Abyssinia is the common name for the Ethiopian Empire, an empire that lasted more than 700 years, from 1270 to 1975. Listed as the oldest state in history, it began when the Solomonic dynasty was established. Its history spans from the Middle Ages to the Cold War. The United Nations counted the Ethiopian Empire as one of its founding members in 1945.
The territory that Ethiopia currently occupies is much larger than that of Abyssinia, which occupied the northern half of present-day Ethiopia. Since the 13th century, Amharic was the predominant language. The Abyssinians resisted the attempt of domination of the European nations, although Italy occupied their territory during five years.
Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia., via Wikimedia Commons.
Its capital was changing over the years. From Shoah to the beginning of the reign of Yekuno Amlak, passing through Gondar, Magdala, Mekelle and Addis Ababa. The empire had about 100 rulers, most of whom were from the Salmonic dynasty.
Origin and history
The Zagwe dynasty ruled, since the 9th century, in the northern part of what is now known as Ethiopia. The last Zagwe king was Zallmaknun, assassinated by Yekuno Amlak's army in 1270. King Yekuno Amlak declared himself a descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, starting the Solomonic dynasty and the Ethiopian Empire.
During the years of the empire, many wars occurred, for political or religious reasons, and the emperors were conquering new territories over the years. In 1528, for example, the Muslims invaded Abyssinia, which was recovered in 1543 with the help of Portuguese troops led by Cristóbal de Gama.
In the 17th century the Gondar period began, when the city of the same name became the capital of the empire for two centuries. Great palaces and churches were built and the Jesuits were expelled.
The Gondar stage ended with a woman as the main protagonist. Iyasu II was the last emperor of the Gondar period, but he left the government of Abyssinia in the hands of his mother, Mentewab. Mentewab was crowned co-regent and concentrated a lot of power.
The Gondar period ended when Mikael Sehul murdered King Iyoas, Mentewab's grandson, and began the Age of Princes. This period of the Ethiopian Empire was characterized by religious wars, specifically between Muslims and Christians. In 1855 the era of princes ended
Fight against Italy
With the arrival of the 19th century, Europeans were conquering different areas of the African continent, and Italy set its eyes on Abyssinia. They were successful in 1889, when they founded Eritrea and signed the Treaty of Uchalli with Emperor Menelik II.
The emperor rebelled against the Italians seven years later and the battle of Adua began. The Italians were forced to recognize the sovereignty of Abyssinia.
Menelik II's successor was his grandson, Iyasu V, who broke with tradition and converted to Islam. He was only in power for three years before being overthrown, with the support of the Church.
Zauditu, daughter of Menelik, then became the reigning empress of the Ethiopian Empire. Unlike Mentewab during the Gondar period, Zauditu reigned in his own right.
Upon the death of Empress Zauditu, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned with the name Haile Selassie. He was the last emperor of Abyssinia. In 1935 the empire was invaded by Italian troops who again sought control of Ethiopian territory. A year later the Europeans gained control of Addis Ababa, the capital, and the King of Italy was appointed Emperor of Ethiopia.
During World War II, the British defeated the Italians, who were expelled from Abyssinia. Selassie returned to the throne and added the territory of Eritrea to the empire. Finally, in the 1970s a great crisis started protests that led to the end of the Ethiopian Empire.
Extension
Abinisia in 1270 was not what is known today as Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Empire was much smaller in size, and its borders were constantly changing over the years. Abyssinia was surrounded by minor regions and kingdoms that fought each other and against the Ethiopian emperors.
The empire was bordered to the north by Nubia, to the east by the Red Sea, to the west by Sennaar and to the south by a range of mountains. Its area was 788 thousand square kilometers.
Ethiopia currently has more than one million square kilometers of territory. The history of the empire is characterized by gradual expansion, defeating opponents from nearby kingdoms one at a time.
The most important growth of the territory of Abyssinia occurred in 1896. Menelik II managed to expand the Ethiopian Empire to the south and east by winning the Battle of Adua. This spelled the end of the first war between Italians and Ethiopians, in which the Europeans lost the colonies they had in Eritrea and Somalia.
At the time when the Ethiopian Empire had a greater territorial extension, it concentrated the territory of Ethiopia, Eritrea and the current territories of Djibouti, northern Somalia, southern Egypt, eastern Sudan, western Yemen and a southwestern part of Saudi Arabia.
