Emperor Of Ethiopia Research Articles

Islamic Literacy and Scholarship in African Languages: The Case of Hausa in West Africa

Language is the main instrument in the wider spread and documentation of Islam and Islamic history in Africa and beyond. Historical development and rapid spread of Islam in African societies were historically accredited to African languages. The historic contact of the first Muslim generations with the Ethiopian emperor opens up the gate for the socio-linguistic development of translating Islamic dogma and messages into African languages. The Hausa factor in West African Islam is well noted in the writings of the early Muslim scholars. African linguistics contributions enhance the converts' literacy and develop a strong community of scholars of the highest historical relevance in the history of Islam in the African context. Africa is the home of about 2000 languages, Nigeria is with more than 556 languages, having Hausa leading the race with about 150 million speakers was rated as number 11 out of 7500 languages in the modern world as of 2022. Interestingly, about 85% of the Hausa native speakers are Muslims and about 69 percent of the Nigerian Muslim scholars are either Hausa natives or hausanized through Islamic activities in Hausaland. Thus, the spread of Islam in Africa was the handwork of African languages and not by the sword as alleged by the observers. My contact with Muslim scholars of various regions in Hausaland justified that, the technique of identification and naming Arabic alphabets are the same across the regions. In addition, the Ajami writing styles are the same. Hundreds of books and manuscripts are of the same orthography. These gave me the courage to investigate how it helps Islamic scholarship in the West African regions. This paper aims to study the role of Hausa Muslim scholars in the translation, naming, and adaptation of the 28 Arabic alphabets into the Hausa language which led to the innovation of Hausa Ajami writing and subsequent development of scholarship in the Hausaland. The paper would critically look into the Hausa-Arabic battle of alphabets treatment and the role of mother tongue in Islamic scholarship activities in West Africa Islam, with special emphasis on Hausa-speaking communities of West Africa.

Из архива профессора Д. П. Григорьева: к 250-летию Горного музея

The article continues the series on the history of geology and is devoted to the Natural Science Museum of the St. Petersburg Mining University, namely its mineral collection. From the letters found by the author in the archive of Professor D. P. Grigoriev’s
 archive, kept in the Russian Mineralogical Society we can learn, interesting information about the circumstances of the acquisition of certain collections and exhibits, and about people worthy to remain in the history of mineralogy. At the same time, wide connections of D. P. Grigoriev with industrial and academic organisations and his active work on the creation and dissemination of the doctrine of mineral ontogeny, which eventually became a section of the university course of mineralogy, were revealed. The letters were accompanied by photographs from the same archive. The aim of the article was to cover the history of Russian mineralogy as fully as possible, including the role of organisations and individuals, and to reconstruct details of their biographies. Some of the problems discussed in the letters are still relevant today. The reader's attention should be attracted by the names of statesmen Prince G. Orbeliani, Prime Minister of India J. Nehru, Emperor of Ethiopia H. Selassie, mineralogists A. E. Fersman, G. N. Vertushkov, Yu. S. Kobya­shev, name of the Ural historical deposits Gumeshevka and Vatikha, enterprise «Russian precious stones» mentioned in one context. The article is timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Mining Museum.

Interview with Nadia Nurhussein Black Land: Imperial Ethiopianism in African America

In October 2020, Adom Getachew interviewed Nadia Nurhussein about her recent book “Black Land: Imperial Ethiopianism and African America” published by Princeton University Press in 2019. Black Land delves into nineteenth- and twentieth-century African American artistic and journalistic depictions of Ethiopia, illuminating the increasing tensions and ironies behind cultural celebrations of an African country asserting itself as an imperial power. Nurhussein navigates texts by Walt Whitman, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Pauline Hopkins, Harry Dean, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, George Schuyler, and others, alongside images and performances that show the intersection of African America with Ethiopia during historic political shifts. From a description of a notorious 1920 Star Order of Ethiopia flag-burning demonstration in Chicago to a discussion of the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie as Time magazine’s Man of the Year for 1935, Nurhussein illuminates the growing complications that modern Ethiopia posed for American writers and activists who wrestled with Pan-African ideal and the reality of Ethiopia as an imperialist state. Black Land was Winner of the MSA Book Prize, from the Modernist Studies Association, finalist for the Pauli Murray Book Prize from the African American Intellectual History Society and shortlisted for the MAAH Stone Book Award from the Museum of African American History.

