the afternoon of 16 May, the opposition claimed it was halfway towards winning a majority in the parliament with only about a third of the constituencies reporting complete results. That was a significant improvement over the 12 seats the opposition had in the previous parliament, by law, the NEBE was required to announce the official results on 8 June. The next official report from the NEBE, released on 27 May, showed that the EPRDF had won 209 seats, the report indicated the opposition parties had won 142 seats. These results are provisional, and these results could change because we are looking into complaints by some of the parties, counting was slow, a remarkably high number of ballots were ruled invalid, and there was a lack of transparency in the results. Result sheets were only displayed at 29 per cent of polling stations observed and 36 per cent of urban polling stations observed at the completion of counting. In 25 per cent of polling stations observed, political party representatives were not provided with a copy of the results. The situation only deteriorated with the day, according to the observers, starting with a blanket ban, issued immediately after the end of voting. State media published statements by government/EPRDF personnel claiming victory in the elections, despite the fact that counting was still underway, incidents involving students started on the night of 5 June and extended on 6 and 7 June with hundreds being arrested
31.
Military history of Ethiopia
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The military history of Ethiopia dates back to the foundation of early Ethiopian Kingdoms in 980 BC. From 1895 to 1896, the First Italian-Abyssinian War was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ethiopian Empire, unlike most of Africa, Ethiopia was able to avoid being conquered by the European powers. In 1895, Italian armed forces invaded Ethiopia from Eritrea, but, because Ethiopia had established a single and incorporated army and broke ethnic barriers to unite, the Italian regular forces were decisively defeated within a year at the Battle of Adwa. Special role for this purpose was played by the Russian military advisers and volunteers of Menyliks army, the Ethiopian army became more effective by what Britannic colonial forces. The numerous expeditions of Ethiopian forces stopped colonial expansion, as could to write the Alexander Bulatovich - Many consider the Abyssinian army to be undisciplined. They think that it is not in condition to withstand a serious fight with a well-organized European army, I will not begin to guess the future, and will say only this. Over the course of four months, I watched this army closely and it is unique in the world. And I can bear witness to the fact that it is not quite so chaotic as it seems at first glance, and that on the contrary, it is profoundly disciplined, though in its own unique way. For every Abyssinian, war is the most usual business, and military skills and rules of life in the field enter in the flesh and blood of each of them. You see remarkable expediency in all the actions and skills of this army, in obedience to the agreement with Russia and the order of Menelik II, First Ethiopian officers had begun to be trained at the First Russian cadet school at 1901. 30-40 Ethiopian officers could to had military teaching at Russia for period 1901–1913, so Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam was one of them. In accordance with the order of emperor of Ethiopia, Nikolay Leontiev organized the first battalion of the regular Ethiopian army and it was presented to Menelik II, in February,1899. This battalion formed the cadre around which the army was organized, the company of volunteers was then organised from the former Senegal shooters, which he chose and invited from Western Africa. They were trained by Russian and French officers, the first Ethiopian military orchestra was organized at the same time. On October 3,1935, Fascist Italy invaded the Ethiopian Empire from Italian Eritrea, Italian forces were able to defeat the Ethiopian forces in eight months with superior manpower and advanced weaponry. The Second Italo-Abyssinian War, the Spanish Civil War, and the Mukden Incident are often seen as precursors to World War II, in 1941, after years of occupation, Emperor Haile Selassie I returned to what was now called Italian East Africa. With the help of the British, the Emperor led an uprising to drive the Italian Army from his country, in 1941, after years of occupation, Emperor Haile Selassie I returned to what was now called Italian East Africa. With the help of the British and the Congolese Force Publique, indeed, when Italy entered World War II, Ethiopia was still under Italian occupation as part of Italian East Africa
32.
