Kingdom of Aksum | |
---|---|
Menelik I | 204-179 BC |
Legendary son of Solomon & the Queen of Sheba | |
Handadyo | 179-178 |
Auda Amat | 178-167 |
Auseyo | 167-164 |
Tzaue | 164-133 |
Gasyo | 133 |
Mawat | 133-125 |
Bahas | 125-116 |
Qawda | 116-114 |
Qanaz | 114-104 |
Haduna | 104-95 |
Wazba | 95-94 |
Hadir | 94-92 |
Kalas | 92-85 |
Satyo | 85-68 |
Filya | 68-42 |
Aglebu | 42-39 |
Ausena | 39-38 |
Beriwas | 38-9 |
Mahsi | 9-8 |
Besebazen | 8 BC-8 AD |
Sartu | 8-35 |
Laas | 35-45 |
Masenh | 45-52 |
Setwa | 52-61 |
Adgala | 61-71 |
Agba | 71-73 |
Masis | 73-77 |
Hakla | 77-90 |
Demahe | 90-100 |
Autet | 100-102 |
Ella Auda | 102-132 |
Zagan | 132-136 |
Rema | 132-136 |
Gafale | 136-137 |
Bese Zarq | 137-141 |
Ella Azguagua | 141-218 |
Ela Herka | 218-239 |
Bese Tzawetza | 239-240 |
Wakana | 240 |
Hadaus | 240 |
Ella Sagal | 240-242 |
Ella Asfeha I | 242-256 |
Ezanas I | c.250 AD |
Ella Tzegab | 256-279 |
Ella Samara | 279-282 |
Ella Aiba | 282-298 |
Ella Eskendi | 298-334 |
Ella Tzaham I | 334-343 |
Ella San | 343-356 |
Ella Aiga | 356-374 |
Ella Amida I | 374-404 |
Ezanas II Bisi Halen | 325-356 |
Frumentius first Coptic Bishop of Ethiopia, c.305; stela erected at juncture of Nile & Atbara, 350; Kush overthrown? 355 | |
Shizana | 328-356 |
Ella Abreha | 356-370 |
Ella Asfeha | 356-370 |
Arfed | 370-374 |
Adhana I | 374-379 |
Rete'a | 379-380 |
Asfeh | 380-381 |
Asbeha | 381-386 |
Ameda I | 386-401 |
Abreha I | 401 |
Ella Shahel I | 401-402 |
Gobaz I | 402-404 |
Suhal | 404-408 |
Abreha II | 408-418 |
Adhana II | 418-424 |
Yo'ab | 424-434 |
Sahan | 434-436 |
Ameda II | 436-446 |
Shahel II | 446-448 |
Sabah | 448-451 |
Sahem | 451-463 |
Gobaz II | 463-474 |
Agabe | 474-475 |
Levi | 474-475 |
Ella Amida (IV?) | 475-486 |
Jacob I | 486-489 |
David | 486-489 |
Armah I | 489-504 |
Zitana | 504-505 |
Jacob II | 505-514 |
Caleb, Ella Asbeha, el-Eshaba | 514-542 |
At Roman urging, Ethiopians install a Christian king in Yemen, 523-525 | |
Beta Israel | 542-550 |
Gabra Masqal | 550-564 |
Constantine | 564-578 |
Wasan Sagad | 578-591 |
Feresanay | 591-601 |
Adreaz | 601-623 |
Eklewudem | 623-633 |
Armah II, Ella Sahem, Ashama ibn Abjar | 615-630 |
traditional King who welcomed Muslim refugees from Mecca | |
Germa Safar | 633-648 |
Zergaz | 648-656 |
Michael | 656-677 |
Baher Ikela | 677-696 |
Hezba Seyon | 696-720 |
Asagum | 720-725 |
Latem | 725-741 |
Tulatem | 741-762 |
Adegos | 762-775 |
Ayzur | 775 |
Dedem Almaz | 775-780 |
Wedemdem | 780-790 |
Demawedem | 790-820 |
Rema Armah III | 820-825 |
Degnajan | 825-845 |
Gedajan | 845-846 |
Judith | 846-885 |
Degnajan II | 885-905 |
Del Nead | 905-c.950 |
Jewish Queen Gudit, or Yodit, sacks Axum, lays waste countryside, c.960 | |
Zagwe Dynasty | |
Mara Tekle Haimanot | 916-919? |
Tatadim | 919-959? |
Jan Seiyoum | 959-999? |
Germa Seiyoum | 999-1039? |
St. Yemrehana Christos | 1039-1079? |
St. Harbe | 1079-1119? |
St. Gebra Maskal Lalibela | 1119-1159/ 1181-1221 |
Rock Cut Churches, city of Lalibela | |
St. Na'akuto Le'Ab | 1159-1207 |
Yetbarek | 1207-1247 |
Mairari | 1247-1262 |
Harbe II | 1262-1270 |
Solomonic Dynasty | |
Yekuno Amlak, Tasfa Iyasus, or St. Tekle Haimanot | 1270-1285 |
Solomon I | 1285-1294 |
Bahr Asgad | 1294-1297 |
