History of Ethiopia and

Horn (Hist. 1012)

Chapter One: Introduction
1.1. The Nature and Uses of History
• The term history derived from the Greek word Istoria, meaning
“inquiry” or “an account of one’s inquiries.”
• The first use of the term is attributed to one of the ancient Greek
historians, Herodotus (c. 484–425 B.C.E.), who is often held to be the
“father of history”.
• In ordinary usage, history means all the things that have happened in the
human past.
• Historians apply their expertise to surviving records and write history in
the form of accounts of the past.
• Academically, history can be defined as an organized and systematic
study of the past.
 Cont…
• The study involves the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation
of information about past events.
• However, what actually happened in the past is almost infinite. Hence
historians select which topics and problems they wish to study, as do
natural scientists.
• As a result like other disciplines the major concern of history is the study
of human society and its interaction with the natural environment.
• The only difference between history and other disciplines is that history
studies the interaction between the two in the past within the framework of
the continuous process of change taking place in time.
Cont….
• Historians also organize and divide the human past into discrete
periods after identifying significant developments in politics, society,
economy, culture, environment…
• Then they give a label to each period to convey the key characteristics
and developments of that era.
• Accordingly, history is conventionally divided into ancient, medieval
and modern history.
• This is what we call periodization in history; one of the key
characteristics of the discipline.
• Historians used this periodization to better understand the change and
persistence socio economic and political patterns.
 1.2 Uses of History
• History’s main concern is the past. If so, why we need to bother about the
past while living in the present and anticipating what is yet to come?
• Studying history enables us:
1. Better Understand the Present: knowledge of relevant historical
background is essential for a balanced and in-depth understanding of
many current world situations.
2. Provides a Sense of Identity: Knowledge of history is indispensable to
understand who we are and where we fit in the world.
It is only through sense of history that communities define their
identity, orient themselves, and understand their relationships with the past
and with other societies. (memory is to the individual, history is to the
society)
Cont….
3. Provides the Basic Background for Other Disciplines: Historical
knowledge is extremely valuable in the pursuit of other disciplines such as
literature, art, philosophy, religion, sociology, political science,
anthropology, economics, etc.
4. Learn Critical Skills: Studying history helps students to develop key
research skills.
These include how to find and evaluate sources; how to make coherent
arguments based on various kinds of evidence and present clearly in
writing.
These analytical and communication skills are highly usable in other
academic pursuits and even essential to make informed decisions in our
day-to-day life.
 Cont…

5. Develop Tolerance and Open-Mindedness: Most of us have a tendency

to regard our own cultural practices, styles, and values as right and proper.
But studying history contributes to free ourselves from some of our
inherent cultural provincialism.
6. Supplies Endless Source of Fascination: Exploring the ways people in
distant ages constructed their lives offers a sense of beauty and excitement,
and ultimately another perspective on human life and society.
 to sum up history should be studied because it is essential to the
individual and the society.
 by studying history can we grasp how and why things change; and only
through history are we able understand what elements of a society persist
despite change
Cont….
Nevertheless, just as history can be useful, it can also be abused.
Such abuses come mainly from deliberate manipulation of the past to
fit current political agenda.
In such cases, history is written backwards. That is, the past is
described and interpreted to justify the present.
 Personal biases are not always avoidable however a good historian
takes care to document his judgment and assertions so that they can be
subjected to independent and external verification.
 1.3 Sources and Methods of Historical Study

• Unlike novelists, the work of historians must be supported by

evidence arising from sources.
• It is said that “where there are no sources, there is no history”.
• Sources are, therefore, key to the study and writing of history.
• Historical sources are broadly classified into two types: Primary
and Secondary sources.
• Primary sources are surviving traces of the past available to us in
the present. They are original or first hand in their proximity to the
event both in time and in space.
• Examples 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, on the other hand, are second-hand
published accounts about past events.
• They are written long after the event has occurred,
providing an interpretation of what happened, why it
happened, and how it happened, often based on primary
sources.
• Examples of secondary sources are articles, books,
textbooks, biographies, and published stories or movies
about historical events.
 Remember: no history work can be taken as final. New
sources make possible new historical interpretations or
entirely new historical reconstructions.
 Cont…
Oral data constitute the other category of historical sources.
Oral sources are especially valuable to study and document the history of
non-literate societies.
They can also be used to fill missing gaps and corroborate written words.
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.
can also provide oral testimonies or personal recollections of lived
experience.
For the history of Ethiopia and the Horn, historians use a combination of
the sources described above.
Cont…

