History of Ethiopia

The Africa in general, and the Ethiopia more particularly, is in the middle of the history of humanity. During its history, Ethiopian civilization was with the crossroads of civilizations of sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. As from the 19th century and throughout the colonial period, the history of the Ethiopia is characterized by the independence which the country always knew to preserve. The Ethiopia shelters the remainders of oldest the known Hominidés. Today inter alia, Dinknesh (ድንቅነሽ), generally called Lucy in English, old of 3,18 million years, discovered in 1974 in the valley of Aouach (Awash) and exposed to the national museum of Addis-Abeba, where joined it Ardipithecus kadabba, a Hominidé from 5,2 to 5,8 million years), discovered in Ethiopia in 2001 by Yohannes Hailé-Sélassié.

At the origins of Ethiopia

Prehistory and first settlements

Some 160 archeological sites were discovered until now in the area of Soddo, in the south of Addis-Abeba, that of Tiya is one of most important. It includes/understands 36 monuments, including 32 steles presenting a made carved figuration of swords and enigmatic remained symbols. These steles testify to a culture proto-history of Ethiopia which one has not been able yet to date with precision. The field of stele of Tiya is classified with the world heritage of UNESCO.

Ethiopia and Country of Pount

There exists a confusion on the use of the word Ethiopia in the ancient period and modern times. The Greek old used the word Αἰθιοπία / Aithiopía which means “the country of the faces flarings”, of αἴθω / aíthô “to burn” and ὤψ / ốps , “face”, to designate the people living in the south of the ancient Egypt, in particular in the area now known under the name of Nubie; the modern use moved the significance of it further towards the south on the grounds known towards the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century under the name of Abyssinie. It is known today that during the ancient time the name Ethiopia was employed to indicate the area of the high valley of the the Nile of the South of the Egypt, also called Koush, which to the IV E were invaded by Axoumites, inhabitants of the high mountains of the edge of the Red Sea. The correspondence between the kingdom of Axoum and the name of the modern Ethiopia goes back to first half of the 4th century, where the inscription of the stele of Ezana in Ge' ez, southern alphabet Arabic and Greek translated “Habashat” (the source of the name Abyssiniae ) by Aethiopia into Greek.

The Encyclopædia Britannica of 1911 indicates that the bonds between the Egypt and the Ethiopia go up as of the twenty-second dynasty of the Pharaons d' Égypte, and that starting from the reign of Piânkhy, Pharaon of the twenty-fifth dynasty, time to other the two countries were placed under the same authority; the capital of these two empires was then located in the north of modern Sudan, with Napata. The first recordings of the Ethiopian activity come from the Egyptian tradesmen, around 3000 av. J. - C., which refer to the grounds of the south of the Nubie or Koush like the Pays of Pount or Your Néterou. The old Egyptians were experts of Myrrhe (originating in the Pays of Pount) as of the first and second dynasties, which indicates according to Richard Pankhurst the existence of a trade between the two countries as of the first hours of the ancient Egypt. J.H. Breasted poses in theory that this early commercial report/ratio would have been carried out while following the way of the the Nile and of its tributaries (i.e. the the Nile and the Atbara) rather than by the Red Sea.

The first voyage known with the Pays of Pount takes place with under the reign of the Pharaon Sahourê). The most famous forwarding nevertheless probably takes place during the reign of the Queen Hatchepsout in the neighborhoods of 1495 av. J. - C., such that show it the details of the frescos of the sanctuary of Deir el-Bahari of Thèbes detailing forwarding. The inscriptions depict a paying group of tradesmen of the “incenses, myrrh and grooves, but, ivory and ebony, feathers of ostrich, skins of panther and wood invaluable and some baboons, cynocephali crowned of the Thot god”. The detailed informations on these two nations are sparse, and there exist many theories about the localization and the nature of the relations which these two people maintained. The Egyptians called the Pays of Pount “Your Néterou. ”, meaning the " Ground of the Dieux" , that they regarded as the Earth of their origins.