Senfa Asgad | 1294-1297 |
Senfa Ared IV | 1294-1295 |
Hezba Asgad | 1295-1296 |
Qedma Asgad | 1296-1297 |
Jin Asgad | 1297-1298 |
Saba Asgad | 1298-1299 |
Wedem Arad | 1299-1314 |
Amda Siyon (Seyoi) I | 1314-1344 |
Newaya Krestos | 1344-1372 |
Newaya Maryam | 1372-1382 |
Dawit (David) I | 1382-1411 |
Tewodros (Theodore) I | 1411-1414 |
Isaac | 1414-1429 |
Andrew | 1429-1430 |
Takla Maryam | 1430-1433 |
Sarwe Iyasus | 1433 |
Amda Iyasus (Jesus) | 1433-1434 |
Zara Yakob (Constantine I) | 1434-1468 |
Baeda Mariam I | 1468-1478 |
Constantine II | 1478-1484 |
Amda Seyon II | 1494 |
Na'od | 1494-1508 |
Lebna Dengel, David II | 1508-1540 |
Galawedos, Claudius | 1540-1559 |
Moslems allied to Turkey defeated, with Portuguese help, Battle of Lake Tana, 1543 | |
Menas | 1560-1564 |
Sarsa Dengel | 1564-1597 |
Jacob | 1597-1603, 1604-1607 |
Za Dengel | 1603-1604 |
Susneyos, Sissinios | 1607-1632 |
Fasilidas, Basilides | 1632-1667 |
Yohannes, John I | 1667-1682 |
Iyasu, Jesus I the Great | 1682-1706 |
Tekle Haimanot I | 1706-1708 |
Na'od II | 1708, d.1722 |
Tewoflos, Theophilus | 1708-1711 |
Yostos. Justus | 1711-1716 |
Dawit, David III | 1716-1721 |
Walda George | 1721 |
Asma George, Bekaffa | 1721-1730 |
Iyasu II | 1730-1755 |
Iyoas, Joas) | 1755-1769 |
Yohannes II | 1769 |
Tekle Haimanot II | 1769-1777 |
Salomon, Solomon II | 1777-1779 |
Tekle Giorgis, George I | 1779-1784, 1788-1789, 1794-1795, 1795-1796, 1797-1799, 1800, d.1817 |
Jesus III | 1784-1788 |
Ba'eda Maryam I | 1788 |
Hezekiah | 1789-1794 |
Ba'eda Maryam II | 1795 |
Solomon III | 1796-1797, 1799 |
Jonah | 1797-1798, d. 1832 |
Demetrius | 1799-1800, 1800-1801, d.1803 |
Egwala Seyon | 1801-1818 |
Joas II | 1818-1821 |
Gigar | 1821-1826, 1826-1830, d.1831 |
Ba'eda Maryam III | 1826 |
Jesus IV | 1830-1832 |
Gabra Krestos | 1832, 1832 |
Sahla Dengel | 1832, 1832-1840, 1841-1845, 1845-1850, 1851-1855 |
Yohannes III | 1840-1841, 1845, 1850-1851, d.1868 |
Ali Alula | 1851-1853 |
Webe Haile Mariam | 1853-1855 |
Tewodros, Theodore II | 1855-1868 |
takes diplomats hostage; British Expedition, defeat & suicide of Tewodros, 1868 | |
Tekle Giorgis II of Zagwe | 1868-1871 |
Yohannes IV of Tigre | 1871-1889 |
Egyptians defeated, driven out of Eritrea, Battle of Gundet, 1875, Battle of Gura, 1876 | |
Menelik (Menilek) II | 1868, 1889-1913 |
Italians defeated, Battle of Adwa, 1896 | |
![]() | regent, 1910 |
Ras Tesemma | regent, 1910-1911 |
Lij Iyasu, Joshua, Jesus V | regent 1912-1913, Emperor 1913-1916, d. 1935 |
Zawditu ![]() | Empress 1916-1930 |
Haile Selassie (Sellassie), Ras Tafari Makonnen | regent 1916-1930, Emperor, 1930-1936 |
Italian Occupation, 1935-1941 | |
Victor Emmanuel (III, of Italy) | "Emperor of Ethiopia" 1936-1941 |
Emilio de Bono | High Commissioner 1935 |
Pietro Badoglio | 1935-1936 |
Rodolfo Graziani | Governor-General 1936-1937 |
Amadeo, Amadeus II Duke of Aosta | 1937-1941, surrendered & died in custody, 1942 |
Haile Selassie (restored) | 1941-1974, d.1975 |
Asfa Wossen, Amha Selassie | 1974-1975, d.1997 |
Aman Mikael Andom | Head of State, 1974 |
Tafari Benti | 1974-1977 |
Mengistu Haile Mariam | 1977-1987 President, 1987-1991 |
Meles Zenawi | 1991-1995 |
Negasso Gidada | 1995-2001 |
Girma Wolde-Giorgis | 2001-2013 |