Ideological Differences in the Sino-Ethiopian Relations from the Early 1950s to the Late 1960s

Ethiopia and China have built strategic diplomatic relations over the last three decades. However, before growing to build arguably one of the most fruitful diplomatic relations of the twentieth century, the diplomatic relations between the world’s second-biggest economy and the country with the fastest economic growth in Africa knew a “dark” period between the 1950s going through the late 1960s. Incidentally, that was when China established fruitful diplomatic relations with many African countries. The present study analyzes the foreign policy model put in place by the then Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, a model established from the 1940s, solidified in the 1950s going until the decay of Haile Selassie’s hegemony in the late 1960s, and how this model did not fit the model adopted by their Chinese counterpart. The foreign policy implemented by China from the 1950s was incongruent with Haile Selassie’s dream for Ethiopia’s modernization inspired by the capitalists of the West. The paper examines the dynamics of the Sino-Ethiopian relations during the period that both China and Ethiopia strived to gain international recognition and explores the reasons that hindered China and Ethiopia from building fruitful diplomatic relations. From the perspective of the history of the Sino-Ethiopian diplomatic relations, the paper analyses the current state of the Sino-Ethiopian relations in Ethiopia under conflict.

The narrative of Zaga Christ (Ṣägga Krәstos): the first published African autobiography (1635)

AbstractIn the 1630s, a young traveller by the name of Ṣägga Krәstos (1616–38) crisscrossed Italy and France, claiming to be the heir of the late Ethiopian Emperor Yaʿǝqob and pledging to return to Ethiopia at the helm of a Catholic mission. While in Rome, intent on convincing the papacy of his identity, he authored a lengthy autobiographical statement that included a precise dynastic claim, an account of his father’s rise and demise, and an itinerary of his own journey from Ethiopia to Rome. Later, as he continued his journey, Ṣägga Krәstos shared his statement with his European acquaintances; once in Paris, he published it, dedicating it to Anne of Austria, Queen of France. This article sketches the contours of Ṣägga Krәstos’s journey and identity and offers a comprehensive genealogy of the autobiographical statement’s many extant versions. It also discusses the transfiguration that both his reputation and statement underwent after his death. Ṣägga Krәstos’s is the earliest known autobiography voluntarily written and published in Europe by an African-born author. Following this article is a complete annotated translation – the first in the English language – of what is likely to be the earliest extant version of the statement, followed by excerpts from later versions. A complete transcription of the source is available with the online supplementary materials published with this article.

Historical orientation of Yohannes IV Palace in Mekelle, Tigray State, Ethiopia, from the aspects of planning and building techniques

AbstractThe Yohannes IV Palace, located in Mekelle, the present regional capital of Tigray, Ethiopia, was constructed in the 1880s supervised by the Italian craftsman Giacomo Naretti. This study aims to clarify its historical orientation by analyzing its location, planning, and building elements, by considering Naretti’s contribution, the building’s relationship with local masonry buildings, and the characteristics of the preceding Ethiopian palace quarters. Through the research activities, it becomes clear that the palace’s locational characteristics are in common with the preceding Ethiopian palace sites, especially Gonder. Its planning methods are similar to that of the former residential site of Yohannes IV, which was constructed without foreign builders. Its basic building elements were derived from the former Tigray’s church buildings. Although these results suggest that the palace was a local product of the Ethiopian emperor Yohannes IV, the contribution of Naretti was also evident in more detailed elements of the palace such as the use of elaborate materials, decorative wooden works, stone arches, plaster, and its symmetrical appearance. These design achievements were most likely realized through Naretti’s observation of the local building techniques and the natural environment, and his training of the local craftsmen during his stay in Ethiopia from 1871.

Morten Harboe (1929‐2021), one of the founders of Scandinavian Journal of Immunology

Morten Harboe (1929‐2021), one of the founders of Scandinavian Journal of Immunology

Az utolsó császár Magyarországon – Hailé Szelasszié 1964-es látogatása

The visit of the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie on 20-23 September 1964 was one of the most important events of the Hungarian foreign relations that time. This article aims to examine the circumstances of the meeting and its effects on the Ethio-Hungarian relations. The main statement of the paper is that although the visit did not bring a breakthrough in the collaboration, it helped to strengthen and fill with content the fresh connection between the parties, and it also determined the main frameworks of cooperation for the next two and half decades. Furthermore, the negotiations bred important practical experiences for the Hungarian administration, which knowledge helped not only in the relations with the developing world, but also in the wider international arena.