Ancient Ethiopia

Towards 800 av JC le kingdom of Of MT appears in Ethiopia, localized around Yeha (regarded as being the capital) in the north of Ethiopia. The kingdom seems to have had very close relations with the kingdom sabéen of the Yemen. The only known inscriptions of the kings of Of MT include references to the kings reigning at the same time with the kingdom sabéen. The kingdom of Of MT developed processes of irrigation, used plow, cultivated the millet, and worked already iron to forge its own tools and its weapons. The remainders of an important temple going back to approximately 700 before J-C were preserved with Yeha, close to Axoum. The transition from Of MT to the kingdom of Axoum remains rather little included/understood still today.

In ancient Greece, the Ethiopian ones (Africans of the North-East in general including/understanding the Kouchite S) were regarded as loved crowned people of the gods. Homère evokes in Iliade (I, 423) the Gods of Olympe left to feast at the “Ethiopian ones without reproach”. Éthiopide , one of the epopee S of the Trojan Cycle, tells the adventures of the Ethiopian prince Memnon, come to help the Troyens. Memnon was regarded as one of the noblest heroes which took part in the Trojan War and one of the men most beautiful of its time, exceeded with the war only by Achille. According to a version of the myth, the gods admired it so much whom his death has, on the sword of Achille, they decided to grant immortality to him. According to Greek mythology, the Ethiopian ones acquired their dark skin color when the sun approached very close to their ground.

The Kingdom of Axoum

Zagwé

The Ethiopian Middle Ages

Under the dynasty of solomonienne, one distinguishes three large provinces in Ethiopia: the Striped (in North), the Amhara (in the center) and Choa (in the south). The government, or rather the supreme authority, generally sits in the Amhara or the Choa, whose leader, takes the title of Négus ( negusä nägäst , king of the kings, or emperor of Ethiopia). The title of Négus ( negusä nägäst ) is a considerable extension of the title of the leader, based on the recognition of its direct ascent of the King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; it is useless to announce that in much, if not the majority of the cases, this recognition were often done more by the force than the true purity of the line.

Towards the end of the 15th century of the Portuguese missions start to take place in the Ethiopia. Exits of an old belief having reigned a long time in Europe on the existence of a Christian kingdom in the Far East, various forwardings European had left to research the Christian kingdom the Prêtre Jean. Among the members of forwarding is in particular Pedro de Covilham, which arrives to Ethiopia in 1490, and, believer to have finally reached celebrates it kingdom, presents to the nägäst, a letter of the king of the Portugal, addressed to the Prêtre Jean.

Pedro de Covilham remains in the country, but in 1507 a Armenian of the name of Matthew sent by the emperor to the king of the Portugal comes to require its assistance of him to push back the Moslems. In 1520 a Portuguese fleet, enters the Red Sea in accordance with this request, a Portuguese embassy returns visit to the emperor Lebna-Dengel, and established in Ethiopia during approximately six years. Among this delegation the father Francisco Alvarez is, who will write one of the first Ethiopian historiographies bound for Europe. This description stops in 1527, beginning of the campaigns of Ahmed Gran.

Wars of Ahmed Grañ (1527-1543)

The Jesuits (1557-1633)

Birth of Gondar (1632-1769)

Until this period, monarchy lived in an itinerant way, strategy perfectly adapted to a means of attack and defense. The period of disorders during which Fazilidas is carried to the capacity brings it to seek a reinforced safety. It then orders the construction of reinforced structures, strengthened castles, always now visible in the area of Gondar. Yohannes I {{er}} will make there build a theological library, Iyassou I {{er}} its own palate and the church Debré Berhan Sélassié, Bakaffa of new palates and a historical documentation. It is under the effect of the local tyrants that Gondar will end up disaggregating.

Zamana-Mesafent (1769-1853)

End of the medieval era: of Théodoros II in Yohannes IV

Under the emperors Théodoros II (1855 - 1868), Yohannès IV (1872 - 1889), and Ménélik II (1889 - 1913), the kingdom started to emerge from its medieval insulation.

The emperor Théodoros II (or Theodore) II born under the name of Lij Kassa in Qouara, a small district of the Western Amhara, in 1818. His/her father was a small local leader, and one of his/her uncles, Dejazmach Kinfu, was governor of the provinces of Démbéya, Qouara and Chelga, between the Lac Tanned and the border in the North-West.

