Cyber Ethiopia

Lebna Dengel and Portugal Early in the sixteenth century Emperor Lebna Dengel of Ethiopia (1508-1540), sent King Manoel I of Portugal what may be termed, in modern parlance, an important request for technical assistance. He wrote: "Send masters who can make figures of gold and silver, iron, tin, and lead, and send me gold leaf for the churches; and masters of gilding with gold leaf, and of making gold leaf, and do this soon, and let them come to remain with me here and in my favour. And when they may wish to return at their desire, I will not detain them, and this I swear by Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God". "Hear Another Word!" In a subsequent letter to Manoel's son, Joao III, the same Ethiopian

emperor wrote: "Sir, Brother, hear another word now. I want you to send me men, artificers to make images and printed books, and to make swords and arms of all sorts for fighting, and also masons and carpenters, and men who can make medicines and physicians, and surgeons, to cure illnesses, also artificers to beat gold and place it. And goldsmiths, and men who know how to extract gold and silver and also copper from the veins [of the earth], and men who can make sheet lead and earthenware; and masters of any trades which are necessary in these kingdoms, also gunsmiths. Assist me in this, which I beg of you as a brother does to a brother, and God will assist you and save you from evil things".    Emperor Lebna Dengd -a contemporary portrait by the early       16th century Portuguese artist Lazaro de Andrade  Emperors Yeshaq and Zar'a Ya'qob This letter, a classical request for technical aid, was by no means the first of its kind. Close on a century earlier we find another Ethiopian ruler, Emperor Yeshak (1414-1429), writing in similar vein. He was in his way an important innovator: he employed Turkish Mamelukes to establish workshops to make coats-of-mail, swords and other weapons, as well as to train his soldiers and reorganise his system of taxation. He too despatched a memorable request for foreign assistance: he wrote to King Affonso of Aragon, asking for skilled artisans. Emperor Zar'a Ya'qob (1434-1468), though fanatical in his belief in the Ethiopian Orthodox faith, later also wrote to the King of Aragon, appealing for craftsmen. Three Comments Three main comments deserve to made on the above letters. Firstly, the early medieval Ethiopian rulers under consideration were well aware of what we would now call their country's technical backwardness - and sought to overcome it by appealing to technically more advanced Western Christendom. Secondly, we may note that the country's technical backwardness was accompanied - and intensified-by traditional prejudices which considered craftsmen as inferior to other members of the society. Many people traditionally believed for example that blacksmiths turned into hyenas at night! The above-mentioned Ethiopian rulers, in their appeals for foreign craftsmen, were in sense breaking with traditional prejudice against handicraft workers, in that they realised the overwhelming need for skilled artisans - and sought to obtain them from abroad. Thirdly, it is evident that the rulers of the country - Yeshaq, Zar'a Ya'qob and Lebna Dengel - had specific priorities for innovation. What were these? Look at Lebna Dengel's letter! What does he request? "... masters who can make figures of gold... and lead for the churches... " "... artificers.... to make swords and arms of all sorts for fighting..., also gunsmiths..." "... men who can make medicines, and physicians and surgeons, to cure illnesses..." Three Distinct Catagories These requests thus fall in fact into three distinct categories: Firstly, church-building, not in the country at large, but the construction of a number of royal churches, which are to be decorated with gold - and perhaps also palace-building. Secondly, the making - and, by extension, import  - of weapons: swords and guns, and "arms of all sorts for fighting". Thirdly, medicines, and physicians and surgeons "to cure illnesses". The pattern is thus three-fold: (1)royal church and palace-building; (2)  weapons of all sorts; and  (3) medical assistance. Sarsa Dengel and Za Dengel That, historically speaking, was a pattern that was to continue almost uninterruptedly down the centuries. Emperor Sarsa Dengel (1563-1597) wrote to King Filipe II of Spain asking for experienced workmen, who knew how to make helmets and cannons, and how to produce gunpowder and other war material. He also made extensive use of Turkish troops - with the result that the head of the Ethiopian riflemen thereafter came to be known by the Turkish title of Basha. Emperor Za Dengel  (1603-4)  wrote to the same Spanish monarch for artisans and soldiers "so that", as he declared,  "peace and love should take root between us who are united in the faith of Christ". Did Not Want Desire for innovation in the technological field went hand in hand with strong opposition to innovation in the ideological.  