Mulatu Teshome Wirtu | 2013-2018 |
![]() | 2018-present |
Ethiopia was its own kind of cultural island universe for centuries, a beleaguered bastion of Christianity in an isolating sea of Islâm, a successor, not just to the Middle Eastern traditions through Yemen, but to the original Ethiopia of the Greeks, the sub-Egyptian kingdom of Kush, , which began with the Egyptian 25th Dynasty (751-656 BC), from Piankhy to Tanuatamun, and which, although driven out of Egypt by the Assyrians, flourished at Napata (where pyramids were actually built) and Meroë for many centuries. Indeed, the highland Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, itself may have brought the kingdom of Meroë to an end, around 355 AD.
The Abyssinian kingdom of Aksum (or Axum) had already existed for some time. It left enduring monuments in the obelisk-like stone stelae, with Stela 3 (at left, and in background photograph) still standing at 67 feet tall, which reproduce the "skyscraper" architecture of ancient Yemen. A few kings of Aksum are barely known from their coins, as is also the case with ancient Yemen. As Kush came to an end, Abyssinia had recently converted to Christianity, in communion with the Coptic Egyptian Church. It is not hard to see the reign of the Emperor Ezanas II, under whom this all happened, as the real beginning of classic Ethiopian civilization. The torch of Meroë had been passed, but since the Meroë writing has not been deciphered, Ethiopia becomes the first sub-Saharan African civilization fully open, despite all its uncertainties, to the light of history. Indeed, the ancient language of Axum, Ethiopic or Ge'ez, is still actively used in the Ethiopian Church.
After centuries of isolation by Islâm, an important chapter in the history of Ethiopia came when the Portuguese appeared in the Indian Ocean. They had heard rumors of a mythical Christian kingdom, in Asia or Africa, ruled by the saintly "Prester John," surrounded and isolated by enemies of Christianity. One possible source of this story was the Empire of Black Cathay (the Qara-Khitaï or Western Liao Dynasty) in Central Asia, whose rulers, with names like "David" and "Elias," for a time were Nestorian Christians. But when the Portuguese arrived in East Africa, they soon heard of a place there that seemed to fit the description: Ethiopia. Contact, once established, came at a critical moment. Portuguese influence stimulated and aided Ethiopia when it was under serious threat from the triumphant Ottoman Empire, whose control extended all the way to Yemen and whose powerful influence crossed the Strait to Africa. Portuguese firearms, delivered after an appeal for help by the Emperor Lebna Dengel in 1535, enabled the Emperor Galawedos to defeat the Imam of Harer, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, leader of Moslem forces, who was killed in a great battle in 1543. The Portuguese presence included attempts to convert the country to Roman Catholicism, and for a time there were rival Metropolitans of Ethiopia. Portuguese influence, however, was ultimately rejected, since Ethiopia was religiously Coptic and Monophysite, not Roman Catholic; and the Catholic challenge stimulated a literary and theological response.