• However, whatever the source of information-primary or

secondary, written or oral- the data should be
subjected to critical evaluation before it is used as
evidence.
• Primary sources have to be verified for their originality
and authenticity (to avoid forged sources)
• Secondary sources have to be examined for the
reliability of their reconstructions.
• Oral data may lose its originality and authenticity due to
distortion through time.
 1.4 Historiography of Ethiopia and the Horn
• Historiography can be defined as the history of historical
writing, studying how knowledge of the past, either recent
or distant, is obtained and transmitted.
• The organized study and narration of the past was
introduced by ancient Greek historians notably Herodotus
(c. 484–425 B.C.E.) and Thucydides (c.455-400 B.C.E.).
• There was also major tradition of thinking and writing about
the past in China
• The most important early figure in Chinese historical
thought and writing was the Han dynasty figure Sima Qian
(145–86 B.C.E.)
 Cont…

• Though 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.
• Leopold Von Ranke (1795–1886), and his colleagues
established history as an independent discipline in Berlin
with its own set of methods and concepts by which
historians collect evidence of past events, evaluate
that evidence, and present a meaningful discussion of
the subject.
• Ranke’s greatest contribution to the scientific study of the
past is such that he is considered as the “father of modern
historiography”.
Sources on History of Ethiopia and
the Horn of Ethiopia and the Horn has changed
• Historiography
enormously during the past hundred years in ways that merit
fuller treatment than can be afforded here.
Periplus of Erythrean Sea
• The earliest known reference that we have on history of
Ethiopia and the Horn.
• Written in the first century A.D by an anonymous author.
The Christian Topography
• Described Aksum’s trade and the then Aksumite king’s
campaigns on both sides of the sea.
• Composed by Cosmas Indicopleustes, a Greek sailor, in the
sixth century A.D.
Manuscripts, Inscriptions, and
Hagiographies
• Inscriptions aside, the earliest written Ethiopian material
dates from the seventh century A.D.
• The document was found in Abba Gerima monastery in
Yeha. This was followed by a manuscript discovered in
Haiq Istifanos monastery of present day Wollo in the
thirteenth century A.D.
• The value of manuscripts is essentially religious.
• Yet, for historians, they have the benefit of providing
insights into the country’s past.
• For example, the manuscript cited above contains the
list of medieval kings and their history in brief. The
largest groups of sources available for medieval
Ethiopian history are hagiographies originating from
Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
• Invariably written in Ge’ez, an important function of
hagiographies is enhancing the prestige of saints.
• Yet other related anecdotes are also introduced, and often discussed in
detail such as the development of the church and the state including
territorial conquests by reigning monarchs.
• A parallel hagiographical tradition existed among Muslim
communities of the country. One such account offers tremendous
insight into the life of a Muslim saint, Shaykh Ja’far Bukko of Gattira,
in present-day Wollo, in the late nineteenth century.
• Besides the saint’s life, the development of indigenous Islam and
contacts between the region’s Muslim community and the outside
world are some of the issues discussed in this document.
 Cont…
• Ethiopia had also an indigenous tradition of history writing called
chronicles.
• Chronicles in the ancient Ethiopian Ge’ez tongue first appeared in the 14 th
c and continue (sometimes in Amharic) into the early 20 th c.
• Kings or their successors entrusted the writing of chronicles to court
scribes or clergymen
• The earliest and the last of such surviving documents are the Glorious
Victories of Amde-Tsion and the Chronicle of Abeto Iyasu and Empress
Zewditu respectively.
• Chronicles incorporate both legends and facts-past and contemporary
about the monarch’s genealogy, upbringing, military exploits, piety and
statesmanship
Cont…
• Chronicles are known for their factual detail and strong
chronological framework (with critical evaluation).
• In conjunction with other varieties of written documents, such
as hagiographies and travel accounts by foreign observers,
chronicles can provide us with:
• a glimpse into the character and lives of kings,
• their preoccupations and relations with subordinate officials and
• the evolution of the Ethiopian state and society
• Written accounts of Arabic-speaking visitors to the coast also
provide useful information on various aspects of the region’s
history
Cont…