The Twice-Told Tale: Ethiopia, Race, and the Veil of Signs

This paper examines the retelling of the story of Ethiopia in the Ethiopianist and pan-Africanist movements of the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. In this story, the trope of Ethiopia, which had been deployed in ancient history to signify Africa as racial other, is appropriated by Africans living on the continent and in the diaspora to signify the liberation of African people from both colonial rule and cultural alienation. Nevertheless, while Ethiopia is deployed as a trope of racial difference and race-based cultural aspirations, the demarcation it marks between self and other is indeterminate and ambiguous. This demarcation is unstable insofar as the trope of Ethiopia, and what it signifies in the world of the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, is defined not only by the cultural or religious meanings accrued over a period of almost thirty centuries, but also by the imperial politics of modern Ethiopia in the period under consideration. This politics crystallises around the coronation of Haile Selassie as emperor of Ethiopia in 1930, and marks both the culmination of the historical deployment of the Ethiopian trope and its moment of deconstruction.Keywords: Race, colonialism, Ethiopianism, pan-Africanism

The Rhinoceros-Horn Beakers of Menelik II of Ethiopia: Materiality, Ritual, and Kingship

Three rhinoceros-horn beakers, now held in storage at the Smithsonian Institution, were the most valuable gifts among many given by Menelik II, emperor of Ethiopia (1889–1913), to the United States ambassador (Herman) Hoffman Philip between 1909 and 1910. Ethiopia, surrounded on all sides by colonial powers, sought the United States as an ally to uphold its independence, while the United States was interested in opening Ethiopian markets to manufactured cotton. This article reconstructs both the ideology and diplomatic intent of this encounter through the gifting of the horn beakers. Since rhinoceros horn was considered medicinal in Ethiopian pharmacology, the cups demonstrate both the emperor’s concerns with being poisoned and, by proxy, the symbolic health of the diplomatic encounter. The cups are also situated within the imperial banquet to serve honey wine. I hereby illustrate that the use and display of the beakers in this setting were allegories for Ethiopian imperialism and historicism, enacted through the mechanism of stacking and distributing the cups among the invited guests.

Emperor Menilek II and the Art of Manuscript Illumination: The Politics of Representation in Nineteenth-Century Ethiopia

Abstract Menelik II was both King of Shewa (1865–1888) and Emperor of Ethiopia (1889–1912). In the late nineteenth century he was confronted with issues unique to the era of European colonization in Africa. This paper examines Menelik II’s use of the visual arts in expressing and communicating ideas about royal authority and power. I examine several illuminated manuscripts commissioned by Menelik II. The books document how Menelik II borrowed and adapted objects and symbols from Ethiopia’s ancient past as a Christian power. Menelik realized that his image as an African ruler who retained his independence was unique within the contexts of late nineteenth-century Africa, wherein the entire continent was colonized except for Liberia and Ethiopia. Menelik II used the traditional Christian art of manuscript illumination in Ethiopia to create visual images that symbolically reinforced his authority as both a Christian and an African sovereign.

Ethiopia and Great Britain: A Note on the Anti-Slavery Protocol of 1884

Abstract The emperor of Ethiopia, Yoḥannǝs IV (r. 1872–89), signed a peace treaty with Britain in 1884, which ended the Egyptian–Ethiopian war. This treaty was negotiated by Rear Admiral Sir William Hewett on behalf of the British government. In the treaty’s appendix, Emperor Yoḥannǝs IV also signed an anti-slavery agreement in which he confirmed his will to eliminate the slave trade in all territories under his control. Although the “Hewett treaty” has received some academic interest, the slavery protocol went rather unnoticed. In this article, we will give an overview of the protocol, put it in its historical context, and present a critical edition and translation of the document. We analyze the protocol as written evidence for the British colonial agenda in the wider region of the Horn of Africa.