Ethiopia was finally only conquered, briefly, between 1936 and 1941, by Italy, not, significantly, in the 19th century "scramble for Africa," but in the age of totalitarian conquest in the 1930's. This was Mussolini's revenge for what had happened in the 19th century: That was the Emperor Menelik II's extraordinary defeat of an Italian army in 1896. Ranking with the later defeat of Russia by Japan in the Russo-Japanese War as one of the great setbacks of European imperialism, the Battle of Adwa is often misrepresented as an army of Africans with spears somehow beating the Italians. This overlooks a number of facts:
Fully awake and informed, Menelik attacked first, at 5:30 AM, and killed, wounded, or captured fully 70% of the Italian army. This preserved Ethiopia from foreign conquest until, in the 1930's, the confused Allies of World War I determined to appease Fascism rather than oppose it.
In the face of Italian aggression, France abandoned its diplomatic and material support of Ethiopia. France and Britain decided that an arms embargo on "all belligerents" was the moral response to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia; and the Italians, who of course made their own arms, actually used poison gas against Ethiopian forces. Thus, Ethiopia fell to Mussolini, not because it was backward, like the Congo (although it was pretty backward relative to Italy), but because it was abandoned, like Czechoslovakia. After Italy entered World War II, however, the liberation of Ethiopia was set in motion, and the Italians, who had committed many atrocities against the constant resistance of the Ethiopian people during the occupation, were easily defeated by the British in 1941, but with some resistance continuing until 1943.
One traditional duty of The Ethiopian practice of carving churches out of the living volcanic rock produced monuments that are close to unique in the world. There is a fair amount of this done in India, but nothing like it elsewhere in Christendom.
After the advent of Islâm, communication between the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria and Ethiopia was unreliable and often interrupted; but in the 12th century, regular appointments were resumed. Also, the See was often vacant at least because of the time necessary to procure an appointment from the Patriarch. I have not indicated these gaps because of their frequency, but they can be inferred once the dating becomes more definite. It was always an Egyptian Coptic monk who was appointed; and by the 20th century, Ethiopians were beginning to think that maybe it was time for an Ethiopian to be Primate of Ethiopia. Negotiations over this in 1929 still resulted in an Egyptian monk as Archbishop and Primate, the Abuna Kerlos (Kyrllos, Qerellos), but with four Ethiopians concecrated as Bishops. A full transition would be delayed until after World War II.
In the table, Primates appointed under the authority of the Coptic Patriarch are in green. The Abuna Kerlos (Qerellos IV) was deposed by the Italians after he fled to Egypt and denounced the Italian occupation. However, previous to that he had negotiated with the Italians, even in Rome, and many people thought of him as compromised and a collaborator because of this. His successor, appointed by the Italians, Abuna Abraham, was excommunicated by the Coptic Patriarch. When Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia he was not accompanied by Kerlos, who remained in exile in Egypt, but by Gebre Giyorgis, who would be consecrated Abuna Basilos in 1948. After Kerlos died in 1950, Basilos became the Primate. In 1959 the Ethiopian Church was reestablished as an autocephalous Patriarchate, although still in communion, of course, with Alexandria.
The next problem for the Church was the dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam. In 1976 the Patriarch was arrested and then executed. The Church was disestablished as the State Religion and, like in the Soviet Union, the government began its propaganda campaign against all religion. A quiet monk, Abba Melaku, was made the new Patriarch, as Abuna Tekle Haimanot, and he ended up resisting the regime as much as he could, with the result that he was well thought of despite his official position. The period of the strongest Portuguese presence in Ethiopia also meant that there were attempts by the Portuguese to convert the country to Catholicism. The result was at least three Portuguese Catholic Primates, either, briefly, in undisputed possession of the See or as rivals to Coptic Primates. As the immediate threat of the Turks began to pass, both the help and the interference of the Portuguese could be rejected.