Kassa loses its death taxes with dead of Kinfu, being then a young boy. After having received a traditional education in a local monastery, it took the head of a group of plunderers which furrowed the country in an existence worthy of Robin of Wood. The account of its exploits quickly became famous, and its small band grows quickly cuts some until forming a true army.

He was then noticed by the regent then in place, the short-nap cloth Ali II of Hédjou, and his mother the empress Menen Liben Amede (woman of the emperor Yohannes III, puppet of the short-nap cloth Ali). In order to join Kassa, the short-nap cloth Ali and the empress arranged her marriage with the girl of Ali, and, with died of his uncle Kinfu, it was indicated chief of Kwara and all Dembea under the title of Dejazmatch. It enquit then to be conquered the remainder of divisions of the country, Godjam, the Striped one and Choa, which remained unsubdued then. The relations with its beautiful family (father and large mother) worsened then quickly, degenerating into armed conflict against them and their following. Kassa ends up gaining win.

February 11th, 1855, Kassa deposited the last of the Gondariens emperors, and was crowned negusa nagast of Ethiopia under the name of Théodoros II. He springs then soon with the conquest of the Choa to the head of an large army.

To the Choa, king Haile Melekot, descendant of Meridazmach Asfa Wossen, is opposed to him. Competitions of being able start to emerge with the Choa, and after a desperate attack and of low scale against Théodoros in Dabra Berhan, Haile Melekot dies of disease (in November 1855), designating in its last sighs his/her son then 11 years old to its succession, under the name of Negus Sahle Maryam (the future emperor Ménélik II).

Darge, brother of Haile Melekot, and Ato Bezabih, noble of the Choa, dealt with the young prince. But after a severe fight against Angeda, the Choa had to be resigned to capitulate. Sahle Maryam was entrusted to the emperor, was taken along to Gondar, and was high with the service of Théodoros, in a comfortable detention with the fortress of Maqdala. Thereafter, Théodoros then stuck to modernize and centralize the legislative and administrative structure kingdom, against the opinion and the resistance of its governors. Sahle Maryam of the Choa Maria with the girl of Théodoros II, Alitash.

In 1865, Sahle Maryam escapes from Maqdala, giving up his wife, and arrives at the Choa, where it is acclaimed as a négus.

When the Queen Victoria, with the head of the British Empire refused to reply to a letter of the emperor Théodoros II, of Ethiopia. Théodoros regarded that as an insult, and imprisoned several British residents, of which the consul then in place. The English empire then launches a true forwarding of 13 000 soldiers (of which 4 000 Europeans) under the orders of Sir Robert Napier, which is then sent of Bombay in Ethiopia. During the final battle of April 10th, 1868 has Arogué, a pouring rain put out of state rifles at wick of the Ethiopian army as the British historian McKelvie announces it, turning thus quickly to the advantage of the British however exhausted by the conditions of forwarding to the fortress of Maqdala.

The Ethiopian ones were overcome, and Maqdala (today known in Ethiopia under the name of Amba Mariam) falls on April 13rd, 1868. When the Emperor learns that the door of Maqdala had fallen, he prefers to give himself death, drawing in full mouth, to go. Sir Robert Napier insane of rage, orders to put it fire at Maqdala and the imperial library. The catch of Maqdala is the subject then of a true plundering, during which objects of a priceless value histories in addition to the set fire to library, as from other attributes of the clergy disappear. Some of these objects, to date, were still not returned to Ethiopia, in spite of the many complaints.

With died of Théodoros, many subjects of the Choa, among which the short-nap cloth Darge, was released, and the Negus young person of the Choa started to take importance after his victories at the time of some short campaigns against the princes of North. Its ambition was of short duration, since the Short-nap cloth Kassai of Striped reached the imperial title in 1872, proclaiming negusa nagast under the name of Yohannès IV. Sahle Maryam was then forced to recognize its legitimacy.