The ruler’s game of musical chairs: Shuffling during the reign of Ethiopia’s last emperor

Dictators frequently shuffle their officials to break up potentially threatening cliques within their regimes. Yet, how they go about rearranging their officials is not well understood. Using network analysis and focusing on the last emperor of Ethiopia, this paper offers a systematic analysis of shuffling by tracing the movements of subordinates over the course of thirty four years. The results show that while officials where frequently shuffled, their movements were confined within clusters of different branches. Such circumscribed movements, I argue, represent the mechanism by which dictators reconcile the tradeoff between suppressing potential rivals and encouraging expertise for the proper functioning of the state apparatus.

The House of Federation to Approve an Emergency Regime in Ethiopia: Peeking through the Preamble

The charismatic leadership of Emperor Menelik has not only earned Ethiopia numerous nations, nationalities and peoples but also convinced the European colonialists to recognize the boundaries and existence of Ethiopia as a sovereign state. Following the glorious years of Emperor Menelik, bounded by political intrigues around the throne, deftly organized hectic negotiations to firmly land Ethiopia in the international political and legal space, and solidifying the accomplishment of Menelikian expansionism, Teferi Mekonnen was finally crowned the Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. Questioning the existing political status of nations, nationalities and peoples came into the forefront during the reign of Haile Selassie although doomed to failure. The military government that assumed power in the footsteps of Haile Selassie was unsuccessful in the attainment of the request of ethno-nationalist political entrepreneurs who at the end brought down the government. The Federal constitution, in addition to making the right of the nations, nationalities and peoples’ non-derogable, has established the House of Federation to be composed of representatives of nations, nationalities and peoples. Above all, sovereignty is vested in the nations, nationalities, and peoples. Conversant to any imagination, the House that represents these groups is denied the authority to decide on issues of public emergency—a situation that threatens the life of the State. In consequence, this paper argues that power should be returned to the legitimate holders—the nations, nationalities, and peoples—a power to be exercised by the House of the Federation.

Influence of Reggae Music on the Economic Activities of EABIC Rastafarians in Jamaica

(2015). Influence of Reggae Music on the Economic Activities of EABIC Rastafarians in Jamaica. Caribbean Quarterly: Vol. 61, Why Jamaica?, pp. 42-59.

Sandy Holt-Wilson

Alexander Holt-Wilson (“Sandy”) was an ophthalmic surgeon who devoted his retirement years to tackling the problem of poor standards of eye care in the Gondar region of Ethiopia. He pioneered...

Evaluating the effects of Goddard's Hotel Silver DipTM on tarnished surfaces of a composite nineteenth century Ethiopian shield

This article presents the case study of the treatment of a composite shield presented by Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II to British diplomat Sir Rennell Rodd in 1897. The shield is now part of the collection at the Judge's Lodging Museum in Presteigne, Wales.Research focused on the shield's heavily tarnished decorative silver gilt elements. It considered the influence that the gilding technique and material composition had on corrosion mechanisms and the tolerance of the materials to chemical treatments, specifically the use of Goddard's Hotel Silver DipTM as a chemical tarnish remover. A range of analytical tools were used to confirm the shield's gilding technique, analyse corrosion products present on the gilded surfaces, and investigate the impact Silver Dip had on the integrity of the gilded metal, at both elemental and visual levels. Based on observations, detarnishing the shield's silver-gilt surfaces with Goddard's Hotel Silver DipTM was shown to be an effective and non-detrimental treatment, which helped to restore its aesthetic value and display potential.

Volker Matthies: The Siege of Magdala. The British Empire against the Emperor of Ethiopia

Review

Ex Africa Semper Aliquid Novi

Three hundred fourteen years ago on July 21, 1699, a French physician and apothecary, Charles Jacques Poncet, arrived in Gondar, Ethiopia.1 Gondar is the site of a study of physician satisfaction with laboratory service that this commentary considers.2 The study’s period is much more recent than that of Poncet’s adventure—the satisfaction survey at Gondar University Hospital was carried out only last year (March 1–25, 2012)—but Poncet’s experience, the first contact of modern Western medicine with Ethiopian society, can serve to introduce Gondar. Three centuries after Poncet’s Ethiopian sojourn, many North American and European physicians and medical scientists, including readers of this journal, find themselves drawn to practice in Africa. Besides East African and other practitioners in resource-limited settings, these Western medical venturers into sub-Saharan medical settings will find the report of Addis and colleagues2 of interest. Jacques Poncet was practicing in Cairo, Egypt, when representatives of the emperor of Ethiopia, the negus , engaged him to venture up the Nile to treat the emperor for a skin ailment.1 Poncet found reaching his patient, Iya’su I “the Great,” a challenge. It took a year to journey up the Nile. Poncet rode into Gondar debilitated by a gastrointestinal illness, probably dysentery, that had just claimed the life of his colleague, Pere Charles FX de Brevedent, SJ; Father de Brevedent, Poncet’s sole European companion, had succumbed just 12 days before the physician finally reached Gondar. African practice continues to present logistical obstacles and risks not usually experienced in resource-rich settings. The Gondar that Poncet entered was a major Ethiopian religious, cultural, and political center. In Poncet’s time, Gondar drew European missionaries such as Pere de Brevedent because it was the center of Ethiopian Coptic Christianity. Now, in the early 21st century, the Ethiopian Church is the largest Monophysite Christian …