Religion
Abyssinia is one of the oldest Christian nations in the world, although there was Jewish, pagan and Islamic representation in it. Christians were the dominant ethnic group. Monasteries and convents had a significant presence in the territory. Many churches showed great wealth and owned large fields.
During the reign of Menelik II the priests had a lot of political power. On Sundays any form of work was prohibited, and fasting was practiced during most Wednesdays and Fridays of the year. One of the religious duties of the inhabitants was a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The Jews moved to the north of the empire. His kingdom was known as Beta Israel. During the 15th century the Emperor Yeshaq I named them Falasha. It was a derogatory term that meant landless, or vagabonds.
During the first three centuries of Abyssinia, the emperors of the Solomonic dynasty carried out several armed confrontations against the kingdom of the Jews.
Throughout history, the kingdom of the Jews was invaded and recovered multiple times. Emperor Yeshaq forced them to convert to Christianity.
Emperor Susenyos I confiscated their lands, sold part of the population as slaves and forced them to be baptized. During this stage, much of Jewish culture was lost or changed.
Economy
In the kingdom of Abyssinia no currency was minted. Trade deals were made by exchanging measures of iron, tissue, or salt. However, in 1780 the thaler of María Teresa appeared.
The National Bank of Egypt founded the Bank of Abyssinia in 1904. In 1945 the birr was adopted as the official currency, although it was better known as the Ethiopian dollar.
Thanks to the presence of volcanic soils and an excellent climate, the practice of agriculture was simple, although primitive. Coffee was the export product par excellence, although sheep and goat skins, wax and ivory were also traded.
On the other hand, cereals, cotton and vegetables grew in sufficient quantities for local consumption. The elephant was considered a wild animal with great commercial importance, due to the ivory.
Politics
The government of Abyssinia was a monarchy. The king concentrated all power. The Ethiopians were led by the Solomonic dynasty. The ruler of Abyssinia had to be a direct descendant of Menilek and Solomon according to an unalterable law. When the Ethiopian Empire began in 1270, political power shifted to southern Abyssinia, specifically to the Shoah area.
In 1632 a policy of isolation began. The capital becomes Gondar, and it was decreed to expel the Jesuits and persecute the Catholics. The custom arose of confining to mountainous areas the characters who were opposed to the royal family.
At the beginning of the 18th century, there was great political instability in the Ethiopian Empire. The army played a leading role because it installed and deposed seven rulers in 24 years. The monarchy gradually weakened.
In 1889 the modernization of Abyssinia began thanks to the reign of Menelik II. The king took it upon himself to found a new capital and planned to make education compulsory, but failed to deliver on all of his promises.
By 1931 the Constitution was created, in which an absolutist regime was established, and trade agreements were signed with Japan and the United States.
In 1935 the Italian occupation of Abyssinia began, which lasted only five years. During this period the Europeans promoted reforms of the political and cultural systems of the empire, such as the abolition of slavery.
Later Abyssinia continued to evolve. The Constitution recognized suffrage, although an absolutist government actually continued to exist.
Final
Emperor Haile Selassie established a constitutional monarchy as the form of government of the Ethiopian Empire. An elected Parliament existed, but the emperor continued to concentrate most of the powers and was authoritarian with his opponents.
During the famine of the 1970s he was insensitive to the situation of the people and failed to resolve the crisis. They estimate that more than 300,000 people died.
The crisis was worsened by the different military revolts that occurred in the empire and by the high prices of oil. Finally, in 1974 a group of low-ranking officers started a revolution, managing to overthrow Emperor Selassie.
A military junta, known as Derg, ruled the country until 1987. Selassie, 82, was arrested and died a year later of respiratory failure.
With the fall of the monarchy, on September 12, 1974, the Ethiopian Empire came to an end. The Derg established a communist state, supported by the Soviet Union.
References
- Abyssinia. (2019). Recovered from wdl.org
- Gnamo, A. (2014). Conquest and resistance in the Ethiopian empire, 1880-1974. Boston: Brill.
- Kingdoms of East Africa - Ethiopia. (2019). Recovered from historyfiles.co.uk
- Margoliouth, M. (2011). Abyssinia: Its Past, Present, and Probable Future. London: British Library.
- Wilkins, H. (2007). Reconnoitring in Abyssinia: A narrative of the proceedings of the reconnoitring party, prior to the arrival of the main body of The Expeditionary Field Force. Nabu Press.