Ethiopian birr
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The birr is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. Before 1976, dollar was the official English translation of birr, today, it is officially birr in English as well. Thus, the currency could be considered the Abyssinian birr and the post-1931 currency the Ethiopian birr, although it was the same country. 186 billion birr were in circulation in 2008, in the 18th and 19th centuries, Maria Theresa thalers and blocks of salt called amole tchew served as currency in Ethiopia. The thaler was known locally as the Birr or ታላሪ taleri, the Maria Theresa thaler was officially adopted as the standard coin in 1855, although the Indian rupee and the Mexican dollar were also used in foreign trade. The talari became the unit on 9 February 1893 and 200,000 dollars were produced at the Paris Mint in 1894 for Menelik II. The talari, equivalent to the Maria Theresa thaler, was divided into 20 ghersh or 40 bessa, a new Ethiopian coinage appeared about 1903. The new silver birr maintained the weight and fineness as the old, but there was now a quarter-birr and a silver ghersh. The money of account now became 1 birr =16 ghersh =32 bessa, the Bank of Abyssinia was established in 1905 by Emperor Menelik and the European banking group behind the National Bank of Egypt, the bank was officially inaugurated by Menelik on 15 February 1906. The Ethiopian coinage gained acceptance only gradually, and Bank of Abyssinia imported Maria Theresa thalers, by the time World War One broke out, the bank was still importing about 1,200,000 of these coins annually. Bank of Abyssinia put banknotes into circulation in 1915 and these notes were denominated birr in Amharic and thaler in English. They were used by merchants and by foreigners but were not initially accepted generally, however, Note circulation increased considerably after 1925. Emperor Haile Selassie bought out the Bank of Abyssinia in 1931 for £235,000 in order to make it a purely Ethiopian institution and it was reorganized as Bank of Ethiopia. At the same time, the currency was decimalized and token nickel and copper coins were introduced, the text on the banks notes appeared in Amharic and French. By the mid-1930s circulation consisted chiefly of Maria Theresa and Menelik talari. In an effort to increase the use of Italian paper money, the rate for silver coin was raised to 4.50 lire, then to 5.00. Still, many kept their Ethiopian coins and banknotes. Regular Italian coins and banknotes of Banca dItalia circulated after 15 July 1936, special notes with a red overprint were authorized for Italian East Africa on 12 September 1938, and a large quantity was printed
33.
Aksumite currency
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Aksumite currency was coinage produced and used within the Kingdom of Aksum centered in present-day Eritrea and the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It was issued and circulated from the reign of King Endubis around AD270 until it began its decline in the first half of the 7th century. During the succeeding period, Mogadishu currency, minted by the Sultanate of Mogadishu, was the most widely circulated currency in the Horn of Africa. Aksums currency served as a vessel of propaganda demonstrating the kingdoms wealth and it also facilitated the Red Sea trade on which it thrived. The coinage has also proved invaluable in providing a chronology of Aksumite kings due to the lack of extensive archaeological work in the area. Though the issuing of minted coins didnt begin until around 270, though Aksumite coins are indigenous in design and creation, some outside influences encouraging the use of coins is undeniable. By the time coins were first minted in Aksum, there was trade with Romans on the Red Sea. Despite these influences, the coins were of indigenous design. Aksumite currency were first minted in the stages of the growth of the empire. The minting of coins began around 270, beginning with the reign of Endubis, gold seems to have been acquired from a number of sources. Gold probably came from Sasu, as well as more nearby Ethiopian sources, a gold trade from the southern areas of Ethiopia such as the medieval province/kingdom of Innarya has been attested from the 6th century and continued through James Bruces day. Gold also came from more northerly sources such as Gojjam, Beja lands, however, a recent gold exploration assay in Eritrea has found significant gold deposits at Emba Derho, and deposits are also attested at Zara in central-western Eritrea. While local sources of gold are attested during the Aksumite era, no mention of silver mines in the region exist until the 15th and 16th centuries. Though silver was imported as attested by the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, given the preponderance of silver coins, furthermore, a significant number of the silver coins contain gold inlays, which would have been unnecessary if silver were so rare that it had to be mainly imported. Silver may have obtained from the refinement of gold, which sometimes occurs naturally with silver in an alloy called electrum. Copper and bronze do not seem to have existed locally in the Aksumite empire, though the gold coins were certainly the most valuable issue, followed by the silver one, the exact relationship between the three issues is not known. The quality of the Aksumite coins were also controlled, usually of high purity. For example, the lowest purity of gold recorded thus far for Aphilas is 90 percent, early issues were often very close to their theoretical weights, and some were even over. )However, the weight of the coins tended to decrease over time
34.
