History of Ethiopia and the Horn (Hist 1102)

UNIT ONE
INTRODUCING HISTORY
 1.1. The Meaning and Uses of History
A. The Meaning of History
 The term history is derived from the Greek word
“Istoria.”
 Istoria means “inquiry” which later became to modern
scholars to mean “facts of history.”
 The first use of the term is attributed to Herodotus.
 Before Herodotus, no one has word for history in the
sense of writing a narration of past events.
 Herodotus (c. 484–425 B.C)- the “father of history.”
 In ordinary usage, history means all the things that have
happened in the human past.
 Academically, history can be defined as an organized
and systematic study of the past.
 Cont…
 History is the study of human society and its interaction
with the natural environment in the past.
 Greater part of event that happened in the past still
exists independently of the historian.
 What actually happened in the past is almost infinite.
 Historians select topics/problems they wish to study.
 To overcome the problem of longevity, historians
organize/divide the human past into discrete periods:.
 History is conventionally divided into ancient, medieval
and modern: periodization.
 The issue of continuity and change is the concern of
historical study.
 Cont…
B. The Uses of History
History helps better understand the present i.e., to
understand current problems by tracing their origins in
the past.
History provides a sense of identity. It helps to
understand who we are and where we fit in the world.
History provides the basic background for other
disciplines including social science and natural science
History teaches critical skills; such as evaluating
sources, interpreting and analyzing evidences & making
arguments.
History Supplies Endless Source of Fascination. It
Provides one with excitement, because it discloses a
sense of beauty.
 1.2. Sources and Methods of Historical Study
1. Sources
 Historians are not creative writers like novelists. Their
works must be supported by evidence arising from
sources.
 Sources are broadly classified into primary and
secondary.
 Primary sources are surviving traces of the past available
to us in the present. They are original or firsthand in their
proximity to the event both in time and in space. Eg., of
primary sources are manuscripts (handwritten
materials), diaries, letters, minutes, court records and
administrative files, travel documents, photographs,
maps, video and audiovisual materials, and artifacts such
as coins, fossils, weapons, utensils, and buildings.
 Cont..

Secondary sources are interpretation of primary ones, written long after

the event has occurred. Eg.,
 articles, books, textbooks, biographies, and published stories or movies
about historical events.
Oral sources (oral data)-either oral traditions or oral history. They are
valuable to study and document the history of non-literate societies.
In many societies, people transmit information from one generation to
another, for example, through folk songs and folk sayings. This type of
oral data is called oral tradition.
 No history work can be taken as final. New sources make possible new
historical interpretations. For the history of Ethiopia and the Horn,
historians use a combination of the sources described above.
 Primary sources have to be verified for their originality and
authenticity because sometimes primary sources like letters may be
forged. Secondary sources have to be examined for the reliability of
their reconstructions
 Cont…
2. Methods: refer to the ways by which historians:
 collect evidences of past events,
 evaluate that evidences,
 present a meaningful discussion of the subject.
 1.3. Historiography of Ethiopia & the Horn of
Africa
 Historiography is the history of historical writing.
 It deals with how knowledge of the past is obtained and
transmitted.
 It studies the course of the growth of historical writing.
 Herodotus and Thucydides (c.455-400 B.C.E.) introduced the
organized study and narration of the past.
 Sima Qian (145–86 B.C.E.) was the most important early figure
in Chinese historical writing.
 History emerged as an academic discipline in the second half of
the 19th c. first in Europe and subsequently in other parts of the
world including the US.
 The German Historian, Leopold Von Ranke (1795–1886)
established history history as an independent discipline in Berlin.
 Ranke is praised as the “father of modern historiography.”
 Cont…
 Historiography of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa
 This section is devoted to exploring significant
transformations in historical writing during the last 100
years.
 This can be verified through examination of:
 earlier forms of historical writings
 personal and institutional contributions.
Ancient travel accounts: Eg.,
1. Periplus of the Erythrean Sea:
◦ the earliest known reference on history of the region.
◦ written in the first century A.D.
◦ a handbook of anonymous author
 Cont…
2. Christian Topography:
◦ a copy of the Adulis inscription (Greek script about
unknown Aksumite king).
◦ composed by Cosmas Indicopleustes in the 6th c A.D.
◦ are hand writings, both secular and spiritual.
Manuscripts:
◦ whose values are essentially religious.
◦ provide insights into the country’s past. Eg.,
o A manuscript that dates to the 7th century was
discovered in Abba Gerima Monastery in Yeha.
o This was followed by a manuscript a manuscript that
was produced in the 13th century was discovered in Haiq
Istifanos monastery, Wollo.
 Cont…
Hagiographies:
are of Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Muslim/Mosques origin.
offers insight into the life of saints/martyrs.
 Invariably written in Ge’ez discuss the issues of both states
and religions. Eg.,
o A hagiography of St. Teklehaymanot, Shewa.
A parallel hagiographical tradition existed among Muslim
communities of the country
o A hagiography of Shaykh Ja’far Bukko of Gattira, Wollo.
 Chronicles:
are writings, past and contemporary, about the monarch.
recognized scribes or clergymen around the court first appeared
in the fourteenth century are known for their factual, not
analytical detail.
 Cont…

 offer little by way of social and economic developments.

