Cyber Ethiopia

Today, we turn, dear reader, from traditional Ethiopian weavers, spinners, embroiders and tailors, our consideration in recent weeks, to their produce - and look a little at their produce: the country’s national dress, or dresses. These were of course always changing, but in the interests of space we limit our focus today to the last two centuries or so.

The dress of much of the highlands, with which we are concerned today (that of the lowlands will figure, have no fear, in a later issue!), was made mainly out of white cotton cloth though the shammas, or togas, worn alike by men and women, were generally decorated with coloured stripes which were woven into the material at either end.

The traditional clothing of the menfolk consisted basically of a qemis or shirt, a pair of trousers, a long waist-band, which was wound many times round the waist, a shamma, or toga, which loosely enveloped the body, and, in the case of the aristocracy and priesthood a kabba, or cloak.  Read the rest of this entry »

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In the previous parts we took the spice tour and went around the Stone Town. Now the tour of the rest of the Island continues. Jozani Forest Apart from the other ruins and palaces of the island, from Nungwi in the far north to Kizimkazi in the far south, there are also natural wonderlands to visit in Zanzibar. Much of the island is edged by mangrove trees, but only one area has been preserved in its natural condition. The Jozani Forest area includes a mangrove forest, and an inland forest which has been preserved since 1848. Read the rest of this entry »

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We looked last week at traditional Ethiopian highland dress, as depicted by nineteenth and early twentieth century foreign travellers, and turn today to the “shamma”, or toga, which many observers considered the most characteristic piece of the national clothing.

Foreign Travellers’ Accounts

A good account of the traditional Ethiopian shamma, or toga, is given by Mansfield Parkyns, a mid-nineteenth century British traveller, and sometime resident in Adwa, who refers to it by its Tegrinya name as “quarry”. Read the rest of this entry »

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In the previous weeks we toured all around the island of Zanzibar. Now the tour finishes up with the beach and ocean.

The Beach and the Ocean

I’ve developed a great fondness for the Indian Ocean over the years. It is the most convenient ocean to escape to from landlocked Ethiopia. Compared to the crowded beaches of the Mediterranean, Caribbean, or almost everywhere else, Indian Ocean beaches tend to be almost empty, especially on the islands of the Ocean. I’ve never felt crowded at Red Sea beaches, Seychelles or the coastline of E. Africa, except in front of major resorts where foreign visitors inexplicably crowd themselves into narrow strips.  Read the rest of this entry »

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In Praise of Ethiopian Craftsmen will be resumed in a few weeks’ time

European conceptions of Ethiopia towards the end of the nineteenth century, and during the first years of the twentieth century, underwent several significant changes.

The Treaty of Wechale

One of the first resulted from the conclusion, in the Wallo province of north-central Ethiopia, of the Treaty of Wechale. This agreement was signed by Menilek, then King of Shawa, and the Italian envoy, Count Antonelli, on 2 May 1889.  Read the rest of this entry »

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The Ethiopian victory at the Battle of Adwa, on 1 March 1896, had a significant impact on foreign observer of Ethiopia. Some dismissed the battle as of little interest, and no more than a temporary hiccup in the general pattern of European expansion in Africa. Others prophesied, favouarably or unfavourably, that Ethiopia would emerge in Africa, as Japan had done in Asia. Others displayed the appearance of frightened rabbits.

One of those worried by Ethiopia’s victory at Adwa (which he referred by its alternative name of Abba Garima, then preferred by the Italians) was our subject for today: the American big-game hunter Arthur Donaldson Smith, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, in London, and Honorary Member of the Academy of National Sciences in Philadelphia, USA. Read the rest of this entry »

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Surveying international images of Ethiopia at the Close of the 19th Century, and with them the imperial, or state, interests of various European powers, we saw, in the last two issues, that the closing years of the nineteenth century witnessed various efforts to challenge the very existence of Ethiopia, and to “rectify” the country’s then political boundaries.

By the early years of the twentieth century the independence of Ethiopia, and the at least semi-inviolability of its frontiers, were, however, largely accepted in the international field. Read the rest of this entry »

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We saw last week how Robert P. Skinner, the first American envoy to Ethiopia, who visited the country in 1903-4, summed up what he considered the interests in the area of the United States, the French and the British.

The Russians: “the most interesting” of the European Powers

Turning to the interests of the Russians, and to the role of their diplomatic mission in Menilek’s Ethiopia, Skinner declared it the “most interesting” of all the European powers: Read the rest of this entry »

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When I first visited the Ethnographic Museum (sometimes called the Ethnological Museum) a few years ago it was earnest and amateurish. During my most recent visit, the museum had developed into an elaborate and, in most parts, a highly professional and interesting set of displays.

The collection is held at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) of the Addis Ababa University. It is located at the old Guenneta-Leul palace donated by the former emperor to the university. Read the rest of this entry »

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We have been looking, in the last two weeks, at unpublished letters written to the British Museum by Richard Holmes, whom it had sent to accompany the British Expedition of 1867–8 against Emperor Tewodros. Holmes, as we have seen, had purchased for the museum part of items looted from Maqdala, most notably the golden crown and chalice, the future which was discussed in the House of Commons three years later, in 1871.

Lord Napier of Maqdala

We turn now to another letter of the period, from Lord Napier of Magdala to the Military Secretary of the India Office, on 30 July 1868. Read the rest of this entry »

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