|
The Semitic languages are presently positioned mostly in the
Northern and in some central part of Ethiopia. Most of the
languages such as Tigrigna spoken in the northern most of the
country, Amharic in northern highland/ central plateaux
evolved from the ancient language now only used in the
churches Ge’ez..
The Cushitic
Languages are dominantly spoken in the southern part of the
Country. Oromiffa is the most widely spread language of
Cushitic family. Gedieo, Hadiya are spoken in the south west,
Somali in the east but some Cushitic language such as Afar are
also located in the north east.
The
Nilo-Saharan groups are found in the south western and western
Ethiopia they include Gamblla, Kunama, Berta, Mursi and Surma.
The Omotic groups of languages are diversified ones located in
the lower or eastern Omo valley and some parts in the south
west part of Ethiopia comprising Wolytta, Gamo, Hamar, Bena,
Tsemai, Dasench, Aari, Dizi etc…….
The country has most of the oldest archeological findings in
the world consequently nicknamed “The cradle of mankind”. The
3.2 million-years-old Australopithecus afarensis Lucy or
Dinkinesh is the most complete hominid skeleton to be
discovered. Lucy is an important evidence for the existence of
‘the missing link’ or earliest human ancestor in the Ethiopia
specially the north eastern part of the Great Rift Valley more
specifically known as Hadar in the middle Awash …..Ethiopia is
undoubtedly a special place for so many paleontological
discoveries reconfirming the origin of humanity.
This is the part of Africa known to have ancient relations
with pharaohs of Egypt who operated the various expeditions
south of the Red Sea or the land of Punt in search of myrrh
and spices. Ethiopia is a land of legends; many Ethiopians to
this day believe that Axum was the capital of Queen of Sheba
besides, it is written in Ethiopian old chronicle that during
the visit of the Queen of Sheba to the wise king’s palace in
Jerusalem, the Queen conceived a son, named Menelik I and
their son then, traveled to Jerusalem and brought the Arc of
the Covenant to Axum. Finally he became the founder of the
Solomonic Dynasty which lasted 256 years.
The northern
part of Ethiopia appears to have contact with the people of
Sothern Arabia. These people later controlled the northern
counter of the Red Sea coast and intermingled with blacks this
resulted in emergence different afro-Asiatic languages and
very important civilizations connected to that of Sabeans in
Arabia. Today the existence of this very ancient civilization
can be testified by Yeha Temple north of Axum. According to
archeologists the temple dates back to 5th century BC and it
is the earliest settlement in the northern Ethiopia.
One of the
oldest African civilization of the Axumite state was believed
to be founded as early as 300 BC, Axum controlled over the
important places encompassing the Ethiopian highlands up to
the red sea coast. Axum was very powerful state economically
and strategically, it was very near to the Red Sea Coast hence
had a very good trade relations with the outside world. It was
also the first African state to mint its own coins. Long
before the coming of Christianity, the Axumite state had
influenced by Southern Arabian gods equivalent to Greeks’.
|
The down fall
of the Axumite state remains certainly a mystery, scholars
give different suppositions but the Ethiopian tradition
attribute the Axumite power was finally made to an end by
non-Christian Queen Judit-Gudit, who burned and looted down
many churches in a series of civil wars around 9th century.
In the early
12th century, Zegwé, a new dynasty had emerged south of Axum
and the power was then shifted southwards more specifically to
Lasta, a place importantly occupied by the Agew people. The
Zegwé Dynasty ruled from 1137-1270 AD. Unlike the Solomonic
Dynasty of the Axumite period few written records of the time
were found but Kings who belong to this dynasty are notably
Lalibela,Yemrhane Kiristos and Na’akuto La’ab have built world
famous rock-hewn and Cave-built churches. At the end of the
13th century The Zegwé Dynasty faced oppositions thus was not
as legitimate as the Solomonic one. The opposition especially
from the clergy made an end to dynasty and Yekuno Amlak, a
King of Shoan from the Solomonic line restored the Solomonic
dynasty.
|
|
Ethiopia was
introduced to world’s ancient religions through Axum. In early
4th century, Christianity became the Axumite state religion
and Axum emerged to be the site for rock-hewn monasteries and
built up churches with typical Axumite architectures. In 7th
century AD, a group of Prophet Mohammed’s followers were
prosecuted in Arabia and made their way to find refuge in Axum
where they were welcomed.
The history of
medieval Ethiopia is associated with the prosperous written
documentations. The most important was Fitha Negest or the
royal chronicles also considered as the first constitution by
the Shoan kingdom which determined the succession of the kings
and series of the power shifts from one place to another.
During the first half of the 16th century the advanced Shoan
Christian kingdom began to by threatened by the eastern armed
Muslim leaders known as Adal state, and Messewa, the important
port of the kingdom was controlled by the Ottoman Turks.
During these difficulties the Shoan Christian kingdom used to
get support from Portugal the then powerful Christian kingdom
in Europe. After several warfare involving the two main
European powers, the Christian kingdom retained and controlled
over the main trade routes.