Emperor of Ethiopia
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The Emperor of Ethiopia was the hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The Emperor was the head of state and head of government, with executive, judicial. A National Geographic Magazine article called imperial Ethiopia nominally a constitutional monarchy, the title of King of Kings, often rendered imprecisely in English as Emperor, dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, but was used in Axum by King Sembrouthes. However, Yuri Kobishchanov dates this usage to the following the Persian victory over the Romans in 296-297. The consort of the Emperor was referred to as the ətege, empress Zauditu used the feminized form nəgəstä nägäst to show that she reigned in her own right, and did not use the title of ətege. At the death of a monarch any male or female relative of the Emperor could claim succession to the throne, sons, brothers. Practice favoured primogeniture but did not always enforce it, Ethiopian traditions do not all agree as to exactly when the custom started of imprisoning rivals to the throne on a Mountain of the Princes. Taddesse Tamrat argues that this began in the reign of Wedem Arad. The potential royal rivals were incarcerated at Amba Geshen until Ahmed Gragn captured that site in 1540 and destroyed it, then, from the reign of Fasilides until the mid-18th century, rumors of these royal mountain residences were part of the inspiration for Samuel Johnsons short story, Rasselas. His claim to the throne was also helped by his marriage to that kings daughter, while the surviving records of these kings fail to shed light on their origins, this genealogical claim is first documented in the 10th century by an Arab historian. Interpretations of this vary widely. Some accept it as evident fact, at the other extreme, others understand this as an expression of propaganda, attempting to connect the legitimacy of the state to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Some scholars take an approach in the middle, attempting to find a connection between Axum and the South Arabian kingdom of Saba, or between Axum and the pre-exilic Kingdom of Judah. Due to lack of materials, it is not possible as of 2006 to determine which theory is the more plausible. The restored Solomonic dynasty, which claimed descent from the old Aksumite rulers, ruled Ethiopia from the 13th century until 1974, the most significant usurper was Kassa of Kwara, who in 1855 took complete control over Ethiopia and was crowned Tewodros II. After his defeat and demise, another Solomonic dynasty, Dejazmatch Kassai took over as Yohannes IV, however, the most famous post-Theodorean Emperors were Yohannes IV, Menelik II and Haile Selassie. Emperor Menelik II achieved a military victory against Italian invaders in March 1896 at the Battle of Adwa. Menelik lost Eritrea to Italy and Djubouti to France, after Menelik, all monarchs were of distaff descent from Solomonics
35.
Gudit
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Her deeds are recorded in the oral tradition and mentioned incidentally in various historical accounts. Information about Gudit is contradictory and incomplete, henze wrote, She is said to have killed the emperor, ascended the throne herself, and reigned for 40 years. Accounts of her violent misdeeds are still related among peasants in the north Ethiopian countryside, henze continues in a footnote, On my first visit to the rock church of Abreha and Atsbeha in eastern Tigray in 1970, I noticed that its intricately carved ceiling was blackened by soot. The priest explained it as the work of Gudit, who had piled the church full of hay, Gudit is known as ´Esato in Amharic, which means fire. Gudit is so related to the destruction of the Axumite Empire and this would agree with the numerous references to matriarchs ruling the Sidamo polities. If she was not of Hebrew, Israelite or Jewish origin, she might have been a convert to Judaism by her husband, known as Zenobis, local traditions around Adi Kaweh where she allegedly died and was buried indicate her faith was pagan-Hebraic, rather than Israelite or Jewish. It was during the office of Patriarch Philotheos of Alexandria when Gudit started her revolt, as Taddesse Tamrat explains, at the time his own death in the conflict, and the military reverses of the kingdom were taken as divine retribution for the sufferings of Abuna Petros. This chronological synchronicity with the tenure of Patriarch Philotheos, and the intervention of king Georgios II of Makuria, until today she rules with complete independence in her own country and the frontier areas of the country of the Haḍani, in the southern part of the habashi. Another historian mentions that the king of Yemen sent a zebra to the ruler of Iraq in 969/970 and she appears in the expansion The African Kingdoms for the HD Edition of the game Age of Empires II, available exclusively on Steam. 31–63 Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography article on Gudit
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