• Al-Masudi and Ibn Battuta described the culture, language and

import-export trade in the main central region of the east African
coast in the 10th and 14th centuries, respectively.
• Shihab ad-Din (Arab Faqih) Futuh Al-Habasha gave us detail
accounts of wars of Ahmad Gragn while Al-Haymi narrates about
Fasil’s Gondar
• Abba Bahrey’s Geez script on the Oromo written in 1593 provides us
with first-hand information about the Oromo population movement
including the Gadaa System.
 Cont…
• European travelers and missionaries had also paramount contribution to
the development of Ethiopian historiography.
• Missionaries account gave us details of Ethiopia's socio political and
economic conditions one the one hand and Ethiopia's foreign relation on
the other.
• Francisco Alvarez’s ‘The Prester John of the Indies’ is one of such kind.
• Pedro Paez’s history of Ethiopia is another example.
• Travel documents had important contribution to the development of
Ethiopian historiography.
• Ex: James Bruce’s Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile.
• Both sources can only be used with considerable reservations and with
care for they are socially and politically biased.
Cont…
• Foreign writers also developed interest in Ethiopian studies.
• Hiob Ludolf (1624-1704) the founder of Ethiopian studies in Europe in
the 17th century.
• He wrote Historia Aethiopica.
• Even though never visited Ethiopia; he wrote the country’s history
largely based on information he collected from an Ethiopian priest
named Abba Gorgorios (Abba Gregory) who was in Europe at that
time.
• August Dillman published two studies on ancient Ethiopian history in
the 19th c.
• Compared to Ludolf, Dillman demonstrated all markers of objectivity
in his historical research endeavors
 Cont…
• Since early twentieth century historical writing made some departures
from the chronicle tradition.
• The period witnessed the emergence of traditional Ethiopian writers
who made conscious efforts to distance themselves from chroniclers
whom they criticized for adulatory tone when writing about
monarchs.
• Aleqa Taye Gebre-Mariam, Aleqa Asme Giorgis and Debtera Fisseha-
Giorgis Abyezgi were the earliest and prominent of this group.
• Later, Negadrases Afework Gebre-Iyesus and Gebre-Hiwot Baykedagn
joined them.
 Cont…
• Unlike chroniclers, these writers dealt with a range of topics from social
justice, administrative reform and economic analysis to history.
• Taye and Fisseha-Giorgis wrote books on the history of Ethiopia.
• Asme produced a similar work on the Oromo people.
• Afework wrote the first Amharic novel, Tobiya, in Ethiopian history.
• Gebre-Hiwot has Atse Menilekna Ityopia and Mengistna Yehizb Astedader
to his name.
• The most prolific writer of the early twentieth century Ethiopia was,
however, Blatten Geta Hiruy Wolde-Selassie.
• Hiruy published four major works namely Ethiopiana Metema, Wazema,
Yehiwot Tarik and Yeityopia Tarik.
Cont…
• Unlike their predecessors Gebre-Hiwot and Hiruy
exhibited relative objectivity and methodological
sophistication in their works.
• Unfortunately the Italian occupation of Ethiopia
interrupted the early experiment in modern history
writing and publication.
• After liberation Tekle-Tsadik Mekuria formed a bridge
between writers in pre-1935 and Ethiopia professional
historians who came after him.
• Tekle-Tsadik made better evaluation of his sources than
his predecessors and he produced eight historical works.
Ex: minilikna ye Ethiopia andinet, tewdros ena ye
Ethiopia andinet,…
• Another work of importance in this period is Yilma Deressa’s Ye
Ityopiya Tarik Be’asra Sidistegnaw meto Kifle Zemen (CK and Adal
conflict and the Oromo population movement).
• Blatten Geta Mahteme-Selassie Wolde-Meskel also contributed his
share as he wrote Zikre Neger (Ethiopia’s prewar land tenure systems
and taxation).
• Gebre-Wold Engidawork produce a book on some aspects of land
tenure.
• Dejazmach Kebede Tesema wrote his memoir of the imperial period,
published as Yetarik Mastawesha in 1962 E.C.
Cont…
• The 1960s was a crucial decade in the development of
Ethiopian historiography.
• The opening of the Department of History in 1963 at the
then Haile Selassie I University (AAU).
• The production of BA theses began towards the end of
the decade.
• The Department launched its MA and PhD programs in
1979 and 1990 respectively.
• Since then researches by faculty (both Ethiopians and
expatriates) and students have been produced on
various topics.
• The Institute of Ethiopian Studies (established in 1963)
is the other institutional home of professional
• Richard Pankhurst was the first Director and founding member of the
Institute.
• Pankhurst’s prolific publication record remains unmatched
• He has authored or co-authored twenty-two books and produced
several hundred articles on Ethiopia.
• IES has been publishing the Journal of Ethiopian Studies for the
dissemination of historical research.
• IES had its own contribution evolution of professional historiography
of Ethiopia.
THANKS…