In 1614, Emperor Susneyos built his castle at Gorgora, the
northern shore of Lake Tana and his tendency to the Jesuits to
obtain military assistance led him to conversion of
Catholicism then he declared the Roman Catholic as a state
religion this was result in the wide rebellion and abdication
of the king in favor of his son Fasiladas who expelled all the
Jesuit missionaries out of the country.
In 1636, king
Fasiladas restored the Ethiopian Orthodox Church faith and
shifted the seat of power further north of Lake Tana he then
constructed castles and founded a new capital by the name of
Gondar. Gondar became main commercial center of the king and
his descendants and remained the capital of Ethiopia for over
250 years. The Gondarine period was characterized by the
development of art and literature in the country. Though the
Gondarine monarchy was very strong during the second half of
the 18th century, it began to decline and the power was
finally disintegrated as a result of this different rivals
came up in the region.
Early 19th
century was period known in Ethiopian history as Zemen
Mesafint Era of the Princes came in to being; this lasted for
several decades onwards with no real central authority.
Finally the era of rival warlords came to an end around 1855
whereupon the period was a turning point paving the way to
modern history of Ethiopia. King Tewodros appeared to claim
himself king of kings. Tewodros immediately made decrees on
land reforms and tried to bring his deep ambition of
modernization in the country thus he sent a letter to queen
Victoria of England requesting technical help but, his letter
had no response and that made the king angry. Finally he tried
to pressurize the British government by imprisoning his
British workmen. Meanwhile Tewodros internal rivals began to
come forward. In 1868, the queen sent her expeditionary force
led by General Napier based in India. This British
expeditionary force was well equipped besides it was getting a
considerable strategy of help from one of the rivals Kassa
Mircha of Tigray, later King Yohannes IV. The invading British
force defeated Tewodros’ army and King Tewodros finally
preferred to commit suicide than to surrender. The British
troop burned and left the seat of Tewodros’ base at Meqdela
rewarded Kassa with weapons for cooperation this in the end
contributed to his advance to power as king of kings.
Unlike the time
of Emperor Tewodros, the time of Emperor Yohannes witnessed
more external difficulties consequently, Egyptian were the
first to challenge his kingdom to control the Nile from its
source but they lastly were defeated in series of warfare in
1875-76. This was followed by the construction of the Suez
Canal ensuing the growing strategic interest of the then big
European powers mainly Britain and Italy in the region thus
Italians backed up by the British rule seized Messewa to halt
France, another European rival mobilizing force against
Britain. The gradual Italian consolidation and control
continued over the areas south of Messewa though warned by
Emperor Yohannes IV. Meanwhile, the Mahadists were threatening
in the west. In 1889 Emperor Yohannes got wounded and died at
the battle of Metema but his army went victorious.
In 1865,
Menelik II already became king of Showa province; he gradually
advanced his accession to the thorn and crowned King of Kings.
The time of Emperor Menelik II was characterized by
incorporation of more provinces under his central kingdom
beside his reign had also brought several modernization
especially following the foundation of Addis Ababa as a
capital of the country. Earlier, Menelik had a strong
relationship with the Italians and signed the Treaty of
Wochali which in end caused controversial article 17 led the
battle of Adwa. In 1896 the Ethiopian army defeated the well
armed Italian invading force against all odds and that made
Ethiopia the only African country not to be defeated by
colonizing European powers. The last years of ruling of
Menelik marked his sickness and the question of the royal
inheritance became serious. Menelik announced his 12 years-old
grandson, Lij Iyassu, the son of his daughter Shewaregga to
take power and this created a conflict among the royalty.
Finally the political settlement of the daughter of Menelik,
Zewditu and Ras Teferi, separated the interests of royalty,
hence Ras Teferi gradually seized full control of the thorn on
2 November 1930 crowned by the name Emperor Haile Silassie I.
In 1931,
Emperor Haile Silassie I introduced the first written
constitution of the country brought numerous modernizations
but, the victory of the battle of Adwa left Ethiopia in a
dangerous position between the Italian colonies, Eritrea and
Somalia. Meanwhile, the Italian ambition in Ethiopia grew up
and the idea of military operation became fascist strategy
from 1933 onwards. The battle of Machew where the Italian had
used internationally forbidden mustard gas came in to being.
The emperor left Addis fled to Britain where he was given an
asylum. On June 1936 he went to Geneva to address The League
of Nation about the unfair fascist aggression. The Italian
losing control of the Second World War and the Ethiopian
patriots played a major role in librating the country from
five years of occupation of fascism had played a crucial role
in liberating Ethiopia. On 5 may 1941 Emperor Haile Silassie
returned to Addis Ababa. Haile Silassie’s reign brought
independence to other countries after the establishment of
African Union in 1960s. In 1974 country northern part suffered
a famine this led to the nationwide strike of workers and taxi
drivers finally, the committee of high ranking military
generals under the leadership of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam
over threw the monarchy and established a socialite government
this was followed by the emergence of ethnically based
liberation movements across the country and decades of warfare
broke out.
On 21 May 1991,
the rebel force of Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Front
Liberation (EPRDF) advanced to Addis Ababa from the north and
overthrew Mengistu’s regime. Colonel Mengistu fled to
Zimbabwe. The new chapter of modern Ethiopia began… |
