Les Voyageurs européens dans le Sud-Ouest éthiopien (1890-1910)

Abstract

1890-1910 : a course of twenty years when Emperor Menelik II extended his sovereignty over countries which today represent half, if not more, of the national territory. The restoration of the old Christian Empire of Zara Yacob (1434-1468) was made at the expense of French, English, Italian and Russian colonial conquests. In actual fact, the territories conquered by Menelik were coveted by European Powers seeking to control an unknown but supposedly rich land. Exploration and conquest were on the same footing. The Omo basin, unheard of in 1890, was explored, conquered and pacified during the twenty years that followed. The accounts of travellers — either scientists or ofFicers — testify of the fragility of colonial politics, as opposed to Menelik's achievements. Indeed, the few English and Italian attempts to annex South-West Ethiopia failed to stem Menelik's advance, helped, as he was, by the French and Russians. Apart from some exceptions — Bottego for instance — , most travellers were content with giving brief description for the benefit of the prosperous Geographical Societies of the time. In matter, thèse accounts were rather poor, but as a whole they were unintentionally typical of Ethiopian dynamism in baffling impérialiste plots.