There has long been a presence of the Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem. This includes a monastery on the actual roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Ethiopian institution is called the Ethiopian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, but there have never been actual Ethiopian Patriarchs in residence.
Another feature of Ethiopian religion is the claim that the Church possesses the actual Ark of the Covenant, which is kept in a small sanctuary in Axum. The traditional story is that the Queen of Sheba took the true Ark from Jerusalem, leaving behind a replica. Menelik I then transferred the Ark to Abyssinia. Because of the problems of chronology and believability that go with this story, some modern writers have helpfully supplied alternative explanations. Reports of Greek historians of a Jewish community at Elephantine Island (Aswan) in Egypt have led to the suggestion that the Priesthood of Jerusalem sent the Ark to them for safekeeping. But Jewish mercenaries then subsequently left for Kush, taking the Ark with them. I am not clear what is then supposed to have happened, since the account seems to jump directly to keeping the Ark on an island in Lake Tanis. But the possession of the Ark by the Kings of Kush is one thing, its sudden appearance in the heart of pre-Christian Abyssinia is something else. I sometimes wonder if there is an awareness of the deep historical, cultural, and political differences between Kushite Ethiopia and Abyssinian Ethiopia. Of course, anyone is free to speculate that the Emperor Ezanas fetched the Ark when he invaded and perhaps overthrew Kush around 355 AD, but this adds no more than another speculative element to an entirely speculative fantasy. Since the Ark in Axum has been been inspected by no outsiders, and in fact is closed to all except its particular guardian, there is no way of knowing if it matches Biblical descriptions of the Ark or if it is composed of materials that can be dated to the appropriate era. It is remarkable that such an object is given as much credit as it has by enthusiastic, or credulous, Europeans.
The list of Emperor and Primates of Ethiopia is largely based on Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies, with some modification based on lists at Wikipedia. Some alternative dates and Ethiopian readings of names are gleaned from A History of Ethiopia, by Harold G. Marcus [University of California Press, 1994], from Ancient Ethiopia, by David W. Phillipson [British Museum Press, 1998], and from a History of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church website. The photographs of Aksum Stela 3 are from Phillipson. With so many uncertainties in the chronology, very different lists of Emperors, with different dates, may be seen. Gordon gave no less than three lists on his webpage, and one is left with the impession that these may actually reflect different lineages at different locations. I have mixed the lists, beginning with the traditional one that starts with Menelik I but then shifting away when that list doesn't feature Ezanas II.
Lists exist that trace the genealogy of the Emperors all the way back to Adam and Eve, with a span of 6500 years. Many pious people take this sort of thing seriously, and one correspondent has objected to the characterization of Menelik I as "legendary." However, Adam and Eve are not historical persons and much of Ethiopian history even since Ezanas II is not well attested or dated. Even with Melelik I, traditional dates, e.g. 204-179 BC, are far too late for him to have been a son of King Solomon, who now is dated to 970-931 BC. Ethiopia is certainly interesting and important enough without giving credence to pious or nationalistic exaggerations. The uncertainties and gaps are as great with the Primates as with many of the Emperors of Ethiopia. On the other hand, I don't think that reinforcing Ethiopian Christian piety is a bad thing. The country is still surrounded by the often hostile forces of ʾIslâm, and the Western apologetic for Islâmic extremism conveniently overlooks attacks on Christians, which are not unusual in, say, Pakistan, but are now not unheard of in America. The Ethiopian claim to hold the Ark of the Covenant, if nothing else, attracts the attention of people who otherwise might ignore Ethiopian Christianity.