After the Portuguese had come to assist the Ethiopian Christian state in the religious wars of the early sixteenth century the then Ethiopian ruler, Emperor Galawdewos (1540-1559), made it quite clear  that he did not want any interference in his country's historic religion, and to that end issued his famous "Confession of Faith". Later, after the coming of the Portuguese and Spanish Jesuits, two successive Emperors, Emperors Za Dengel and Susneyos (1607-1632) accepted the Roman Catholic faith - in large measure in the hope of obtaining support from the militarily powerful Catholic powers of Europe. Refused to Tolerate The Ethiopian population as a whole, led by the Church and nobility, refused, however, to tolerate this change in religious belief. Rebellions broke out in many parts of the country - and Emperor Susneyos was obliged to issue a proclamation restoring the old faith. This decree was greeted with immense popular approval. Catholics were then expelled from the country, and Catholic priests rigidly banned from entering it, on pain of execution. Gondar The above formula of selective support and opposition to innovation subsequently manifested in the Gondar period, i.e. late seventeenth to late eighteenth century. Roman Catholic priests were prohibited from entering the country, but innovation continued in the three above-mentioned technological fields.  The first of the famous Gondar castles was thus built with the help of an Indian craftsman, while a Frenchman, Charles Poncet, came to treat the great Gondarine Emperor Iyasu I (1681-1706), who was suffering from a troublesome skin disease. Many fire-arms were imported. The Nineteenth Century This development pattern continued, virtually unchanged,  into the nineteenth century. King Sahla Sellase King Sahla Sellase of Shawa (1813-1847) for example took a keen interest in machinery. In a famous letter to the British East India Company, written in 1840,  he declared that "arts and science have not yet come to my country, as they have to yours", and added: "May it therefore please you to assist me, particularly in sending guns, cannon, and other things which I have not in my country". He also made use of a Greek called Demetros to build a two-storey palace at his capital at Angolala; and employed the services of several visiting foreign doctors, including those attached to the British diplomatic mission of the 1840s. When it came to religion he was, however, adamant against innovation. Talking with the German Protestant missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf, in 1839, he declared, very frankly, that he "did not need spiritual teachers as much as doctors, masons, smiths, etc."  It was in fact not long before the missionaries then in the country were deported. Innovations outside the three fields of palace building, medicine and weapons moreover soon ran into difficulties. When the king had a water-mill erected by the Airara river, near his capital at Ankobar, the clergy reportedly insisted on banning its use. "Although it had cost my people a year of hard labour to construct", Sahla Sellase was quoted as saying, " it was useless when finished, because the priests declared it the Devil's work and cursed the bread [made with its flour]". The mill, according to another observer, was actually "burnt down to destroy the evil spirit erected in it", and excommunication declared against anyone who brought grain to it for milling, or ate bread made from its flour. Misoneism, or opposition to innovation, was also visible in the condemnation by the Church of such new innovations as tobacco and coffee. Both were strictly prohibited in Sahla Sellase's day - and long afterwards. Misoneism was also apparent in the strong opposition manifested at this time to the introduction of money. An observer of the 1840s tells of a chieftain of Shawa who wanted to sell a horse. The price agreed upon was 200 amoles, or bars of salt, a type of "primitive money" then prevalent throughout much of the country. The purchaser duly sent the equivalent of 200 amole in silver Maria Theresa thalers, or dollars, whereupon the chief replied, "I have kept your money because you have sent it; but in future when I sell you a horse, I shall expect you to pay me in salt". Thus spoke the voice of Ethiopian misoneism. The reign of Emperor Tewodros (1855-1868) marks an important turning-point in the history of Ethiopian innovation - to which, dear reader, we must return.