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Unit One

The document provides an introduction to a course on the history of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. It discusses the nature of history as a discipline and subject, the sources and methods used in historical study, historiography of the region, and the geographical context of Ethiopia and the Horn.

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59 views15 pages

Unit One

The document provides an introduction to a course on the history of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. It discusses the nature of history as a discipline and subject, the sources and methods used in historical study, historiography of the region, and the geographical context of Ethiopia and the Horn.

Uploaded by

Fitsum Erena
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© © All Rights Reserved
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ARBA MINCH UMIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES


DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND HERITAGE MANAGEMEN

Course Title: HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA AND THE HORN


Course Code : Hist. 1012
Credit Hours: 3
Target Group: All 4th Year Regular Students
Academic Year: 2023
Semester: I
Instructor: Mr. Fekadu Tolesa
UNIT ONE : NTRODUCTION
1.1 Nature of History
•The term history derived from the Greek word Istoria, means
“inquiry” or “an account of one’s inquiries”. Herodotus (c. 484–
425 B.C) is first to use term history, “father of history.”
•History:-
 all the things that have happened in the human past- facts kept
in writing.
 Apply knowledge to surviving records and write history in the
form of accounts of the past.
 discovery, collection, organization, and systematic
presentation of information about past events.
selection of topics and problems they wish to study.
Concerned with the study of human society and its
interaction with the natural environment.
periodization of history based on key characteristics
and developments of that era; ancient, medieval and
modern history.
continuities or persisting patterns reflect all aspects of
human life.
1.2 Uses of History

 History Helps Better Understand the Present


 History Provides a Sense of Identity
 History Provides the Basic Background for Other
Disciplines(literature, art, etc.)
 History Teaches Critical Skills- evaluate sources.
 History Helps Develop Tolerance and Open-Mindedness
 History Supplies Endless Source of Fascination- a sense
of beauty and excitement (Aesthetic and humanistic goals)
1.2 Sources and Methods of Historical Study

• Historical work must be supported by evidence arising from sources.


(no sources, no history): Primary and Secondary.
1. Primary sources: past available to us in the present, original or first
hand sources.
Examples, 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.
2. Secondary sources: second-hand published accounts about past
events, written long after the event has occurred, finished accounts of
certain historical periods and phenomena.
1. Examples, articles, books, textbooks, biographies, and published
stories or movies about historical events.
• Oral data or Oral sources: valuable for non-literate societies
where people transmit information from one generation to
another, for example, through folk songs and folk sayings:
oral tradition.
• People can also provide oral testimonies or personal
recollections of lived experience: oral history.
• For the historical writings, the data should be subjected to
critical evaluation before used as evidence. Primary sources
and oral data have to be verified for their originality and
authenticity and secondary sources have to be examined for
the reliability of their reconstructions. Therefore, sources
shhould be crosschecked with other sources.
1.3. Historiography of Ethiopia and the Horn

• Historiography is 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
and Thucydides (c.455-400 B.C.E.) and Chinese during Han
dynasty figure Sima Qian (145–86 B.C.E.).
• The German historian, 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, for its greatest contribution, considered as the
“father of modern historiography.”
Historiography of Ethiopia and the Horn the earliest known reference were:

 Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, written in the first century A.D by an anonymous
author.
 Christian Topography composed by Cosmas Indicopleustes, a Greek sailor, in the
sixth century A.D.
 Inscriptions written Ethiopian material dates from the seventh century A.D which
found in Abba Gerima monastery in Yeha, Haiq Istifanos monastery of present day
Wollo in the thirteenth century A.D.
 hagiographies originating from EOC and Muslim communities of the country;
Shaykh Ja’far Bukko of Gattira, in present day Wollo, in the late nineteenth century.
• Chronicles in the ancient Ethiopian Ge’ez tongue first appeared in
the fourteenth century and continue (sometimes in Amharic) into
the early twentieth.: Glorious Victories of Amde-Tsion and the
Chronicle of Abeto Iyasu and Empress Zewditurespectively.
• Written accounts of Arabic-speaking visitors to the coast; al-
Masudi and Ibn Battuta in the 10 th and in the 14th c respectively;
Yemeni writer, titled Futuh al Habesha by Shihab al-Din, who
recorded Christian and the Muslim conflict of the 16 th c and the
conquest of Imam Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi; Other Yemenu
writer, Al-Haymi, who led a Yemeni delegation in 1647 to the court
of Fasiledas (r. 1632-67).
 Abba Bahrey’s Geez script on the Oromo written in 1593.
 European missionaries; missionaries (Catholics and Protestants) sources: The
Prester John of the Indies, composed by a Portuguese priest, Francisco Alvarez
who accompanied the Portuguese mission to the court of Lebne-Dengel in 1520.
 European travelers; James Bruce’s Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile.
 Foreign writers: a German, Hiob Ludolf (1624-1704) was the founder of
Ethiopian studies in Europe in the 17th C wrote Historia Aethiopica (translated
into English as A New History of Ethiopia). He wrote information he collected
from an Ethiopian priest named Abba Gorgorios (Abba Gregory). In the 19 th C,
August Dillman published two studies on ancient Ethiopian history.
• The pre-libration traditional Ethiopian writers:
A. Aleqa Taye Gebre-Mariam: History of Ethiopia
B. Aleqa Asme Giorgis: History of Oromo people
C. Debtera Fisseha-Giorgis Abyezgi: History of Ethiopia
D. Negadrases Afework Gebre-Iyesus: Amharic novel, Tobiya
E. Gebre-Hiwot Baykedagn: Atse Menilekna Ityopia (Emperor
Menilek and Ethiopia) and Mengistna Yehizb Astedader
(Government and Public Administration).
F. Blatten Geta Hiruy Wolde-Selassie: Ethiopiana Metema
(Ethiopia and Metema), Wazema (Eve), Yehiwot Tarik (A
Biographical Dictionary) and Yeityopia Tarik (A History of
Ethiopia).
• The post-liberationn traditional Ethiopian writers:
A.Tekle-Tsadik Mekuria: published about eight historical
works.
B.Yilma Deressa’s Ye Ityopiya Tarik Be’asra Sidistegnaw Kifle
Zemen(A History of Ethiopia in the 16th C) that addresses the
Oromo population movement and the wars b/n the Christian
kingdom and the Muslim sultanates as its main subjects.
C.Blatten Geta Mahteme-Selassie Wolde-Meskel: wrote Zikre
Neger. Zikre Neger, land tenure.
D.Gebre-Wold Engidawork: land tenure.
E.Dejazmach Kebede Tesema: Yetarik Mastawesha in 1962
E.C.
• History emerged as an academic discipline in 1960:
the opening of the Department of History in 1963 at
the then Haile Selassie I University (HSIU) that started
the production of BA theses and launched its MA and
PhD programs in 1979 and 1990 respectively.
• The Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) was founded
in 1963, Richard Pankhurst, the first Director and
founding member of the Institute, has authored or co-
authored twenty-two books and produced several
hundred articles on Ethiopia.
• decolonization of African historiography required new
methodological approach
A.tools of investigation: use of oral data
B.ancillary disciplines like archeology, anthropology
and linguistics.
C.Foundational research was done at the School of
Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London and
the Department of History at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
D.African universities sent many others overseas for
training
1.4. The Geographical Context
• The term “Ethiopia and the Horn” refers to that part of Northeast
Africa; Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. It has been shaped by
contacts with others through commerce, migrations, wars, slavery,
colonialism, and the waxing and waning of state systems.
• features of “Ethiopia and the Horn” :
Great Rift Valley running down from Syria to Mozambique.
spatial location that lies between the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and
Indian Ocean.
drainage system Nile River, Gibe/Omo–Gojeb, Genale/Jubba-
Shebele, the Awash River, and the Ethiopian Rift Valley Lake
systems.
three major distinct environmental zones: western high and
lowlands, SE high and lowland, and Rift valley.
Population movements.
Linguistic and cultural affinities.

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