One curious feature about Ethiopia in the 20th Century is that, although its national religion remained confined to its homeland and to expatriot communities, the existence of the Empire, at a time when only one other black state in Africa was independent, inspired relgious developments elsewhere. In distant Jamaica a movement began that exalted Ethiopia to heavenly and the Emperor of the time, Haile Selassie, to divine status. Late in his life, Haile Selassie actually visited Jamaica. He had previously not heard of this movement and was exceedingly puzzled, if not unsettled, by it, as a man might be whose name means "Faith in the Trinity" -- though a correspondent has disputed this, saying that the Emperor was actually invited to Jamaica by visiting Rastafarians and knew about them. Be that as it may, he cannot have endorsed the heretical tenets and practices of such a faith. The movement came to international attention mainly through the success of the splendid Reggae music in the 1970's, when musicians like the late Bob Marley (sporting dreadlocks) and Jimmy Cliff found success and celebrity all over the world. As a result of Haile Selassie's visit and local contact with Ethiopia, Ethiopian Coptic churches did open in Jamaica and the West Indies, attracting converts and Rastafarians who either understood that Haile Selassie was not God in Ethiopian Christianity, were disillusioned, or who determined to join the historic Church whatever its teaching.
Rastafarians who have moved to Ethiopia are not always viewed favorably by the locals. Their culture, of course, would be entirely alien to Ethiopians, and, originating in the Western African slave trade, they themselves would not even look that much like Ethiopians.
If Ras Tafarianism might have seemed confused to Ethiopians, the popularity of ʾIslâm among black nationalists in the United States and elsewhere must be positively galling. While Ethiopia had preserved its independence and Christian religion for centuries against ʾIslâm, constantly enduring the depredations of Arab slavers, many, or most, of whose male victims were castrated, many foreign blacks now blame and reject Christianity for the Atlantic slave trade which took their ancestors to the New World.
Bill Clinton's attempt on a trip to Africa to even apologize for the slave trade was actually rebuked by the President of Uganda, who said that the African chiefs who sold their people to the slavers were really the ones at fault (and still at fault, since it turns out that the West African slave trade still exists, at least in children). The television series Roots [1977] showed white slavers raiding into the interior of Africa. That never happened. The weather and diseases of Africa there were deadly to Europeans, and local rulers wanted all the business for themselves. Indeed, the Atlantic slave trade simply meant that native West African slavers sold their wares south to the coast rather than north to the trans-Saharan trade, which had already been going on for centuries, probably exacting as great a human toll as the Atlantic trade and noticeably leaving few suriviving blacks, of all those imported, in the Middle East.
Although himself a political radical of a harsh, Marxist sort, it is noteworthy that Princeton professor Cornell West (advisor of Democrat Presidential hopeful Bill Bradley in the 2000 campaign) retains his own Christianity, was married to an Ethiopian woman, and avoids the pro-Islâmic idealizations (and anti-Semitism) of many other American black radicals. Ethiopia and her religion thus receive some respect from a source that, in general, one might have expected to be relatively unaware of the country and relatively hostile to the religion.
Since there are now "afrocentrist" claims current that the Ethiopic alphabet was not based on the old South Arabian alphabet, it is worth comparing the two in the table at left. Not only are many of the letters obviously identical, but Ethiopic even preserves most of the South Arabian alphabetical order, which is distinct from the one that we find in Hebrew, Greek, or Arabic. Ethiopic also made some of the same slight alterations in the ancient letters as Greek, producing recognizable counterparts to lambda, omicron, and theta.
Why it is thought necessary to take something already splendid and extraordinary and trivialize it with exaggerated claims is sad but not surprising, since it is of a piece with many examples of inflated ethnic (in this case racial) self-importance, as I have noted elsewhere in regard to the the Greeks and India. The splendor of Ethiopia in its history, geography, architecture, and language is little enough known as it is, even as its long struggle against ʾIslâm is ignored in the assault of Western secularists against Christianity and the sympathy of the Left for Islamic Fascism. Until the world is even aware of the Ethiopic syllabary, strange claims about it only obscure the struggle for that awareness. The isolation of Ethiopia, which for so long protected and preserved its civilization and religion in the Abyssinian mountain fastness, also served to keep it, as with many areas in Africa, out of the mainstream of international economic development. It has long been one of the poorest countries in the world. As of 2008, Ethiopia still had the third lowest annual GDP per capita in the world, only $140 [The Economist Pocket World in Figures 2008, p.28]. This meant that the average Ethiopian, 80% of whom were engaged in subsistence agriculture, was living on only 38¢ per day. With prices adjusted for Purchasing Power Party (PPP), the picture improves, with Ethiopia rising to only the 14th poorest; but this is still with only 2.4% of of the per capita GDP of the United States [p.29].