The interaction with the colonial powers

The reign of Yohannès IV

Yohannès IV arrives at the capacity in a contact of great instability following death of Théodoros. The whole of its reign will be marked by its will to defend the empire of the multiple external aggressions, at one time when the colonial powers seize the remainder of the African continent and threaten the Ethiopian empire. The opening of the Suez Canal returning the control of the area of an strategic importance.

In 1872, the Khedive of Egypt installs as governor with Massaoua, a Swiss adventurer named Werner Münzinger, occupies quickly Asmara, Kérén and the north of Ethiopia which he proclaims province of Egypt.

During the year 1875, the Egypt lance three scale campaigns against the Ethiopian empire. In September, Danish ex-colonel Ahrendrup accompanied by 4 000 Egyptian soldiers launches an offensive to the north of Adoua: the operation is a carnage for the Egyptian army. In October, Raouf Pasha attacks the Harar and settles there, it will be driven out by it in 1884 thanks to English giving the capacity to the emir Abdoullahi. In December, Switzerland Münzinger and its troops are massacred by the Afars in Haoussa.

In March 1876, takes place “one of the most important combat for the safeguard of Ethiopian independence”: the Ethiopian troops inflict two consecutive defeats with the Egyptian troops which counted 16.000 men, close to Gura (7 March 9th, 1876).

In 1878, seeking to put an end to the ambitions of its most powerful rival, Ménélik II, then Short-nap cloth of the Choa, Yohannès IV moves towards the Choa. The armed conflict is avoided and the treaty of Fitché is signed on March 20th, 1878, where Ménélik II gives up under negusa nagast.

On the edges of the Red Sea, the port of Assab, is bought by an Italian company with a local sultan, in 1870. After having acquired more and more grounds between 1879 and 1880, the unit ends up being bought by the Italian government in 1882. The same year, the count Pietro Antonelli is sent to the Choa in order to improve the prospections of the colony by concluding from the treaties with Ménélik II, then short-nap cloth of the province and the sultan of Aussa. February 5th, 1882, the Italians unload with Massaoua, in Érythrée, and block the coast. The British occupy Zeïla and Berbera. France settles with Djibouti and Tadjourah. The following year, Ethiopia conquers Aroussi and Ouolléga.

Short-nap cloth Alula, chief of the Asmara, demolishes the Italians with Dogali in January 1887. An army of dervishes inserts the troops of Négus in Godjam and invades Gondar which it ransacks and burns by massacring its inhabitants. The short-nap cloth Ménélik is victorious in Tchalénko. Its forces massacre 11.000 soldiers and seize some Krupp guns, annex Harrar and Iloubabor. Ménélik installs his/her cousin there the short-nap cloth Makonnén.

In 1888, the négus Yohannès IV lance a great offensive against the mahdists. The Ethiopian ones gain the Bataille of Matamma against an army of 70.000 men on March 9th, 1889.

Struck of a ball during the battle, Yohannès IV will die the shortly after the victory.

Ménélik II and the battle of Adoua

With the advertisement of died of Yohannès IV, Ménélik II of the Choa, is made proclaim Ménélik II of Ethiopia, and receives the tender of the provinces of the Begemder, of the Godjam, the Oromo S, and the Tigré. May 2nd of this same year, the emperor Ménélik sign the treaty of Wuchale with Italian, granting to them an area of the north of Ethiopia, which will be later known under the name of Érythrée and part of the Tigré, in exchange of 30&thinp; 000 rifles, ammunition and guns. The treaty was going to prove to be a decisive turn in the relations between Ménélik and the Italy. Indeed, article XVII which was the most important article of the treaty lent to dispute. According to the version Amharique, the Ethiopia could resort to the Italian authorities if she wanted to enter in relation to other countries. In the Italian version, the recourse to the Italy was obligatory.

Moreover being pressed on the Italian version, the Italy claimed to establish a protectorate in Ethiopia. Italian then occupied the town of Adoua to support their claims and informed the short-nap cloth Mangacha which was also governor of the province of the Tigré and wire of Yohannès IV that they would not withdraw as much as Ménélik would not have accepted their interpretation of the treaty of Wuchalé.

Menelik refused to yield to handling and denounced the treaty of Wuchalé on February 12th, 1893.