The Ethiopian World Federation: A Pan-African Organisation among the Rastafari in Jamaica

in introducing his book on the early history of the Rastafari movement, Robert A. Hill mentioned the chronic historical myopia1 induced by the i960 report on the Rastafari movement written by M. G. Smith, Roy Augier and Rex Nettleford. Indeed, despite a few major references,2 research of a historical nature on Rastafari is lagging behind anthropological and theological enquiries. The cost of such disciplinary unbalance is high as results in the substitution of largely apocryphal statements in place of verifiable historical data,3 and produces a biased knowledge that often relies on particularly intense relationships between researchers and Rastafari. This essay aims to contribute to our knowledge of the Rastafari movement between 1937 and 1969, crucial formative years when Rastafari evolved from a voice suppressed in Jamaica to one receiving international recognition. The Ethiopian World Federation (EWF) is an important organisation in more ways than one: it was the first institution to emanate from a political decision made by Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, with respect to the black communities. Notwithstanding its fragility, it remains active today. The history of the EWF is totally disregarded despite the fact that it has structured the Rastafari movement in Jamaica and worldwide, and that the settlement in Shashemene, Ethiopia, is inseparably related to its existence and function. Weaving together archives, prints and oral history collected in the United States, Jamaica and Ethiopia, this paper dwells on the history of the foundation of the EWF, its establishment in Jamaica, and the struggles of Rastafari to be part of it.The foundation of the EWFWhile war was raging in Ethiopia, a mission was established in 1936 in Harlem, New York, representing several American black associations: the United Aid for Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Research Council and the Medical Committee for the Defense of Ethiopia. It was led by Dr Phillip Savory, accompanied by Reverend William Imes and Cyril Philips, who made a very discreet departure from the United States so as not to be obstructed by American authorities. They went to Bath, England, where the emperor was in exile. The delegates met with Haile Selassie, Melaku Beyen and Dr Charles Martin (Worqneh Eshete), to whom several documents were delivered, including strong criticisms of John H. Shaw, the consul - a white man - who represented Ethiopia in the United States. One pressing request of the mission was to receive a representative of the emperor on American soil, in order to lend legitimacy to the actions undertaken by various pro-Ethiopian associations and to channel the funds yet to be received by the emperor.4 Their request was approved and in September 1936, Melaku Beyen arrived with his family in New York to found the Ethiopian World Federation. They were welcomed by the delegates and other black personalities. It was a historic moment, the first fruit of a mission entirely designed and led by Afro-Americans with the view of opposing the aggression launched by a European nation on African soil. 5Melaku Beyen (1900-1940) had done his preparatory studies in Bombay, India; along with Beshawered Habte-Wold and Werqu Gobene, he was one of the first Ethiopians to have studied in the United States. All three were registered at Muskingum College in Ohio. Werqu never finished his studies, whereas Beshawered received his degree in chemistry in 1928 and Melaku his degree in economy in 1929. Melaku's stay in the United States was marked by his closeness to Afro-Americans. He recruited the aviators Hubert Julian and John Robinson for the emperor and married an Afro-American woman.6 Melaku was eminently qualified to succeed in the mission of federating the pro-Ethiopian organisations. On his return to New York in 1936, he re-encountered the racialised spaces which had changed little during his absence, and set quickly to work. He travelled throughout the United States, organised public meetings, made many speeches, and set up the Haile Selassie Fund Drive, aimed at the financial mobilisation of the black lower middle class and tradesmen in Harlem. …