At the same time, the Ethiopian economy has been growing rapidly, at as much as 10% per year; and in PPP the per capita GNP may now be up to $1000 or $1500. But this is a lot of ground to make up. One advantage the country has now is its relative remove from the turmoil of Islamic countries, which, with the majesty of the land and the splendor of its monuments, should make the country relatively attractive both for tourism and for investment.
At the same time, the population of Ethiopia is the second largest in Africa, after Nigeria, and the twelfth largest in the world, hard on the heels of Japan. We can hope this represents a lot of human capital, but Ethiopia itself is not free from political turmoil and regional conflicts, so it is not clear if it can sustain its growth rate. We can hope.
One irony of Ethiopia's isolation and poverty is that it has contributed to world culture one of the principal, indeed signature, products of modernity: coffee. The legend is that in the 9th-century a goatherder named Kaldi noticed that his goats became excited after eating the beans of the Coffea arabica plant. This account, however, is not attested before 1671; and no evidence appears to exist for coffee drinking until the 15th century in Yemen, whence the beans had been brought from Ethiopia. We know that coffee was in Mecca in 1511, because an attempt was made to ban it, as an intoxicant. That didn't last long, and the drink spread throughout the Ottoman Empire.
We get the name of the substance from Yemen, Coffee represented the first non-alcoholic processed beverage intoduced in English culture. Since coffee (like tea, introduced later) involved boiling water, this was also the first non-alcoholic beverage that involved the regular consumption of sterilized water. When people, including Prince Albert, were still dying of water-born diseases in the mid-19th century, a preference for coffee or tea was salutary. This was missed by Benjamin Franklin, who told his co-workers to drink water rather than alcohol when he was a young man in London. This was because the ale they otherwise drank might render them, as Howell had said, "unfit for business." But Franklin did not realize the danger he faced, and was recommending, from unboiled water.
The best coffees are still grown in tropical highlands that mimic the climate of Ethiopia and Yemen, namely places like Indonesia, Hispaniola, Columbia, Hawaii, etc. This is therefore an area where Ethiopia can devote effort in its economic development, with the chance to advance its claim as the original coffee producer and to cultivate and market the best coffees that can be made.
There is a nice recent testimony to Ethiopian coffee, from the chef and restauranteur Wolfgang Puck:
Surely this will start a tremendous demand for Ethiopian coffee.
As it happens, Ethiopia is the world's fifth largest producer of coffee, after Brazil and Columbia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Vietnam may be the surprising presence there, but it is actually the second largest producer in the world. Kings of Kush (Ethiopia), XXV Dynasty of Egypt
Coptic Patriarchs of Alexandria
the Coptic Patriarchs of Alexandria was appointing the Archbishop and Primate of Ethiopia, the Abune or Abuna (Arabic for "Our Father"). The first such appointee was Frumentius (Abune Selama I Kesatay Birhan), a Syrian who had been living at the Ethiopian court for some time and journeyed to Alexandria in order to ask for a Bishop to be appointed. Traditionally, it is supposed to have been St. Athanasius himself who then appointed Frumentius to the post. However, the known dates of Athanasius (328-373) are a bit late for a traditonal date of Frumentius's trip (c. 305 AD), although all the dating of the period is very uncertain; and we also see a chronology where Frumentius did not journey to Ethiopia until after 316 AD and was not consecrated, by Athanasius, until between 340 and 346, dying around 383. Given such uncertainties, it is possible that Ethiopia, rather than Armenia, which is often given the credit, was the first officially Christian country in the world. Or it may simply be that Constantine's Rome was, after all, the first Christian country. But Ethiopia, despite its apparent remoteness, is definitely part of the ferment of the times.