The Érythrée returns in war against Italy in December 1894. The Italians attack the short-nap cloth Mangacha and start to seize most of the province of the Tigré. The Ethiopian ones take again the advantage, in particular in Amba-Alagué, where the fiaourari Guébéyéhou Abba Gora makes gain the victory with its army at the price of its life, and in Maqalé, after a seat of the city occupied by the Italians.

Italian the Prime Minister Mr. Crispi, being caught some to the general, indicates that he “wanted a victory authentic, i.e. unambiguous!”. The Italians decide to pass to the offensive to Adoua, on March 1st, 1896.

Then engage the Bataille of Adoua, regarded as “one of the most important events of the modern history of Africa”, “one of the four major battles which the history of Ethiopia remembers”.

The Italian army then counted “18.000 men including 4.000 auxiliaries recruited on the occupied territories. ” Moving towards the collars of Rebi Arrienni and Kidané-Mehret where they thought of finding the army Ethiopian, Italian is taken by surprised by “40 to 50.000 Ethiopian (informed of their displacement) where they awaited them less”. To the fundamental error to underestimate their unfavourable, the Italian troops add a bad knowledge of the ground and strategic errors which will be fatal for them.

Carlo Conti Rossini indicates that the Italian losses rise with “289 officers, 4.600 white soldiers, a thousand of Eritreans (…) Immense sacrifice for an army which counted only 16.500 men” As of the following day, the repercussions are immense. The victory of Adoua has as well a direction determining for Ethiopia itself, by definitively doing one of the only countries not colonized of Africa, as for the rest of the world. At one time when all Africa is with the hands of European colonialism, the battle of Adoua starts to sound end the one era and a “premonitory” event like says it the historian Berhanou Abebe. “For the people which will fight the colonialism and the militants who will fight for freedom in Africa, in the Caribbean and the remainder of the Tiers-Monde, Adoua poses the bases of the négritude, the movement panafricanist and the movements for the civic rights to the United States” which will draw inspiration there.

A peace treaty is concluded with Addis-Abeba on October 26th, 1896, which recognizes “absolute independence and without reserves” of Ethiopia. Indicating that Ethiopia could extend its borders to the South and the East, doubling the surface of the Empire. Italy of its east coast consolidated on its possessions érythrée which will not lead to the one of the main issues for Ethiopia. From the interior point of view, Menelik grants to the same time, a first concession with a French railway company starting from the coasts Djibouti ennes, in 1894. The line extends until Dire Dawa, with the end of the year 1902. This choice will make Addis-Abeba and of Djibouti a central axis in the Ethiopian economy.

Died of Ménélik II, his/her son Ledj Iyasou, succeeds to him the throne. Ledj Iyasou is quickly criticized by the conservatives for its bringings together with Somali and Afar and its will to give same the rights to the Moslems within the Ethiopian unit. It is deposited on September 27th, 1916, feastday of Meskal in Ethiopia, by a coup d'etat carried out by members of the Christian nobility, and Zaouditu, girl Menelik and elder of Iyasou is made empress. His/her cousin, Close-cropped Tafari Makonnen, is designated as regent and successor with the throne.

The 20th century

Hailé Sélassié

In 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen is crowned emperor ( negusä nägast : king of the kings) under the name of Haïlé Sellassié I {{er}} (Force of the Trinity). Its reign is stopped when the Italian forces fascistic invade the country in October 1935 then occupy it in May 1936, after a war announcing the atrocities of the Second world war. The emperor, after a majority decision of the imperial Council, takes the way of the exile towards England in order to safeguard the national government. The call which it launches to the Société of the Nations, with Geneva, where it pleads the cause of its Member State with whole share of the organization, in June 1936, remains vain. Mussolini declares the king of Italy Victor-Emmanuel III new emperor of Ethiopia. In the country, a patriotic resistance takes form, in particular with the general Abebe Aragay. Five years later the British, French and Ethiopian forces pare the Italians out of the country and Haile Selassie recovers its throne. It penetrates as a winner with Addis-Abeba the May 5th 1941 (date celebrated since like the Jour of the Victoire ).