 though inadequately, they narrate the evolution of the Ethiopian
state and society.
 explain historical events mainly in religious terms.
 characterized by relative chronological framework. The earliest
and the last of such surviving documents are the:
- Glorious Victories of Amde-Tsion- the earliest chronicle.
- Chronicle of Abeto Iyasu and Empress Zewditu- the last.
 Accounts of Arabic-speaking visitors:
left first hand accounts about Ethiopia and the Horn. Eg.,
al-Masudi had a recorded in the 10th century
Ibn Battuta had documented in the 14th century.
Shihab al-Din composed Futuh al Habesha in the 16th C.
Al-Haymi, who led a Yemeni delegation in 1647 to Gonder.
 Cont…

Accounts of European travelers & missionaries:

◦ cover religious & political developments in Ethiopia.
◦ include the country’s foreign relations. Eg.,
oThe Prester John of the Indies, composed by Francisco
Alvarez
oTravels to discover the Source of the Nile, produced by J.
Bruce.
Ethiopian Studies in Europe
 Foreign writers also developed interest in Ethiopian
studies.
 Hiob Ludolf (1624-1704)-German writer who founded
Ethiopian studies in Europe.
 wrote Historia Aethiopica (A History of Ethiopia).
 Cont…
 Ludolf never visited Ethiopia and the Horn.
 met Ethiopian priest Abba Gorgorios (Abba Gregory) at Rome.
 In the 19th c, August Dillman published two studies on ancient
Ethiopian history.
 Contribution of Ethiopian Writers Ethiopian History
 Abba Bahrey’s Geez script on the Oromo written in 1593.
 Early 20th c saw the emergence of ‘traditional’ Ethiopian writers
who made some departures from the chronicle tradition.
Aleqa Taye Gebre-Mariam
Aleqa Asme Giorgis
Debtera Fisseha-Giorgis Abyezgi .
 Taye and Fisseha-Giorgis wrote books on the history of Ethiopia
while Asme produced a similar work on the Oromo people.
 Unlike chroniclers, these writers dealt with a range of topics from
social justice, administrative reform and economic analysis to
history.
 Cont…
Negadrases Afework Gebre-Iyesus- wrote the first Amharic
novel, Tobiya
Gebre-Hiwot Baykedagn- has produced Atse Menilekna Ityopia
(Emperor Menilek and Ethiopia) and Mengistna Yehizb
Astedader (Government and Public Administration).
Blatten Geta Hiruy Welde-Selassie (The most prolific writer of
the early twentieth century)- namely Ethiopiana Metema
(Ethiopia and Metema), Wazema (Eve), Yehiwot Tarik (A
Biographical Dictionary) and Yeityopia Tarik (A History of
Ethiopia).
Gebre-Hiwot and Hiruy exhibited relative objectivity and
methodological sophistication.
The 1930s Italian invasion interrupted the Ethiopian efforts to study
their national history.
After liberation, Tekle-Tsadik Mekuria formed a bridge between
pre-1935 writers and professional historians who came after him.
 Cont…
 Yilma Deressa-Ye Ityopiya Tarik Be’asra Sidistegnaw Kifle Zemen
(A History of Ethiopia in the Sixteenth Century).
 Blatten Geta Mahteme-Selassie Wolde-Meskel- Zikre Neger. Zikre
Neger is a comprehensive account of Ethiopia’s prewar land tenure
systems and taxation.
 Dejazmach Kebede Tesema- wrote his memoir of the imperial
period, published as Yetarik Mastawesha in 1962 E.C.
In the 1960s:
history emerged as an academic discipline in Ethiopia.
Department of History in 1963 at the (HSIU).
The Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) was founded in 1963.
AAU launched MA and PhD programs in 1979 and 1990
respectively.
IES housed a number of Ethiopian and expatriate scholars.
IES has been publishing the Journal of Ethiopian Studies.
 Cont…
 The professionalization of history in other parts of the
Horn is a post-colonial phenomenon.
 Africans urged to:
 recast the historical record and
 recover evidence of many lost pre-colonial civilizations
 In an effort to decolonize African history:
◦ conducted research centered at School of Oriental and
African Studies and University of Wisconsin-Madison
◦ opened African universities and trained their own scholars
◦ sent many educated Africans overseas for further
training
oWhat are the common problems in the study of
Ethiopian history?
 1.4 The Geographical Context
 The term “Ethiopia and the Horn” refers to that part of
Northeast Africa, which now contains the countries of Djibouti,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The region consists chiefly of
 mountains uplifted through the formation of the Great Rift
Valley. Syria to Mozambique
 Knowledge of geographical features is crucial for proper
understanding of the r/ships of the peoples in the region.
 The history of Ethiopia and the Horn has been shaped by:
 contacts with others through commerce, migrations, wars, slavery,
colonialism, and the waxing and waning of state systems.
 geographical factors notably location, landforms, resource
endowment, climate and drainage systems were the major factors.
 The Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean linked the
Horn of Africa with the rest of the world.
 Cont…
 Five principal drainage systems in Ethiopia and the
Horn:
 Abbay/the Blue Nile +the White Nile
 Gibe/Omo–Gojeb,
 Genale/Jubba-Shebele,
 Awash River
 Ethiopian Rift Valley Lake systems.
 Ethiopia and the Horn can be divided into four major
distinct environmental zones.
 Eastern lowlands
 The highland massif
 The Great East African Rift Valley
 Western lowlands
 Cont…

 These physiographic features are inhabited by diverse

ethno-linguistic, religious, cultural and occupational
groups.
 However, peoples of the region were never isolated; they
interacted throughout history from various locations.
Activities
1. What are the different sources of history? How do you evaluate
them?
2.What is the difference between historiography and history?
3.Who was Leopold von Ranke? Describe the role of travel and
missionary accounts to the study of Ethiopian history.
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