Primates and
Patriarchs of EthiopiaAbune Selama I Kesatay Birhan, Abba Sälama Käsaté-Berhan, Frumentius c.305, 328/346-c.383 Minas 4th-5th century Abreham = Petros? Abba Afse, of the Nine Sages 5th-6th century Qozmos 6th century Euprepius Metropolitan See of the Coptic church Qerellos, Kerlos 620's-? Yohannes c.820-840 Ya'eqob I 9th century Sälama Zä-'Azéb Bärtäloméwos 10th century Petros deposed, c.950 Minas Fiqtor Daniel Fiqtor 11th century Sawiros 1077-1092 Giyorgis I 1090's Mikael I 12th century Ya'eqob II Gabra Krestos Atnatewos Mikael II of Fuwa 1206-1209 Hirun rival Yeshaq 1210-? Giyorgis II c.1225 St. Tekle Haimanot 13th century Yohannes XIII c.1300 Yaqob III c.1337-1344 Salama II 1348-1388 Bartalomewos 1398/9-1436 Mikael 1438-1458 Gabriel 1438-1458 Yeshaq 1481-c.1520 Marqos VIII 1481-c.1530 Portuguese presence, rival Metropolitans John Bermudez, João Bermudes Catholic, c.1536-c.1545 Endyras c.1545-? Andre de Oviedo Catholic, 1557-1577 Marqos VII? c.1565 Krestodolos I c.1590 Petros VI 1599?-1606 Simon 1607-1622, d.1624 Afonzo Mendes Catholic, 1622-1632 Rezek c.1634 Marqos IX/VIII? c.1635-1672 Krestodolos II c.1640-1672 Sinoda 1672-1687 Marqos IX 1689-? Abba Mikael 1640-1699 Marqos X 1694-1716 Krestodolos III c.1718-1745 Yohannese XIV c.1747-1770 Yosab III 1770-1803 Makarios c.1808 Kyrillos III 1816-1829 Selama III 1841-1866 Atanasios, Atnatewos II 1868-1876 Petros VII 1876-1889,
d.1918Mattheos X 1889-1926 Abuna Kerlos, Kyrllos, Qerellos IV 1926-1936, 1945-1950 Italian Occupation, 1936-1941 Abuna Abraham 1936-1939 Abuna Yohannis XV 1939-1945 Abuna Basilos, Basil 1948-1951 Primate,
1951-1959Patriarch,
1959-1970Abuna Tewophilos 1971-1976,
executed,
1979Abuna Tekle Haimanot 1976-1988,
imprisoned,
1986Abuna Merkorios 1988-1991,
deposedAbuna Poulos, Paul 1992-2012 Abune Mathias, Mattias 2013-present His successor, however, Abuna Merkorios, was deposed once the dictatorship ended in 1991. Unfortunately, this resulted in a schism, with Merkorios founding his own Church in exile, while the new Abuna Poulos (at left) reigned in Ethiopia. With all the political upheaval in the recent history of Ethiopia, it is perhaps surprising that something like this hadn't happened already.
This movement came to be known as Ras Tafarianism, after Haile Selassie's pre-Imperial name and title (Ras). A long, ropy hairdo, "dreadlocks," and marijuana (ganja) smoking became associated with the movement, which seemed threatening to many, with little back-to-Africa or self-improvement overtones, but a great deal of what seemed at the time threatening behavior and rhetoric. The "dreadlocks" actually look much like the way Ethiopian mendicant monks may wear their hair. The monks, however, do not smoke ganja.
In its long isolation, Ethiopia produced from the old South Arabian alphabet a unique and beautiful syllabary, which is still used to write modern languages like Amharic. This contributed one rich aspect to the island universe of Ethiopian civilization.
, qahwah. This is of uncertain etymology, and may be of African or purely Arabic origin. As the Arabic "w" becomes a "v" in Turkish (to modern kahve), and the syllable final "h's" become silent, the pronunciation begins to approach what is familiar in European languages, such as caffè in Italian or "coffee" in English. From Yemen, ground coffee and then beans were exported (initially smuggled) to India, Turkey, and finally Europe. The first reference in English to coffee is from 1598. In 1610, the poet George Sanys said that coffee was "blacke as soote, and tasting not much unlike it"; but then the oldest coffee house in London was established in 1654. In 1657, Court historian James Howell said that morning coffee made workers "play the good-fellows."
My wife imports Ethiopian beans. After they're roasted and ground, the pour-over coffee drip for 20 minutes into a pot. The result is unbelievable. [The Wall Stree Journal, April 12, 2019, p.M16]
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