At the time of the following decades, the emperor Haïlé Sellassié endeavors to continue the modernization of the country. The first university of higher learning of the country is founded in 1950. The Constitution of 1931 is replaced by a new text in 1955 which increases the capacity of the Parlement.

The October 17th 1952, following a decision of UNO, the Érythrée, territory created by the Italians whom they had to give up with the defeat in 1941, is placed under Ethiopian sovereignty, within a federal framework. It is attached to the Empire by a vote of the Eritrean Parliament the November 14th 1962, fastening which thus returns to Ethiopia the access to the sea of which it is private since the arrival of Europeans at sea Rouge.

The italo-Ethiopian war

Addis Zemen

Stalinist dictatorship of Mengistu

After one period of disorders which starts in February 1974, an administrative counsel of soldiers, known under the name of Derg relieves Haïlé Sellassié, seizes the power and installs a Socialist government which quickly appears authoritative. The Derg summarily carries out 59 family members royal as well as generals and Ministers for the government of the emperor. Haïlé Sellassié is declared died the August 22nd 1975, perhaps strangled or choked in its palate.

Starting from 1975, the grounds are nationalized and 60.000 students are sent in the rural areas to explain the revolution with the peasants. A great part of them succumb to the assassinations, the diseases and the deprivations.

In December 1976, an Ethiopian delegation goes to Moscow and signs an agreement of military aid with the Soviet Union. In April, Ethiopia cancels its agreement of military aid with the the United States and expels the military forces based in Ethiopia ( Kagnew bases). In July 1977, Somalia of Syad Barré attacks Ethiopia to support the freedom fighters of the province of Ogaden. The conflict sees the defeat of Somalia in March 1978.

The lieutenant colonel Mengistu Haïlé Mariam assumes the capacity with the and report heading Derg as a president, after having assassinated his two predecessors. The years under Mengistu are remembered by a totalitarian government and the militarization of the country financed by the USSR and Cuba. In 1977 and 1978, thousands of people suspectées to be enemies of the Derg are tortured or killed. When the bodies are not abandoned with the Hyène S, the families must pay the ball which was used for the execution. This period is named “red terror”. The slogans announce: “For a killed revolutionist, thousand counter-revolutionaries carried out”. 30.000 students are put in prison and 5.000 are killed in only one week.

In 1983-1984, the government launches a campaign of “villagisation”: the rural populations are off-set towards the South of the country. Left with their own fate in full bush, moved there die of hunger per tens of thousands (Famine of 1984-1985): Mengistu wishes to empty the North of its inhabitants, because of their hostility to the mode.

Communism is officially adopted at the end of the years 1970. In 1984, the hard-working Party of Ethiopia (EWP) is created, and on February 1st, 1987, a new Constitution according to the Soviet style is subjected to a Référendum. This one is officially approved by 81% of the voters, and while following the Constitution, the country is famous “popular Democratic republic of Ethiopia” on September 10th, 1987. Mengistu becomes president.

After the fall of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Années 1990, Ethiopia does not receive any more assistance of the communist camp what weakens the country. In 1991, Mengistu announces the abandonment of the Marxist economy. In February, the Liberation popular front of Érythrée (FPLE) attacks and conquers Massaoua, on the Red Sea. In March and April 1991, the FPLE controls the provinces of the North-West. May 21st, Mengistu leaves Ethiopia to finish with the Zimbabwe, accommodated by Mugabe. The FPLE seizes Asmara and other Ethiopian cities.

The Communist regime, supported by the USSR, will have caused the death of tens of thousands of people (between 50.000 and 350.000 according to the estimates: repression of the opposition, purification of the army and campaigns of “villagisation” were very fatal during the dictatorship of Mengistu.

Recent history (after 1991)

The May 24th 1993, the Érythrée declares its independence.

Between 1998 and 2000, a war bursts with the new State because of minor territorial disagreements. This one made more than 80.000 dead. A Gripping force of the peace of the United Nations is since present on the common border.

In December 2006, the Ethiopian troops penetrate in Somalia, driving out the troops of the Islamic courts, hostile in Ethiopia. The countryside is completed in less than one week, and makes it possible the Somali government of transition to reach the capacity.

See too

See also: List of the kings d' Éthiopie

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